According to the new European Commission proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free products, six commodities - cattle, wood, palm oil, soy, cocoa, and coffee and their derivate products – grown or raised on land that was subject to deforestation or forest degradation will be banned from entering the EU market. In this commentary paper, we discuss the possible unintended effects of the regulation

China has implemented a strategy of classified forest management to achieve sustainable forest development. As part of this strategy, a large amount of non-public forestland has been designated for ecological purposes, depriving farmers of the management and use rights. Without adequate compensation, however, this policy could dampen their interest in managing commercial as well as ecological forests

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Today's societies face significant ecological and societal challenges, including climate change and economic crises. In this context, forests can be a useful resource for new innovations and products. However, increased out-take of forest resources can raise the pressure on common forest resources and increase already existing conflicts between e.g. forestry and production versus conservation. Herein

In most low-income countries, rural households combine a range of economic activities to generate income, achieve food and nutritional security and fulfill other livelihood objectives, including: small-scale farming, fishing, hunting, livestock and timber production, and non-timber forest products gathering, as well as off-farm activities such as wage labour and informal trading. This work examines

Across the U.S.A., as across many countries, families, individuals, trusts, estates, and family partnerships, collectively referred to as family forest ownerships, own a plurality of the forestland. The Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators (C&I) were used to assess the sustainability of these lands. There are currently 109 million ha of family forestland across the conterminous U.S.A., but this

Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on forests by affecting the successional dynamics of tree species and the performance of plantations, among others. Research is needed to better understand how these factors will affect forests and economies in different regions, and how we can best adapt. To shed some light on these issues, we couple an economic (Computable General Equilibrium)

Forests and forest-based bioeconomy have central roles in the contemporary sustainability transition. However, the transition towards a bioeconomy is loaded with tensions regarding economic growth, ecological integrity, and social justice. These tensions reproduce varying transition discourses. Political actors at the level of the European Union (EU) and nation states take part in the processes creating

The use of biofuels has proven to be fundamental in decreasing the impact of human activities on the environment and also in contributing to a more sustainable development. Wooden biomasses have historically been used for heating purposes and are still being used worldwide. The valorisation of wood products goes through certifications, in particular the ENplus certification guarantees quality and the

Nepal's community forestry is well studied and widely acknowledged, but its experience of Community Forestry Enterprises (CFEs) as a form of community entrepreneurship has not been part of a robust scholarly debate. While CFEs are considered a means to enhance community livelihoods and reduce poverty, a growing body of literature suggests that it is difficult to establish, grow and sustain economically

Forests provide grounds for human well-being through direct material, indirect environmental, and immaterial contributions. Here, we analyze the example of Hispaniola to understand reasons for (un)sustainable forest use. We pursue a dynamic comparative case study of the island's two countries from a political ecology perspective. From the literature, we derive a set of socio-economic hypotheses for

Privately-owned forests in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are important potential carbon sinks and play a large role in carbon sequestration and storage. Non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners constitute a substantial portion of overall forest landownership in productive regions of the PNW; however, little is known about their preferences for non-market incentive programs aimed at increased carbon

Environmental benefits have become priority objectives for the management of forests, including for private forest owners in many countries. Understanding and promoting environmental-friendly private forest management requires a measure of environmental concern of forest owners and knowledge of factors that influence it. Such a measure allows to explore underlying motivations of forest owners to include

The formalization of community forest tenure rights is expected to promote sustainable community forest management, and is seen as a way to combine objectives related to environmental conservation, livelihood improvement, and local self-determination. However, the formalization of forest tenure rights by itself, does not automatically result in the intended impacts. There is a need to better understand

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This Special Issue (SI) collects 15 papers that examine forestry in Latin America (LA). Their specific intent is to review major themes in LA forestry and forest policy and to identify important characteristics of the region that either do or should separate policy and economics in that region from that in other regions of the world. The first two papers begin with a review of national and regional

