► REDD+ reforestation initiatives will be mediated by powerful political economic interests. ► Prior Asia–Pacific reforestation initiatives consolidated state control over ‘degraded’ forests. ► They ...also increased inequity by channeling subsidies and rents to elite actors. ► Weak financial governance facilitated corruption and fraud, at times on a grand scale. ► Tree-planting promises benefits for small-holders, but can undermine livelihood security.
Under REDD+, the enhancement of carbon stocks through reforestation and restoration of degraded forest landscapes offers considerable potential benefits. In the Asia–Pacific region, however, many previous reforestation and forest restoration initiatives have exacerbated existing inequities by concentrating resources among powerful political and economic actors, often to the detriment of forest-dependent communities. Both in design and implementation, tree-planting programs have been guided by forest rent distribution practices of state forestry bureaucracies and by corporate accumulation strategies linked to increasingly globalized commodity chains.
This article examines the political economy of reforestation and forest restoration programs in Asia–Pacific and highlights governance challenges these pose. In various contexts, they have:
•consolidated the control of state agencies and corporate actors over ‘degraded’ forest landscapes, often resulting in the displacement of rural communities;•exacerbated economic disparities by channeling large capital subsidies and resource rents to companies with close ties to state elites;•facilitated corruption and financial fraud, in some cases on a grand scale;•accelerated biodiversity loss by creating perverse incentives for the conversion of ‘degraded’ secondary forests; and•generated mixed results for rural small-holders, at times locking them in inequitable agreements with plantation companies, and in other cases, offering enhanced tenure security.
To avoid the negative results of earlier reforestation schemes, REDD+ must incorporate: (1) rights-based spatial planning; (2) equitable and accountable distribution of financial incentives; (3) improved financial governance to prevent corruption and fraud; (4) policy reform to remove perverse incentives for forest conversion; (5) strengthening of economic benefits and safeguards for small-holders.
Continuous-cover forestry (CCF) is expected to reduce the negative environmental impacts of peatland forestry in comparison with rotation forestry (RF), but the unknown profitability of CCF on ...peatlands limits its application in practice. The profitability of CCF was analyzed by simulating management scenarios with a process-based ecosystem model, EFIMOD, which was complemented to describe the interplay between tree growth and water table depth, which is typical of peatland forests. A variety of harvest intervals and post-harvest basal areas for a mature Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) dominated stand was simulated on a nutrient-rich peatland site. Conventional RF was simulated for comparison. CCF provided a higher profit than RF. The best financial performance was obtained with a 15-year harvest interval regardless of interest rate, although the overall profitability of CCF depended on the interest rate used. Ditch network maintenance was needed to maintain the stand growth only when the post-harvest basal area was smaller than 10 m
2
·ha
−1
. There were many CCF scenarios in which the difference in the net present value of harvest revenues was within 10% compared with the best CCF scenario. Hence, there are many relatively profitable CCF harvesting alternatives for forest management in boreal spruce-dominated peatland forests.
Optimization models on continuous cover forestry are complicated and typically incompatible with rotation models. This dichotomy is theoretically unsatisfactory and makes the choice between clearcuts ...and continuous cover forestry vague. We present a theoretically sound and empirically detailed generalized setup with an optimal clear-cut regime (or even-aged management) and optimal continuous cover regime (or uneven-aged management) as special cases. It includes a size-structured growth model, variable and fixed harvesting costs, and allows for the completely flexible optimization of harvest timing in both regimes. Flexible harvest timing becomes essential when optimizing the transition from clear-cut regimes toward continuous cover forestry. The model is applied to Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and solved as a dynamic mixed-integer problem. Low or moderate site productivity, an interest rate above 2%, and a high artificial regeneration cost support the optimality of continuous cover forestry. In its most general form, the optimal clear-cut regime does not exist when the continuous cover regime is globally optimal, and when it exists, the rotation period lengthens with interest rate. The optimal choice between forest management regimes may depend on the initial stand state and whether the naturally regenerated seedlings are utilized in solutions with clearcuts. Maximizing sustainable yield favors clearcuts.
Tropical montane cloud forests deliver important goods and services to society, such as timber, the supply and purification of fresh water, and carbon sequestration. In spite of their relevance, ...current deforestation rates are very high, at the expense of affecting the provision of ecosystem services. We explore the impact of land use change in terms of provision of ecosystem services by following two approaches, one very detailed (focused on hydrological services – water quality) and another one with a broader perspective (at a large scale and considering the ecosystem service value (ESV) of several ecosystems and their ecosystem services at the same time). In the highlands of the State of Veracruz, previously forested lands were converted into coffee plantations and cattle ranches. To evaluate the role of species composition and community structure on water quality, we studied nine small watersheds (<15
ha) covered by pristine cloud forest, coffee plantations and cultivated grassland (three each). Species richness of the three land use types was similar, although species composition was as different as 90%. Overall species diversity as well as that of woody species, and growth form diversities decreased in the transformed land uses. Water quality of streams flowing through these watersheds declined: nutrients (nitrate), conductivity, cations, chloride and suspended solids were lowest in the forest streams and highest in streams from coffee watersheds, whereas grasslands were intermediate. We also calculated ecosystem service values (using the transfer value method) and estimated economic market–non-market gains and losses owing to land transformation. Loss of natural ecosystems may imply a significant economic loss to society in terms of ecosystem services, although market gains may still lead land owners to land conversion because revenues are higher. Adequate Payment for Ecosystem Services may be a good option to prevent deforestation, but the compensation should be at least equal to the opportunity cost of the promoted land use. Our estimates are indicative of the urgent need to go beyond water quantity as the most relevant ecosystem service considered in PES schemes.
