Champion and Seth undertook the pioneering work on classification of forests in India. Earlier Sir H.G. Champion had compiled his monumental work ‘Preliminary Survey of Forest Types of India and Burma’ in 1936. The original work of 1936 was revised by Sir H.G. Champion with S.K. Seth which was published as ‘A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India’. Their work helped the forest managers and researchers all over the Indian sub-continent to prepare management plans for the scientific management of forests. India's forest types are very diverse in their compositions with a long evolutionary and geological history, occurring under many climatic and edaphic conditions. They have been undergoing subtle but significant changes in the composition of forests since the forest types were revised by Champion and Seth. These changes have taken place on account of climatic changes and anthropogenic causes (biotic pressure as well as management interventions). The present study was conducted by revisiting various forest types. It was aimed at assessing the changes that have occurred over a period of time since they were revised by Champion and Seth. The field survey covered more than 200 forest types and subtypes representing very diverse climatic and edaphic conditions across the country. The sample plots were generated randomly across different forest types. Data collected from the field surveys were analyzed for preparing the change matrix of forest types, basal area, importance value index, stem density and diversity indexes including similarity indexes. Impact of climate change on the vegetation was critically examined to see the species level responses to the changes in the rainfall and temperature regimes over the past years. The study has indicated many changes occurring at species and forest subtypes levels. The species level changes were observed largely in Shorea robusta (Sal), Tectona grandis (Teak) and Bamboo forests with regard to their distribution and species density. The study has indicated the absence of teak from very moist and moist teak sub-type and occurrence of many moist deciduous and semi-evergreen species. In central India, the low rainfall regime has shown the decline of Sal and occurrence of dry deciduous species. The study revealed that both positive and negative changes have been witnessed in various forest types. These findings could be used by the policy makers, scientists and foresters for evolving suitable strategies for futuristic management intervention so that the objectives of sustainable forest management are realised. The new classification of forest types has been proposed reflecting the present ecological, climatic, bio-geographic and edaphic influences on the vegetation composition and stand formation. In the proposed new classification, 10 major groups and 48 sub-groups were identified.

This paper presents trends and development of real options analysis (ROA) in the field of forestry investment decision making. A literature review was conducted similar to Newman's (2002), which presented the Faustmann framework of optimal forest rotation literature in forestry investment decisions. Eighteen forestry and non-forestry journals, along with significant books on ROA, are reviewed. Although real options applications in the field of forestry are relatively new, as compared to Faustmann's discounted cash flow technique, numerous journals contain articles on ROA in forest investment decisions. The application of real options in forestry investment decisions developed during the late 1980s from the simple topic of nature preservation employing a quasi-option value. This analysis method has recently been applied to much larger problems of timber cutting contracts employing Monte Carlo simulation approaches. In addition, geometric Brownian motion and mean reversion, two of the most prevalent continuous-time stochastic price models in ROA, are discussed. The number of publications slowly but steadily increased from the early 1980s to the late 1990s and has remained steady since the early 2000s, with an average of 2.7 articles annually. Although real options analysis has garnered attention lately, the discounted cash flow technique remains the major tool supporting forestry investment decisions.

Human resources play an effective role in achieving success in forestry. People who work in the forestry sector have responsibilities such as ecological management, sustainability, balancing and satisfying the social demands of society, and income generation. These various duties make their jobs complex and difficult. In addition, staff effectiveness, performance, long-term decisions and applications shape the future of the sector. Thus, it is critical to determine the expectations and job satisfaction of forestry employees. This is an essential aspect especially for developing countries, which have the largest amount of forestland but with few forestry staff with university degrees. Also, the lack of motivation for young people to take up a career in the sector is another threat for the future of forestry. The aim of this paper was to comprehensively evaluate the attitudes of forestry staff. The findings showed that various metrics affect forestry staffs' job-related attitudes. Based on these data, policies and strategies should be developed and implemented to address issues indicated by the staff, both at national and local levels, to achieve success in decision making and administrative processes. Analyzing differences related with expectation and satisfaction levels among forest employees in a comprehensive way helps raise awareness among decision makers and managers of the attitudes of employees who have different characteristics and create focused solutions.

Human resources play an effective role in achieving success in forestry. People who work in the forestry sector have responsibilities such as ecological management, sustainability, balancing and satisfying the social demands of society, and income generation. These various duties make their jobs complex and difficult. In addition, staff effectiveness, performance, long-term decisions and applications shape the future of the sector. Thus, it is critical to determine the expectations and job satisfaction of forestry employees. This is an essential aspect especially for developing countries, which have the largest amount of forestland but with few forestry staff with university degrees. Also, the lack of motivation for young people to take up a career in the sector is another threat for the future of forestry. The aim of this paper was to comprehensively evaluate the attitudes of forestry staff. The findings showed that various metrics affect forestry staffs' job-related attitudes. Based on these data, policies and strategies should be developed and implemented to address issues indicated by the staff, both at national and local levels, to achieve success in decision making and administrative processes. Analyzing differences related with expectation and satisfaction levels among forest employees in a comprehensive way helps raise awareness among decision makers and managers of the attitudes of employees who have different characteristics and create focused solutions.