The debate over production and protection oriented forest management is long-standing in various part of the world. Taking a case of scientific forest management (SciFM) of Nepal, we aimed to analyze how policy actors, their interests and interactions (networks) shape the discursive shift of forest management practices. We employed the discourse network analysis to diagnose the policy rupture of SciFM

Policies impacting forest management on privately-owned lands demonstrate remarkable variety across the United States, with each state emphasizing different approaches to balancing private property rights with the protection of public trust resources. Though private property rights are historically paramount in the US, previous researchers have identified a variety of policy approaches on private forest

Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are important part of the public land system for forest-based recreation in the United States. Despite the growing literature on the economics of outdoor recreation, information about the economic benefit of visitors' access to WMAs, common to 35 states nationally, is lacking. WMAs differ from other public areas because of their unique focus on promoting conservation

A social vision is slowly emerging of the bioeconomy as an avenue towards sustainability. This paper presents a systematic review of the existing literature on the connection between gender (as a social dimension) and bioeconomy. We have reviewed 244 scientific publications which explicitly mention bioeconomy and gender/women in their title, abstract, keywords or text; 127 documents were identified

Forest disturbances are expected to increase as a result of climate change. Thus, it is important to increase the resistance of forests by means of climate adaptation. To examine how effective a voluntary governance approach may be to encourage climate adaptation, this study investigates change in the level of adaptation among private forest owners in Sweden based on survey data from 2014 (n = 1482)

There is increasing interest in the cost-effectiveness and economic benefits of replacing traditional engineering-based ‘grey’ infrastructure with nature-based ‘green’ infrastructure in the water sector. This study builds on the emerging literature in this field and sets itself apart in several ways. New in this study is the focus on the interrelationship between green infrastructure, water treatment

In South Africa, although implementation of government and forestry industry's embraced forest-based land reform partnership governance models, rural development and community beneficiaries' access to timber or wood products markets independently remain a challenge. This study assessed the perception of community beneficiaries on the sales and leaseback and community managed enterprise forest-based

In a scenario of global change, with increasing temperatures and extreme climatic events, healthy forests are at risk. Forests have to fight several types of biotic and abiotic stress. Prospective scenarios warn of the negative effects that forests will suffer in upcoming decades (drought, fires, pests, diseases, etc.), consequently making it necessary to implement actions that can not only prevent

Understanding the contribution of forests to poverty alleviation and human well-being has never been more important. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are erasing gains in poverty reduction achieved over the past several decades. At the same time, climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events and natural disasters, especially in poor rural communities. In this paper, we review

This study assesses harvest levels compatible with the reference levels for forest management sinks (FRLs) within the EU, the UK, and Norway (EU + UK + N). A detailed examination of the harvest data and the National Forest Accounting Plans of the countries within this region reveals that the countries have calculated their FRLs based on different modelling approaches and that the quality of data used

Addressing poverty is an urgent global priority. Many of the world's poor and vulnerable people live in or near forests and rely on trees and other natural resources to support their livelihoods. Effectively tackling poverty and making progress toward the first of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere” must therefore consider forests and trees

Wildlife management areas (WMAs) provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Among these services, hunting and fishing often make the most obvious contribution to local and state economies through the expenditures of the hunters and anglers. However, the total economic contributions of WMAs also include other forms of recreation that are generally less visible, unlicensed, and less well understood

In this paper we estimate the effect of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on the prices of standing timber in U.S. South using a reduced form model. The results of the estimation based on time series data covering the period between 1960 and 2019 suggest that CRP had a negative effect on the prices of standing timber in the long run. This statistically significant negative effect is estimated

The political project on bioeconomy strives to address multiple societal aspirations, namely combine economic growth with environmental sustainability in some socially acceptable manner. The contradictions between the goals and the concrete plans to increase production, processing, and consumption of forest biomass in Europe have however raised sustainability concerns within and beyond its borders

Forest disturbances in Europe are very likely to increase in frequency and intensity. Assessing their economic consequences is required to identify feasible adaptation strategies. Such economic calculations depend on estimates for the reduction in revenues after disturbance events. These losses can be caused by both a lower wood quality as well as an oversupply on the wood markets. Despite its importance

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This paper develops methodologies and identifies data gaps for understanding the impacts of hurricanes on forest product markets. Using the case of Hurricane Michael, we simulate damage to forest growing stock and forest area from alternative damage estimations (inventory and remote sensed). We then consider alternative scenarios for replanting, and the spatial distribution of salvage consumption.

