Forest Resource Economics and Finance

Book Description

This book is aimed at undergraduate forestry students who have taken at least one semester of introductory micro-economics, although basics are reviewed. Practicing foresters and resource analysts should also find the book a useful reference. Beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates will find many of the technical footnotes and appendixes of interest. Throughout, emphasis is on economics as a way of thinking in which we compare added costs and benefits of actions in order to maximize net benefits. A general review of microeconomics in Chapter 2 leads to the theory of welfare maximization in a free market and how "market failures" keep us from this maximum. The analysis gives forestry examples and shows what policy actions might make us better off or worse off than under a completely free market.

With the basics in capital theory, students will learn how to evaluate forestry investments in a way which embraces important environmental factors. Separate chapters show how to include inflation and taxes in these analyses. Financial appraisal of forest management actions includes even-aged stands and uneven-aged forests without clearcutting.

One chapter shows how risk can be incorporated into forest investment analysis, and another gives students background in appraising market values of forest properties. Following a review of the timber industry and timber supply and demand concepts, students will learn how to estimate monetary values of nonmarket outputs and include them in multiple-use forest management decisions. Final chapters cover regional economic analysis and forestry in a global context.

Throughout the book are abundant numerical examples of calculations, graphic explanation of concepts, and problems for students to solve. Strong features of this book are the informal and lucid writing style, many examples of how to apply economic principles in understanding and solving practical forestry problems, and emphasis on how to include nonmonetary values into economic thinking and financial calculations in forestry.

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WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES

The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.

"The body of theory presented [in this book] is a completely interdisciplinary, integrated synthesis of theory, methods and data from ecology, economics, public policy, the history of various resources, and a wide array of topics in applied mathematics and operations research. The level of treatment is very thoughtful, penetrating, and innovative. The coverage of relevant material is extremely comprehensive?"
--The Quarterly Review of Biology

"Overall, this is an appealing work for students and professionals, and is certain to remain as one of the key works in natural resource analysis."
--Mathematical Reviews

Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources, Second Edition serves as an introduction to the theory of biological conservation, including a wealth of applications to the fishery and forestry industries. The mathematical modeling of the productive aspects of renewable-resource management is explained, featuring both economic and biological factors, with much attention paid to the optimal use of resource stocks over time. This Second Edition provides new chapters on the theory of resource regulation and on stochastic resource models, new sections on irreversible investment, game-theoretic models, dynamic programming, and an expanded bibliography.

Nontimber Forest Products in the United States

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Nontimber Forest Products in the United States

Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
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Binding: Paperback

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Non-Timber Forest Products: Medicinal Herbs, Fungi, Edible Fruits and Nuts, and Other Natural Products from the Forest

ASIN: 0700611665

Book Description

A quiet revolution is taking place in America's forests. Once seen primarily as stands of timber, our woodlands are now prized as a rich source of a wide range of commodities, from wild mushrooms and maple sugar to hundreds of medicinal plants whose uses have only begun to be fully realized. Now as timber harvesting becomes more mechanized and requires less labor, the image of the lumber-jack is being replaced by that of the forager.

This book provides the first comprehensive examination of nontimber forest products (NTFPs) in the United States, illustrating their diverse importance, describing the people who harvest them, and outlining the steps that are being taken to ensure access to them. As the first extensive national overview of NTFP policy and management specific to the United States, it brings together research from numerous disciplines and analytical perspectives--such as economics, mycology, history, ecology, law, entomology, forestry, geography, and anthropology-- in order to provide a cohesive picture of the current and potential role of NTFPs.

The contributors review the state of scientific knowledge of NTFPs by offering a survey of commercial and noncommercial products, an overview of uses and users, and discussions of sustainable management issues associated with ecology, cultural traditions, forest policy, and commerce. They examine some of the major social, economic, and biological benefits of NTFPs, while also addressing the potential negative consequences of NTFP harvesting on forest ecosystems and on NTFP species populations.

Within this wealth of information are rich accounts of NTFP use drawn from all parts of the American landscape--from the Pacific Northwest to the Caribbean. From honey production to a review of nontimber forest economies still active in the United States--such as the Ojibway "harvest of plants" recounted here--the book takes in the whole breadth of recent NTFP issues, including ecological concerns associated with the expansion of NTFP markets and NTFP tenure issues on federally managed lands.

No other volume offers such a comprehensive overview of NTFPs in North America. By examining all aspects of these products, it contributes to the development of more sophisticated policy and management frameworks for not only ensuring their ongoing use but also protecting the future of our forests.

