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Many factors influence adoption of smallholder agroforestry systems as part of the farm business. This paper reports farm and household factors affecting the adoption of timber and non-timber forest product management practices by farmers in Gunungkidul, Sumbawa and Timor Tengah Selatan districts in Indonesia; and how understanding those factors can facilitate the adoption of silvicultural practices for enhancing timber and NTFPs production. The research uses logistic regression models to identify the significant factors influencing farmers’ agroforestry adoption and management decisions. When considering a total of 16 factors equally, the models confirmed that farmers who have access to extension services, farmers’ groups and knowledge of government policy are more likely to adopt timber and NTFPs production technologies. The probability of management practices increasing with the greater land area was due to space for growing more timber and NTFPs species. Also, the possibility of adopting timber and NTFPs management increased as farmers had more income from on- and off-farm activities. These findings suggest that when designing extension programs farm and household factors should be considered by policy makers, researchers and extension providers.

Forest conversion has been identified as one of the several bottlenecks affecting upon the major infrastructure projects in Nepal, especially in the energy and transport sectors. Nepal’s policy requires at least 40% of its land cover under forest. This means if any forest land is converted to non-forest land, it must be compensated with an equivalent area, preferably in the similar ecotype in the nation. In addition, a specified number of trees must be planted for the number of trees felled in the project site, and the site must be managed and protected for five years by the developers. These provisions have led to growing resentment between the developers and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MFSC), leading to delay in providing forest lands for infrastructure projects. With a view to develop mechanisms for the government to rapidly provide forest land for nationally important infrastructure projects, the Government databases were examined to analyze the forests handed over to the developers for non-forestry uses. The data showed that a total of 14,028.4 ha of forest area were handed over to the developers for non-forestry uses until the end of 2015. On an average, 263.8 ha forest area was found to be handed over to the developers between the period of 2010–2013. However, there is a declining trend of forest handed over for non-forestry purposes in the recent years. The decline could be due to the strict enforcement of the legal provision which limits the conversion of forest areas to non-forest areas except in the case of the “national priority projects”. It has been recommended that the conversion of forest for infrastructure development should be examined with a holistic perspective by taking all the related components of forest conversion into consideration, from providing forest land for replacement planting. It is recommended that the Forest Product Development Board (FPDB), a parastatal organization under the MFSC, should be entrusted with the work of plantation related to forest conversion. The fund for this work should flow directly from the developers to the FPDB. The possibility of forming a land bank to facilitate the work of the FPDB is also recommended.Banko Janakari, Vol. 27, No. 1, Page: 60-64

Ownership of private forestland is changing rapidly, especially in areas owned by industrial forest product companies. Following divestment by industrial owners, forested lands are increasingly likely to move from intensive timber production to subdivision of the land, development and other private uses, or alternatively to conservation under public tenure. This research follows a unique dataset of forestland properties previously owned by industrial and corporate owners in Wisconsin from 1999 to 2014. A multinomial logistic regression showed that divested lands were more likely to be publicly purchased outright if they were adjacent to water, adjacent to public land, not adjacent to roads, and had higher housing value, while in contrast the predictors of conservation easement acquisition were location in large blocks outside of zoned townships. Properties were more likely to be parcelized if they were adjacent to a paved road, adjacent to water, smaller, in a zoned township, and had fewer years remaining in their tax program enrollment. In an era of rapid industrial land divestment, these findings indicate an important role played by public policies, including preferential tax programs and funds for land and conservation easement acquisition, in shaping whether private forestland is parcelized, conserved under private ownership, or publicly acquired.

Trade barriers of forest products are often advocated in the name of protecting forest resources. Whether the promoting of trade of forest products will increase or decrease the global forest resources is still a matter of debate. We offer an assessment of how forest product trade helps shape observed forest change, by relating wood consumption change to trade of forest products based on cross-section data from 61 countries in 2010. The result shows that wood outputs have positive effects on wood consumption. Compared to domestic production, the result suggests that imports of forest products can help reduce wood consumption. This may indicate that trade liberalization can promote the allocation efficiency of timber resources across the global, which can improve the utilization efficiency and reduce the wood consumption in the world to protect the global forest resources. It is suggested that the high-efficient harvest and wood-processing technological transfer should be advocated in the internati...

This study explored the consequences for the forest sector of a trade agreement between Australia, Canada, Chile, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam (TPP12), and of an extension to include India, China and the Republic of Korea (TPP15). The forecasts used a partial equilibrium model to predict the effects of reduced trade costs due to tariff elimination and of forest product demand shifts resulting from the macroeconomic impacts of TPP12 and TPP15 predicted by Narayanan and Sharma (http://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/workingpaper/workingpaper14.pdf). The results showed the effects of the agreements on the consumption, production, and trade of roundwood, sawnwood and panels, and pulp and paper, for the countries directly involved in the agreements, the European Union, and the rest of the world (ROW). Under TPP12, the main total welfare gains of wood producers and forest product consumers were in the United States and Vietnam, and the greatest losses in China and Korea. Global welfare gains were considerably larger under TPP15, to the advantage of China, Japan and Korea, but to the detriment of the United States, the European Union and the ROW.

Import demand for wood pellets by the European Union (EU) was investigated using a source-differentiated non-linear Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model with monthly data from 2009 to 2015. Our research provides the first complete set of expenditure, price and cross-price elasticities for this rapidly expanding forest product market. Expenditure elasticities reveal that wood pellets from the United States have the most to gain from an expansion in EU expenditures, followed by Canada, while Russia has the least to gain. We attribute this result to differences in the quality, reliability and sustainability of wood pellet supply between the countries. The degree of substitution among the major suppliers was also assessed through cross-price elasticities.

Rahawarin YY. 2017. Non-timber forest products extracted activities of the upstream Mamberamo basin’s traditional communities of West Papua, Indonesia. Asian J For 1: 23-26. The aim of this study is to find utilization activities of extracting nontimber forest products by local communities on the upstream part of Mamberamo Basin. Survey, observation and semi-structural interview were taken to generate data and information. The result showed that the local communities extracted several of non-timber forest products over the course of their generations to fulfill basic daily necessities. There were several types of non-timber forest products that have been used by local communities either from plants wild animals that living across different types of forest. These activities were lasted for generations so that people called it as a traditional conservation. They are still exist recently and believed to maintain the long-lasting of non timber forest products continuity to keep the availability of traditional food sources for the daily needs over generations.

