| PUBLICATIONS | | Filtered by Forests | | | | | Sort by: Title | Date | Results per page: |
| | Why We Need Accurate Maps of the World’s Forests | | Daniel Morris, Molly K. Macauley, Roger A. Sedjo | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | The Future of Trees: Climate Change and the Timber Industry | | Roger A. Sedjo | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | Taking Measure of Forest Carbon | | Nigel Purvis | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | Resources For the Future: 2009 Annual Report | | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | Will REDD Really Be Cheap? | | Allen Blackman | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | Resources 174 - Winter 2010: Forests and Climate Change | | | Resources | Winter 2010 (174) | | | | | | The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP): Some Implications for the
Forest Industry | | Roger A. Sedjo | | RFF Discussion Paper 10-22 | March 2010 | | Abstract: The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) of the Department of Agriculture has proposed regulations to implement the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Authorized in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, BCAP is designed to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new nonfood, nonfeed biomass crops is established in anticipation of future demand for renewable energy
consumption. BCAP “is intended to assist agricultural and forest land owners and operators with the establishment and production of eligible crops including wood biomass in selected project areas for
conversion to bioenergy, and the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of eligible material for use in a biomass conversion facility” (U.S. Department of Agriculture 2010, 6266). The program is
proposed for a limited period of time. This paper examines some of BCAP’s implications for wood flows and for the various components of the forest industry, particularly wood growers and mill operators. | | | | Assessing Investment in Future Landsat Instruments: The Example of Forest Carbon Offsets | | Molly K. Macauley, Jhih-Shyang Shih | | RFF Discussion Paper 10-14 | March 2010 | | Abstract: We extend the theory of quality-adjusted expenditure indices to estimate benefits from public investment. In particular, we model the selection of new instruments (in the form of remote-sensing devices) to enhance the longest-operating U.S. satellite-based land-observing program, Landsat. We then apply the model to the use of Landsat in measuring global forest carbon sequestration. Improving measurement of the role of forests in storing carbon has become a prominent concern in climate policy. By characterizing the value of Landsat data in forest measurement, the expenditure function allows us to
help inform public investment decisions in the satellite system. The expenditure function also makes explicit the sensitivity of the selection of instruments for the satellites to the value of Landsat information, thus linking instrument choice explicitly to policy design. | | | | Issues of the Day | | Ian W.H. Parry and Felicia Day, eds. | | RFF Press | April 2010 | | | Description: Issues of the Day provides an easy way for students, academics, journalists, policymakers, and the public to learn about a diverse range of policy issues affecting the environment, energy, transportation, and public health. Each commentary gives a short assessment of a topic, summarizing in a non-technical way the current state of analysis or evidence on the issue, along with selected recommendations for further reading. The essays are written by world renowned scholars, mostly economists, and provide useful insights on policy problems that are often complex and poorly understood.
Some of the topics covered include air pollution, hazardous waste, voluntary environmental programs, domestic (U.S.) and global climate policy design, fishery management, water quality, endangered species, forest fires, oil security, solar power, road and airport, fuel taxes and fuel economy standards, alternative fuel vehicles, health and longevity, smoking, malaria, tuberculosis, and the environment and development.
The objective is to disseminate the findings of sound, objective research on the costs, benefits, and appropriate reform of public policies. The book provides a useful supplement for undergraduate- and graduate-level course reading, a reference guide for professionals, and a way for the general reader to quickly develop an informed perspective on the most important policy problems of the day.
