The role of armed conflicts on land use/cover changes (LUCC), especially in Zagros forests of Iran, remains ambiguous after 30 years of the Iraq-Iran war. Our goal in this study was to assess LUCC in Sardasht related to the Iraq-Iran war in a 22 year period (1976–1998). LUCC of Sardasht city was evaluated using Landsat satellite image time series of MSS and TM data. We classified multi-temporal Landsat

A case study approach was used to better understand the characteristics of large family forest landowners in the U.S. South. In particular, this study examines these landowners' business structures, extent of ownership, and management objectives. Large family forest landowners were defined as families or family businesses owning large tracts of forested land. Using the theoretical framework of the

In this paper, I discuss developments of the generalized Faustmann formula since its publication in 1998. They included the formula for even-aged plantation management, uneven-aged management and forest valuation. These formula were followed by those for forest property taxation and valuation under taxation, the generalized van Kooten model, and the generalized Reed model as well as the uneven-aged

The hedonic pricing method was applied to examine the effect of working forest conservation easements (WFCEs) on the value of surrounding land parcels in state of Georgia. Data were collected on attributes of WFCEs in 62 counties and 46,580 property sales occurring from 2001 to 2018. Results suggested that one size did not fill all and that the type of property (agricultural, commercial or residential)

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have been initiated throughout Brazil to encourage forest restoration on private lands, especially smaller properties that are out of compliance with national land use laws requiring conservation of native vegetation. A choice experiment of 189 farmers in the Cantareira region – the drinking water source for over nine million people in the São Paulo metropolitan

This study adopted the contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate the annual economic value of Qiedong-Wang-Gong (Bischofia javanica), the only urban heritage tree that was over a thousand years old in Taiwan, having the largest population in Central Taiwan. In this study, 307 samples were collected and classifying and excluding the protest responses, which took up about 26.7% of the whole sample

Previous studies of forest transition (FT) have taken a narrow perspective. This paper aims to illustrate the crucial need for expanding the analytic scope of FT using China's experience during the past five decades. Afforestation and reforestation efforts have increased the country's forest cover remarkably, but the condition of China's forests remains disappointing if we look at changes in the stocking

In the U.S. and around the world, governmental and non-governmental actors are piloting network governance approaches to fill gaps in governance resources (management capacity, local legitimacy) that cannot be met by a single entity alone. Such resources are needed to respond adaptively to changing conditions, such as those posed by severe disturbance. The purpose of this study is to provide insight

Assessing pre-defined strategies remains the status quo for studies supporting silvicultural decision-making for future forest management, yet, such strategies may not fully address decision-makers' preferences and uncertainty attitudes. We develop a continuous stand-level optimisation approach that integrates multiple decision criteria, uncertain input data based on ellipsoidal uncertainty sets and

The economic development literature has documented the importance of internet access on farm household income. Despite this well-supported consensus, limited empirical evidence has been provided on forestry farms and on the relationship between internet access and household subjective wellbeing. This study fills this knowledge gap by identifying the determinants of internet use for forestry farm householders

The integration of indigenous viewpoints in Ecosystem Service frameworks and planning processes are often lacking, necessitating a need to integrate diverse perspectives for knowledge coproduction. The study adopts a comparative analysis to explore local perceptions of the diversity of forest ecosystem services and values for ecological restoration among urban and rural Vhavenda groups in the Vhembe

As attention to individual responsibility and the potential for self-realization through responsibilization grows, there is a need for better understanding of how environmental governance is also changing. In considering changes in community forestry priorities, from reversing deforestation to environmental governance, it is essential to understand how environmental responsibilities are being shifted

Bioeconomy means a change in economic production that leads to a bio-based economy and a substitution of fossil resources with renewable raw materials throughout the whole value chain, in industrial and energy production. Especially in the forestry sector, bioeconomy is widely discussed, since forests as well as agricultural landscapes are a crucial natural resource for the availability of biomass

In recent years, the concept of sustainable forest management has evolved into a number of Criteria and Indicators schemes that are designed to guide the practice of sustainable forestry. One such mechanism is the Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators, which identifies seven criteria and 54 indicators associated with these seven criteria. While there is sufficient basic forest data available through