Book Description

In recent years, Japan, like many other forest-dependent nations, has been facing difficult times: forest self-sufficiency is low; unplanted areas after harvesting are increasing; and forest industries and companies are losing international competitiveness in the global market.

Such challenges, however, are not unique to Japan but are relevant - and all too familiar - to forest industry stakeholders around the world. This book, representing the work of distinguished Japanese scholars, is the first comprehensive English-language overview of forestry, forest management, and the forest products industry in Japan. Chapters address the biological and physical evolution of the forest, forest-dependent industries, the social impact of changes in forest utilization, current trends in the forest estate, and the relationship between urban population and rural forest land.

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Natural ecosystems like wetlands and forests fulfill important environmental functions, while at the same time making significant contributions to OECD economies. Efficient management of natural resources depends on the appropriate valuation of the benefits and costs associated with their use. Markets often fail to reflect either the full social value of using these resources or the full social costs of their degradation. Inappropriate policy interventions by governments may reinforce these "market failures" or may lead to other forms of policy distortion of their own. This report illustrates some of the problems encountered in determining the optimum mix of market forces and government policies in managing wetlands and forests, and suggests how governments could intervene more effectively to get the prices right.

The Forest Farms of Kandy: And Other Gardens of Complete Design (Ashgate Studies in Environmental Policy and Practice)

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The Forest Farms of Kandy: And Other Gardens of Complete Design (Ashgate Studies in Environmental Policy and Practice)
D. J. McConnell , K. A. E. Dharmapala , G. K. Upawansa , and S. R. Attanayake
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0754609588

Timber Booms and Institutional Breakdown in Southeast Asia (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

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Why Conservation Breaks Down

Timber Booms and Institutional Breakdown in Southeast Asia (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)
Michael L. Ross
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521791677

Book Description

In this book, Michael L. Ross explores the breakdown of the institutions that govern natural resource exports in developing states. Using case studies of timber booms in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, he shows that these institutions often break down when states receive positive trade shocks--unanticipated windfalls. Drawing on the theory of rent-seeking, he suggests that these institutions succumb to a problem he calls "rent-seizing"--the predatory behavior of politicians who seek to supply rent to others, and who purposefully dismantle institutions that restrain them.

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Scholars have long studied how institutions emerge and become stable. But why do institutions sometimes break down? In this book, Michael L. Ross explores the breakdown of the institutions that govern natural resource exports in developing states. He shows that these institutions often break down when states receive positive trade shocks - unanticipated windfalls. Drawing on the theory of rent-seeking, he suggests that these institutions succumb to a problem he calls 'rent-seizing' - the predatory behavior of politicians who seek to supply rent to others, and who purposefully dismantle institutions that restrain them. Using case studies of timber booms in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, he shows how windfalls tend to trigger rent-seizing activities that may have disastrous consequences for state institutions, and for the government of natural resources. More generally, he shows how institutions can collapse when they have become endogenous to any rent-seeking process.

Customer Reviews:

Why Conservation Breaks Down.......2001-05-19

This is an excellent case study of the failure of conservation policies. It describes the destruction of the forests of the Philippines, Malaysia (specifically Sabah and Sarawak), and Indonesia. Each has gone from largely forested to almost totally deforested in 40 years; SCIENCE magazine in May called for desperate last-ditch attempts to saving the last lowland forests of Indonesia, where only the national parks are left and even they are now being illegally logged. Yet all these countries--especially the Phils and Malaysia--once had excellent forestry policies and departments. There are very few good case studies of the breakdown of conservation and resource management; this is one of them. In fact, it is one of the very best I have seen on forest destruction in the Third World. The author introduces the concept of "rent seizure": Seizure by government personnel of the power to allocate resources and/or income streams therefrom. This is, to some degree, just a values-neutral word for "corruption," but it applies to some cases that are not so much corrupt as simply foolish and expedient. He shows that insecure bosses are more apt to rent-seize than secure ones; they need the support, NOW, of backers that they can pay off with logging rights. He does not apply his concept to the US or Canada, but one can easily substitute "Idaho" or "British Columbia" for "Philippines" or "Malaysia" in the conclusions of this book. There are some problems with the book. Ross minimizes the role of other nations, explicitly letting Japan off the hook. Yet Japan not only provided a vast and unregulated market, but pressured these countries to export round logs, discouraging their processing industries--and thus the value-added that would have made it more worth while to manage sustainably. Also minimally mentioned is the role of the World Bank and IMF. Yet these entities played their part. They continued to give loans to the countries in question, even after they knew that the loan money would be misappropriated and the loan paid back by running down the country's resource base as well as its education and health care institutions; this was particularly notorious in the case of Marcos' Philippines, where World Bank loans went into Imelda's shoe collection. Ross is also rather less hard on the national government of Malaysia than he might have been; he blames local politicians in Sabah and Sarawak, but much blame should be attached to the national government as well. On the other hand, emphasizing the local scene is a useful corrective to the excessive emphasis on "globalization" that has distorted so much recent literature. If the human race survives the 21st century, the destruction of the world's tropical forests will be seen as one of the worst crimes in history. Not only were the forests and their resident people destroyed; the benefits were almost nil. Southeast Asia's forests went into disposable chopsticks, temporary siding for concrete-pouring, and other throwaway trash of the consumer society. The orang-utan, the Indonesian rhinoceri, and thousands of other animals are extinct or will soon be, all so that rich people did not have to wash a few dishes. The indigenous peoples of these countries are driven from their homes and livelihoods, all to produce some trash. Ross shows us how this could happen--how governments and firms could wind up systematically and calmly working for two generations on such an insane project.

