Search Results (48)

This paper discusses the possibilities of using stump wood as a raw material for energy generation. The research was based on an analysis of the state of knowledge, forest field studies, and participatory observations. A formula was sought to optimise the procurement cost of stump wood appropriate to Polish conditions. Conceptualisation was carried out in a selected area of the Notecka Forest in the Wielkopolska region, located in western Poland. A pilot study was designed to test a computational formula to assess the profitability of harvesting wood from stump wood resources for energy generation. The potential of stump wood is estimated to be around half a million cubic metres per year from the Notecka Forest area alone. This resource provides an opportunity for business development in both forestry and the renewable energy sources (RESs) sector, despite the barriers and risks shown in this study. Full article

Wildfires are becoming an increasingly severe threat to European forests, driven by climate change, land use changes, and socio-economic factors. Integrated solutions for wildfire prevention, early detection, emergency management, and ecological restoration are urgently needed to enhance forest resilience. The Horizon 2020 SILVANUS project developed a comprehensive multi-sectoral platform combining technological innovation, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable forest management strategies. This report analyses the Slovak Republic’s participation in SILVANUS, applying a seven-criterion fit–gap framework (governance, legal, interoperability, staff capacity, ecological suitability, financial feasibility, and stakeholder acceptance) to evaluate the platform’s alignment with national conditions. Notable contributions include stakeholder-supported functional requirements for wildfire prevention, climate-sensitive forest models for long-term adaptation planning, IoT- and UAV-based early fire detection technologies, and decision support systems (DSS) for emergency response and forest-restoration activities. The Slovak pilot sites, particularly in the Podpoľanie region, served as important testbeds for the validation of these tools under real-world conditions. All SILVANUS modules scored ≥12/14 in the fit–gap assessment; early deployment reduced high-risk fuel polygons by 23%, increased stand-level structural diversity by 12%, and raised the national Sustainable Forest Management index by four points. Integrating SILVANUS outcomes into national forestry practices would enable better wildfire risk assessment, improved resilience planning, and more effective public engagement in wildfire management. Opportunities for adoption include capacity-building initiatives, technological deployments in fire-prone areas, and the incorporation of DSS outputs into strategic forest planning. Potential challenges, such as technological investment costs, inter-agency coordination, and public acceptance, are also discussed. Overall, the Slovak Republic’s engagement with SILVANUS demonstrates the value of participatory, technology-driven approaches to sustainable wildfire management and offers a replicable model for other European regions facing similar challenges. Full article

Contemporary scientific consensus recognizes forests as vital to the global carbon cycle and essential for mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss. Several internationally coordinated forest conservation initiatives were established in the late twentieth century. Market- and rights-based strategies and community-driven participatory reforms have evolved in the fortress forests of the Global South. However, there remains a gap in understanding how these overlapping conservation ideologies—particularly neoliberal, participatory, and fortress conservation—have evolved and interacted within specific geographies. This study investigates the nexus of three conservation ideologies in Myanmar since the 1990s. Using a Marxist materialism perspective and poststructuralist political ecology, we explore how power dynamics in forestry are shifting under neoliberal political philosophy. We show how hegemonic neoliberalism influences the roles of state and non-state actors in Myanmar, where new governance approaches to forest conservation have emerged. New ways of governing forest conservation have emerged in Myanmar, where numerous conservation philosophies have guided the state through global programs, leading to skeletal forest conservation governance. However, these approaches have downplayed Myanmar’s historical and geographical characteristics, both of which are progenitors of its problems in forestry. Our study critiques the contrasting tenets of forest conservation theories to inform future policies. Full article

Promoting nature-positive forestry requires sustainable timber production that aligns with ecosystem service (ES) conservation. However, Japan’s recently implemented top-down timber production policy may undermine sustainability in local forest landscapes. We assessed the spatial sustainability of plantation forestry by comparing actual logged areas (2000–2019) with allowable logging areas. Logged areas were identified using satellite imagery analysis, while allowable logging areas were estimated by excluding forests at high risk of landslides or with unclear ownership and dividing the remaining area by the standard logged age. While total logged area remained below the experience-based sustainable threshold, logging in profitable forests exceeded allowable levels in recent years. Forests with higher profitability experienced concentrated logging after 2015, indicating the strong influence of the national policy. This spatial imbalance threatens long-term sustainability by depleting productive forest patches while ignoring underutilized unprofitable forests. Our findings demonstrate the risks of uniform, production-oriented policies and highlight the need for adaptive, locally responsive forest governance. By integrating ecological and social constraints into spatial analysis, this study proposes a new sustainability measurement in line with nature-based solutions. Future forest policy must incorporate local knowledge and participatory decision-making to sustain forest ESs and timber supply under changing social and environmental conditions. Full article