Forest resource extraction evolves with commodification and shifts in product use and demand. Tourism is a major economic sector that represents approximately 10% of the global GDP and has the potential to drive major changes in forest activities. In the last three decades the boom of coastal tourism created new markets for the emergent community forestry sector in Quintana Roo (SE Mexico). Employing ethnobotanical and archival research methods we analyzed the evolution of management and use of three distinct forest products used in tourism architecture: polewood, thatching materials and chicozapote tree ( Manilkara zapota ) posts. Current models explain processes of forest product substitution and management intensification either in terms of economic efficiency and resource depletion, or power differences. Our results suggest the need to expand our understanding of extractive cycles to explicitly incorporate multi-scale governance, shifting values, and external shocks (i.e., hurricanes) as major drivers of change of forest products.

Mangrove forest has physical, biological/ecological and social-economics functions. Mangrove forest at Pulau Pahawang Village, Marga Punduh, Subdistrict Pesawaran has many functions which causes many interest of actors. This research was aimed to identify and maping the role of actors interest. This research was conducted on August until October 2015, by using key informant namely a gencie s village , local communities, public figure, related department and N on-Governmental Organization s ( NGO). The result showed that there was six important aspect namely the existence of the green belt, kind of variety (biodiversity), education facilities, fire wood, non-timber forest product, and tourist facilities. Pulau Pahawang Village has three quadrant matrix interest, quadrant subject has State Ministry of The Environment. Quadrant keyplayers has Department of Forestry and Estate Crops, Mangrove Protected Area Management Agency (BPDPM), and Mitra Bentala as NGOs. Quadrant c rowd has Development Planning Agency in Sub - National Level , Land Agency, Department of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs , Regional House of Representatives, and local . Keyword : actor interest, mangrove forest, Pulau Pahawang, role of actor

Bark of Daphne bholua is an important non-timber forest product and makes a substantial contribution to the Nepalese economy. A precise estimate of the amount of D. bholua bark in mountain forests is possible using a biomass model. We developed an allometric bark biomass model for naturally grown D. bholua in Baglung District in the mid-hills of Nepal. The model was based on data from 101 destructively sampled D. bholua on 20 sample plots representing different growth stages (regeneration, established, and matured), site qualities, and stand densities, and we used diameter and height–diameter ratio as predictors. Among 9 functions evaluated, a simple power function showed the best fit to the data. This model described most of the variations in bark biomass with no substantial trends in the residuals. Leave-one-out cross-validation also confirmed the high precision of this model, because it described most of the variations in bark biomass with no substantial trends in the prediction errors. The model can be applied for a precise prediction of bark biomass for individuals of D. bholua with diameters and height–diameter ratios similar to those used in this study. It is site-specific, and its application should therefore be limited to sites with growth stage, site quality, stand density, and species distribution similar to those that formed the basis of this study. Further validation and verification of this model, with a larger dataset collected from sites with a wider range of these characteristics, is recommended.

Most Nepalese rural households adopt diversified strategies of income generation and use products directly collected from forests. To analyse the influence of livelihood strategy on forest product utilisation, a survey of 336 rural households in lowland Nepal was conducted. Four livelihood strategies were identified by means of a Principal Component Analysis based on income variables, followed by hierarchical cluster analysis. Two livelihood strategies are assigned to on-farm activities and two to off-farm activities. The off-farm based strategies were found to result in higher household incomes. To test for differences across the livelihood strategies, additional socio-demographic variables, physical assets and location information have been analysed using ANOVA. The forest product utilisation behaviour of the households differs significantly between livelihood strategies. The households adopting a subsistence-based strategy collect the most forest products while achieving the lowest total income. However, a general influence of the total household income on the forest utilisation intensity is not confirmed. Households receiving remittances from abroad achieve the highest incomes but still collect forest products. The group of most forest-dependent households is mainly characterised by living near the forest and far from city centres with commodity and labour markets, and by having low education and a young head of household. The households relying mainly on private business income have the lowest forest product utilisation and are characterised by the highest education, proximity to markets and greatest area of agricultural land.

Incense-resinous wood of agarwood is a high-value non-timber forest product found in the trunk or branches of Aquliaria and Gyrinops species. Incense-resinous wood of agarwood is formed as a response to tree damage caused by wounding or fungal attack. Detection of such wood in trees has generally been carried out based on natural signs such as dark spots or black marks when peeling back tree bark, but these often yield uncertain results. Sonic tomography can be applied to predict the presence of incense-resinous wood in standing trees. The objective of this study was to evaluate sonic tomography at various trunk heights based on variations in the sound velocity associated with the presence of incense-resinous wood. Ten agarwood trees ( Aquilaria malaccensis ) were selected for this study; five trees were artificially inoculated with Fusarium solani fungus and the other five were untreated. The results showed that the height of the measurement did not significantly affect the propagation velocity of sound waves or the tomographic results. Sonic tomography revealed that prediction of the deteriorated zone which is indicative of incense-resinous wood formation was 1.1% greater in inoculated trees than in uninoculated trees.

The genus Protium Burm f. (Burseraceae) is characterized by having species with the property of exuding resin from tree trunks. These resins have several popular uses. Besides that, they are being used in the cosmetic industry and in scientific studies. Considering the growing demand and the potential of this forest product, it is necessary to develop a sustainable management technique that increases the amount of resin obtained, without altering its quality. This could avoid the product running low on the market and the improper exploitation of trees in the forest, and could turn into a new source of income for extractivist communities. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the chemical stimulant ethephon on the resin production in two species of Protium at Ducke Forest Reserve, in Manaus, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Another objective was to verify the variation on the chemical composition of the resin hexane extract in Protium strumosum Daly, caused by the use of stimulant, by GC-FID and G...

Summary The harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a global phenomenon, the sustainability of which has been studied for many species at the individual and population level. However, the broader scale impacts of NTFP harvesting have been acknowledged but rarely examined. We assessed plant size and the soil attributes undercanopy and in the open, in replicate, paired harvested and non-harvested sites for three NTFPs differing in the extent of biomass removed, i.e. timber for firewood from a tree (Acacia karroo), fruits from a cactus (Opunita ficus-indica) and flowering culms from a grass (Cymbopogon marginatus). Soil variables tested included pH, resistivity, P, total N, nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, K, Na, Ca and Mg. The extent of loss of soil nutrients decreased across the three NTFPs relative to the proportion of biomass removed. Thus, significant differences in more soil variables were evident for the firewood species, least for the fruit species and intermediate for the grass species. Lower soil pH, P, C and K were evident in soils collected underneath A. karroo, while losses in cations of Na, Ca and Mg were reported in soils underneath C. marginatus, and only NO3N losses were recorded underneath O. ficus-indica. Synthesis and applications. Our study reveals that while non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvesting may affect soil nutrients, this is not uniform between species and is likely to be a function of the extent of biomass removed and harvesting frequency. This indicates the need for caution in generalisations about the ecosystem-level impacts of NTFP harvesting as well as a concerted effort to better understand impacts at a greater range of scales than has been the case to date.

