Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis (Wild. ex Adr. de Juss.) Muell Arg.) plantations in Malaysia are important sources of natural rubber and wood products. Effective management and appropriate policy for these resources requires reliable forecasts of resource availability. However, to achieve these goals, effective inventories are required. This promoted research into supplementing ground-based survey methods with satellite remote sensing information. A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data and rubber stand parameters and to develop and evaluate models for estimating area, volume, and age of rubber plantations. Statistically significant models for estimating volume and age of rubber stands were obtained. For volume models, the R² values were all higher than 0.70 and standard error of the estimate (SE_E) values were lower than 54 m3/ha. R² and SE_E values achieved from age models evaluated ranged from 0.34–0.64 and 6.4–8.2 years. A logistic regression model produced classifications with an accuracy of 87% for predicting the presence of rubber plantations. Thus, Landsat TM provides an acceptable data source for estimating wood volume and stand age, and for predicting the presence of rubber plantations.

The long-term success of Joint Forest Management (JFM) appears doubtful unless people's dependence on forests is reduced to non-timber forest produce, small timber, firewood for bonafide domestic use and indirect benefits. For this the issues of poverty alleviation, sustainable development, empowerment and forest regeneration have to be dealt with simultaneously. While elucidating the concept and approach of Sustainable Livelihoods (SL), this paper makes a case for its adoption in forest areas. Further it analyses the Tamilnadu Afforestation Project and its evolution into a Sustainable Livelihood Project. The paper concludes with the observation that JFM projects can be converted into SL projects through enhanced outlay for buffer zones, integration of line departments, increasing the duration and decentralisation of more powers to JFM institutions.

A site- and density-dependent matrix growth model for naturally-regenerated stands of mixed shortleaf pines (Pinus echinata Mill.) and hardwoods was developed. The data came from 1,047 re-measured plots in seven states in the southern United States. Growth, mortality and recruitment equations gave the parameters to predict the number of shortleaf pine, soft hardwood, and hard hardwood trees per unit area in each of 13 diameter classes. Equations to calculate the volume of trees growing in different stand conditions are also presented. The model predictions were tested on observations on 209 random plots not used in model estimation. Long-term simulations of the model suggested that, with natural succession and without major disturbance, hardwood trees would gradually replace the currently dominant softwood trees.

Certification was envisaged as a means of rewarding responsible forest management and since the mid 1990s the area of certified forest has expanded exponentially. Yet this increase has mainly been in developed, temperate countries and in forest management units that are plantation or a mix of plantation and natural forest. The success of certification has spawned a number of different approaches, which largely reflect the interests of their main stakeholders. Two schemes, the PEFC and FSC dominate. There is evidence of financial benefits to certified producers through better access to markets, but the expected premium for certified products tends to be more elusive. Other less tangible benefits relate to public image and a reduction in stakeholder conflict. Concerns involve the distribution of benefits between the producer and the retailer and certification favouring large, integrated forest organisations at the expense of others. The effect of certification on liberalisation of trade is also discussed.

An increase in the use of operations research techniques for forest-level planning, as expressed by publication of papers in peer-reviewed North American forestry journals, is illustrated by the number of papers published that describe a mathematical problem formulation, or model used, and demonstrates an application of the planning process. A shift in planning from a dependence on linear programming to heuristics is evidenced through the literature review, although linear programming and its derivatives continue to be used to demonstrate the development of strategic forest plans, plans without spatial components, or relaxed solutions to more complex forest planning problems. Initially, wood production and economic goals dominated the themes of journal articles, but just as the forest management environment has evolved to include an explicit recognition of non-timber goals, so have mathematical programming techniques evolved to support the development of forest plans with non-timber goals. Spatial components within forest planning processes have also increased dramatically in the last decade, as resource goals that key off of the juxtaposition of activities have become increasingly important. Finally, two North American forestry journals, the Canadian Journal of Forest Research and Forest Science, have become the predominant sources of forest-level planning literature that focuses on forest planning problem formulations and examples of the use of mathematical programming techniques in forest-level planning.

Growth modelling is an essential prerequisite for evaluating the consequences of a particular management action on the future development of forest ecosystem and is a central theme of forest management. Growth models are not available for many indigenous species in India and such information, particularly for neem, is very rare. In this paper equations have been developed to estimate potential stand density and to model the natural decline of trees in pure even-aged stands of neem. Relationships have been developed between the quadratic mean diameter and number of stems per ha and parameters of this relationship have been used to produce a limiting line. Two different models were applied on the data to model the natural decrease of stem numbers in the stands and performed equally well.