This paper presents a structured methodology for identifying and addressing key communication challenges in the forestry sector, using the Czech Republic (CZ) as a case study. The approach integrates the CIMO model, problem tree analysis, SWOT evaluation, and a confrontation matrix to identify critical factors influencing communication challenges and prioritize strategic responses. Findings from a representative public survey (n = 3600), participatory workshops, and expert consultations indicate that the primary challenge (C) in Czech forestry is a fragmented sector facing declining trust and minimal media presence. The proposed intervention (I) is a unified, strategic communication methodology designed to activate the mechanism (M) of shared narratives and coordinated messaging. This approach aims to achieve the desired outcomes (O): increased trust, engagement, and legitimacy. The absence of a unified, long-term communication strategy contributes significantly to public misunderstanding, erodes trust, and limits policy support. The study proposes evidence-based tools to enhance sector visibility, coherence, and public engagement. With direct payments for ecosystem services under debate in CZ, effective communication is a prerequisite for securing public and political support. The methods employed have broader relevance for forestry in other countries seeking strengthened stakeholder alignment through strategic communication. Full article

Forests are one of the most predominant types of land usage in Portugal and are highly relevant in terms of environmental, economic, social, and political factors. Increasing the value and the resilience of the Portuguese forest, defining adequate policies, and aligning forest research with society needs requires a truthful comprehension of the most relevant challenges in this sector. This study identifies and analyzes the most relevant needs and challenges impacting the Portuguese forestry sector, both currently and over a five-year period, from the stakeholder’s perspective. A participatory approach was employed, engaging national and regional forest stakeholders, to ensure a realistic vision of the forest sector in Portugal. A total of 116 topics were identified, with a predominance of immediate challenges over future information needs, underscoring the urgent pressures on the sector. Environmental/ecological and policy issues dominated the identified needs and challenges, reflecting the urgency for strategic interventions in these areas. A significant emphasis was placed on the mitigation of climate change impacts, mainly associated with biotic and abiotic risks, promoting technological advanced forest management, and the sector valorization. Policy and legal issues, such as fragmented ownership and adequate economic and fiscal incentives, were also identified as major concerns. The findings highlight the interconnected nature of forestry challenges and the need for integrated, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches, prioritizing research on climate impacts, developing adaptive management strategies, promoting stakeholder engagement, and enhancing capacity-building initiatives. The results of this study make it a relevant case study for other forest stakeholders in similar regions in Europe with comparative forest management models and can inspire new solutions for common challenges opening new research avenues for other forest related academics. Full article

Urban afforestation is increasingly regarded as a key strategy for fostering biodiversity to restore and enhance the ecosystem services needed to counteract the effects of climate change in built-up areas. In Italy, several experimental afforestation projects have been launched as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), focusing on cities or metropolitan areas such as Milan, Rome, Pistoia and Campobasso. These projects follow a multidisciplinary approach, integrating botanists, foresters, urban planners, landscape architects and remote sensing specialists. The goal is to address the challenging complexity of urban forest restoration through reforestation and afforestation actions. Key innovations include the integration of transdisciplinary methodologies (landscape analysis, landscape design, forest and plant ecology) with the application of advanced remote sensing technologies and participatory community engagement frameworks to address ecological and social challenges. Experimental plots have been set up across various urban areas, testing a range of planting schemes to maximise climate change resilience and ensure long-term ecological sustainability. Emphasis has been placed on selecting drought-tolerant and thermophilic species that are better adapted to widespread warming and local urban heat islands. ‘Biodiversity strips’ with perennial flowers for insects, shrubs with berries for birds and nests for wild bees and vertebrates have been set up to enhance biodiversity in new afforestation areas. Advanced monitoring tools, such as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and multi-sensor drones, have been employed alongside field observations to assess forest growth, species survival, structural complexity and biodiversity enhancement over time. Historical analyses of landscape patterns and ecological connectivity over the past 200 years, along with evaluations of afforestation projects from the last 70 years, have provided critical insights into the successes and challenges of previous interventions, serving as a guide for future efforts. By focusing on ecological connectivity, the integration of afforested areas into the urban matrix, and citizen engagement, the current project aims to align urban forestry efforts with sustainable development goals. This comprehensive project framework addresses environmental restoration and the social and aesthetic impacts on local communities, contributing to the overall resilience and well-being of urban and peri-urban ecosystems. Full article