Forest owners' intentions to apply alternative management practices were examined to increase the understanding of the factors that influence forest management on non-industrial private forests. Randomly selected Finnish forest owners were surveyed to determine their management intentions for five management practices: traditional management; short rotation management; long rotation management; uneven-aged

The woodland social enterprise (WSE) sector is growing and has a role to play in the forest-based bioeconomy. Social enterprise is also favoured by neoliberal economic policies, and the range of motivations and possible impacts of WSEs calls for better understanding of how and why to support WSE. This paper examines a pilot partnership project in the UK to gain insights for such support, and for social

Schedules of declining discount rates have been advocated, and adopted by several European governments. They undermine classical solutions to forest economics problems, especially optimal rotation. Adapting classical first-order conditions created problems of local optimisation. A global search algorithm allowed inclusion of initial costs and thinning revenues. It produced results according with expectations

The application of biotechnological innovations has increased in agriculture and forestry over the past two decades. Numerous benefits of biotechnologies are documented; however, implementation is controversial and continues to face technical, biophysical and societal barriers. The longer history of agricultural biotechnology holds potential lessons for emerging proposals in forestry, and vice versa

Few studies have analyzed the performance of stumpage sales ensuing the tenure reform and market liberalization in China's southern collective forest region. In this paper we investigate the price formation and determination of recent stumpage sales in southwestern Zhejiang, using a line hedonic pricing model, robust bootstrap semi logarithmic quantile regression hedonic pricing model and transaction

There is well established literature that focuses on measuring the public (social) value of ecosystem services, alongside traditional economic valuations, with the aim of better informing natural resource management decision-making. However, few studies have considered the role of ecosystem service values directly in the context of the general public's support for specific natural resource management

Due to the shortcomings of hierarchical natural resource governance, theorists have been increasing focus on the decentralization of power to local organizations. Although decentralization is associated with real participation, what level of participation do locals prefer in forest governance? Given the lack of research on forest governance in the Middle East, this study focused on rural councils in

Climate change will alter precipitation patterns across the world increasing drought risk to forests in some areas, especially where summer precipitation is reduced. Effective management of this risk requires quantified information on the probabilities and consequences of drought to support policy and strategic decisions on the choice of tree species that will provide drought resilience and ensure

During the last few years (2016–2019) forestry in Poland has received special attention from domestic and international audiences. In particular, the conflict relating to the Bialowieza Forest in Eastern Poland has been widely covered by the media. Yet there reminds a lack of understanding relating to Polish forestry paradigms. There are only a few publications on the topic. Moreover, little empirical

The South of Brazil is one of the most attractive regions for timberland investments in the world. High productivity and relatively attractive timber prices have gained attention from timberland investors. However, as in most emerging countries, it is not very clear how prices are transmitted across products and markets. Having this information is essential to strategic planning as well as understand

Policies and projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and the sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), have been regarded as an opportunity to improve forest governance while supporting rural livelihoods. However, now that REDD+ policies are being increasingly implemented, a number of justice-related challenges have

Community-based approaches to forest management and governance promised that transferred responsibilities to forest communities would create the conditions to achieve better conservation and a sustainable use of forest ecosystems, as well as social well-being and poverty reduction for the communities. This article examines the limitations of these approaches in contexts of ambiguous collective property

The current New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) allows forest growers to earn units under the stock change approach. Carbon price risk means that most participants are only trading safe units that they do not need to surrender after harvest provided that they replant. Consequently, the ETS has provided less incentive for afforestation than had been envisaged. This paper evaluates averaging as

In West Africa, fuelwood is the main source of energy in rural areas. The growing needs for wood energy cause the degradation of forests, including mangroves in Benin. This study assessed the wood energy needs in the mangrove areas of RAMSAR sites 1017 and 1018 in Benin. Surveys were conducted with 614 stakeholders (firewood housekeepers, collectors and sellers, manufacturers and sellers of charcoal

The increasing demand for forest resources in Vietnam has increased the need for investment in research and development in the forestry industry. Recent research has investigated the viability of introducing hybrid nursery stock to forestry plantations in Vietnam as a strategy to meet the increased demand for forest products. The study reported in this paper measured forest plantation owners' willingness

