Potential biomass production and carbon sequestration were studied in relation to different site index conditions, stand densities and silvicultural treatments for the main forest species in northwest Spain. Site quality, stand density and silvicultural treatments affected biomass production and carbon sequestration and, therefore, optimal rotation length. Potential biomass production and carbon sequestration were highest and optimal rotations were shortest for the best site indexes, highest initial stand densities and the silvicultural treatments that involved least disturbance. Fast-growing species can be used as both energy crops (biomass) and carbon sinks, which contribute to mitigating climate change. However, as slow-growing species act as sinks for longer, they are preferable for planting in environments that are less suitable for fast-growing species.

In this article we discuss the two largest reforestation and forest conservation programmes in China, the Natural Forest Protection Programme (NFPP), and the Slope Land Conversion Programme (SLCP, also called Grain for Green), introduced in 1998. The NFPP reformed the state forest enterprises to reduce deforestation, increase the amount of forestland to be protected, and increase the sustainability of logging, while improving their financial viability. The SLCP reformed collective (i.e. private) forests in the villages, by compensating farmers for retiring marginal (mostly slope) land. Together, these two programmes are the largest reforestation programmes in the world, in term of people affected (over 125 million people), land reforested or protected (over 150 million ha), and budget (over 800 billion yuan between 1998 and 2020). We review these two programmes within the broad political and socio-economic conditions of the country during these years.

The purpose of this study was to assess the evolution and profiles of CoC certified companies in Romania and to explore the main challenges they are facing. The number of CoC certified companies has increased rapidly in recent years; by the end of 2011, 86 companies had been FSC certified in Romania, producing and exporting (especially to Western Europe) a wide variety of certified wood products. The primary motivations for obtaining CoC certification relate to the market benefits of the companies and good reputation/international recognition. The certification cost is considered less relevant, while the lack of certified raw material on the local market and some of the FSC standard requirements were identified as more important impediments to certification. The study revealed the need for some measures to stimulate the development of CoC certification, including some fiscal facilities for certified companies, a stronger awareness campaign on the benefits of certification and a more transparent harvesting licensing process.

In recent decades, gathering and utilization of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) have enjoyed a noticeable increase in the interest of both scientific and professional organizations, non-governmental institutions and private sector in Serbia. The Western Balkans have a rich biodiversity with a long history of collection and use of NWFPs and an increasing level of commercialisation.

The paper presents an analysis of NWFPs commercialization using value chain method. The analysis is useful in determining the importance of stakeholders or individuals, such as collectors, processors, enterprises and exporters, in driving the trade in NWFPs from Serbia. The objective was to assess the constraints and opportunities for NWFP - based enterprises, and to design more efficient and competitive business solutions by analyzing relationships between chain actors. Primary data were collected through in-depth interview and using open-ended questionnaires with NWFP pickers and processors from around the Serbia. The data were analysed using value chain analysis (VCA), marketing mix, SWOT analysis and analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

The results show the most important raw and final products, prices, types of promotion and structure of distribution channels for NWFPs in Serbia. Processors face challenges of a lack of finance, support from state, insufficient processing technology, and poor transport and communication infrastructure.

Focusing on people oriented forest policy initiatives, this paper intends to understand whether and to what extent these initiatives can address the social vulnerability of forest communities in Bangladesh. This paper found that despite the potential of community forest management, the community based policy initiatives in Bangladesh fail to address the dynamic relationships among the formal and informal institutions that largely shape the rights and access of forest communities to forest resources. These policies ignored the social construction process that generated inequality and marginalisation in gaining access to forest resources. This paper argues that various forms of institutional arrangements and their relationships are of central importance in determining which social actors gain access to and control over their local natural resources. This, in turn, contributes to the forest communities' limited ability to ensure their livelihoods, their basic needs and their capacity to cope with adverse events such as climate induced hazards.