RFF Press is now an imprint of Earthscan. Click here to buy this book. | | Household Tree Planting in Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: Tree Species, Purposes, and Determinants | | Zenebe Gebreegziabher, Alemu Mekonnen, Menale Kassie, Gunnar Kohlin | | RFF Discussion Paper EfD 10-01 | January 2010 | | Abstract: Trees have multiple purposes in rural Ethiopia, providing significant economic and ecological benefits. Planting trees supplies rural households with wood products for their own consumption, as well for sale, and decreases soil degradation. We used cross-sectional household-level data to analyze the determinants of household tree planting and explored the most important tree attributes or purpose(s)
that enhance the propensity to plant trees. We set up a sample selection framework that simultaneously took into account the two decisions of tree growers (whether or not to plant trees and how many) to analyze the determinants of tree planting. We used logistic regression to analyze the most important tree attributes that contribute to households’ tree-planting decisions. We found that land size, age, gender, tenure security, education, exogenous income, and agro-ecology increased both the propensity to plant trees and the amount of tree planting, while increased livestock holding impacted both decisions negatively. Our findings also suggested that households consider a number of attributes in making the decision to plant trees. These results can be used by policymakers to promote tree planting in the study area by strengthening tenure security and considering households’ selection of specific tree species for
their attributes. | | | | Adaptation of Forests to Climate Change: Some Estimates | | Roger A. Sedjo | | RFF Discussion Paper 10-06 | January 2010 | | Abstract: This paper is based on a World Bank–sponsored effort to develop a global estimate of adaptation costs, considering the implications of global climate change for industrial forestry. It focuses on the
anticipated impacts of climate change on forests broadly, on industrial wood production in particular, and on Brazil, South Africa, and China. The aim is to identify likely damages and possible mitigating investments or activities. The study draws from the existing literature and the results of earlier investigations reporting the latest comprehensive projections in the literature. The results provide perspective as well as estimates and projections of the impacts of climate change on forests and forestry in various regions and countries. Because climate change will increase forest productivity in some areas while decreasing it elsewhere the impacts vary for positive to negative by region. In general, production
increases will shift from low-latitude regions in the short term to high latitude regions in the long term. Planted forests will offer a major vehicle for adaptation. | | | | Does Trade Help or Hinder the Conservation of Natural Resources? | | Carolyn Fischer | | Review of Environmental Economics and Policy | Winter 2010 | Vol. 4, No. 1 | pp. 103-121 | | | | | | Forest Measurement and Monitoring: Technical Capacity and “How Good Is Good Enough?” | | Molly K. Macauley, Daniel Morris, Roger A. Sedjo, Kate Farley, Brent L. Sohngen | | RFF Report | December 2009 | | | | | | Measurement and Monitoring of the World’s Forests: A Review and Summary of Remote Sensing Technical Capability, 2009–2015 | | Matthew Fagan, Ruth DeFries | | RFF Report | December 2009 | | | | | | REDD in Design Assessment of Planned First-Generation Activities in Indonesia | | Erin Myers Madeira | | RFF Discussion Paper 09-49 | December 2009 | | Abstract: Much of the guidance about potential impacts of reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) speculates how efforts would be implemented and draws lessons from other mechanisms, such as payments for ecosystem services (PES). However, with few REDD activities underway, little evidence indicates whether REDD projects are meeting these expectations. This article examines 17 REDD interventions under development in Indonesia, reports trends in project design, and assesses the extent to which interventions follow the model of pro-poor PES schemes. I find that a dominant type of REDD intervention follows a concession model and seeks to prevent large-scale conversion to plantations by outside actors. Although these projects fit the definition of PES at the scale at which the environmental
service is transacted, PES characteristics are not a primary component of on-the-ground implementation. Small-holder actors are recognized as essential to the long-term success of the intervention, but are not the main focus. | | | | Global Climate Negotiations and Tropical Deforestation | | Nigel Purvis | | U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources | November 17, 2009 | | | | | | To Bribe or Not to Bribe: Incentives to Protect Tanzania’s Forests | | Elizabeth J.Z. Robinson, Razack B Lokina | | RFF Discussion Paper EfD DP 09-17 | September 2009 | | Abstract: Where participatory forest management has been introduced into Tanzania, “volunteer” patrollers take responsibility for enforcing access restrictions, often receiving a share of the fine revenue that they collect as an incentive. We explored how this shared revenue and alternative sources of forest products for villagers determine the effort patrollers put into enforcement and whether they choose to take a bribe from illegal harvesters rather than honestly reporting the illegal activity. Using an optimal enforcement model, we show that, without transparency or funds to pay and monitor the volunteers undertaking enforcement, policymakers face tradeoffs between efficiency, enforcement effectiveness, and revenue collection. | | | | The State of the Great Outdoors: America's Parks, Public Lands, and Recreation Resources | | Margaret A. Walls, Sarah R Darley, Juha V. Siikamäki | | RFF Report | September 2009 | | | | | | Optionen und Wettbewerbsfahigkeit der Forstwirtschaft angesichts der vielfaltigen Bedurfnisse in einer globalisierten Welt (Future Challenges: Options and Competitiveness of Forestry for Multiple Needs in a Globalized World) | | Roger A. Sedjo | | Management zukunftsfahige Waldnutzung
(Future-oriented Forest Use) | Oliver Thees and Renatio Lemm | Zurich: vdf Hochschulverlag AG, an deer ETH | 2009 | | | | | | Forest Inventories: Discrepancies and Uncertainties | | Paul E. Waggoner | | RFF Discussion Paper 09-29 | August 2009 | | Abstract: Credits for sequestered carbon augment forests’ already considerable value as natural habitat and as producers of timber and biomass, making their accurate inventory more critical than ever before. This
article examines discrepancies in inventories of forest attributes and their sources in four variables: area, timber volume per area, biomass per timber volume, and carbon concentration. Documented discrepancies range up to a multibillion-ton difference in the global stock of carbon in trees. Because the variables are multiplied together to estimate an attribute like carbon stock, more precise measurement of the most certain variable improves accuracy little, and a 10 percent error in biomass per timber levers a discrepancy as much as a mistake in millions of hectares. More precise measurements of, say, accessible stands cannot remedy inaccuracies from biased sampling of regional forests. The discrepancies and uncertainties documented here underscore the obligation to improve monitoring of global forests. | | | |
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