The change in forest ownership structures, the resulting fragmentation of forest properties and restitution processes have led to the emergence of organizations in Europe that are able to deal with these challenges. Changes in the timber selling process due to decisions of the German Federal Competition Authority have led first to uncertain conditions for forest management cooperatives (FMCs) and their

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification was introduced in Nepal with an assumption that it improves forests and ecosystem services while addressing the drivers of forest degradation. As of today, 89 community forests (CF) have been FSC certified, however empirical evidence on the contribution of forest certification on carbon stock and species richness is lacking. This research, thus

Taking China’s recently developed Forest Right Mortgage System (FRMS) as an example, this paper examines the impact of the strength of farmers’ property rights on the intensity of credit restrictions imposed by lenders. Using the forest right mortgage policy documents we collected from eight key forestry counties (cities) in China’s southern collective forest regions and the corresponding data of 414

Nontimber forest products (NTFPs)‬ are one of the forest products that can provide direct benefits to communities living around forests. Some of the most used NTFPs in Indonesia are the stems, leaves and fruit of candlenut trees. Candlenut fruit is widely used in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biodiesel industries and is generally used as a cooking ingredient in Indonesia. However, only a limited

Reconciling livelihoods and conservation aspects in rattan utilization is an intricate problem. To shed light on possible solutions, this study analyzed multiple scenarios using system dynamics models for balancing the ecological and economic sustainability of rattan harvesting in the Lore Lindu National Park. The system dynamics models were developed from the rattan inventory and collected socio-economic

Maple syrup production (“maple sugaring”) is an important cultural and economic activity in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States (U.S.A.). Climate change is a concern for maple producers because maple sugaring is dependent upon climate for both sap sugar content as well as for the specific patterns of freezing and thawing in springtime needed for sap flow. Meanwhile, the maple industry

Improving forest product value chains is considered a means to solve forest-related challenges in the Global South. The ‘Participative Innovation Platform’ (PIP) instrument has been developed to design and to continually adapt solutions and strategies for effective cooperation amongst value chain actors. The instrument is rooted in the action-oriented and social learning approach, combined with the

There is a growing concern for sustainable forest management globally, and individual countries have been developing national policies and plans for forest management. This is the case in Nepal, but a large area of national forests is still under protection due to lack of people-centric management guidelines. In this study, diameter (DBH) and height were measured for trees, and frequency was recorded

We characterize a parcelized land management system that does not meet traditional co-located agroforestry practices in the tropics. A cut-and-carry agroforestry system for confined livestock emphasizes land utilization as a source of fodder, cutting and carrying feed from parcels to paddocks near a farmer’s home. It reduces feed cost by utilizing parcels under private, shared, and/or public ownership

The effective implementation and development of conservation schemes to which participation of forest owners is voluntary, requires an understanding of forest owners’ views on measures to safeguard forest biodiversity. The Forest Biodiversity Program for Southern Finland is currently the most important instrument of voluntary forest conservation in Finland. The aim of this study is to explore what

In recent years, the proliferation of small-scale enterprises based on sales of edible swiftlets’ nests harvested in peat swamp forests in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia has occurred. This study focuses on enterprises that might offer a promising opportunity as a user-side financing system for payments for ecosystem services (PES) to balance forest conservation priorities with local communities’ livelihood

Legacy, sometimes called intergenerational land transfer or forestland bequest, is an important subject for family forest landowners. While the literature primarily addresses legacy from an economic perspective or as a function of landowner characteristics, this research explores how past, present, and future connections to forestland shape family forest landowners’ conceptions of legacy. This research

Small forest landowners and loggers require information on the cost and productivity of available timber harvesting systems in order to make the best equipment allocation decisions, especially when the current generation of highly productive, capital-intensive harvesting machinery is well suited for clearcutting in large stands. Conversely, small-scale equipment is becoming more readily available that

The study objective was to characterize noise exposures and hearing protector usage at small-scale logging operations. Noise dosimeters were used to measure exposures of 31 loggers at two cable operations and five mechanized operations in the United States. Activity cards were employed to evaluate hearing protector usage. Ninety-two percent of cable operation loggers were overexposed to noise according

In recent years, industrial roundwood production has enjoyed a steady success due to the development of a new bioeconomy and the rapid structural changes of the wood market. A very promising new solution for industrial fiber crops is the integrated production of logs and biomass in short rotation poplar plantations. In Europe, the expansion of these crops is concentrated in the Eastern regions, where