Commercial exploitation of wild yams (Dioscorea spp.) was once a pillar of the Mexican economy and is currently practiced in the USA and Asia. However, no such activity has yet been reported in South America, the continent richest in Dioscorea species. Upon discovery of wild Dioscorea tubers in marketplaces in Bogota, Colombia, we sought to (1) identify the species being sold, (2) document the medicinal properties attributed to them, and (3) conduct a preliminary characterization of the market for this product in the capital. During the years 2010, 2012, and 2013, 226 semi-structured interviews were conducted with vendors in 82 medicinal plant stalls distributed in marketplaces throughout Bogota. Tubers of four native species were identified, all wild-harvested: D ioscorea coriacea, Dioscorea lehmannii, Dioscorea meridensis, and Dioscorea polygonoides; all were sold under the generic name zarzaparrilla, with D. coriacea being the most prevalent species. All vendors interviewed recommended Dioscorea spp. for treating “ailments of the blood,” with “blood cleanser,” and lowering triglycerides and cholesterol as the most often-cited specific uses. Total estimates of sales of wild yams over the study period averaged 488 kg/week, extrapolated to over 25,000 kg/year, with yearly sales varying between 5% and 6% around the mean. This is the first report of raw tubers of any Dioscorea species being commercialized for the treatment of blood or metabolic disorders in Latin America, and the data suggest there is a robust market established in Bogota. In the interest of public health, pharmacological studies should be undertaken to test the biological activity of these species and to rule out toxicity. We especially recommend population studies of D. coriacea to provide baseline data for sustainable management of this non-timber forest product.

Studies report different findings concerning the climate benefits of bioenergy, in part due to varying scope and use of different approaches to define spatial and temporal system boundaries. We quantify carbon balances for bioenergy systems that use biomass from forests managed with long rotations, employing different approaches and boundary conditions. Two approaches to represent landscapes and quantify their carbon balances - expanding vs. constant spatial boundaries - are compared. We show that for a conceptual forest landscape, constructed by combining a series of time-shifted forest stands, the two approaches sometimes yield different results. We argue that the approach that uses constant spatial boundaries is preferable because it captures all carbon flows in the landscape throughout the accounting period. The approach that uses expanding system boundaries fails to accurately describe the carbon fluxes in the landscape due to incomplete coverage of carbon flows and influence of the stand-level dynamics, which in turn arise from the way temporal system boundaries are defined on the stand level. Modelling of profit-driven forest management using location-specific forest data shows that the implications for carbon balance of management changes across the landscape ( which are partly neglected when expanding system boundaries are used) depend on many factors such as forest structure and forest owners' expectations of market development for bioenergy and other wood products. Assessments should not consider forest-based bioenergy in isolation but should ideally consider all forest products and how forest management planning as a whole is affected by bioenergy incentives - and how this in turn affects carbon balances in forest landscapes and forest product pools. Due to uncertainties, we modelled several alternative scenarios for forest products markets. We recommend that future work consider alternative scenarios for other critical factors, such as policy options and energy technology pathways.

Forest has a potency to support food security and overcome poverty. This study was expected to measure the contribution of private forest and design a strategy to increase the role of private forests in food security and proverty alleviation in Nanggung.The respondent consisted of 60 private forest farmers. The qualitative and quantitative approach of this study revealed that private forest contributed about 23 food plants species as household daily food support and about 35.68% as means to better income for proverty alleviation. The strategy to increase the role of private forest were: 1) to strengthen the institutional of farmer groups in the private forest for food security; 2) to provide subsidies for private forest development for food; 3) to utilize the abandoned land as private forest for food; 4) to establish business partnership in terms of seeding, planting, harvesting, and marketing; and 5) to conduct efficient forest product marketing.Key words: Private forest, food security, proverty

The understanding of interaction between rural people and forest products is one of the challenges faced while balancing forest product utilization with forest conservation in Myanmar. This study aims to contribute an effort to such challenges by analyzing the interaction of rural households with forest products in Myanmar. Data were collected using face-to-face questionnaire interviews with 218 households and conducting a rapid tree inventory across 132 circular random plots in selected rural communities around four townships of the Katha District. The empirical results indicate that the 95% of rural households were entirely dependent on forest products. The survey documented 13 main forest products and 54 tree species, which were primarily used for household consumption. Low-income households compared with medium- and high-income households with low educational level (p<0.05) and a small agricultural land area (p<0.05) were found to be more forest-dependent households. Illegal logging, mining, fuel-wood collection, slash-and-burn agriculture, and the establishment of forest plantations were reported as the main causes of forest products depletion. Findings from this study, although at a microlevel, can be used by the Myanmar Forestry Department as baseline information to improve community-based forest management activities.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has been piloted in developing countries as a climate change mitigation strategy, providing financial incentives for carbon sequestration in forests. This paper examines the economic feasibility of REDD+ in community forests within two watersheds in central Nepal, Ludikhola and Kayarkhola, using data on forest product demand, carbon sequestration, carbon price and REDD+ related costs. The benefits of REDD+ are about $7994, $152, and $64 per community forest, per hectare of forest area, and per household in Ludikhola watershed compared to $4815, $29, and $56 in Kayarkhola watershed, respectively, under the business-as-usual scenario. Compared to the EU ETS carbon price ($10.3/tCO2e), the average break-even carbon price in community forests is much higher in Kayarkhola watershed ($41.8/tCO2e) and much lower in Ludikhola watershed ($2.4/tCO2e) when empirical estimates of annual expenditure in community forests are included in the analysis. The incorporation of annual expenditure estimates and opportunity cost of sequestered carbon (in the form of firewood prices in local markets) in the analysis suggests that community forests are economically infeasible for REDD+ at the prevailing carbon prices. The implication of our findings is that economic feasibility of REDD+ in community forests depends on the local contexts, carbon prices and the opportunity costs, which should be carefully considered in designing REDD+ projects.