Forest Resource Policy in Latin America (Inter-American Development Bank)

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Forest Resource Policy in Latin America (Inter-American Development Bank)

Manufacturer: Inter-American Development Bank
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Latin America has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, and its forests are exploited for the benefit of both rich and poor. In several countries of the region, current policies favor the conversion of natural forests to other uses and the establishment of tree plantations.

How can Latin America conserve its rich natural inheritance? Forest Resource Policy in Latin America gathers the thinking of more than a dozen international experts on financing and policy mechanisms for sustainable use and management of forests, including incentives for investment. They tackle the thorny social issues of property rights, deforestation, and forest management and ownership by indigenous people. Alternatives for habitat protection and rural income generation are outlined, and forest concession policies across the region are analyzed.

The authors take a hard look at many trade and environmental issues in forest production that will affect future directions for sustainable forestry development in Latin America. Some argue that the main opportunity to conserve natural forests lies in recognizing and paying for the environmental services they provide. Meanwhile, compensatory measures such as the establishment and better management of strictly protected areas appear to be the best tools to delay the loss of ecosystems and species.

Agricultural Compendium: for Rural Development in the Tropics and subtropics

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An absolute must-have for practicioners

Agricultural Compendium: for Rural Development in the Tropics and subtropics

Manufacturer: Elsevier Science
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0444429050

Book Description

Like its predecessors, this third revised edition of the Agricultural Compendium is packed with a wealth of statistical and general information about almost every aspect of agriculture in the tropics and subtropics.

"Anyone in tropical rural development, whether in a technical capacity or as an economist/planner making use of technical results, would both save themselves time and increase their understanding and efficiency through possession of this compendium. It is not only a reference volume but potentially a major contribution to mutual understanding and therefore communication between different disciplines." commented Soil Survey and Land Evaluation after the publication of an earlier edition.

Numerous sections (e.g. Chapter 7, Part B - Fisheries) and even complete chapters (e.g. Chapter 3, Geodosy; Chapter 10, Sociology) have been rewritten for the present edition. A number of new sections have also been added (e.g. in Chapter 3, a section on remote sensing techniques). Furthermore, in view of the now common use of scientific pocket calculators and personal computers, a number of graphs have been replaced by the original formulae.

Customer Reviews:

An absolute must-have for practicioners.......1999-07-25

If you work in agricultural development, and you own only one book, this should be it. Very dense and practical, including much information on design of land improvements. Accurate and up-tp-date. You could almost start a consulting company with this book alone.

Agricultural Expansion and Tropical Deforestation: International Trade, Poverty and Land Use

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Agricultural Expansion and Tropical Deforestation: International Trade, Poverty and Land Use
Solon Barraclough , and Krishna B. Ghimire
Manufacturer: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

There is no clear-cut causal relationship between international trade, agricultural expansion and tropical deforestation. Academics, policy makers and the public are all tempted by simplistic solutions to complex problems.

In order to establish the true causal factors involved in this critical area of environmental decline the authors of this study present case studies ranging over three continents. Using ample and detailed statistics the book shows that the focus on analysis of deforestation must be applied as much to the misguided policies of national and regional authorities as to the forces of trade and globalization. Further, a critical perspective on the historical context of human use of forest areas must be adopted, looking at such issues as systems of land tenure. The primary aim of the book is to highlight the need to seek solutions in far-reaching institutional and policy reforms if the problem of tropical deforestation is to be tackled effectively.

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