Latin American cattle ranchers have long been depicted as one of the major perpetrators of deforestation. A new conceptualization of Chayanov’s Theory of Peasant Economy is employed to understand ranchers’ perceptions of tree management in Panama. Chayanov’s theory proposes that the family farm is governed by a balance of decisions farmers make between the utility of producing one more item, with the

Forestlands provide timber resources and valuable ecosystem services. To better manage forest landscape and develop policies, it is important to quantify the relationships between the number of forestland patches, patch areas, and landowner numbers. By using integrated analysis of information about the forestlands in 17 counties in Alabama, USA, similar scaling relationships are determined in the forestland

Technical forest management plans are prerequisites for obtaining forest management rights by community forest user groups in Nepal. However, the relevance of such plans and the rationale for accepting them remain unexplored. Using a multiple-case-study approach, we examine the contents of the silvicultural prescriptions, and the relevance of these prescriptions in day-to-day forest management, and

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) covers the mountain ranges from Afghanistan in the West to Myanmar in the East, including regions of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and China. The HKH is one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world, with a large proportion of the population dependent on natural resources for basic sustenance. As a result of climate change, the HKH has been facing irregularities

Human activities coupled with over exploitation of sensitive ecosystems and habitat destruction have caused a rapid decrease in the population of plant species. Countries worldwide are becoming interested in conserving biodiversity by determining conservation priorities at local levels. The categories used for evaluating threat status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that

This paper explores the realities of forestry benefit sharing under joint forest management in a major teak plantation region of Java, Indonesia, with reference to empirical information about the uses and effects of monetary benefits in terms of stakeholder power relations. The authors intend to enrich current understandings of the pitfalls of benefit-sharing mechanisms at the local level. The analysis

Forest and woodland owners and managers are generally perceived to be acting slowly in addressing environmental change by adapting their forestry practice. Diversification of tree species composition and stand structure is widely promoted as one adaptive approach to increasing the resilience of forests to climate change and other threats. Land manager behaviour is known to be affected by structural

Investigations of factors influencing wildfire risks in Mediterranean forest areas have rarely considered the possible influence of the ownership type and management modalities in forest areas owned and/or managed by rural communities, referred to as baldios in Portugal. This study aimed to analyse the relationship between forest ownership types and the management modalities of community forests in

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) provide multiple opportunities for the rural economies and are considered a valuable source of income for tribal livelihoods, especially in India. A large number of rural people in India are dependent on NTFPs for fulfilment of their basic needs. Accordingly, this study assessed the role of various NTFPs, their commercial behaviour and future potential. In particular

Family forest owners represent the largest forest ownership group in the United States, but only about a quarter of their land has a forest management plan and only one in five receives professional forest management advice. Identifying communication avenues which provide technical forestry information to these owners is a long-standing problem in American forestry. Programs and activities that increase

Deforestation is a severe threat in the context of climate change and the establishment of protected forest areas is a crucial strategy to conserve and manage forests. This study aims to investigate the impact of betel leaf cultivation on the protected forest area known as the Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary in the southern coastal area of Bangladesh. The research objectives were to describe the extent of

Agroforestry practices offer high potential of carbon (C) sequestration in developing countries. However, the roles of tropical agroforestry to mitigate climate change has only recently been recognized. Therefore, this case study was conducted to demonstrate empirically the carbon stocks of home garden (HGAF) and adjacent coffee based agroforestry systems (CAFS) practiced at Mana district, southwestern

Forest conservation buffers provide ecosystem services such as soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat, and clean air. This research studied the experiences and intentions of participants in forest buffer contract programs in Virginia, USA provided by governmental conservation agencies. These programs offer technical assistance and share costs of establishment and maintenance for a period of

In the past 40 years, China has experienced an unprecedented transformation of the rural society and livelihoods and self-subsistence forest management has transitioned to more business-oriented management, typically the Forestry Cooperatives, Family Forestry Farms and Forestry Specialized Households identified in this study. We explored the factors contributing to this transformation using household

Despite an ostensibly conducive policy environment in Nepal, community forest management has stagnated at a suboptimal level in delivery of the benefits stipulated in operational plans. This study assesses the current state of forest management against the backdrop of locally relevant factors that influence management strategies in 13 community forests in the mid hill region of Nepal. It adopts a mixed-method

