Journal of Forest Economics最新文献

The paper analyses the influence of wildfire-deforestation on theexpansion of wind turbine plants in 10 countries most affectedby wildfires. The empirical part is based on panel AutoregressiveDistributed Lag (ARDL) estimations, from 2010 to 2022. The mainfinding interestingly evidences a long-run relationship betweenwildfire-deforestation and the expansion of wind plants, with apositive sign. More precisely, wind turbine plants have begun tobe significantly developed on wildfire-deforested lands. In this case,noteworthy is that a deviation of 1% from the long-run equilibriumdue to wildfire-deforestation would necessitate several years for thesystem to return to its equilibrium state. Additionally, the linkis supported by the continuous development of renewable energysources, urbanisation and human development. A switching effectis also observed between conventional pollutant energy sources andrenewable ones. The results suggest several key policy measures:performing environmental impact assessments before wind turbineconstruction, implementing zoning regulations to limit turbinenumbers in sensitive areas, encouraging reforestation efforts aroundturbine sites, providing subsidies for developers using sustainablepractices, and supporting innovative wind turbine technologies toenhance efficiency and reduce environmental impact.

This paper examines the impact of a modernized forest policychange in 2021 on the stock prices of forest products firms thatoperate and hold tenure in British Columbia. Our results suggestthat the announcement of new forest policies led to substantiallosses in the stock prices of five major publicly traded forest productsfirms that operate in the province. As a control, we also foundthat another public company that operated in another Canadianprovince and was not subject to the policy changes experienced aninsignificant impact on their stock price. The impact on marketcapitalization is related to the harvesting rights held by these companieswithin British Columbia under various forest tenures. Theresults highlight that, for a variety of reasons, investors thoughtthe proposed policy changes would adversely impact each firm’sfuture financial performance.

A mechanism of payment for ecosystem services (PES) to implementlandscape value trade may partly address the visual disturbancecaused by wind turbines by encouraging forest owners to changetheir forest management practices near housing areas close towind farms. Here, we analyze the feasibility of implementing thismechanism in the case of landscape shields reducing the visualimpacts of wind power using previous results and data on citizenand forest owner preferences. We evaluate the feasibility at variousspatial scales. The results demonstrate that at the county level,willingness to pay (WTP) exceeds willingness to accept (WTA)compensation. Finally, if a PES mechanism is site-specific, itsfeasibility depends on how the demand for and supply of theservice meet at the narrowest geographical level. In our study, theprobability of agreement was low at the wind farm level (2%) buthigher at the landscape shield level (41%).

The European Union (EU) does not have a common forestry policy but EU policies can indirectly affect the forest sector. This study departs from the EU “Fit for 55” package of legislation and uses a forest sector model to simulate and analyze three responses in the Swedish forest sector (2020–2100) to policy initiatives addressing climate change and biodiversity: (i) increasing the area of set-asides with 50%; (ii) prohibiting harvest of old forest (>120/140 years of age); and (iii) extending the minimum allowed age for final harvest with 30%. Results indicate that, while all three responses can reduce net carbon emissions compared to business-as-usual, extension of the minimum allowed age for final harvest reduces emissions the most. In general, the effects on net carbon emissions are highly correlated with the level of harvest. Increasing the area of set-asides and prohibiting old forest harvest help preserve old forest better than both business-as-usual and final felling age regulation. Longer-term results are uncertain as policies and technology development can radically change biomass use, product portfolios and displacement effects.

Sustained advocacy by the indigenous people and a coalition of civil society organizations led the government to pass the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) in India. But the Act failed to democratize forest governance as its implementation failed, and subsequent dilutions resulted in its unmaking. Using primary data – collected through ethnographic fieldwork-based observations and in-depth interviews in Chhattisgarh from 2014 to 2020 – and secondary data, we critically analyze the stages and processes of the making and unmaking of the law. We argue that the coalition structure of the mobilizing groups was loose and its efficacy and longevity limited; framing its demands after the FRA was passed proved too challenging for the coalition; the Act had shortcomings; and a new political regime came to power in 2014 and subverted the intent of the Act and diluted its governance framework and provisions, which finally led to its unmaking.

In this article, we investigate the direct (i.e., natural disasters) and indirect (i.e., temperature change) impact of climate change on wood production. To do so, we use wood production data from 166 countries over the period 1995–2020. Our results show that the wood production is sensitive to climate change. While temperature change reduces wood production by 4.1%, an increase in the number of natural disasters leads to an increase in wood production of around 1.1%. We also observe that following a natural disaster, industrial and energy wood production increases by 1.9% and 0.9% respectively. Similarly, products from both stages of wood processing, such as paper, cardboard, and pulp, also benefit from this increase in production. Furthermore, we find that wood production’s exposure to climate change varies according to industry characteristics, location, and type of natural disasters.

Scientists clash over how globalization affects the environment, particularly forests. To fill this gap, we analyzed the impact of aggregated (globalization index as a whole) and disaggregated (economic, commercial, social, and political) globalization on forest conversion in 23 countries covering tropical forests in the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia from 2000 to 2020. To achieve this, we used the GMM model and the sequential (two-step) estimation of the two-step GMM estimator of the linear panel data (SELPDM) as a robust test. According to the results of these econometric methodologies, a 1% increase in globalization (economic, commercial, social, and political globalization) will reduce forest conversion by 0.012 (0.011, 0.06, 0.04, 0.09) respectively, and a 1% increase in biomass and agricultural land. Population density and grain production will increase forest conversion by 0.059, 0.084, 0.038, 0.029, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, the findings support the N-shaped EKCd hypothesis between economic performance and forest conversion, and all these results were confirmed by SELPDM used as the robustness test. As a result, we proposed promoting more environmentally friendly forms of globalization, aiming for sustainable development without sacrificing ecosystem protection, and energy efficiency, particularly with the help of new environmentally friendly technologies, paving the way for even stronger economic growth and improved educational attainment in tandem with improved agricultural.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, markets observed unprecedented changes in U.S. and Canadian softwood lumber prices and their volatility. In this paper, we employ an event-based model to estimate the impact of Covid-19 on the prices of softwood lumber, utilizing a Regression Discontinuity design model to investigate the potential causal effect of Covid-19 on softwood lumber prices. Our econometric analyses serve to provide evidence that softwood lumber price increases during the pandemic were not completely random but could instead be attributed in part to variations in recent global and regional events. Our research highlights the need for the adoption of robust and adaptable strategies and provision of information important for risk assessment and decision-making in industries that rely on softwood lumber inputs.

Since 2020, the outlook for the European forest sector has beenunusually uncertain. After the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemicseemed to take off, Russia invaded Ukraine. In addition tohuman suffering, the war has economic consequences. Comparingscenarios quantified by global forest sector model projections, thisstudy examines the impacts of the changes in the operation environmentof the sector caused by the war on the European forest sector.They seem to be moderate in the EU. Chemical pulp productionbenefits from higher electricity prices and less rivalry from Russia.Energy price increase accelerates the decrease in the productionof printing and writing papers and harms the mechanical forestindustry that also suffers from lower GDP growths. Due to theembargo on Russian wood, the EU roundwood harvests decreaseonly slightly compared to the reference projection. The Russianforest sector loses economically much more than that in any otherregion due to the war. Some recent EU policies will likely affectthe EU forest sector economically more than the war does.