In the Amazonian rainforest, many species of Burseraceae known locally as “breu” are explored for the medicinal and aromatic uses of their trunk exudates. This material also has a long-standing use by the forest communities in building and caulking boats as well as in the making of wooden utensils and general crafts. Breu are strongly aromatic due volatile terpenes in their composition that are separated from the crude resin by steam distillation. The remaining residue amorphous “hard resin” is primary used for application in woodworking. Despite the potential for application in paints, varnishes and odor fixatives, the commercialization of the hard resin has not surpassed the local market level. In order to achieve and establish a more valorized market for this Amazonian non-timber forest product, the existing and potential demands need to be estimated, a draft of the production chain needs to be drawn up and care needs to be taken to provide products of the highest possible quality. This study aimed to identify and organize the main issues necessary for the attainment of these goals and its value chain, and identify the technologies that would improve the quality of the Amazonian breu as a raw material. A review of the data available in the literature and the analytical techniques that could be applied to generate standards for the extraction, purification, and analysis of the hard resin fraction was made. Quality issues based on physicochemical standards might affect the productive chain by: i) helping to consolidate the appropriate methodologies for collecting and storing the raw material; ii) adding value and qualifying the primary improvement processes and iii) supporting the certification of the raw materials for commercialization. Potentiate this material to reach high-level markets might boost the production demand and improve the rain forest communities’ income.

The concept of sustainable forest management has emerged in early 1990s’ as a vision of forest management in all over the world. In Sri Lanka, avoiding deforestation and improving the forest resources are the preliminary step towards sustainable forest management. Forest policies and strategies that were taken at various times gave greater concerns to solve deforestation problem and improve forest resources through sustainable manner. This paper attempts to discuss National forest policy of Sri Lanka and explore forest policy on sustainable management of forestry resources which are under the supervision of forest Department. Furthermore this paper makes some recommendation for better implementation of forest policies for future sustainability in the state forest resources. The Forest policy in Sri Lanka has changed with the time. The history of establishment of policies for the management of forest was stated in King Devanampiyatissa period of 246 B.C. Ancient agrarian society utilize forest and forest product, while maintaining its ecological balance. The first scientific policy for forestry sector in Sri Lanka was formulated by the British in 1929. The main objective of this forest policy is forest management focused on maximum out of quality timber. After the independent in Sri Lanka from the British in 1948, policy for forestry sector was modified in 1953, 1980 and later in 1995 The priorities of the policy changes focus on conservation of natural value of forest, raise the unit productivity of the forests land and enhance beneficial of the rural population.Forest Department with limited human and other resources, hierarchical management structure, political influence, lack of policy and lack of institutional and community support has recognized the requirement of appropriate policies, institutional reform and capacity building for promote sustainable livelihood and Sustainable forest management.

A rainforest can be modeled as a dynamic asset subject to various risks, including risk of fire. Any small part of the forest can be in one of two states: either untouched by forest fire, or already damaged by fire, in which case there is both a local forest loss and increased dryness over a broader area. In this paper, two Bellman equations are constructed, one for unharmed forest and a second for already burnt forest. The analysis solves the two equations for the total expected asset values in each of the two states, assuming that asset returns have a constant growth rate over time. The equations are used for deriving the marginal value of standing (unburnt) rainforest, equivalent to the expected discounted value loss when losing a small additional forest patch. The paper shows that marginal forest value is increased by the additional dryness and forest fire risk that follow from forest fragmentation when additional forest is lost locally. Both forest fires and dryness here serve as “multipliers” to the basic services return loss, within and outside the forest. The paper also presents a framework for calibrating the impact of the forest fire risk component on forest value.

We estimate the climate effects of directing forest management in Sweden towards increased carbon storage in forests with more land set-aside for protection, or towards increased forest production for the substitution of carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels, relative to a reference case of current forest management. We develop various scenarios of forest management and biomass use to estimate the carbon balances of the forest systems, including ecological and technological components, and their impacts on the climate in terms of radiative forcing. The scenario with increased set-aside area and the current level of forest residue harvest resulted in lower cumulative carbon emissions compared to the reference case for the first 90 years, but then showed higher emissions as reduced forest harvest led to higher carbon emissions from energy and material systems. For the reference case of current forest management, increased harvest of forest residues gave increased climate benefits. The most climatically beneficial alternative, expressed as reduced cumulative radiative forcing, in both the short and long terms is a strategy aimed at high forest production, high residue recovery rate, and high efficiency utilization of harvested biomass. Active forest management with high harvest levels and efficient forest product utilization will provide more climate benefit, compared to reducing harvest and storing more carbon in the forest.

Background: Predictive models shed light on aboveground fungal yield dynamics and can assist decision-making in forestry by integrating this valuable non-wood forest product into forest management planning. However, the currently existing models are based on rather local data and, thus, there is a lack of predictive tools to monitor mushroom yields on larger scales. Results: This work presents the first empirical models for predicting the annual yields of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms and related ecosystem services in Pinus sylvestris and Pinus pinaster stands in northern Spain, using a long-term dataset suitable to account for the combined effect of meteorological conditions and stand structure. Models were fitted for the following groups of fungi separately: all ectomycorrhizal mushrooms, edible mushrooms and marketed mushrooms. Our results show the influence of the weather variables (mainly precipitation) on mushroom yields as well as the relevance of the basal area of the forest stand that follows a right-skewed unimodal curve with maximum predicted yields at stand basal areas of 30–40 m2∙ha− 1. Conclusion: These models are the first empirical models for predicting the annual yields of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms in Pinus sylvestris and Pinus pinaster stands in northern Spain, being of the highest resolution developed to date and enable predictions of mushrooms productivity by taking into account weather conditions and forests’ location, composition and structure. This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (grant number RTI2018-099315-A-I00), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO) (Grant number AGL2015–66001-C3), by the Cost action FP1203: European Non-Wood Forest Products Network, and by the European project StarTree – Multipurpose trees and non-wood forest products (Grant number 311919). Sergio de Miguel and José Antonio Bonet benefited from a Serra-Húnter Fellowship provided by the Generalitat of Catalunya.

This chapter assesses the potential impact of SDG 8 on forests and forest-dependent people. The conceptual framework puts decent work and economic growth in the context of predominant development theories and paradigms (modernisation, growth, basic needs, sustainable development) shaping the agendas of governments, the private sector, civil society and investors. These stakeholders pursue different goals and interests, with uneven prioritisation of SDG 8 targets and mixed impacts on forests and livelihoods. At the country level, significant trade-offs are expected where growth policies and strategies focus on sectors competing with forestry for space and resources, such as agriculture, energy and mining. In these cases, decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation will be a major challenge. Combined, such policies and strategies lead to global trade-offs by exacerbating climate change. Synergies between SDG 8 and forests exist where growth is explicitly sought in the forest sector, focusing on tree plantations, timber and NTFPs from natural forests, eco-tourism and environmental services. Enhanced enabling environments help minimise trade-offs and maximise synergies by reconciling government policies and private sustainability standards, formalising community stewardship of tropical forests, addressing informality in forest product value chains and providing incentives for youth to become involved in forest-based economic activities.