In this paper, I first present two main economic entrepreneurship theories and an analytical framework for forest-based entrepreneurships that include personal, socio-economic, forestry or ...forest-management specific, and institutional/contextual factors. I then present a few successful forestry entrepreneurs in the United States to highlight importance of various factors. Finally, I speculate on the future of entrepreneurship in forestry in terms of sustainable production as well as environmental stewardship in light of the recent movement toward privatization of some public goods such as forest carbon and biodiversity, and discuss research and education related to forestry entrepreneurship.
In the Southeastern United States, freshwater resources are stressed due to human development, population growth, expansion of agricultural irrigation, and climate change. Restoring land to a ...low-density, fire-maintained longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) savanna and woodland ecosystem may provide distinct ecosystem services such as increases in water quantity for vulnerable watersheds. To understand how economic incentives may bolster restoration programs, we analyze the economic and hydrologic impacts of longleaf pine restoration scenarios. We compare these scenarios against other common land uses in the Coastal Plain of Georgia, a major forestry state located in the Southern United States, identifying the financial barriers and water use impacts of alternative forest management regimes. Longleaf pine restoration shows the greatest increase in water yield per acre at 66 % over baseline timber production scenarios but at a lower timber value return. Thinning planted loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stands to low-density woodlands may offer a more cost-efficient, immediate alternative that improves water yields by 38 %. Current incentives to restore native habitats on private lands increase financial returns but lack sufficient incentives and governance to meet or exceed baseline forest income levels by $90-$235 ha-1 annually for longleaf savanna restoration. In the future, the emerging ecosystem service market in Georgia may steer decisions about competing values of carbon storage, water yield, and native habitat restoration.
As part of California's strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, private forest landowners are now required to address carbon sequestration as a management goal when submitting timber harvest ...plans. Using public data on forests and forest products, we developed a calculator that tracks the carbon sequestration benefits related to live trees, wood used for bioenergy and wood going into products. The calculator is adapted for different forest types, forest management techniques and time frames. Based on current best practices used in California, we estimate that harvested and regenerated forests will provide approximately 30% more total carbon sequestration benefits than forests left to grow for an equal time. More than half of the total benefits relate to harvested wood substituting for fossil fuels and fossil fuel–intensive materials such as cement and steel. With relatively efficient management practices, harvesting a ton of wood provides more sequestration benefits than leaving that ton growing in the forest.
Adjacency relationships are pervasive in forest planning problems, especially the ones related to the selection of habitat networks for biodiversity conservation. Two main approaches are applied in ...the planning of these conservation actions: i) selection grounded on the island biogeography theory, where connected habitats are preferred and ii) selection grounded in the habitat amount hypothesis, where the amount of habitat is enforced in local landscapes, regardless of their spatial distribution. Because the presence of connectivity requirements in the creation of habitat networks impose more stringent limitations on the search for optimal solutions, they are expected to cascade to the total benefit from harvesting revenues and, consequently, to the costs of the habitat networks. The ecological implications of these approaches have been investigated, whereas the economic consequences of imposing connectivity remain unclear. Here, I address this issue and investigate the costs of selecting habitat networks in multiple forest landscapes in central Europe, applying these two approaches. To this end, a conic optimization model is proposed, to find minimum cost allocations of forest reserves. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis on the optimal allocation is conducted, regarding the size of the habitat network required and the level of heterogeneity in forest profitability within the landscapes. The results show that habitat networks amounting to 10% of the forest area may be created with up to 5.5% reduction in the total Net Present Value (NPV), with a higher cost when connectivity is imposed (6.5%). The cost of connectivity, however, may increase in landscapes with high heterogeneity in forest profitability and with the minimum amount of habitat required. In conclusion, habitat selection must be tailored to local conditions and weight the additional costs of imposing connectivity against the requirements of the target species and the expected ecological benefits.
•The costs of two diverging approaches for habitat network selection are compared.•Imposing connectivity has moderate costs in homogeneous forest landscapes.•Habitat amount approach is substantially cheaper in heterogeneous landscapes.•Compensation schemes must be adjusted if connectivity is desired.
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