Agroforestry practices of farming communities are investigated in southern Punjab province, Pakistan. It is hypothesized that rural people of this areas are more inclined than elsewhere in the province to practice agroforestry due to greater profitability than cropping. A landholder survey revealed that the majority of farmers are inclined to plant trees on their land. Low accessibility of institutional

This study involved time studies of clear-cutting and regeneration operations, including site preparation and planting, in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Then, this study analyzed productivity and cost between small and medium-sized machines of a small-scale logging contractor expanding their operations during merging small properties. The contractor used self-owned, small-sized machines

We demonstrate how Baynes et al.’s (Glob Environ Change 35:226–238, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.09.011) framework can be operationalized as a tool for identifying potential intervention points for supporting the tenure and governance-enabling environment for CFEs. We do so by applying the framework to a sample of CFUG-managed CFEs in Nepal to see how they measure up as a group with

Both the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation program (REDD+) and community-based forest management (CBFM) aim to combat forest degradation and deforestation on various levels. Both approaches include multiple objectives such as carbon sequestration, livelihood improvement and forest tenure reform. New institutions, such as community-forest management boards or REDD+ implementation

In this study, the information needs of non-industrial private forest owners in Finland, after logging operations, were investigated. The study was carried out as an online survey in 2017. The survey was targeted at non-industrial private forest owners who had sold their timber during the previous 10 years (2008–2017) and whose email addresses were in the customer relationship management system of

Greening in urban areas and forests can provide people with valuable environmental and social benefits. Active involvement by local stakeholders is crucial for effective tree conservation. Our study focused on the past and current uses, management, and conservation of old-growth fukugi (Garcinia subelliptica) trees from the perspective of local stakeholders in rural homesteads on Ryukyu Archipelago

This paper presents a comprehensive financial analysis of the investment potential of seven private forest categories in the Republic of Croatia (total study area of 268,072 ha). It covers the period from 2018 to 2048 and includes forest purchase costs, management simulation, timber transport to mills, timber processing and veneer production, and finally the selling of sawmill, veneer and forest products

This study employs in-depth qualitative and quantitative research methods including survey and other ethnographic methods, concept mapping and informal qualitative observations to investigate community interaction in the village of Fabe near the Korup National Park in Cameroon, in relation to the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) program. It is argued that community

Over the centuries, Swedish rural areas have been formed in close interaction with their inhabitants and different and various uses. Based on studies, particularly of “new forest owners” in Sweden, this article illustrates how an understanding of forest and forest ownership can highlight the dynamic and shifting role of rural areas: as both rural and urban, based on both forest property and second-home

Private forests represent approximately 60% of forest land in the European Union, but the knowledge on the number of private forest holdings and their size, both at the European and sub-national or local level, is significantly lacking and unharmonized. It is commonly known, however, that private forests are characterized by a high and small size of forest holdings. The parcelization of private forests

Given the significance of family owned forests and woodlands to the economic and environmental condition of Oregon, the provision of appropriate educational programs and services is of utmost importance. The priority forest management issues affecting family owned forests, identified for the state of Oregon by the Oregon Department of Forestry (the primary state forestry agency), help to inform educational

This study examines the roles of forest fragments in providing provisioning services to local communities in two study sites in Ethiopia. Nine Peasant Associations (PAs) from Jibat district and six PAs from Dendi district were purposively selected for Chillimo. A total of 490 household heads in and around the forest boundaries of Jiabt and Chillimo were interviewed to determine the amounts of services

The context within which family forest owners operate is constantly changing due to many internal and external factors. Many emerging social, economic, environmental, and technological changes could have profound effects on family forest owners and their land in the future. This paper explores a possible transformative technological change: A “Coming Age of Wood” in which a large number of technological

Swidden cultivation has been gradually transformed into other types of land-uses because of economic, political and social changes. In southern Chin State, Myanmar, the traditional swidden agriculture is being replaced by Wa-u (Amorphophallus bulbifer) cultivation in the fallows due to the increasing abandonment of swidden fallows and recent development of Wa-u market access. Also, the government of

In Uganda, the tree seed sector is largely centralized, limiting access by farmers to high quality seedlings due to distant supply locations. This has left suppy of most of the tree germplasm to the informal sector, characterized by road-side tree nurseries and seed dealers who have limited knowledge on seed sourcing and collection and seedling production. Through semi-structured and key informant

In Ethiopia, cooperation among smallholder famers’ is a key element for managing and harvesting of agricultural crops and woodlot production. Despite the growing expansion and interest in eucalyptus woodlot production, not much has been done to characterize the type, form and level of cooperation among the smallholder farmers. Thus, this study analyses smallholder farmers’ cooperation on eucalyptus