Vietnam is bucking the global tropical deforestation trend through government-led reforestation programs and strict controls on harvesting of natural forest. However, most reforestation in Vietnam has been via plantations of a few exotic species, mainly in the genus Acacia. Vietnam's plantation estate, while financially profitable, is characterised by low biodiversity, and there are concerns about

The adoption of the EU land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation ensures that for the first time afforestation in Europe will contribute toward the achievement of European Union (EU) climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement. However, increased afforestation in Europe could have unintended environmental trade-offs that may hamper the achievement of EU Water Framework Directive

Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) is the most common and heavily referenced methodology in the context of innovation and development in information systems. Its application has extended from information technology systems and processes to many other sectors including services and governance. The purpose of this study is to introduce DSRM as a research tool in forest-sector research and to

Attempts to encourage smallholder tree growing with policies and incentives have had variable outcomes, and earlier research and theories have identified various important factors in the enabling environment and in promotional policies. Outcome effectiveness of policies and incentives depends on the socioeconomic context where they are applied, the overall political and market environment, policy perseverance

Over the last few years, the bamboo policy in India has undergone a major change. The national bamboo development programme has been restructured with a shift in priority from restoring bamboo forests to promoting farm bamboo and developing its market linkage. This programme earlier with the environment ministry, is now housed in the agriculture ministry. The Indian Forest Act 1927 has also been amended

Large-scale silvicultural programs designed to alter forest characteristics to accomplish either financial or ecological goals often involve the extraction of significant volumes. The operational costs, and thus extend over which these programs can be applied, depend in large part on supply chain considerations and the degree to which removals can be merchandized. Forestry supply chain considerations

We simulate the impacts of future reductions of risk of fusiform rust, increases in forest productivity and seedling costs on the optimal forest management of an even-aged slash pine stand using a generalised economic model. Our numerical findings show that future land values are increased with future reductions of fusiform rust risk, ranging approximately between $2919 ha−1 and $4962 ha−1. Compared

While the global restoration movement is rapidly gaining momentum, understanding the concept and benefits of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is paramount to safeguarding the natural capital of Canada's forests. In the face of increasing cumulative effects, we investigated the opportunities for scaling up FLR efforts in Canadian forests. The pace of industrial natural resource extraction developments

Mushrooms, berries and other Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) are an important part of forest recreation, rural income and of cultural heritage. Due to poor data on their collection and use, they are often ignored in forest policy and management decisions, which could impair those livelihoods that depend on NWFPs as an income source. We conducted a survey involving 17,346 respondents from 28 European

Oil palm, a vital crop, contributes significantly to the economic and social development of Malaysia. However, a pathogen such as the Basal Stem Rot (BSR) poses a significant threat to the oil palm that would lead to significant economic losses. Motivated by this development, we utilize a partial equilibrium model of Malaysian agriculture to measure the level of economic damage in terms of real agricultural

The Amazon Fund is the world's largest program to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), funded with over US $1b donated by Norway and Germany between 2008 and 2017 to reward Brazil for prior deforestation reductions. Olhos D'Água da Amazônia is cited as a leading project success − with over one thousand small-to-medium-sized crop and livestock producers in the municipality

Improving acceptability of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects among local households requires adaptive policy approach based on the implementation experience of such projects. This paper analyses the current state of REDD+ implementation in Indonesia based on a synthesis of policy documents, published studies and our field research. A key finding of this analysis

Globally, gender has been identified in research as a salient dimension embedded in the social relations of forests. While research related to the Global South is abundant on this topic, the scholarly output from the Global North is sparser. Based on the theoretical understanding of gendering as ongoing contested spatial and constitutive differencing practices, this study, through a qualitative approach

To achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement, a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is needed, as well as increased removals by carbon sinks. In this context, we argue that Climate-Smart Forestry is a necessary, but still missing component in national strategies for implementing actions under the Paris Agreement. Climate-Smart Forestry is needed to (a) increase the total forest

This paper explains how powerful actors use scientific forestry narratives to regain power over decentralised forest resources. Through elements of trust, incentives, coercion, and avoidance forest bureaucrats convince forest user groups of the need to implement so-called scientific management and planning principles to obtain predictable harvests. In reality, however, these principles replicate colonial-style

