Investments in Pinus elliottii Engelm. Plantations: Real Options Analysis in Discrete Time

Background: The commonly used methods for the financial evaluation of plantation forest investment projects do not incorporate uncertainties and ignore the value related to flexibility. The real options analysis makes it possible to capture these values in investment projects, increasing their value and return. Despite this, studies involving real options in forest investment projects are scarce, specifically those related to Pinus spp. Therefore, this study aimed to: (a) analyze whether the real options analysis adds value to investment projects of Pinus elliottii Engelm. plantations; and (b) make the real options analysis more accessible to forest managers and potentially increase its use in the investment projects of Pinus spp. plantations. Methods: We evaluated two investment projects in P. elliottii plantations in southern Brazil, which differed in the way of obtaining the land for planting: with lease or purchase of land on a planning horizon of 21 years. In the real options analysis, we used deferral, expansion, and abandonment. Results: Individually, the deferral, expansion, and abandonment options add value to investment projects in Pinus elliottii plantations. The option to expand the forested area is one that adds the most value to the investment project with land lease. In the investment project with land purchase, it is abandonment. Conclusions: Investment projects in Pinus elliotti plantations that contemplate the land purchase analyzed through the real options analysis present higher financial returns than those that consider land lease, inverting the result provided by the traditional analysis.

Comparison of Classical Methods and Mask R-CNN for Automatic Tree Detection and Mapping Using UAV Imagery

Detecting and mapping individual trees accurately and automatically from remote sensing images is of great significance for precision forest management. Many algorithms, including classical methods and deep learning techniques, have been developed and applied for tree crown detection from remote sensing images. However, few studies have evaluated the accuracy of different individual tree detection (ITD) algorithms and their data and processing requirements. This study explored the accuracy of ITD using local maxima (LM) algorithm, marker-controlled watershed segmentation (MCWS), and Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (Mask R-CNN) in a young plantation forest with different test images. Manually delineated tree crowns from UAV imagery were used for accuracy assessment of the three methods, followed by an evaluation of the data processing and application requirements for three methods to detect individual trees. Overall, Mask R-CNN can best use the information in multi-band input images for detecting individual trees. The results showed that the Mask R-CNN model with the multi-band combination produced higher accuracy than the model with a single-band image, and the RGB band combination achieved the highest accuracy for ITD (F1 score = 94.68%). Moreover, the Mask R-CNN models with multi-band images are capable of providing higher accuracies for ITD than the LM and MCWS algorithms. The LM algorithm and MCWS algorithm also achieved promising accuracies for ITD when the canopy height model (CHM) was used as the test image (F1 score = 87.86% for LM algorithm, F1 score = 85.92% for MCWS algorithm). The LM and MCWS algorithms are easy to use and lower computer computational requirements, but they are unable to identify tree species and are limited by algorithm parameters, which need to be adjusted for each classification. It is highlighted that the application of deep learning with its end-to-end-learning approach is very efficient and capable of deriving the information from multi-layer images, but an additional training set is needed for model training, robust computer resources are required, and a large number of accurate training samples are necessary. This study provides valuable information for forestry practitioners to select an optimal approach for detecting individual trees.

Uphill Battle: Forest Rights and Restoration on Podu Landscapes in Keonjhar, Odisha

In response to the global climate emergency and biodiversity loss, environmental advocates promote ecological restoration of millions of hectares of the world’s degraded forest lands. Lands of high value to restoration are home to nearly 300 million people, including 12% of low- and middle-income country populations. In this article, I respond to calls for greater empirical investigation into the social impacts of forest landscape restoration. Through spatial and ethnographic analysis of forest restoration in Keonjhar, Odisha (India), I show that state-led afforestation efforts contradict a decade of forest tenure reform which sought to decentralize and decolonize forest governance. I explore how state-led efforts ignore (and inhibit) the continued protagonism of forest-dwelling communities in forest regeneration on their customary lands. Weaving accounts from 1992 onwards across six villages and 22 plantations, I characterize state strategies as an ‘uphill battle’: by systematically selecting shifting cultivation (podu) uplands for enclosure and tree plantation, forest agencies contribute to a lose-lose situation where neither forest restoration nor forest rights are realized. Investigating this process from colonial forest policy to the present, I leverage a critical political ecology perspective that supports calls for rights-based restoration.

