GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT Edited by Clement Akais Okia Global Perspectives on Sustainable Forest Management Edited by Clement Akais Okia Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Ana Skalamera Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published April, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com Global Perspectives on Sustainable Forest Management, Edited by Clement Akais Okia p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0569-5 Contents Preface IX Section 1 Forest Management 1 Chapter 1 Deforestation: Causes, Effects and Control Strategies 3 Sumit Chakravarty, S. K. Ghosh, C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey and Gopal Shukla Chapter 2 Depletion of Oak (Quercus spp.) Forests in the Western Himalaya: Grazing, Fuelwood and Fodder Collection 29 Gajendra Singh and G. S. Rawat Chapter 3 Nepal's Community Forestry: Need of Better Governance 43 Ridish K. Pokharel, Santosh Rayamajhi and Krishna R. Tiwari Chapter 4 The Influence of Decisional Autonomy on Performance and Strategic Choices – The Case of Subcontracting SMEs in Logging Operations 59 Etienne St-Jean and Luc LeBel Chapter 5 Member, Owner, Customer, Supplier? – The Question of Perspective on Membership and Ownership in a Private Forest Owner Cooperative 75 Gun Lidestav and Ann-Mari Arvidsson Chapter 6 Economic Feasibility of an Eucalyptus Agroforestry System in Brazil 95 Álvaro Nogueira de Souza, Humberto Ângelo, Maísa Santos Joaquim, Sandro Nogueira de Souza and John Edward Belknap Chapter 7 Effects of a Unilateral Tariff Liberalisation on Forestry Products and Trade in Australia: An Economic Analysis Using the GTAP Model 107 Luz Centeno Stenberg and Mahinda Siriwardana VI Contents Chapter 8 Strategic Cost Management Practices Adopted by Segments of Brazilian Agribusiness 121 Marcos Antonio Souza and Kátia Arpino Rasia Chapter 9 Forestry and Life Cycle Assessment 139 Andreja Bosner, Tomislav Poršinsky and Igor Stankić Chapter 10 Wildlife Forestry 161 Daniel J. Twedt Chapter 11 Fire Ignition Trends in Durango, México 191 Marín Pompa-García and Eusebio Montiel-Antuna Chapter 12 Remote Sensing of Forestry Studies 205 Kai Wang, Wei-Ning Xiang, Xulin Guo and Jianjun Liu Chapter 13 GIS for Operative Support 217 Gunnar Bygdén Section 2 Forest Utilization 223 Chapter 14 Adding Value Prior to Pulping: Bioproducts from Hemicellulose 225 Lew Christopher Chapter 15 Incorporating Carbon Credits into Breeding Objectives for Plantation Species in Australia 247 Miloš Ivković, Keryn Paul and Tony McRae Chapter 16 Irreversibility and Uncertainty in Multifunctional Forest Management Allocation 263 Jens Abildtrup, Jacques Laye, Maximilien Laye and Anne Stenger Chapter 17 Ecoefficient Timber Forwarding on Lowland Soft Soils 275 Tomislav Poršinsky, Tibor Pentek, Andreja Bosner and Igor Stankić Chapter 18 Comparison of Timber Consumption in U.S. and China 289 Lanhui Wang and Huiwen Wang Preface Forests are an integral part of global sustainable development. The World Bank estimates more than 1.6 billion people to be dependent on forests for their livelihoods with some 300 million living in them. The forest product industry is a source of economic growth and employment, with global forest products traded internationally is estimated at $327 billion. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that every year 130,000 km² of the world's forests are lost due to deforestation. Sustainable forest management aims to ensure that the goods and services derived from the forests meet present-day needs while at the same time securing their continued availability and contribution to long-term development. There is worldwide evidence that forest resources can provide long-term national economic benefits. The year 2011 was therefore designated as ‘The International Year of Forests’ mainly to draw greater attention to the forests worldwide. This book is therefore dedicated to global perspectives on sustainable forest management. It focuses on a need to move away from purely protective management of forests to innovative approaches for multiple use and management of forest resources. The book is divided into two sections; the first section, with thirteen chapters deals with the forest management aspects while the second section, with five chapters is dedicated to forest utilization. The first two chapters set the scene with chapter one highlighting the causes, effects and control strategies for deforestation and chapter two presenting depletion of Oak forests in the western Himalaya. It is observed that by destroying the forests, all potential future revenues and future employment that could be derived from their sustainable management for timber and non-timber products will disappear. Chapter three presents Nepal’s experiences as one of the leading countries in community-based forest management. Unlike in other countries where forest authorities have not yet trusted local communities in forest management, Nepal has used this approach in rejuvenating forests in denuded hills and naked areas. The success revolves around empowerment of Community Forest User Group (CFUG) that are legal entities with autonomy in decision making such as access rules, forest products prices, mechanism for allocation of forest products and user fees. The influence of decisional autonomy on performance and strategic choices for sub- contracting SMEs in logging operations is discussed in chapter four. The authors note X Preface that in a situation of commercial dependency, some contractors use their power over the SME to interfere in the management of their business, thereby curtailing their decisional autonomy. It is concluded that, businesses which find themselves in a situation where they have to obey the orders of a contractor may have limited resources to innovate or develop new and promising niche markets. Chapter five highlights the perspective on membership and ownership in a private forest owner cooperative in a Swedish private forest owner cooperative. It looks at the mismatch between goal of the cooperative and that of the members, to illustrate how the members, the inspectors and the managers look upon the private forest owner in terms of identity, benefits, and agreement. It is suggested that improvements can be achieved by applying a new institutional way of organization, which will make it easier to create a meaningful communication. Chapter six evaluates the economic feasibility of an eucalyptus agroforestry system in Brazil. It is noted that in decision making between projects which have different time horizons, the Equivalent Periodic Benefits (BPE) method has priority over the Net Present Value (VPL). Since each different age of eucalyptus represents an alternative project with different planning horizons, the alternative with a greater BPE must be chosen. Chapter seven analyses the effects of a unilateral tariff liberalisation on forestry products in Australia, amongst the leading exporters and importers of forest products, in particular, as well as global merchandise, in general. The Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and its database, version 7 with 2004 data are utilized. Given that forest products only comprise a small proportion of world merchandise trade, it is expected that trade liberalisation would cause small changes in terms of trade, real GDP, production, consumption and prices of forest products in most countries. Chapter eight is dedicated to strategic cost management practices adopted by segments of Brazilian agribusiness. It focus on investigating the use, perceived benefits and difficulties in implementation by agribusiness companies of strategic cost management practices, treated in the literature as the most appropriate ones to help managers in the management process of organizations. The findings of this exploratory study provide the foundation for conducting further research in the form of multiple case studies and cross-case analyses. Chapter nine is about forestry and life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA helps in measuring environmental aspects and potential impacts of a product through its entire life-cycle from raw material acquisition (beginning of the life-cycle) to manufacturing, use, recycling, re-use and final disposal (end of the product’s life-cycle). Though LCA is particularly difficult in forestry due to the long rotation period, it remains a good tool especially today when there is increased awareness of environmentally friendly technologies, renewable energy and eco-efficiency. The greatest use of LCA tool in forestry, from the timber harvesting aspect, is noted to be in comparing different harvesting systems for selecting environmentally friendly versions. . GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT Edited by Clement Akais Okia Global Perspectives on Sustainable Forest Management Edited by. International Year of Forests’ mainly to draw greater attention to the forests worldwide. This book is therefore dedicated to global perspectives on sustainable forest management. It focuses on. production to be forest and therefore does not classify natural forest conversion to plantation as deforestation (but still records it as a loss of natural forests). However, FAO does not consider