Agarwood, the resinous product of Aquilaria spp. (Thymelaeaceae), is highly valued for medicinal and fragrant purposes. Unsustainable forest harvesting contributes to the declining population in the wild, threatening their existence. As a protection effort, cultivation occurred in range countries, mainly in Asia, effectively establishing mass plantations. The success of domesticating Aquilaria relies heavily on technological advancement in agarwood induction, without which the entire thriving industry will collapse. In this paper, we describe efforts since 1929 and current progress and variation in induction as practiced in Asia. The methods include traditional practices and artificial induction via inoculum and chemical inducer, experimented and patented or otherwise. Artificial induction methods are being developed to intensify agarwood production in terms of yield and quality. While traditional methods are commonly applied by rural planters, artificial methods with the use of specific agents/chemicals are seen as more appealing for inducing agarwood, and have a higher demand from entrepreneurs and plantation owners. Several issues related to induction technology faced by stakeholders in agarwood cultivation are presented, such as safety levels, cost, yields, and quality. We conclude by highlighting remaining challenges in induction methods and their associated technologies.

The heavy emphasis on land-use changes to meet the needs for gross domestic product growth often causes deforestation, affecting forests’ capability to function as watershed areas properly. While land-use changes generate socioeconomics success, they also lead to environmental deterioration that puts public welfare at greater risk. This study employs the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to evaluate the public’s behavioral intentions towards participation in the protection initiatives for the forested watershed areas in the mountainous region of Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia. Survey data were used to analyze the effects of TPB constructs on the public’s behavioral intentions. The results show that the public demonstrated readiness to comply with governmental rules concerning environment protection and were motivated to participate in the protection initiatives when there is social encouragement. This study finds that attitude significantly influences the public’s behavioral intention. This, therefore, indicates the importance of creating conditions to encourage the public’s behavioral beliefs towards protection initiatives that would ensure the sustainability of forested watershed areas. Overall, this study offers information on public participation that is useful to be integrated into a meaningful institutional framework when addressing challenging environmental issues caused by land-use changes that could imperil public welfare.

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This study determines a suitable method from the univariate time series models to forecast the export demand of moulding and chipboard volume (m³) from Peninsular Malaysia using the quarterly data from March 1982 to June 2009. Export demand for moulding and chipboard were estimated using univariate time series models including the Holt-Winters Seasonal, ARAR algorithms and the seasonal ARIMA models. The seasonal ARIMA (1, 0, 4) X (0, 0, 1, 0) 4 model produced the best forecast at the lowest forecast errors of MAPE, MAE and RMSE at 18.83%, 32730.8 and 35282.13, respectively. It forecasts the volume (m³) of moulding and chipboard for export to reach more than 150000 m 3 , and it is expected to be within range of 100000 to 250000 m 3 at 95% confidence level. The forecasts assist in decision making process and facilitate a short-term marketing plan to meet the export demand from international market.

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