POLITIK EKOLOGI KEHUTANAN: KEBIJAKAN HUTAN TANAMAN INDUSTRI DI SAMBELIA, LOMBOK TIMUR

Ecological politics rely solely on economic interest. Development and the environment have a complicated correlation. The industrial plantation forest policy aims to ensure that the economic benefit goes hand in hand with the sustainability demand. Ironically, this policy triggers a conflict between local communities and corporations as the holder of forest concession rights. The concession is practically established due to merely economic interest aligned with the extractive industry of tobacco in Lombok. The plantation is aimed as the supporting source for the tobacco industry since it requires specific woods to roast the tobacco. The study refers to utilizes instrumental state theory and deep ecology perspective to identify how the policy was made for the capital and tobacco capital benefits, while the sustainability objective is left behind. The study shows not only how the concession sparked ironic economic development, but also how the liberal environmentalism approach in industrial forest plantation policy has failed to gain its objective. The economic potential of tobacco in Lombok is the main determinant in industrial forest plantation policy that changes community forests into private forests. In the end, the policy was strategically implemented to sustain production and strengthen corporation monopoly over forests.

Life Cycle Assessment of Wood Pellet Product at Korintiga Hutani company, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Climate change has forced human being to adapt in fulfilling their energy needs sustainably. In Indonesia, forestry activities has been considered as an emission rather than carbon sink. This study aims to analyze the inputs, outputs, and potential environmental impacts of wood pellet production in a forest company using life cycle assessment (LCA). The wood pellet is made from Eucalyptus pellita plantation. Analysis was made for 1 planting cycle or 6 years, and allometric equations were used to estimate the ability of industrial timber plantation forest to absorb CO2. Production of wood pellet starting from plantation requires inputs as follows: diesel fuel, electricity, NPK and other fertilizers, pesticides, and electrical energy. Those inputs produced emissions, of which the largest was N2O of 551.2927 kg, followed by NH3 of 7.5275 kg generated from NPK fertilizer. Another was PO43- amounted at 0.1792–0.2229 kg from liquid fertilizers and pesticides. Potential acidification came from 13.3675 kg SO2 eq, and eutrophication of 0.4021 kg PO43- eq. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission was 678.0270 kg CO2 eq from the plantation activities, especially from diesel-based energy consumption, while wood pellet mills only released 0.1053 kg CO2 eq of GHG emissions. Thus, total emissions from 6 years' time of wood pellet production are much lower compared to the average CO2 absorbed by the plantation forest, of which annually is 36.34–67.69 ton ha-1year-1.

Soils Carbon Stocks and Litterfall Fluxes from the Bornean Tropical Montane Forests, Sabah, Malaysia

Tropical forests play an important role in carbon storage, accumulating large amounts of carbon in their aboveground and belowground components. However, anthropogenic land-use activities have increasingly threatened tropical forests, resulting in accelerated global greenhouse gas emissions. This research aimed to estimate the carbon stocks in soil, organic layer, and litterfall in tropical montane forests under three different land uses (intact forest, logged-over forest, and plantation forest) at Long Mio, Sabah, Malaysia. Field data were collected in a total of 25 plots from which soil was randomly sampled at three depths. Litterfalls were collected monthly from November 2018 to October 2019. The results showed that the soil in the study area is Gleyic Acrisol, having pH values ranging between 4.21 and 5.71, and high soil organic matter contents. The results also showed that the total soil carbon stock, organic layer, and litterfall is higher in the intact forest (101.62 Mg C ha−1), followed by the logged-over forest (95.61 Mg C ha−1) and the plantation forest (93.30 Mg C ha−1). This study highlights the importance of conserving intact forests as a strategy to sequester carbon and climate change mitigation.

Hydrophysical characteristics in water-repellent tropical Eucalyptus, Pine, and Casuarina plantation forest soils

Soil water repellency (SWR) reduces the rates of wetting in dry soils and is known to interfere with water movement into as well as within the soils. The objective of this study was to investigate the hydrophysical characteristics of three water-repellent tropical exotic plantation forest soils in wet and dry seasons. The study sites were Eucalyptus grandis (EG), Pinus caribaea (PC), and Casuarina equisetifolia (CE) plantation forest soils located in the up-country intermediate zone (EG and PC), and low-country dry zone (CE). Field experiments were conducted to measure the infiltration rate, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (k), water sorptivity (S W). Laboratory experiments were conducted to measure the potential SWR and water entry value (h we). All three soils showed higher SWR in the dry season, where CE soils showed the highest. The EG soils showed the highest SWR in the wet season. Although SWR in all soils decreased with increasing depth in the wet season, only CE soils showed a significant decrease in SWR with soil depth in the dry season. Compared with the wet season, the k(–1 cm) was lower and h we was higher in the dry season. However, S W did not show a significant difference between wet and dry seasons. Initial infiltration rate and k(–1 cm) showed a negative correlation with contact angle in all three soils. Soils showed positive linear correlations between k(–1 cm) and S W, and negative linear correlations between S W and h we showing that surface water absorption is related to both subsurface unsaturated water flow and surface water entry pressure. It was clear that the water entry into soils and the subsurface water flow were hindered by the SWR. High water entry values in the dry season predict high potentials for intensified surface runoff and topsoil erosion. Future research will be required on the interactions between soil biology and soil properties such as pore structure that would influence water flow into and within soils.

