sustainable forest management
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

1420
(FIVE YEARS 441)

H-INDEX

48
(FIVE YEARS 7)

2022 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 107276
Author(s):  
Ulan Kasymov ◽  
Xiaoxi Wang ◽  
Dimitrios Zikos ◽  
Massih Chopan ◽  
Benedikt Ibele

2023 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Muhammad ◽  
U. Habiba ◽  
G. Raza ◽  
S. A. Bano ◽  
S. Shah ◽  
...  

Abstract Economic valuation of ecosystem services is a new concept in forest management. Economic valuation provides basis for payment for ecosystem services (PES). Therefore, objective of this study was to evaluate eco-tourism and carbon stock services of the Maindam valley, District Swat, Pakistan. For the carbon stock calculation, a sample size of 155 plots of 0.1 hectare (Ha) was taken using preliminary survey at 95% confidence interval and 10% allowable error. The data for tourism services was collected from owners of all the hotels, 100 tourists and key informants of the area at 10% sampling intensity on pretested questionnaire for twenty years period (1997-2017). Results showed that Miandam valley has carbon stock worth US$ 16,306,000 while the value of eco-tourism was US$ 1,578,458 on annual basis. The results also showed that trend of tourism has drastically declined after the 9/11 incident for foreigners and locals and the situation was further deteriorated during the era of Talibanization or militancy from 2008-2011. This study recommends implementation of PES strategy at the rate of 5%, thus a total of US$ 78,922 can be earned from eco-tourism and carbon crediting in the study area annually, which could play important role in sustainable forest management.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Damasco ◽  
Mandy Anhalt ◽  
Ricardo O. Perdiz ◽  
Florian Wittmann ◽  
Rafael L. de Assis ◽  
...  

AbstractThe harvesting of açaí berries (palm fruits from the genus Euterpe) in Amazonia has increased over the last 20 years due to a high local and global market demand and triggered by their widely acclaimed health benefits as a ‘superfood’. Although such increase represents a financial boom for local communities, unregulated extraction in Amazonia risks negative environmental effects including biodiversity loss through açai intensification and deforestation. Alternatively, the introduction of certified sustainable agroforestry production programs of açaí has been strategically applied to reduce the exploitation of Amazonian forests. Local açaí producers are required to follow principles of defined sustainable management practices, environmental guidelines, and social behaviors, paying specific attention to fair trade and human rights. In this study we investigate whether sustainable agroforestry and certification effectively promotes biodiversity conservation in Amazonia. To address this question, we conducted a forestry inventory in two hectares of long-term certified açai harvesting areas to gain further knowledge on the plant diversity and forest structure in açaí managed forests and to understand the contribution of certification towards sustainable forest management. On average, we found that certified managed forests harbor 50% more tree species than non-certified açaí groves. Trees in certified areas also have significantly higher mean basal area, meaning larger and hence older individuals are more likely to be protected. Certified harvesting sites also harbor dense populations of threatened species as classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (e.g. Virola surinamensis, classified as ‘endangered’). Besides increasing the knowledge of plant diversity in açaí managed areas, we present baseline information for monitoring the impact of harvesting activities in natural ecosystems in Amazonia.


2022 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iveta Varnagirytė-Kabašinskienė ◽  
Gediminas Survila ◽  
Kęstutis Armolaitis

Deep ploughing—which inverts, covers, or mixes soil organic layer (forest floor) and surface mineral A horizon into the mineral subsoil, burying the upper soil horizon in deeper layers, and disrupting pedogenic processes—is a debatable topic in forest plantation management. Overall, this review article aimed to identify the impacts of deep ploughing on the properties of forest plantations, adapting experiences from the agricultural sector. This paper examines the main impacts of deep ploughing technology on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, ground vegetation, and tree aboveground and belowground biomass in afforested former agricultural land. Analysis of the published literature shows that deep ploughing can be used under different climatic and soil conditions, but it induces site-specific changes in soil properties and vegetation. Mechanical site preparation during afforestation and reforestation should follow the requirements of sustainable soil management, in order to avoid negative effects on the environment and biodiversity. Based on this analysis, we suggest key indicators that may be specific to deep ploughing responses in afforested sites and can contribute to risk assessment, aimed at achieving sustainable forest management. To date, most studies on mechanical site preparation for forest plantation have been performed using a few conifer tree species; therefore, it is important to expand empirical studies.


Forests ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Shyam Paudel ◽  
Himlal Baral ◽  
Adelino Rojario ◽  
Kishor Prasad Bhatta ◽  
Yustina Artati

Agro forestry is a land management system that integrates trees, agriculture crops, and animal farming in order to provide a diverse range of ecosystem services. Timor-Leste, the newest country and one of the least developed counties, has faced multidimensional challenges on land use management, including deforestation, land degradation, and poverty. The agroforestry system is recognized as one of the viable options for balancing the socio-economic needs and ecological functions of the lands in Timor-Leste. The system has been practiced traditionally by farmers in the country; however, the lack of knowledge and experience, limited institutional capacity, and lack of funding have impeded the wider implantation of the agroforestry system in Timor-Leste. The Strategic Development Plan of Timor-Leste has recommended sustainable agriculture and natural resources management in the rural areas of the country to generate income and create employment for the youths. The paper presents the initiatives, challenges, and opportunities of agroforestry application in Timor-Leste to support sustainable forest management and livelihood improvement. Learning from existing initiatives, capacity building, market access, and financial incentives could promote the agroforestry system in the country.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Efthymios Lallas ◽  
Anthony Karageorgos ◽  
Georgios Ntalos