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.) is fast-growing, and can be used in reforestation. However, the use of the species in reforestation is still uncommon, mainly due to production costs, with substrate and fertiliser being the most-costly components. Based on the above, the aim of this study was to evaluate growth and quality in seedlings of the Brazil nut both with and without nutrient solution. The experimental design was completely randomised in a 2 x 10 factorial scheme: treatments with and without the addition of nutrient solution and 10 evaluations at intervals of 45 days. The variables to be analysed were height, stem diameter, dry shoot weight, root dry weight, total dry weight and the Dickson quality index. When analysing shoot dry weight (SDW), a gain of 85% was found from adding the nutrient solution, compared to the absence of nutrient solution, whereas for the variable, root-system dry weight, (RDW) the gain was 43%. The addition of nutrient solution is suggested for accelerating the growth and development of high-quality seedlings of Bertholletia excelsa for commercial use.

The most important causes of forest fire are due to human’s activities both intentionally and unknowingly. These are the human behaviors in land use at the edge to forest or buffer area. Due to this reason, land use within the buffer area, which caused forest fire in Kanchanaburi, is being studied using Geo-informatics in order to explore and analyze the way of utilizing the buffer area, which caused forest fire. Satellite imagery is used to classify the land use. By creating buffer at the edge of forest can classify the ways of land use, which possibly cause forest fire. Moreover, the study of previous statistics and caused of forest fire is to find which land use are possible to cause forest fire. From the study, the highest cause forest fire is searching of forest products and the lowest cause forest fire is hunting. Over 82% of the forest fire caused by searching of forest product and unknown caused. There is a likelihood of forest fire, which caused by forest product searching to be increased during 2015–2017. Moreover, the study of the way of utilizing land around buffer area within 1 km from the edge of forest found that more than 60% of forest fire found in the area of deciduous forest, while 20% found in agricultural area. This research can show the relationship between land use and causes of forest fire.

Rattan is a non-timber forest product important to both forest biodiversity and local livelihoods in Southeast Asia. In this chapter, we aim to understand the changing patterns of socioeconomic activities in local communities and in the global market, as well as human–nature interactions in Sarawak from the perspective of the transition of rattan utilisation from the past to the present. For the analysis, we employed a multidisciplinary approach using a socioecological survey and historical study, and set three spatial scales as a framework. First, we found that people recognise and make use of various rattan species based on the diversity of surrounding forests. The high diversity of rattan species in these forests supports the preservation of knowledge and culture, and local communities are able to acquire multiple benefits from the forests through rattan. Second, we show the effects of development on traditional knowledge and rattan use by comparing a rural village to villages close to more developed urban areas in which people use a limited number of rattan species because primary forests are no longer accessible. Utilisation of rattans in peri-urban villages has also changed, departing from the close relationship with primary forests that is vital for selecting and using particular rattan species for various needs. Third, we pay attention to the emergence of the regional market for rattan materials provided by a rattan-processing factory in the urban area of Bintulu. In suburban villages, inhabitants who have limited access to primary forests now buy machine-processed rattans for making crafts, possibly leading to a decline of traditional knowledge and the culture of rattan in these communities. Finally, we discuss the trajectory of rattan exports from Sarawak on a global scale over the last 150 years. From the late nineteenth century onwards, rattan exports for the global market enabled local people to gain commercial profits, and we confirm that such a trade connection has lasted through the boom of rattan exports from Sarawak in the mid-1980s. As such, this local to global, past to present study of rattan shows that Sarawak’s highly biodiverse society, which depends on various kinds of natural resources from primary forests, has altered in response to the impacts of the world economy and land-use change over the last two centuries.

International audience; AbstractKey messageIn a major Australian city, water supply has been decoupled from forests as a result of management and climate change. Water yield and quality are closely related to forest cover and have been manipulated through broad-scale intervention. The forests remain important for biodiversity protection and considering water as a forest product will fund interventions that maintain the forest’s environmental values.ContextPerth, an Australian city of 2 million people and a potable water demand of 300 GL/year, occurs in a region that has experienced a decline in rainfall and a major reduction in surface runoff to water supply reservoirs over the last 40 years. This has led to a major impact on water policies, with the collapse of surface water supply from forested watersheds resulting in the almost complete substitution of Perth’s water supply with groundwater and desalinated water. Thus, water supply has been decoupled from forests and forest management processes.AimsIn this paper, we review the interactions between forest cover and water supply in the drying environment of south-western Australia, exploring studies on the hydrological effects of extensive deforestation for agricultural development, widespread reforestation, forest management, and reduced annual rainfall. We draw conclusions applicable to other regions that are experiencing the combined impacts of climate change and pressures from land-use intensification.ResultsWe find that streamflow and water quality are clearly linked to forest cover and this is affected by both climate and forest management. Streamflow increases with a reduction of forest cover (through deforestation or thinning) and decreases with reforestation and reduced rainfall. Stream salinity increases with deforestation and decreases with reforestation. Hydrological responses occur where forest cover treatments have been applied and maintained at watershed-scales. Surprisingly, where water yield or quality has been improved, this has not been rewarded financially and there is a need to develop methods of financing treatments to maintain streamflow.ConclusionWhereas forests were initially maintained for water and timber supply, with biodiversity protection as a co-benefit without a defined value, the decoupling of forests from water supply has substantially reduced the financial resources for any form of direct forest management. As the forests remain important for biodiversity protection, a key recommendation is to consider water as a forest product and thus provide funds for watershed-scale treatments, such as forest thinning, that maintain the forest’s environmental values in a drying climate.

Understanding the evolution of the intra-industry trade of forest products between China and its main partner countries is a prerequisite for improving the flow of trade. The intra-industry trade status and the main influencing factors of Chinese forest products trade were measured and identified via use of bilateral forest product trade data between China and its 24 partners from 2000 to 2014, and use of static, marginal, and structural intra-industry trade indices. The results show that, firstly, intra-industry trade of the major Chinese forest products is exhibiting a low-level growth trend and has considerable growth potential. The top five countries with relatively high intra-industry trade levels are Italy, Germany, the United States, Vietnam, and Japan, and the bottom five are New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Russia, and Spain. Secondly, the intra-industry trade among China and 13 countries, represented by South Korea, is low quality and vertical-type trade, the intra-industry trade among China and seven countries, represented by Thailand, is high quality and a vertical type of trade. Finally, the empirical analysis shows that trade openness and geographical distance are the key factors of intra-industry trade of forest products. The per capita gross domestic product gap, urbanization, foreign direct investment, forest area, and import and export value of forest products also have certain impacts on intra-industry trade.