The environmentally responsible behavior of urban forest visitors is a key determinant for the conservation of urban forests. Identifying the determinants of individuals’ behavioral intentions and actual behavior in engaging in environmentally responsible actions is a crucial step in promoting such behavior. This research investigates the determinants of environmentally responsible behavior of urban forest visitors in Tehran using Social Cognitive Theory. Data for the study were collected using 456 questionnaires distributed to visitors of urban forests. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling, which described a 62.9% variance in behavioral intention and 56.6% in environmental behavior of visitors. The socio-structural factors and the observation of others’ behaviors were the most significant predictors of behavioral intentions. Outcome expectations and self-efficacy significantly influence both behavioral intentions and actual behavior. This study demonstrates that while behavioral intention is a key factor, other determinants such as outcome expectations and self-efficacy play a crucial role in shaping actual environmentally responsible actions. These results underscore the importance of increasing awareness and enhancing the skills of urban forest visitors regarding environmental behaviors. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to remove barriers and provide the necessary facilities to promote sustained environmentally responsible behavior among visitors. Full article

Land use conflicts are intensifying in Northern Sweden due to the increasing global demand for resources coupled with the green transition. In line with this, a thorough understanding of land use conflicts in the area is becoming necessary as economic activities expand and newer ones are developed. Hence, this paper aims to provide a systematic literature review of research on land use conflicts specific to Northern Sweden, focusing on various economic activities such as forestry, mining, tourism, energy sector and reindeer husbandry. Additionally, we aim to determine lessons learned and suggested ways forward based on a systematic review. We used Scopus and Web of Science on June 2023 and through descriptive statistical analysis of 33 articles, we summarized research trends and gaps. We found three main typologies of conflicts and five main themes of suggested ways forward. Recommendations agree that there should be a broader understanding of the underlying interests of the stakeholders; and there should be an inclusive, more participatory approach to discussing potential solutions, not to create an agreement but to come to an understanding. Beyond academic insights, the findings hold practical relevance for shaping effective land use policies. This paper offers valuable lessons that extend beyond the local context, informing broader discussions and policy considerations for sustainable land management in the larger Arctic setting, where similar challenges and resource demands are unfolding. Full article

Protected areas serve as stepping stones for the preservation of biodiversity, and can provide economic and social benefits to communities. National parks aim to limit human intervention to safeguard natural communities and processes. This study analyzes the impacts of transforming the Křivoklátsko Protected Landscape Area into the proposed Křivoklátsko National Park in the Czech Republic, which is a program promoted by political parties. Using the quintuple helix model, it assesses the change from a sustainable development perspective. The analysis considers economic, social, and environmental aspects, including the impact on the local inhabitants, the economy, forestry, business activities, and regional development. The existing management in the Křivoklátsko region exemplifies sustainable multifunctional forest management. Based on the evaluation, the study finds insufficient arguments for declaring the Křivoklátsko National Park. The study emphasizes the need to balance the social demand for nature protection with the awareness of existing measures and specific area conditions. Nature protection should integrate itself into all human activities within the culturally and historically created landscape, rather than solely pursuing political goals. Participatory forestry management plays a crucial role in landscape transformation. The study highlights the importance of sustainable landscape development and the interactions between the university, government, industry, and civil sector actors with the environment. Full article

Latino/a/x workers perform labor-intensive forestry and fire stewardship work in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, but are not well recognized in research and practice about wildfire governance. This industry has pervasive issues of unsafe working conditions, inequitable wage practices, violations of worker rights, limited opportunity for advancement, and a lack of recognition and inclusion of workers in decision making. We draw on a literature review and practice-based knowledge to make this workforce’s history more visible, from its origins in lumber production and reforestation to expansion into forest and fire stewardship. We suggest a new conceptual framing of “multiple marginalities” that situates this workforce as simultaneously crucial to our future with wildfire and subject to structural, distributional, recognitional, and procedural inequities. We recommend new approaches to research and practice that can better examine and address these inequities, while also acknowledging the persistent and systemic nature of these challenges. These include participatory action research, lessons learned from research and advocacy related to farmworkers and incarcerated workers, and Cooperative Extension and education programs that are learner-centered and culturally appropriate. Multiple interventions of offering education and outreach, enforcing or reforming law, and changing policy and practice must all occur at multiple scales given the many drivers of these marginalities. Study and practice can contribute new knowledge to inform this and expand current conceptions of equity and environmental justice in the wildfire governance literature to become more inclusive of the forest and fire stewardship workforce. Full article