This study analyses fuelwood volume and honey yield per hectare of Acacia nilotica plantations in El Ain Forest Reserve in Sudan, and assesses the financial viability of fuelwood-honey enterprises using discounted cash flow analysis. Tree growth data were collected using fixed-radius circular sample plots to estimate wood volumes of present and harvest ages. Key informant interviews of Forest National

Governing biodiversity conservation on a scattered landscape with varying physical and ownership characteristics can be a difficult challenge. Private forest owners are becoming increasingly important stakeholders, as there has been a general shift towards more participatory arrangements. With the diversity of private forest owners, it is important to understand how they relate to the idea of being

Damage to the remaining stand on steep terrain can be quite severe and is usually difficult to control during winching. Timber skidding, especially by agricultural tractor, is a common solution in small-scale forestry. One of the factors influencing remaining stand damage is winching on steep terrain, although, to date, this has only been studied in general. Limiting stand damage is possible when the

Aboriginal involvement is now a defining theme for achieving Sustainable Forest Management. Concurrently, the concept of “Aboriginal forestry” has emerged to promote links between Traditional Knowledge and conventional forest management, aimed at strengthening the conservation of culturally and ecologically sensitive species. We conducted a systematic analysis to assess the current state of Aboriginal

Galliyat—the mountainous region in district Abbottabad of Hazara division in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province—is rich in natural vegetation. On the basis of elevation above sea level, Galliyat is categorized into Upper and Lower subdivisions. Like other regions in northern Pakistan, the forests of Galliyat are intensively utilized for the collection of fuelwood and harvesting of timber. However

In the rapidly growing Tanzanian economy, increasing demand for timber and limited wood supply from industrial plantations and natural forests have opened a new livelihood opportunity for smallholder farmers in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, which is undergoing a tree-growing boom. In the absence of support services, research and statistics, the magnitude of the phenomena has remained unclear

We explore how participatory monitoring can help communities and community partners define local governance, identify governance issues and problems, and improve women’s participation, based on action research from 2011 to 2015 to improve women’s participation in decision-making in indigenous communities in Nicaragua. The findings are based on experiences in developing a participatory monitoring governance

Sixty percent of family forest ownerships in the United States of America (USA) own between 0.4 and 4.0 ha (1–9 ac). Yet, little is known about this segment of family forest ownerships because they are often excluded from data collection or analyses. We utilized national data for the USA collected through the National Woodland Owner Survey to examine small-area ownerships, as well as compare attributes

We conducted the preliminary time studies of clear-cutting operations using a small-scale cable logging system in 62- and 107-year-old, gently and moderately sloping Japanese cypress forests. The cycle times, productivities, and costs were compared to examine the effects of extending the cutting age. The operation system included the use of a chainsaw for felling, a tower yarder for yarding, a grapple

How is community forestry (CF) research changing as CF policies mature around the world? In this research note we use bibliometrics and topic modelling to display trends in the geographic foci and research topics mentioned in the abstracts of CF-related research papers published between 1990 and 2017. We find that studies of CF in South Asia make up a substantial proportion of the literature, although

Small-scale properties are the prevailing ownership category in Slovenian private forests. Owners are becoming increasingly diverse with predominant multifunctional management orientation which has led to underutilisation of wood potentials over the past decades. We surveyed forest-related stakeholders (24) to understand their perceptions on factors affecting private forest management. We used their

The Peruvian government seeks to stop deforestation in its primary forest in the Amazon. It alleges that the main culprit of deforestation is smallholders who practice swidden farming. However, this is a simplified view, concealing the main reasons for deforestation and the complexity of land use changes. By studying land and forest use through the lens of the indigenous Kechwa-Lamas people, who live

In India, Trees Outside Forests (TOFs) are defined as trees growing outside government recorded forest areas (RFAs) and include trees growing on private lands, farms, community lands, along roads, canals and railway lines and urban areas. With time, TOFs have been recognized as an important resource in provisioning domestic timber and in contributing to the country’s forest cover, growing stock, carbon

This study investigates an under-rated and not widely recognized traditional agroforestry practice carried out by smallholders in the highlands of Ethiopia. The purposeful retaining of indigenous trees on farmers’ croplands is recognized as separate from other agroforestry practices. Farmers cultivate indigenous trees for a variety of benefits, including livelihoods, ecosystem services and the existence