This chapter describes the land-use change or activity under consideration, before it can estimate its water and soil effects. If machinery is used, there is a marked change in the water and soil impacts and this kind of activity and these associated impacts are dealt with under ‘Mechanized Wood Harvesting’. In addition, however, the exposure of bare soil and its compaction by machinery has effects on water recharge and on speed of delivery to the streams. Soil surface erosion is not usually an important process in the undisturbed forest, but it can occur, as has been shown in tropical rain forests in Australia and in Malaysia. The on-site effects on soil and water are important, particularly as they relate to the ease of obtaining regeneration and the need to maintain nutrients in order to maintain productivity. Banning forest product harvesting on the basis of the harmful soil and water consequences of ‘deforestation’ is aiming at the wrong target.

Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Arrayed L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) HH and HV polarization data were used previously to produce annual, global 25 m forest maps between 2007 and 2010, and the latest global forest maps of 2015 and 2016 were produced by using the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data. However, annual 25 m spatial resolution forest maps during 2011–2014 are missing because of the gap in operation between ALOS and ALOS-2, preventing the construction of a continuous, fine resolution time-series dataset on the world's forests. In contrast, the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI images were available globally since 2000. This research developed a novel method to produce annual 25 m forest maps during 2007–2016 by fusing the fine spatial resolution, but asynchronous PALSAR/PALSAR-2 with coarse spatial resolution, but synchronous MODIS NDVI data, thus, filling the four-year gap in the ALOS and ALOS-2 time-series, as well as enhancing the existing mapping activity. The method was developed concentrating on two key objectives: 1) producing more accurate 25 m forest maps by integrating PALSAR/PALSAR-2 and MODIS NDVI data during 2007–2010 and 2015–2016; 2) reconstructing annual 25 m forest maps from time-series MODIS NDVI images during 2011–2014. Specifically, a decision tree classification was developed for forest mapping based on both the PALSAR/PALSAR-2 and MODIS NDVI data, and a new spatial-temporal super-resolution mapping was proposed to reconstruct the 25 m forest maps from time-series MODIS NDVI images. Three study sites including Paraguay, the USA and Russia were chosen, as they represent the world's three main forest types: tropical forest, temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and boreal conifer forest, respectively. Compared with traditional methods, the proposed approach produced the most accurate continuous time-series of fine spatial resolution forest maps both visually and quantitatively. For the forest maps during 2007–2010 and 2015–2016, the results had greater overall accuracy values (>98%) than those of the original JAXA forest product. For the reconstructed 25 m forest maps during 2011–2014, the increases in classifications accuracy relative to three benchmark methods were statistically significant, and the overall accuracy values of the three study sites were almost universally >92%. The proposed approach, therefore, has great potential to support the production of annual 25 m forest maps by fusing PALSAR/PALSAR-2 and MODIS NDVI during 2007–2016.

Accurate acquisition of spatial distribution of afforestation in a large area is of great significance to contributing to the sustainable utilization of forest resources and the evaluation of the carbon accounting. Annual forest maps (1986–2016) of Guangdong, China were generated using time series Landsat images and PALSAR data. Initially, four PALSAR-based classifiers were used to classify land cover types. Then, the optimal mapping algorithm was determined. Next, an accurate identification of forest and non-forest was carried out by combining Landsat-based phenological variables and PALSAR-based land cover classifications. Finally, the spatio-temporal distribution of forest cover change due to afforestation was created and its forest biomass dynamics changes were detected. The results indicated that the overall accuracy of forest classification of the improved model based on the PALSAR-based stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) classification and the maximum value of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; SGB-NDVI) were approximately 75–85% in 2005, 2010, and 2016. Compared with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) PALSAR-forest/non-forest, the SGB-NDVI-based forest product showed great improvement, while the SGB-NDVI product was the same or slightly inferior to the Global Land Cover (GLC) and vegetation tracker change (VCT)-based land cover types, respectively. Although this combination of multiple sources contained some errors, the SGB-NDVI model effectively identified the distribution of forest cover changes by afforestation events. By integrating aboveground biomass dynamics (AGB) change with forest cover, the trend in afforestation area closely corresponded with the trend in forest AGB. This technique can provide an essential data baseline for carbon assessment in the planted forests of southern China.

As the largest consumer of petroleum and second highest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, the United States currently is a leading country in bioenergy production driven by a series of policies. One such public program that directly subsidizes biomass feedstock growers is the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), which recently received attention for stimulating the development of bioenergy. However, critiques were also raised, concerning the possibility of intensifying the feedstock competition between bioenergy and forest products. This study, therefore, aimed at assessing the effects of BCAP on the forest product markets with the Global Forest Products Model (GFPM). Three alternative scenarios were designed to simulate three payments in BCAP. In the first scenario, the matching payment was simulated by adjusting the manufacturing cost of fuelwood and particleboard. In the second scenario, establishment payment was simulated by adjusting the supply rate of industrial roundwood. In the third scenario, the annual payment was simulated by linking the supply change rate with the soil rental rate for industrial roundwood. We found that, under the matching payment scenario, industrial roundwood and particleboard will experience a sharp decrease in production and an increase in price. For establishment payments, industrial roundwood will experience a continuous increase in production and a decrease in price. For annual payments, the industrial roundwood will experience a V-shape pattern production.

Fuelwood is an essential forest product for small-holder farmers in the tropics, but fuelwood harvesting may cause forest degradation and impact ecosystem services. Understanding tree species composition, diversity and biomass changes in forests with active fuelwood collection is important for informing sustainable forest harvesting. In the miombo woodlands of southern Malawi, using forest plots, we investigated: 1) if forests with fuelwood harvesting (n = 50) have different tree, sapling and seedling stem density, species diversity, species composition, and aboveground biomass (AGB) than forests with minimal use (n = 36); and 2) if forest product harvesting pressure and access are predictors of tree stem density, diversity and AGB. We found a significant reduction in tree diversity and AGB but not stem density, and different species composition in areas with fuelwood harvesting compared to reference sites. For saplings, stem density was higher and species composition was different in fuelwood harvesting sites. Seedling Shannon index and Simpson’s diversity were lower in fuelwood harvesting sites. Harvesting pressure and access were predictors of AGB and tree stem density. The reduced AGB and tree species diversity may hinder collection of fuelwood and other forest products, and may reduce ecosystem functioning. Exploring the possibility of forest landscape restoration in the area could be beneficial.

This working paper set out to examine the links between migration and forests through a case study of Malinau District in North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The findings indicate that there has been a generational shift in migration patterns: educational migration is the primary driver of migration from the research sites. An implication of such a shift is that migration has switched from being an income-generating activity to one that is a financial burden on rural households. To cover the costs of education, households whose livelihoods are based primarily on farming and forests, are intensifying agricultural production and forest product collection. The research highlight the urgent need to create jobs and economic opportunities for young people at the forest frontiers. This is created by a rise in migration for education, a growing need to earn regular cash income to finance such migration, and aspirations among young people to return to their villages upon completion of their studies. The study links the findings to social forestry policy as it is potential both to provide economic opportunities for people in the forest frontier and at the same time will also benefit from absorbing the returnee educated migrants.

19 Pags.- 5 Figs.- 5 Tabls. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Under a Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)., National accounting either ignores or fails to give due values to the ecosystem services, products, incomes and environmental assets of a country. To overcome these shortcomings, we apply spatially-explicit extended accounts that incorporate a novel environmental income indicator, which we test in the forests of Andalusia (Spain). Extended accounts incorporate nine farmer activities (timber, cork, firewood, nuts, livestock grazing, conservation forestry, hunting, residential services and private amenity) and seven government activities (fire services, free access recreation, free access mushroom, carbon, landscape conservation, threatened biodiversity and water yield). To make sure the valuation remains consistent with standard accounts, we simulate exchange values for non-market final forest product consumption in order to measure individual ecosystem services and environmental income indicators. Manufactured capital and environmental assets are also integrated. When comparing extended to standard accounts, our results are 3.6 times higher for gross value added. These differences are explained primarily by the omission in the standard accounts of carbon activities and undervaluation of private amenity, free access recreation, landscape and threatened biodiversity ecosystem services. Extended accounts measure a value of Andalusian forest ecosystem services 5.4 times higher than that measured using the valuation criteria of standard accounts., This RECAMAN project research has received financial support from Agency of Environment and Water (AMAYA); Department of Environment and Territory Planning (CMAYOT) (contract No NET165602).

Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) is one of the most important non-timber forest product (NTFP) species in the world. Better management and conservation practices will only be possible with an in-depth knowledge of tree species ecology. This study aimed to assess the spatial association of fruit yield of Bertholletia excelsa (B. excelsa) trees in two forest types (old growth terra firme forest and Amazon-cerrado transitional forest) in the Brazilian Amazon. Fruit yield was measured in both forest types during 2010. At each forest type, fruit yield was divided into different yield classes (number of fruits) for subsequent spatial modeling. The bivariate Ripley?s K-function was applied to quantify the spatial association of fruit yield of B. excelsa trees over different fruit yield classes. The results revealed that the forest type influences the spatial association of B. excelsa fruit yield. The old growth terra firme forest presented random spatial association for fruit yield, which implies that fruit yield of B. excelsa trees in this forest type is not limited by tree location and site resources. On the other hand, the Amazon-cerrado transitional forest presented significant negative spatial association for fruit yield across different yield classes, which means that under some conditions fruit yield of a given tree influences the fruit yield of the neighboring tree in this forest type. Site resources in the Amazon-cerrado transitional forest is limited and naturally favors inter- and intra-specific competition. Finally, the results imply the need for adoption of different management and conservation strategies for B. excelsa in different forest types in the Brazilian Amazon. Made available in DSpace on 2019-11-18T18:05:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CPAFAP2019SpatialassociationoffruityielofBertholletia.pdf: 1446611 bytes, checksum: 0663c4cbe619dc9907b50f02093ce2cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019

Rural communities in Myanmar have numerous economic, environmental, and social opportunities but also face challenges as they seek a clear and solid pathway to development. The Government of Myanmar (GoM), as well as several development and donor organizations, have recognized the potential of community forestry (CF) to address many of these challenges. This recognition has taken the form of targets for CF development (for example, 2.27 million acres [919,000 hectares (ha)] of community forests by fiscal year 2030/31), legal frameworks (for example, Community Forestry Instructions [CFIs], 1995 and 2016), and programs by state and non-state actors (NSAs).

Rattan jernang (Daemonorops draco Willd.) is a type of non-timber forest product that has a high market value. To reduce dependence on natural forests, jernang rattan cultivation is important. This study aims to determine the growth response of 3 year old jernang rattan plants to light intensity under mixed stands. The study was carried out at KHDTK Kemampo, Palembang Environmental and Forestry Research and Development Center from June to July 2020. This study used an experimental method with a Non-Factoral Randomized Block Design consisting of 3 treatments with 9 replications. The treatments consisted of P1 = canopy closure 10–30% (light intensity 72.19%), P2 = canopy closure 40–60% (light intensity 55.63%), and P3 = canopy closure 70–90% (light intensity 23.39%). The results showed that the growth of jernang rattan gave a very good response to light intensity under mixed stands for all parameters observed, namely plant height, leaf midrib length and number of leaves, as well as leaf color. The best growth of jernang rattan is in light conditions with a canopy cover of 10%-30% (light intensity 72.19%). There is a positive correlation between light intensity and the growth of jernang rattan under mixed stands, that is, the higher the light intensity, the better the growth of jernang rattan.

To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically reviewed and analyzed the research trends of wild-simulated ginseng (WSG) used for food or medicinal purposes in many countries. WSG, a non-timber forest product, has been traditionally produced using agroforestry practices, and it has been consumed in various ways for a long time. WSG has a great demand in the market due to its medicinal effects, particularly in improving forest livelihoods and human health. Due to the significance of WSG, we conducted this research to explore the global research trends on WSG using systematic review methodology and keyword analysis. We used two international academic databases, the Web of Science and SCOPUS, to extract 115 peer-reviewed articles published from 1982 to 2020. The research subjects, target countries, and keywords were analyzed. Our results indicate four categories of WSG research subjects, namely growth conditions, components, effects on humans/animals, and the environment of WSG, and the case studies were mainly from the Republic of Korea, China, and the USA. Through topic modelling, research keywords were classified into five groups, namely medicinal effects, metabolite analysis, genetic diversity, cultivation conditions, and bioactive compounds. We observed that the research focus on WSG changed from the biological properties and cultivation conditions of WSG to the precise identification and characterization of bioactive metabolites of WSG. This change indicates an increased academic interest in the value-added utilization of WSG.