This study examines whether the establishment of community-managed forest concessions has driven migration into the Petén department in northern Guatemala. The Petén department is home to the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which is a 2-million-hectare tropical forest that contains forest concession areas managed by forest-dwelling communities living in and near the reserve. The forest concessions provide

As forest tenure reform is mainstreamed around the world, outcomes are increasingly determined by the institutions that are responsible for administering its operationalisation and translating policy into implementation. This global study examines state institutional contexts of tenure reform in Kenya, Uganda, Nepal, Indonesia, and Peru. Interviews were administered in 2016–2017 using a fixed questionnaire

Oil palm production is an important income source for millions of smallholder farmers in the tropics. Oftentimes, yields in smallholder systems are low, entailing larger area requirements and higher than necessary rates of deforestation. Smallholder performance differs spatially, even within countries and provinces. A better understanding of this spatial variation can help to design more effective

The effects of community forestry on biodiversity conservation and local development have been highlighted in Africa and elsewhere. However, little is known on the perception and attitude of local forest users toward community forestry programs. This study aimed to address this gap by identifying the factors that influence the perception and attitude of local forest users toward Local Community Forest

Tree-level planning is gaining relevance supported by continuous advances in forest remote sensing methods. Spatial connectivity under spatial optimization methods applied to individual tree mapping data remains unexplored. This article presents a spatially explicit mathematical formulation that ensures the tree cuttings conforming a corridor can connect two points across a forest landscape. The created

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of natural capital on overall subjective well-being and forest-related subjective well-being. A questionnaire survey of 1698 urban and rural residents living in a watershed of Japan was conducted in February and March of 2016. Multiple regression and moderation effect analyses are conducted to statistically estimate the respective influences of natural

International policies have set sustainable development goals that put emphasis on bioeconomy strategies based on renewable resources. The forestry sector, by providing bio-based products, is expected to take part in this bioeconomy with, among other things, the reduction of society's dependence on fossil fuels. Nevertheless, in Europe, the forestry sector is facing an increase in the number of small

Scholars contend that governance structure, whether community-facilitated or state-facilitated natural resource management, shape environmental resource use. However, the complex manifestations of institutions and governance structure suggest the need for a continual application of mixed-method analytical approaches to understand the environmental resource use outcomes linked to individual effects

An empirical analysis which compares Colombia's 2019 Forest Plantation for Wood Production Value Chain policy (PFCm policy), aimed at reaching 1.5 Mha of commercial plantations by 2025, with five other policy scenarios, for the period 2015–2047, is presented. We consider two cases with no expansion, and two alternative goals for expansion reaching 0.765 Mha and 2 Mha, and compare the projected volume

The Desa'a forest in Tigray is a national forest priority area managed by the government. Government authorities grant access to local communities as the forest is the source of income for many households. To allow the forest provide such economic needs and ecological functions, its sustainability needs to be ensured. We studied the effect of a demand-relevant economic attribute and two policy–relevant

The question is the potential for sustainable forest practice for the state of Acre in Brazil's western Amazon. This paper uses a von Thunen-like approach together with local market data to examine commercial logging and mill opportunity for distances around Acre's mill and municipality center. It concludes that under recent and current conditions the harvesting of the mature forest at the frontier

This paper aims at shedding light on partisan differences in forest policy by analysing whether governing parties' policy outputs are strongly orientated towards the demands of the nature conservation or the forestry sector. The data base encompasses four forest-related issues, relevant from 2001 to 2018 in the 16 German Bundesländer, so that more than 50 cabinets were able to be considered for analysis