This paper reviews the existing forest policies in Nepal mainly focussing on the fiscal policy of Community Forestry (CF), and discusses some of the existing and potential issues on the implication of fiscal policy. The review shows that Nepalese CF has some unclear and inconsistent legal provisions related to fiscal policy. The semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with individuals from governmental and non-governmental organizations, Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) from Parbat, Baglung and Dolakha districts of Nepal, and forest product traders from these districts demonstrate that there are a number of issues and challenges related to fiscal policy that have affected the promotion of sustainable and market-oriented management of forest resources. These issues and challenges have a direct impact on CFUGs to optimally benefit from their forest resources. As several stakeholders (including non-governmental organizations) are involved in implementation of CF program and yet do not have a direct influence on policy formulation, good coordination among government units, CFUGs and non-governmental organizations and their active involvement in the policy-making process could help to address the practical issues and challenges related to CF policy. This in turn would help to develop the policy consistent and unambiguous.

Democratic forest decentralization is often justified by expectations of greater management effectiveness and increased equity of access to forest benefits; yet these outcomes do not always coincide. It is proposed that to enhance understanding of the outcomes of theoretically progressive decentralized forest policies in varying and dynamic contexts, the processes through which the legitimacy of local forest regimes is constructed and contested needs to be better understood. This case study of northeastern Tanzania finds that the current outcomes of Community-Based Forest Management, favouring conservation over exploitation, precariously depend on contested claims to legitimacy embedded in intra-community social and political dynamics. To broaden the bases of legitimacy of community forest governance, and to enhance its long-term sustainability, structures for improved deliberation, representation, and accountability should be supported.

To measure the success of state forest institutions the full range of their goals should be considered. As partial evaluations are still dominant a task of a comprehensive performance measuring represents a theoretical and an empirical challenge. In solving this challenge the goals from policy programmes are taken and anchored in the scientific theories. The key question of this paper is the operationalisation of such criteria. For that, the indicators are utilised, which are selected according to the pre-defined quality requirements. By combining these indicators, an ordinal scale ranging from zero (0) to three (3) is designed for each criterion and it is compared how economic, ecological and political goals are met. The applicability of this method is tested on the five state forest institutions in Serbia and Croatia. The main results show that (i) comprehensive evaluation of state forest institutions is empirically feasible, (ii) state forest institutions that manage state-owned forests in Serbia and Croatia are the main pillars of sustainable forestry, whereas (iii) the forest authorities fail in fulfilling most of the goals in private forests. This case study illustrates the added value of taking a broader evaluation approach to ensure that all politically relevant tasks of state forest institutions can be judged fairly. It represents a sound comparison between all types of state forest institutions.

Over the past decade, China has become the main export destination for Mozambican timber. This market reconfiguration has come with growing criticism of ethnic Chinese actors from Mainland China and elsewhere, who have been accused of being the origin of ecologically deleterious illegal logging and trade. In this context, the aim of this article is to examine the timber concession and licensing schemes in Mozambique, the main instruments governing logging operations, and to investigate behavioural differences between Chinese and non-Chinese commercial actors with regard to these instruments. Using available qualitative and quantitative data for Cabo Delgado province, the analysis reveals indications for differences in the extent to which Chinese and non-Chinese timber operators manage to operate within the legal sphere despite incomplete compliance with formal requirements. The observation suggests that Chinese actors could adapt positively to an environment in which laws were more effectively enforced.

Public policy relating to community-based forest management (CBFM) in Indonesia seeks to foster economic development via forest-based enterprises to enhance rural livelihoods and encourage a shift to sustainable forest management to reduce deforestation. However, the policy context for CBFM is an expression of the multiple and conflicting pressures faced by Indonesia's tiers of government. Policies to encourage transmigration to relieve the intense pressure caused by a high population in some areas of Indonesia, and policies that act to be a catalyst for buoyant rural-based industries like oil palm and rubber, have created challenges for policy-makers about how best to design and implement policies to encourage the expansion of CBFM. The authors' draw on their analysis of CBFM policy in Indonesia that indicates a need to: