A review of post-modern management techniques as currently applied to Turkish forestry

This paper reviews the effects of six post-modern management concepts as applied to Turkish forestry. Up to now, Turkish forestry has been constrained, both in terms of its operations and internal organization, by a highly bureaucratic system. The application of new thinking in forestry management, however, has recently resulted in new organizational and production concepts that promise to address problems specific to this Turkish industry and bring about positive changes. This paper will elucidate these specific issues and demonstrate how post-modern management thinking is influencing the administration and operational capacity of Turkish forestry within its current structure.     

Human Dimensions of Forest Disturbance by Insects: An International Synthesis

Ecological disturbances of forests by insects have a complex array of associated human dimensions presenting complications for natural resource decision making and relationships between stakeholders and managers. This article discusses the human context of forest disturbances by insects by reviewing four cases of bark beetle forest disturbance from British Columbia in Canada, Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany, the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, and the north central region of Colorado. Findings and lessons learned from these studies are outlined along with their implications for managing forest disturbances by insects in general. Conclusions focus on the need to assess the broad array of impacts and risks perceived by local residents and the capacity for local action and involvement in managing forest disturbances. Communication and interaction between resource managers and local stakeholders can facilitate the identification of management priorities and potentially reduce some of the risks associated with forest disturbances by insects.     

Balancing Conservation and Economic Sustainability: The Future of the Amazon Timber Industry

Logging has been a much maligned feature of frontier development in the Amazon. Most discussions ignore the fact that logging can be part of a renewable, environmentally benign, and broadly equitable economic activity in these remote places. We estimate there to be some 4.5 ± 1.35 billion m³ of commercial timber volume in the Brazilian Amazon today, of which 1.2 billion m³ is currently profitable to harvest, with a total potential stumpage value of $15.4 billion. A successful forest sector in the Brazilian Amazon will integrate timber harvesting on private lands and on unprotected and unsettled government lands with timber concessions on public lands. If a legal, productive, timber industry can be established outside of protected areas, it will deliver environmental benefits in synergy with those provided by the region’s network of protected areas, the latter of which we estimate to have an opportunity cost from lost timber revenues of $2.3 billion over 30 years. Indeed, on all land accessible to harvesting, the timber industry could produce an average of more than 16 million m³ per year over a 30-year harvest cycle—entirely outside of current protected areas—providing $4.8 billion in returns to landowners and generating $1.8 billion in sawnwood sales tax revenue. This level of harvest could be profitably complemented with an additional 10% from logging concessions on National Forests. This advance, however, should be realized only through widespread adoption of reduced impact logging techniques.     

Influence of fertilizing on the Cs soil–plant transfer in a spruce forest of Southern Germany

Fertilization with 2.5 t/ha limestone: (83% CaCO₃, 8% MgO, 6% K₂O, 3% P₂O₅) reduces the ¹³⁷Cs transfer from spruce forest soil into plants like fern (Dryopteris carthusiana) and blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) by a factor of 2–5 during at least 11 years as measured by the aggregated transfer factor T_ag. In 1997 and 2006 these results were confirmed by additional measurements of the ¹³⁷Cs transfer factor TF, related to the root zone (O_h horizon), which were explained by the selective sorption of ¹³⁷Cs in the root zone by measurements of the Radiocaesium Interception Potential (RIP) in fertilized (RIP > 179 meq/kg) and non-fertilized soils (RIP < 74 meq/kg).     

中国碳排放强度的时空演进及跃迁机制

面对气候变化所带来的生存危机以及环境治理的复杂状况,对中国碳排放强度时空演进的动态监测与预警治理的研究是实现碳排放强度下降目标的关键。文章测算1997—2015年中国大陆30个省区碳排放强度的空间面板数据,采用探索性时空数据分析(ESTDA)方法对中国碳排放强度的空间相关性、集聚特征及其时空跃迁进行空间统计分析,借助分位数回归与时空跃迁嵌套模型,揭示在时间和空间推移的双重作用下中国各省区碳排放强度的时空跃迁机制。研究结果表明:(1)中国30个省区的碳排放强度在时空分布上并不是完全随机状态,各个省区碳排放强度之间具有显著的空间相关性特征,碳排放强度的变动趋势会受到其相临近省区碳排放强度的影响,省域间的碳排放强度在空间分布上呈现"集聚"与"分异"并存的时空演进特征。(2)中国碳排放强度空间集聚趋势增强,具有高度的凝固性和较低的流动性,10个高碳排放强度省区碳排放强度的稳定性将成为制约中国碳排放强度整体跃迁的重点省区,相关省区的跃迁性将成为驱动中国碳排放强度整体跃迁的关键省区。(3)各省区的碳排放强度空间集聚过程中存在时空跃迁的驱动模式和制约模式,分位数回归模型能够很好地解释各驱动因素对碳排放强度时空跃迁的驱动机制,不同响应阶段的驱动因素的分位数与碳排放强度时空跃迁类型之间具有很强的嵌套性。(4)根据各省区碳排放强度时空演进及其跃迁机制的分析结果,进一步提出加强对关键省区碳排放强度的有效监测与治理,加大碳排放的约束力度等差异化的碳减排调控措施。     

Even-Aged and Uneven-Aged Forest Management in Boreal Fennoscandia: A Review

Since WWII, forest management in Fennoscandia has primarily been based on even-aged stand management, clear cut harvesting and thinning from below. As an alternative, uneven-aged management, based on selection cutting of individual trees or small groups of trees, has been proposed. In this review we discuss the theoretical aspects of ecology and economics of the two management approaches. We also review peer-reviewed studies from boreal Fennoscandia, which have aimed at comparing the outcomes of uneven-aged and the conventional even-aged forest management. According to a common view the main obstacle of practicing uneven-aged forestry is its low economic performance. However, the reviewed studies did not offer any straightforward support for this view and several studies have found uneven-aged management to be fully competitive with existing even-aged management. Studies on the ecological aspects indicated that selection cuttings maintain mature or late-successional forest characteristics and species assemblages better than even-aged management, at least at the stand scale and in the short term. We conclude that although the number of relevant studies has increased in recent years, the ecological and economic performance of alternative management methods still remains poorly examined, especially for those stands with multiple tree species and also at wider spatial and temporal scales. For future research we advocate a strategy that fully takes into consideration the interdisciplinary nature of forest management and is better connected to social goals and latest theoretical and methodological developments in ecology and economics.     

Deforestation and the Limited Contribution of Forests to Rural Livelihoods in West Africa: Evidence from Burkina Faso and Ghana

Forest degradation in West Africa is generally thought to have negative consequences on rural livelihoods but there is little overview of its effects in the region because the importance of forests to rural livelihoods has never been adequately quantified. Based on data from 1014 rural households across Burkina Faso and Ghana this paper attempts to fill this knowledge gap. We demonstrate that agricultural lands and the non-forest environment including parklands are considerably more valuable to poor as well as more well-off rural households than forests. Furthermore, product types supplied by the non-forest environment are almost identical with those from forests. Accordingly, forest clearance/degradation is profitable for and, hence, probably performed by rural people at large. We attribute rural people's high reliance on non-forest versus forest resources to the two countries' restrictive and inequitable forest policies which must be reformed to promote effective forest conservation, e.g., to mitigate climate change.     

The Water Table: The Shifting Foundation of Life on Land

Hyperarid, arid, and semi-arid lands represent over a third of the Earth’s land surface, and are home to over 38 % of the increasing world population. Freshwater is a limiting resource on these lands, and withdrawal of groundwater substantially exceeds recharge. Withdrawals of groundwater for expanding agricultural and domestic use severely limit water availability for groundwater dependent ecosystems. We examine here, with emphasis on quantitative data, case histories of groundwater withdrawals at widely differing scales, on three continents, that range from the impact of a few wells, to the outcomes of total appropriation of flow in a major river system. The case histories provide a glimpse of the immense challenge of replacing groundwater resources once they are severely depleted, and put into sharp focus the question whether the magnitude of the current and future human, economic, and environmental consequences and costs of present practices of groundwater exploitation are adequately recognized.     

堇青石负载Pd和过渡金属氧化物催化剂的表征及其对CO的催化氧化活性

以堇青石蜂窝陶瓷(CC)为载体,采用浸渍法制备了堇青石负载Pd和过渡金属混合氧化物催化剂,记作Pd-M-Mn(M=Cu,Co,Fe,Ni)/CC。实验结果表明:Pd-Co-Mn/CC催化剂的催化活性最高;随着Pd负载量的增加,CO转化率提高;当Pd负载量为1.00%时,反应温度为150℃时CO转化率达到98%,200℃时CO转化率达到100%;在反应温度150℃条件下,Pd-Co-Mn/CC催化剂(Pd负载量1.00%)的CO转化率在前30h内小幅度下降,随后稳定在90%以上,反应100h后,催化剂表面颜色由黑色变为棕褐色。     

Learning About the History of Landscape Use for the Future: Consequences for Ecological and Social Systems in Swedish Bergslagen

Barriers and bridges to implement policies about sustainable development and sustainability commonly depend on the past development of social–ecological systems. Production of metals required integration of use of ore, streams for energy, and wood for bioenergy and construction, as well as of multiple societal actors. Focusing on the Swedish Bergslagen region as a case study we (1) describe the phases of natural resource use triggered by metallurgy, (2) the location and spatial extent of 22 definitions of Bergslagen divided into four zones as a proxy of cumulative pressure on landscapes, and (3) analyze the consequences for natural capital and society. We found clear gradients in industrial activity, stream alteration, and amount of natural forest from the core to the periphery of Bergslagen. Additionally, the legacy of top-down governance is linked to today’s poorly diversified business sector and thus municipal vulnerability. Comparing the Bergslagen case study with other similar regions in Russia and Germany, we discuss the usefulness of multiple case studies.