Sustainability of plantation forestry: impact of species change and successive rotations of pine in the Usutu Forest, Swaziland

Sustainability of wood production from plantations is an important aspect of the whole sustainability issue confronting forestry. Research monitoring growth over three rotations of subtropical pine plantations in the Usutu Forest, Swaziland shows no evidence of decline in yield neither where the same species has been used nor where a switch to another has been made. In the case of changing species from one rotation to the next some benefits may have accrued leading to improved wood yield as species are better matched with site.