Research and Innovation in the Private Forestry Sector: Past Successes and Future Opportunities

The private forestry sector faces enormous challenges from complex environmental issues concurrent with societal concerns about intensive forest management and application of silvicultural tools. At the same time, research and development spending and the scientific workforce in the forestry sector has declined. However, the forestry sector has a long history of strategic deployment of science and technology to manage timberlands for many uses, including ecological services. To address science and societal needs from future forests, we describe past successes and potential future innovations of the forestry sector across (1) genetics, (2) silviculture and productivity, (3) harvesting and logging technology, (4) environmental sustainability, and (5) remote sensing and unmanned aerial vehicles. Developing technology is only one component, however; progressing towards sector goals of diversifying the workforce, explicitly valuing research collaborations, and integrating big data across ownerships to guide management decisions will hasten innovation. With the growing complexity of social-ecological-economic challenges, the private forestry sector must enact a tactical approach to addressing stressors with evolving research structures. We offer a vision of a vibrant private forestry sector poised to integrate technological innovation to continue meeting society’s needs through the intersecting effects of climate change and other challenges. Study Implications The complexity of challenges facing private forest managers is growing as stressors from climate change interact with social and economic pressures on forests. Further, spending on forestry research and development and student enrollment in forestry degree programs has declined. In this article, we describe significant technological improvements in regenerating, growing, and sustainably harvesting intensively managed forest through a changing research landscape. We review key past examples of production and sustainability improvements and describe future innovation space across the intensively managed conifer stands through the life cycle of seed-to-saw. We envision that technological improvements in forest genetics, remotely operated harvesting equipment, high-resolution information about vegetation and the earth’s surface, and analysis of big data will increase the private sector’s ability to make precise management decisions. A more developed and broader technological tool set will ensure the private forest sector is poised to supply ecosystem services and demand for wood products. To realize the gains from future innovation, the forest sector needs to support initiatives that explicitly value an inclusive and diverse workforce, cross-disciplinary problem-solving, and improved communication with external stakeholders.

Intra-household gender relations and women participation in non-industrial private forestry in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

This paper draws on a study conducted in the selected districts of Iringa and Njombe regions in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania where over the past decade Non-industrial Private Forestry (NIPF) has emerged involving village-based domestic investors. Data for the study were largely collected using focus group discussions (FGDs) of men and women tree growers. Data were analysed using content analysis focusing on the emerging themes, subthemes, and patterns. The paper shows that gender division of labour characterizes silvicultural practices in private forestry. Men play a key and dominant role in decision making on the allocation of labour and marketing of timber. We argue that, given this arrangement, as long as men continue to dominate the market sphere, mere ownership of woodlots by women is not a feasible pathway to having control over income obtained from the sales of timber from their woodlots. To address this, the paper comes up with some recommendations.

Sustainability of Small-Scale Forestry and Its Influencing Factors in Lithuania

Small-scale private forestry is widespread in many countries and occupies 40.3% of the total forest area in Lithuania. The pursuit of sustainability has become one of the main goals of forest policy. In order for small-scale private forestry to be based upon sustainability principles, its sustainability must first be assessed and analyzed. This study assesses the sustainability of 385 small forest holdings of Lithuania using established forest sustainability assessment methods and performs an analysis of the factors influencing the sustainability of small forest holdings using correlation analysis. The Lithuanian small-scale forest holdings were categorized in terms of their level of sustainability as being very high and high (assessed on a five-point scale as 3.5–5 points)—13.6%, middle (2.5–3.5 points)—28.8%, or low and very low (1.0–2.5 points)—57.6%, with the corresponding proportion of holdings indicated as a percentage. A total of 40 independent variables were hypothesized, and their correlation with the sustainability assessments of the holdings was verified. The correlation analysis found mostly weak but reliable (p < 0.05) relationships with 23 independent variables: very weak—12 variables, weak—7 variables, middle—2 variables, and strong—2 variables. Moderate and strong correlations were found for the following variables: the owner’s view of the forest’s economic importance (correlation coefficient: 0.862), income per hectare (0.840), the importance of forestry in the common activity of the owners (0.525), the percentage of mature stands (0.476), the diversity of activities in forest holdings (0.361), and how the wood is used (0.328).

The assessment of Lithuanian private forestry sustainability

The development of private forestry in Lithuania has raised the problem of its sustainability assessment. In order for private forest management in small holdings to be based on sustainability principles, this sustainability must be characterized by a system of measurable criteria and indicators. The purpose of the study is to assess the sustainability of Lithuanian private forestry. Based on European and other processes on criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management for the first time Lithuanian private forestry sustainability was assessed. The assessment model is based on the multicriteria analysis and includes 7 steps: 1) criteria and indicators, 2) their importance, 3) values of indicators, 4) target indicators, 5) assessment scales, 6) assessment of indicators, 7) overall assessment. The article describes the small-scale private forestry of Lithuania, the model of its sustainability assessment and the results of the assessment. The assessment score for the sustainability of Lithuanian private forestry is 3.2 on the 5-point scale.