This research provides a benefit transfer model of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for wetlands' conservation in the United States. The validity of the estimated wetland's willingness-to-pay values is also examined. This study extends and provides improvements to wetlands valuation literature by using information obtained from 21 study sites - 19 natural and 2 constructed. Benefit transfer values for wetlands

Studies on power dynamics have helped to develop a better understanding of the role of actors and interests influencing community forestry initiatives. This article introduces a sequential power analysis as a framework for expanding research on power dynamics to better understand the various stages that shape benefit sharing outcomes in community forestry. The research is based on the increasingly

Carbon leakage, a shift of carbon emissions from a region with emission constraint to unregulated areas, has been a great concern in energy-related industries and the forest sector. Carbon leakage may weaken the effectiveness of regional climate policies. This study aims to identify the drivers of carbon leakage and provide policy implications to mitigate carbon leakage using meta-regression. A total

Over the last decade, outdoor recreation has changed from passive (such as relaxation) to much more active (such as mountain biking) activities. Recreational infrastructure, such as mountain bike trails, often consists of technically innovative projects in urban forest areas. However, these projects tend to pose serious challenges to forest managers and forest owners, e.g., liability and cost issues

This article is a contribution to a critical resilience literature that emphasizes the lack of recognition and consideration of social and power relations, the complexity of local cultural heterogeneity and aspects of justice in current resilience approaches. We base our contribution on an empirical study related to policy and project interventions implemented by governmental agencies and international

In the past decade, concern for forest loss has spurred ambitious restoration goals for climatic, ecological, and livelihood benefits. Restoration activities typically rely on government-led or large-scale tree planting. A narrow focus on top-down initiatives could promote the recentralization of forestry activities and overlook important contributions by smallholders, especially in Africa. Smallholder

The trend of feminization in forest management has become more prevalent in developing countries due to a growing out-migration of rural male laborers for off-farm work. Meanwhile, technological progress can play a major role in mitigating the labor shortage and improving the outputs of forest production. It is thus important to understand how the feminization has affected rural household's decision

Forests have two notable economic roles in the future: providing renewable raw material and storing carbon to mitigate climate change. The pricing of forest carbon leads to longer rotation times and consequently larger carbon stocks, but also exposes landowners to a greater risk of forest damage. This paper investigates optimal forest rotation under carbon pricing and forest damage risk. I provide

In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s

The integration of roundwood markets needs to be analyzed and understood by timberland investors in order to make appropriate decisions. This paper addresses the performance of global roundwood markets by evaluating the order of market integration in the United States (the South and Pacific Northwest), New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, Sweden, Chile, Canada, Finland and Austria. An overview of each

This study investigates why members support their forestry cooperative's provision of awareness-raising campaigns. The members pay for the cooperative's dissemination of information to the government, non-governmental organizations, and the public to achieve a more favorable opinion about forestry. The possible gains of the campaign are non-rivalry goods and apply to members and non-members alike,

Recent data show that fire concentration is becoming rather predominant in Southern European areas. Specifically, 2017–2018 were some of the worst years on record for fires in Europe. We conduct a survey among households in order to understand citizens' preferences towards fire prevention programs in Spain, aiming to reduce the occurrence of megafires. In the survey, special attention is given to prevention

This study examines how the state regulator enforces logging regulations with the view to understand how that influences compliance-violation behaviour of loggers in Ghana. It does so by drawing on the perspectives and experiences of fifty (50) frontline officials directly engaged in forest law enforcement in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The study finds that the deterrent effect of the state regulator

The voluntary carbon offset market is legitimated in climate policy debates at the global level and has incentivized a large number of afforestation and reforestation projects that have produced new power relations at the local level. This paper aims to critically examine how a contested Gold Standard certified project in Western Uganda has been justified, opposed and adapted during its implementation

The existing forest economics literature contains relatively few economic contribution studies at the state level in the U.S. While some prior studies have aggregated the economic contribution of forest sector activities at the regional or multi-state level, none have specifically calculated this in a comprehensive, homogeneous manner across all 50 U.S. states. Utilizing aggregation schemes in the