Ethiopia has made an ambitious pledge for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) under the Bonn challenge and the so-called AFR100 initiative – to restore 15 Mio ha of degraded forest lands by 2030. This target is in line with national and international policy objectives to effectively address climate change and develop a ‘Climate Resilient Green Economy’. Implementation at scale is pending as technical, financial and policy challenges need to be addressed. This paper presents a case study that was commissioned by German technical development cooperation. The objective was to develop a landscape restoration strategy for the area connecting Chebera Churchura national park and Kafa Biosphere Reserve in the Southwestern part of Ethiopia. The ‘Restoration Diagnostic’ tool developed by the World Research Institute was used to identify options for establishing a biodiversity corridor and to assess FLR opportunities. Based on the results of a field study and extensive GIS analysis, suitable FLR measures were identified and discussed in stakeholder consultations. Results show that more than 25% of the entire area is suitable for restoration measures; however, in the populated parts of the landscape a focus on productive aspects seems critical, i.e. to improve the provision of food, fuel wood and timber. Barriers relate to low institutional capacity, lack of infrastructure and undeveloped forest product value chains. Addressing these challenges can significantly contribute to sustainable management of natural forests in the buffer zone of the protected areas, and to promote agriculture and socio-economic development of the zones outside protected areas. The findings of such assessments can inform decision makers and donor organizations about FLR in candidate areas. If they become a key source of information in the respective policy processes they can contribute to effective governance of FLR.

Mountains are critical ecosystems that have a strong influence far beyond their topographic boundaries. More than 50 million people inhabit the Himalayas, and more than one billion people depend on the ecosystem services they provide. Anthropogenic activities have driven concurrent deforestation and regeneration in the Himalayas, and interventions to reduce forest loss and promote forest recovery require a synthetic understanding of the complex and interacting drivers of forest change. We conducted a systematic review of case studies from 1984 to 2020 (n = 137) and combined a system dynamics approach with a causal network analysis to identify, map and articulate the relationships between the drivers, actors and mechanisms of forest change across the entirety of the Himalayan mountain range. In total, the analysis revealed five proximate drivers, 12 underlying drivers, two institutional factors and five ‘other’ factors connected by a total of 221 linkages. Forest change dynamics have been dominated by widespread smallholder agriculture, extensive non-timber forest product extraction, widespread commercial and non-commercial timber extraction, and high rates of agricultural abandonment. Underlying drivers include population growth, poor agricultural productivity, international support for development projects, and successful community forest management systems. Contradictory linkages emerge from a combination of contextual factors, which can have negative impacts on conservation goals. Global processes such as shifts in governance, transnational infrastructure-development programs, economic slowdowns, labor migrations and climate change threaten to destabilize established dynamics and change forest trajectories. The underlying and proximate drivers interact through multiple pathways that can be utilized to achieve conservation goals. Based on this analysis, we highlight five thematic focus areas to curtail forest loss and promote recovery: (1) decreasing the population pressure, (2) sustainable increase of agricultural productivity, (3) strengthening of forest management institutions, (4) leveraging tourism growth and sustainable infrastructure expansion, and (5) fuel transition and establishing firewood plantations on degraded land. The broader adoption of systems thinking, and specifically a system dynamics approach and causal network analysis, will greatly enhance the rigour of policy development, help design site-specific interventions at multiple spatial scales which can respond to local and global changes, and guide deeper inquiry to enhance our understanding of driver-forest dynamics.

Agent-based models are popular in common-pool resource management to represent complex systems and stimulate collective action and management, where they are used to evaluate scenarios of stakeholders’ choice in participatory simulations. We developed the “CoComForest” (COllaborative COMmunity FOREST management) model to support community forest management (CFM) and non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvesting in Nan Province, northern Thailand. The model was used as a computer-based role-playing game to support sharing of perceptions and knowledge among stakeholders, and in participatory simulations to explore future CFM scenarios. The Unified Modelling Language was used to build the conceptual model, subsequently implemented under the CORMAS (COmmon-pool Resource and Multi-Agent System) simulation platform. Several tests were conducted in the laboratory for verification and calibration before using this tool with 21 diverse stakeholders during a field workshop. Three different participatory gaming and simulation sessions were organized. The first one focused on the co-validation of the model with participants. They accepted most of the model functionalities and the scheduling of the rounds of play. The model was used in the subsequent two sessions to simulate the scenarios of firebreak establishment and introduction of outsiders intensively harvesting NTFPs, respectively. The results showed that the intensive harvesting practices of outsiders accelerated the depletion of resources, whereas the prevention of wildfire by establishing firebreaks could increase the resource availability in the landscape. The debriefing session at the end of the workshop focused on the analysis of simulation results and the relationships between the players’ decision-making and their actual circumstances. Individual in-depth interviews conducted after the workshop helped to evaluate the use of this model with local stakeholders. Most participants considered the model as a useful common representation of the system they manage collectively. Its use in participatory simulations facilitated communication among the stakeholders searching for an adapted and acceptable collective action plan to improve CFM at the sub-district level in order to prevent the overharvesting of NTFPs by outsiders.

Wood energy data are reported in forest products and energy statistics but current use of heterogeneous units can result in major inconsistencies. Harmonization of wood energy statistics can benefit data quality and improve measuring sustainable practices, better informing policy-makers and analyzing feedstock competition. Harmonization of wood energy data and subsequent application in the forest product and energy sectors require appropriate conversion factors. We provide conversion factors for forest energy products relative to weight and volume for the residential sectors of EU28 member states. Selected forest products include wood from primary, secondary and tertiary sources considering differences in properties affecting conversion factors. Proposed conversion factors were derived from information on moisture content, heating value, density and changes in wood volumes due to swelling and shrinkage of wood. Heating values relative to weight denote conversion factors to transform weight to energy units that ranged from 13.88 to 17.14 MJ/kg. Computation of heating values relative to volume ranged from 7316 to 11,053 MJ/m³. The use of extreme conversion factors in a sensitivity assessment showed that the ranges between minimum and maximum values accounted for as much as 27% of total wood energy consumption. Application of conversion factors to EU28 residential wood energy consumption revealed inconsistencies between forest products and energy statistics. Closer collaboration between experts and use of universal conversion factors at national levels will likely improve data quality and direct comparability. Conversion factors used in the residential sector can facilitate harmonization in non-residential sectors, but sector-specific product characteristics require further adjustment.