Response of termite communities to natural forest conversion

Heriza S, Buchori D, Harahap IS, Maryana N. 2021. Response of termite communities to natural forest conversion. Biodiversitas 22: 5092-5096. Natural forest conversion can affect termite communities resulting from the various types of land use conversion. This study aims to examine the impacts of natural forest conversion on termite communities based on species richness, feeding groups, and termite species composition. Four land use types were evaluated on a gradient from the least to the most disturbing: natural forest, plantation forest, oil palm plantations and settlements. The method used to observe termites in this study is a plot measured 50 m x 10 m and was divided into sub-plots of 5 m x 5 m. The termites were collected from leaf litter and soil, dead wood, trunks, and nests. The response of the termite community to the conversion of natural forest functions into other forms of land use types, where for termite species richness, there was no significant differences between land uses, but for abundance and based on feeding groups there were difference between them.

Assessment of forest health status of Panca Indah Lestari Community Plantation Forest (case study in Bukit Layang Village, Bakam District, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Province)

Currently, community plantation forests play an essential role in providing wood supply for the timber industry with due regard to sustainability. One way to achieve the sustainability aspects of forest management is by conducting monitoring forest health. This study aims to determine the value of the health status of the Panca Indah Lestari Community Plantation Forest. This community plantation forest is located in Bukit Layang Village, Bakam District, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Province. The stages of this research include: determining the number of cluster-plots using sampling intensity based on the area of community plantation forest, making cluster plots based on Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) cluster-plot design, collecting data by measuring the ecological indicators of forest health (productivity and vitality) based on the FHM method, as well as data analysis and processing using the Forest Health Assessment Information System. The results showed that the health status of the Panca Indah Lestari Community Plantation Forest had a range of values ranging from 1,890 - 5,530. The average health status value of Panca Indah Lestari Community Plantation Forest is 4,210, which was included in the medium category. Thus, the value of the health status of community plantation forests illustrates that the conditions for productivity and vitality indicators are insufficient. Knowing the forest condition’s status value helps managers provide recommendations in making decisions on sustainable community plantation forest management.

Water Dynamics in the Understory of a Pine Plantation Forest After Variable Retention Harvesting

Background: Variable Retention Harvesting (VRH) is a silvicultural technique applied to enhance forest growth, and restore forest stands to closely resemble their natural compositions. This study used sapflow and understory eddy covariance flux measurements to examine the impacts of four different VRH treatments on the dominant components of evapotranspiration including canopy transpiration and water flux from understory vegetation and soil. These VRH treatments were applied to an 83-year-old red pine (Pinus resinosa) plantation forest in the Great Lakes region in Canada and included 55% aggregated crown retention (55A), 55% dispersed crown retention (55D), 33% aggregated crown retention (33A), 33% dispersed crown retention (33D) and unharvested control (CN) plot. Results: Study results showed a positive relationship between thinning intensity and the growth of understory vegetation, and hence enhanced evapotranspiration. The contribution to evapotranspiration from understory vegetation and soil was more pronounced in the dispersed thinning treatments, as compared to the aggregated. Overall, canopy transpiration contributed to 83% of total evapotranspiration in the un-thinned control plot and 55, 58, 30, and 23% for the 55A, 55D, 33A and 33D plots, respectively. The thinning or retention harvesting enhanced the water use efficiency in all treatments.Conclusion: Our results suggest VRH treatments that follow a dispersed harvesting pattern may provide the optimal balance between forest productivity and evapotranspiration or stand water use. Furthermore, a balance of contributions from both the canopy and successional understory vegetation and soil, as observed in the 55% retention harvesting treatment, may increase the resiliency of forest to climate change. These findings will help researchers, forest managers and decision-makers to improve their understanding of thinning impacts on water and carbon exchanges in forest ecosystems and adopt appropriate forest management practices to enhance their carbon sequestration capabilities, water use efficiency and resilience to climate change.