Search Results (6)

With the intensification of global resource competition, the issue of timber supply has escalated from an economic concern to a significant strategic challenge. This study focuses on the evolution of disruption resilience in the global trade network for wood forest products, aiming to reveal the patterns of resilience dynamics under disruption risks by simulating underload cascading failure phenomena. The study provides theoretical support for enhancing the security and stability of the global wood forest product supply chain. Utilizing global trade data from the UN Comtrade Database 2023, a directed weighted complex network model was constructed, spanning upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, with trade intensity distances serving as edge weights. By developing an underload cascading failure model, the evolution of disruption resilience was simulated under various disruption scenarios from 2002 to 2023, and the long-term impacts of critical node failures on network performance were analyzed. The results demonstrate significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the disruption resilience of the global wood forest product trade network. The upstream network exhibits improved resilience in total node strength but reduced global efficiency. The midstream network shows marked volatility in resilience due to external shocks, such as the global financial crisis, while the downstream network remains relatively stable. Simulations reveal that failures in core nodes (e.g., China, the United States, and Germany) disproportionately degrade global efficiency and node strength, with node centrality metrics positively correlated with network performance loss. This study elucidates the evolutionary mechanisms of disruption resilience in the wood forest product trade network under risk propagation, offering actionable insights for optimizing network robustness and supply chain stability. It is recommended that policymakers promote green supply chain initiatives, accelerate afforestation projects, and enhance domestic timber self-sufficiency to reduce reliance on imported timber, thereby strengthening node resilience and fostering sustainable forest resource utilization for economic and environmental benefits. Full article

To achieve value-added utilization of domestic bamboo and plantation wood resources, this study investigated the feasibility of using flattened bamboo and Chinese fir for manufacturing cross-laminated bamboo and timber (CLBT). Two types of adhesives, one-component polyurethane (PUR), and phenol resorcinol formaldehyde (PRF), and three applied pressure parameters (0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 MPa) were used to fabricate small CLBT panels (375 mm × 500 mm). In this study, block shear and delamination tests were conducted to examine the bond quality and durability of CLBT panels. The results showed that a significant difference in the bonding shear strength (BSS) in both directions. The bonding shear strength in the minor strength direction (BSS_minor) was 1.81–3.45 times higher than the bonding shear strength in the major strength direction (BSS_major). The adhesive type was the major factor affecting the bond quality and delamination, while the bonding pressure had no significant effect on the bond quality and delamination. Compared with PRF adhesives, CLBT specimens prepared from PUR had higher bonding shear strength (BSS) and wood failure percentage (WFP). However, the durability of delamination specimens prepared by PUR was not as good as layered specimens prepared by PRF. Full article

Domestic wood production in Japan is low, and more than 60% of the wood consumed is imported. This is surprising because two-thirds of Japan’s land area is covered by forests. The dominant explanations for this low wood self-sufficiency rate are the lack of forest road infrastructure and the small-scale forest ownership structure. Austria is a country that is similar in topography and ownership structure but has a high wood self-sufficiency rate. Therefore, previous research has compared Japan to Austria. However, these studies did not address basic forest properties in much detail. This study uses national forest inventory data from both countries to assess the forest structures and utilization percentages of the annual wood increment. In contrast to the hypothesis, the results show that the two countries have similar increment rates. In contrast to former studies, the findings indicate that Japanese plantation forests have a higher timber stocking volume than Austrian forests. In Japan, the proportion of the standing volume in the 40–60-year-old age class is much higher compared to the other age classes, indicating an unbalanced growing stock. The results show that the utilization percentage is much higher in Austria (88%) than in Japan (53%). Therefore, the Japanese forest sector has a high potential to increase the harvest of wood. Full article

Many countries, including South Korea, decided to suspend the inclusion of harvested wood products in their Nationally Determined Contributions, as part of the carbon inventory, in 2016. The inclusion of harvested wood products in the national greenhouse gases inventory must ensure the accuracy of carbon accounting and its conformity with the policy direction. The method used for harvested wood product carbon accounting can influence the accuracy of carbon account value, as well as policy direction based on greenhouse gas accounting. This research evaluated the utilization of domestic wood resources in South Korea in terms of carbon storage impacts from the perspective of the cascading use of wood products. The study also compared the two accounting methods (Tier 2 and Tier 3) of carbon storage for the period from 1970 to 2080, assuming the current pattern of wood resource utilization for the next sixty years. The results show that the current utilization of domestic wood resources is inefficient in terms of climate change mitigation. The analysis shows that there is a significant difference between the Tier 2 and Tier 3 methods in carbon storage effects, and the amount of harvested wood products carbon stock calculated by the Tier 2 method was found to be approximately double that of Tier 3. This result implies that there is a possibility of overestimating the carbon storage of harvested wood products when using the Tier 2 method in the case of net timber-importing countries, such as South Korea. The study can provide guidance for designing timber resource management from the perspective of the cascading use of wood products in order to contribute to sustainable development goals, including climate change mitigation. Full article

This study examined optimal harvesting decisions of multiple age-class private forests that maximize private forest owners’ utility. For this analysis, we developed two scenarios. One scenario was to maintain the harvest level currently performed in the Republic of Korea (ROK) (baseline scenario), and the other was to harvest according to the harvest prescription derived from the discrete-time utility model with a multiple age-class forest (optimization scenario). For the baseline scenario, the cohort component approach was applied to predict changes in the forest’s age structure under the given harvest level. For the optimization scenario, we applied a discrete-time utility model that can describe the consumption and cutting behavior of private forest owners who manage a multiple age-class forest. Then, we compared the changes of the timber supply level and forest structure dynamic by scenarios. The results showed that current harvesting in ROK is not at its optimal level. The baseline scenario results showed that if the current level of harvesting is maintained, a total of 1,315,000 m³ of soft wood will be supplied annually. However, the average annual wood supply will increase to 11,522,000 m³ under the maximized utility scenario. In terms of timber self-sufficiency, if all domestic wood produced is supplied as materials, the supply level from the optimization scenario will meet the government’s policy goal of a 30% timber self-sufficiency rate. However, if the baseline scenario is maintained, supply shortages can be expected by 2050. Full article

South Korea has abundant forest resources capable of supplying the domestic wood demand. Despite the extensive forest resources, there is continued uncertainty about the nature, quantity, and quality of the timber contained in any particular forested area. Additionally, some technical, logistic, and economic challenges act as barriers to the expansion of domestic timber utilization. To overcome these limitations and to enhance the domestic timber utilization in South Korea, this study investigated the optimal location of potential forest industry clusters. The potential forest availability was estimated based on localized allometric equations. The integration of the analytical hierarchy process and GIS modeling, including a supply chain that minimizes transportation costs, allowed the identification of optimal forest industry clusters locations that balanced the economic, environmental, and social dimensions within the forest industry supply chain. The study reveals that the estimated potential forest resources availability presented approximately 1 billion m³, including sawlog (474 million m³) and pulpwood grade (541 million m³). Additionally, 45 percent of the sawlogs and 48 percent of the pup grade wood were produced from the Gangwon and Gyeongsangbuk-do regions. Furthermore, the logistic analysis indicates that ten potential forest industry clusters are best aligned with the optimal socio-economic impacts with minimized timber transportation costs. To identify the optimal size and number of potential forest industry clusters, further studies that consider fixed and variable costs for maintaining the forest industry clusters are required. Full article