Mediterranean territories have co-evolved and been shaped by fire throughout history. However, global environmental change conditions are increasing the size, intensity and severity of wildfires, which have gone from a regular natural disturbance to a serious threat for civil protection, surpassing firefighting capacities. Therefore, building resilience in fire-prone territories is an increasingly

Innovation and entrepreneurship research related to the forestry sector has progressed significantly in recent years, integrating an increasing number of topics and developing stronger theoretical grounding. Specifically, Schumpeterian theory is increasingly used as a framework of reference. This review of the application of Schumpeterian theory to the forestry innovation and entrepreneurship literature

Research indicates that white root rot disease can inflict severe economic damage on the Malaysian rubber industry, which is caused by the fungus, Rigidoporus microporus. Accordingly, the economic impact of this disease is assessed by the partial equilibrium model, called the Malaysian Agriculture and Plantation Greenhouse Gas Model. The model represents the major commodities of the Malaysian agricultural

To effectively conserve forests and the ecosystem services they provide, mechanisms are needed to promote conservation on private lands that reduce forest fragmentation, secure lands with high conservation value, and enhance landscape connectivity. Incentive-based programs like payments for ecosystem services (PES) are important policy tools for attaining conservation on private lands. In 2019, we

Measuring the social impact of oil palm requires the use of multiple metrics which capture different dimensions of well-being. To date, most studies have examined welfare outcomes at the household level, relying on a relatively narrow range of indicators. There is a need for a more diverse range of metrics to measure the social impacts of oil palm as well as more explicit accounting for study context

Given the importance that the forestry sector plays in the economy of several countries and considering the magnitude of world demand, it is understood that the participation of the forestry-based sector in the market is below its potential. The main objective of this research was to analyze the competitiveness of Brazil and Chile in the conifer sawn wood (CSW) and Chemical Wood Pulp (CWP) international

We built a game-theoretic supply model where forest landowners respond to each other's decisions using two market assumptions: (i) Perfect cartel, (ii) Cournot competition (simultaneous moves) and (iii) Stackelberg competition (sequential moves). Our findings indicate that the initial forest structure is instrumental in determining forest composition outcomes among suppliers. The solutions in the Cournot

Although the contributions of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to poverty alleviation and resource conservation are widely acknowledged, NTFP collection is still one of the leading human activities threatening the habitats of giant pandas. This study thus explores the dynamics and determinants of household's participation in, income from, and reliance on NTFP collection in the panda reserves. Data

Over the past half century there has been a rapid expansion of the forestry sector in Chile. One hypothesis is that this growth was stimulated in major part by government-supported financial incentives to forestry plantations dating from the mid-1970s. Evaluating the effects of subsidies on plantations is of current policy interest due to the potential importance of forests as carbon sinks. This study

South America's Tri-national Paraná Atlantic Forest, an ecological region spanning across the nations of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, is one of the most diverse in the world but also one of the most vulnerable to deforestation. A review of public policy interventions shows all three governments have taken major legislative steps to protect remaining forests, but studies evaluating deforestation

Can the principles of Buen Vivir support forest cover transition in Latin America? This paper explores the effects of the Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra (Law 071), the fundamental law for regulating the rights of nature and the environment in accordance with the principles of Buen Vivir, in Bolivia. By means of a country-level panel dataset, we compare forest cover trajectories of Bolivia with

Since late 2013, Indonesia's biggest palm oil companies have positioned themselves as strong advocates of zero-deforestation. However, their commitments to zero-deforestation have not always been well-received by the Indonesian government. The government has taken many initiatives to promote sustainable palm oil and to put an end to deforestation, but prefers to do so on its own terms. The palm oil

Forests can play a significant role both in halting biodiversity loss and in mitigating climate change. A variety of payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes exists to promote biodiversity conservation in forests. These schemes could be used to strengthen the role of forests as carbon sinks as well. This paper analyzes the implications of supplementing a PES scheme that targets boreal forest biodiversity