Community forestry is a strategy in which communities are, to some degree, responsible for managing the forests, using a more participatory approach to replace the traditional top-down model. Various forms of policies and governance have been developed to balance goals to ensure the community’s socioeconomic resilience and the landscape’s biological sustainability. The reinvestment of community forest (CF) income back into forest regeneration is not well documented, and there is a lack of research comparing forest income to the costs associated with forest regeneration. This research examines how changes in timber income and forest-regeneration costs affected CF social and ecological viability. We conducted expert elicitation interviews for CFs (n = 33) under three zones of management in Chitwan, Nepal (Zone 1: buffer zone, Zone 2: forest corridor, and Zone 3: community forest). To examine how CFs differ financially, we asked questions regarding timber income and forest-regeneration expenditures and then posed 22 questions regarding socioeconomic and biological aspects of the CF. Finally, a Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum test was performed to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in perceptions between groups, including zone, timber income (high, medium, low), and forest-regeneration expenditures (high, medium, low). The amount of income from timber had a substantial impact on the communities’ biological benefits and financial stability. Lower timber-income areas were thought to be less economically stable, lack the resources to enforce rules and regulations necessary to meet the CF’s socioeconomic or biological goals, and place more significant restrictions on the amount of wood members can harvest from the forest. Communities that spent less money on forest regeneration reported poorer levels of forest regeneration, economic sustainability, and community rights. Our research shows that community-forest user groups in the Chitwan district have a significant income and expenditure gap between their forests’ biological and socioeconomic advantages and resilience. Full article

The expansion of eucalypt plantations constitutes a growing source of landscape transformation in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In this context, forest planning has failed to design forestry policies that consider the demands of the population as a whole. Among other consequences, in 2018 a group of activists founded a volunteer programme aiming at collective action against the expansion of degraded forests. By 2022, over 100 actions had been performed, mostly involving eradications of eucalypt sprouts, and 1000 activists took part in such programmes. Through participatory action research, this work explores the nature and functioning of this programme and discusses in particular the socialisation of landscape management. The results reveal a slight prevalence of an urban public participating in rural areas, so that activism against eucalyptus expansion conforms a centripetal force in the creation of new networks of actors that transcend the rural–urban dichotomy. It is concluded that the studied case can be taken as a model for public institutions aiming to reinforce citizen participation in forest landscape plans. Full article

To combat land degradation and deterioration issues, the Grain to Green project (GGP) was implemented on the Chinese Loess Plateau in 1999 and substantially altered the land cover by converting slope farmland into forest and grassland. To effectively achieve sustainable land restoration management and avoid stakeholder conflicts, this study aimed to understand how local stakeholders perceived the current land restoration process and expectations for future land restoration policy, as well as how stakeholders assessed the GGP impacts on local ecosystem service changes. We investigated the perspectives of 150 stakeholders representing five stakeholder groups including farmers, governmental officers, citizens, tourism operators and forestry practitioners using questionnaires administered in 2021 in the Yan’an area of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The survey results indicated a 72% support rate of stakeholders for the current GGP, with government officers reporting the highest value and tourism practitioners reporting the lowest. The support rate for future land restoration decreased to 51%. While majority of the stakeholders considered that the GGP had stimulated regulation and cultural ecosystem services, they also perceived negative impacts on grain production, livestock production, water yield and water quantity. Factors influencing farmers’ decision-making on recultivating the restored forest in the future were found to be economically driven. We recommend policy makers to improve the compensation standards and duration for farmers and increase the diversity of restoration tree species, and the involvement of participatory processes is suggested for future land restoration policy-making. Full article

Development cooperation in agriculture aims to contribute to the achieving of a large part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda, especially the first three, No Poverty (1), Zero Hunger (2), and Good Health and Well-being (3). Development cooperation in agriculture tries to help local communities to increase their awareness, participation, and skills about the management of land and environmental resources, in order to realize sustainable development. In this context, methods of participatory assessment of land suitability have been widely and successfully applied. The present research took place in the framework of a real development cooperation intervention in Nord Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo) and aimed to implement a rapid participatory assessment of land suitability. In this context, where official and detailed data are not available, the study fostered the active involvement of local experts and used geographical information systems (GIS) to identify the most suitable crops to be supported in different zones of the study area. Toward this aim, the authors used a procedure based on the following steps: the identification of relevant land use types (LUTs), mapping capability factors, describing the responses of each LUT to the different capability factors, mapping potential land suitability for the LUTs, mapping accessibility, mapping land suitability for the LUTs. Resulting maps and tables were used to identify the most suitable areas for the different uses. Globally, forestry was the most suited use (99.6% of the study area is potentially highly suitable), followed by the cropping of manioc, sorghum, banana, oil palm, bean and cattle grazing in decreasing order (62.6% of the study area is potentially highly suitable for grazing). When accessibility is considered, forestry presents the largest decrease in the class of high potential suitability (−34.9% equal to a loss of 24,945.5 ha), while less adaptable uses, such as cattle grazing showed lower decreases in highly suitable class (−11.2%) and larger increases in scarcely suitable class (+9.5%). At a later stage, the comparison between computed suitability and actual land use helped with identifying the areas where forestry should be the only (or most) supported activity and the areas where to push integrated land uses. Our interpretation of the results allows us to recommend the adoption of agroforestry and intercropping as the main methodologies to integrate multiple aims such as the environmental conservation and the improvement of livelihoods. Full article