Illegal logging has always been considered as a major environmental and social global concern, as it is directly associated with deforestation and climate change. Nowadays, EU Regulation No 995/2010 has been successfully enforced to impede the placement of illegally produced timber within the EU market and therefore to efficiently enhance sustainable forest management and restore ecosystem balance. However, EU 995 regulatory compliance and enforcement itself is quite complex, since it requires long-term conformity, on a common basis for various heterogeneous groups and communities of stakeholders, in a global, even beyond EU, rule regulation framework. To make things worse, such a framework must be applied to the entire supply distribution chain and a wide variety of wood products, ranging from paper pulp to solid wood and flooring. Hence, in such complex and multivariate information environments, an ontological approach can more efficiently support regulatory compliance and knowledge management, due to its openness and richness of semantics for representing, analyzing, interpreting and managing such kind of information. In this paper, a rule-based regulatory compliance ontology is proposed, which fully captures EU Regulation No 995/2010 concepts and compliance rules and guidelines, as well as Greek legislations governing wood trade. The proposed ontology can be the basis for a computerized system providing automated support for illegal wood trade and monitoring EU regulation information provision and audit information storage and analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Piccardo ◽  
Ashraful Alam ◽  
Mark Hughes

The building sector has a significant impact on the environment, accounting for 36% of CO2 emissions and about half of material consumption in Europe. Residential buildings dominate the European building stock. In Finland, residential buildings account for up to 80% of the existing buildings and the rate of construction is higher compared to other building types. Therefore, residential buildings play an important role in the transition to a sustainable built environment. A number of studies show that increasing the use of wood can lower the life cycle environmental impacts of buildings. In Scandinavia, the use of wood in small houses is well established, used in 90% of cases. Furthermore, the increasing number of high-rise wooden buildings suggests a growing interest in the potential of wood in large-scale buildings. Green building certification provides criteria to assess the sustainability level of buildings and is expected to influence the building sector in the near future, by promoting the use of sustainable technologies. The aim of this study was to investigate how green building certification schemes assess wood materials and how wood materials can help fulfil sustainability criteria for green buildings. We analyse the sustainability criteria adopted by the most common certification schemes in Finland, BREEAM, LEED and the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, as well as the upcoming Level(s) certification promoted by the European Commission. The analysis shows that the contribution of wood materials to the overall score of green building certifications accounts for between 10 and 36%. Wood is advantageous as a renewable and low-carbon material. Furthermore, wood can offer indirect benefits due to its recycling potential and to water saving in the construction stage. However, wood materials have to comply with some requirements, such as sustainable forest management and low volatile organic compound content. The new European certification suggests a comprehensive assessment including circular material life cycles.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1128
Author(s):  
Indra Prasad Subedi ◽  
Prem Bahadur Budha ◽  
Ripu Mardhan Kunwar ◽  
Shambhu Charmakar ◽  
Sunita Ulak ◽  
...  

The information available on the diversity of ant species and their distribution and interaction with forest health in Nepal remains limited. As part of a nationwide project on forest health, we conducted inventories to assess the diversity and distribution of forest ants and their role in forest management in Nepal. Ants were collected from 187 plots of 10 m × 10 m size along the north–south belt transects in eastern, central, and western Nepal. We used vegetation beating, sweeping, and hand collection methods in selected forest types. In each transect, we designed six plots in each major forest type (Sal, Schima–Castanopsis, and broadleaf mixed forests) and three plots each in deodar, Alnus, riverine, and Cryptomeria forests. We recorded 70 ant species from 36 genera and six subfamilies. This includes five genera and nine species new for the country, as well as eight tramp species, four of which are major ecological, agricultural, and/or household pests. Our study indicates that forest ant species richness is high in western Nepal and the Siwaliks, and it decreases as elevation increases. The high diversity of ant species in the forests of Nepal needs to be assessed with further exploration using multiple sampling methods covering all seasons and forest types. Ants can be useful indicators for ecosystem management and human impacts on forests. Reports of invasive ants in Nepalese forests indicate the relevance of urgent interventions through sustainable forest management initiatives to prevent future incursions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5101
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kamińska ◽  
Maciej Lisiewicz ◽  
Krzysztof Stereńczak

Tree species classification is important for a variety of environmental applications, including biodiversity monitoring, wildfire risk assessment, ecosystem services assessment, and sustainable forest management. In this study we used a fusion of three remote sensing (RM) datasets including ALS (leaf-on and leaf-off) and colour-infrared (CIR) imagery (leaf-on), to classify different coniferous and deciduous tree species, including dead class, in a mixed temperate forest in Poland. We used intensity and structural variables from the ALS data and spectral information derived from aerial imagery for the classification procedure. Additionally, we tested the differences in classification accuracy of all the variants included in the data integration. The random forest classifier was used in the study. The highest accuracies were obtained for classification based on both point clouds and including image spectral information. The mean values for overall accuracy and kappa were 84.3% and 0.82, respectively. Analysis of the leaf-on and leaf-off alone is not sufficient to identify individual tree species due to their different discriminatory power. Leaf-on and leaf-off ALS point cloud features alone gave the lowest accuracies of 72% ≤ OA ≤ 74% and 0.67 ≤ κ ≤ 0.70. Classification based on both point clouds was found to give satisfactory and comparable results to classification based on combined information from all three sources (83% ≤ OA ≤ 84% and 0.81 ≤ κ ≤ 0.82). The classification accuracy varied between species. The classification results for coniferous trees were always better than for deciduous trees independent of the datasets. In the classification based on both point clouds (leaf-on and leaf-off), the intensity features seemed to be more important than the other groups of variables, especially the coefficient of variation, skewness, and percentiles. The NDVI was the most important CIR-based feature.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document