Understanding conservation attitudes of local communities is essential to the long-term sustainable management of natural resources such as forests. This paper, guided by the Social exchange theory, examined attitudes of local communities towards management of Chobe Forest Reserve (CFR) and explored factors influencing conservation attitudes in the study area. A survey instrument was administered to 183 households, randomly sampled across three communities adjacent to CFR. Additionally, in-depth interviews with selected key informants were conducted. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysing data. The study findings revealed that communities generally held positive attitudes towards forest conservation. Place of residence, age, length of residency and forest dependency were observed to be significantly influencing attitudes towards forest conservation. For sustainable forest management and conservation to be achieved, it is vital that community's needs and aspirations, their attitudes and perceptions regarding conservation are considered and factored into strategies and management planning.

Forested areas of Kalimantan, Indonesia, are often inhabited by swiddeners, and are also targeted by a range of interventions related to development and forest conservation, including REDD . Whether these interventions are adopted, adapted or rejected by the local people is linked to the varying degrees of access to information that different types of households have, which also leads to unequal sharing of the associated benefits. This paper analyses factors influencing household access to agriculture and forestry-related information using quantitative and qualitative methods in three communities in West-Kalimantan, and draws lessons for designing REDD . Household socio-economic characteristics (origin, status, migration patterns) and the divide between sub-groups in the communities (caused by origin, opinions, residential location, and relationships) were found to influence household access to information. Suggestions for improved REDD information exchange include: having more targeted and incentivised REDD activities; encouraging more equitable information sharing; and taking better account of local realities while designing REDD .

The economic reform in China in the early 1980s brought changes to the governance mechanism of its state owned forestry enterprises (SOFEs) whose managers gained autonomy and additional control rights of the enterprises while being asked to handle some social burdens. In this paper a principal-agent model is used to explain why these changes weakened governmental regulatory and resource constraints and led to financial and forest resource crises in these enterprises between the late 1980s and early 2000s. Further, empirical evidences show that information asymmetry and political tasks have negative impacts on the financial performance of timber-dependent SOFEs. These results may have policy implications on reforming the governance mechanism of SOFEs in China and elsewhere.

Forested areas of Kalimantan, Indonesia, are often inhabited by swiddeners, and are also targeted by a range of interventions related to development and forest conservation, including REDD . Whether these interventions are adopted, adapted or rejected by the local people is linked to the varying degrees of access to information that different types of households have, which also leads to unequal sharing of the associated benefits. This paper analyses factors influencing household access to agriculture and forestry-related information using quantitative and qualitative methods in three communities in West-Kalimantan, and draws lessons for designing REDD . Household socio-economic characteristics (origin, status, migration patterns) and the divide between sub-groups in the communities (caused by origin, opinions, residential location, and relationships) were found to influence household access to information. Suggestions for improved REDD information exchange include: having more targeted and incentivised REDD activities; encouraging more equitable information sharing; and taking better account of local realities while designing REDD .

Industrial timber plantations are controversial in many parts of the world, including in Indonesia. Knowledge of their perceived impacts among local populations is important for better management and integration of plantations in the rural landscape. To advance knowledge on this topic, we used the Q-method in a case study in East Kalimantan province, Indonesia, where a large-scale acacia plantation is established. Three groups emerge from the analysis, with contrasting viewpoints: a first group exhibits enthusiasm over the development of the plantation, including recognition of environmental services provided; the two other groups express dissatisfaction, either generally on all aspects or with a focus on the plantation as an obstacle to local development. Research has shown that the Q-method needs to be complemented by other tools such as household surveys to compensate for its limitations (e.g. lack of representativeness in all groups and lack of information on the determinants of inclusion in a given group).

The gendered dimensions of wild food harvesting are often examined at the resource appropriation stage; to build on this literature, we examined gender and wild food harvesting across multiple wild harvesting stages from pre-harvest to food sharing. Using qualitative methods (participation, interviews, and group discussions) informed by Bribri Indigenous teachings, we found that: 1) no single harvesting stage was exclusive to members of one gender, 2) mixed gender harvesting groups were common, 3) women participate in all wild harvesting stages, and 4) men are central to wild plant food harvesting. These findings provide a nuanced picture of gendered harvesting and challenge prevalent biases about women and men's roles in plant harvesting and hunting. Our research further highlights the importance of examining variables such health, opportunities or motivation to harvest, and expertise, to understand intra-gender harvesting. Our research provides a framework to examine gender across multiple stages in a forest food system; this framework can be useful for forest managers interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the diverse contributions women and men make within these systems.

Certification standard bodies in climate governance are assumed to function as independent third parties agencies in transactions, providing trust and transparency to ensure that the calculation of carbon credits is reliable. This article investigates the validity of this assumption for the voluntary forest carbon market by analysing the environmental credibility of baseline scenarios of two certified REDD projects, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Maï Ndombe REDD Project) and in Madagascar (The CAZ REDD Project). Authors show that these two certified REDD projects resemble ‘virtual emission reduction machines’ designed to inflate the production of carbon credits and that they do not structurally change the local economy characteristics which drive deforestation. The design of both REDD and certification standards business models leads almost inevitably to the decision to use a baseline scenario with high deforestation rates and to limited interventions in the field. The need to deal with the carbon market's price volatility and to cover the fixed costs of certification exacerbates this trend towards inflated baselines, which also assists in the reduction of land use conflicts with local populations.