No abstract

Natural honey is considered a valuable forestry product not only for biodiversity but also to its conservation functions. Besides, it is an important exported commodity. In this study, the performance of Brazilian natural honey exported products were evaluated with specific focus on determination of their competitiveness in the international market.

This work analyses Brazilian tropical wood exports, taking into consideration their performance and competitiveness from 2004 to 2011. The present paper aims to: a) determine the competitiveness of exports of goods: sawn wood and tropical plywood; and b) compare the performance of both products. The Constant Market Share model and the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index (RVAI) estimated competitiveness and performance. The results show that sawn wood has proven to be the only product to provide competitive gains over the analyzed period.

The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest biome, containing almost 50% of the planet's known biodiversity and is the biggest source of fresh water, which is approximately one-fifth of the global reserves. However, the sustainable use of this ecosystem is threatened by several factors, and deforestation is the main problem. This study addresses the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon forest, in particular evaluate the determinants of the deforestation process, using for this purpose, timeseries of several socioeconomic factors from 1990 to 2015. The methodology applied included statistical analyzes based on the application of multivariate discriminant analysis with the stepwise criteria. The results showed that in order of importance cattle, roads network, population, logging and crop areas were the determinant variables of the deforestation in the amazon.

The non-timber forest products (NTFP) market in the Brazilian Amazon plays a key role in social, economic, and forest sustainability. Are considered as belonging to the NTFP designation all those products extracted from the forest which is not wood, such as leaves, fruits, fibers, seeds, oils, resins, gums and others. This market has been poorly explored in the country. This study discusses the market for NTFP in the Amazon region. This study aims to measure the response of the extractive supply of NTFP to price changes during the period 1973-2011. We used econometric tools for the analysis, where the supply and demand equations were specified and adjusted by the Ordinary Least Squares method. The price response was measured by the estimation of two logarithmic models for each of the products. Simultaneous models of supply and demand for NTFPs were developed and used to explain the behavior of this market. The results showed low price elasticity for the supply, which means that the quantity produced showed a low response to price. Our findings imply that the NTFP market in the Amazon shows economic potential, although it requires investments in regional infrastructure for production, training, and organization of extractive communities, and marketing support. Our results have important implications for policymakers to formulate effective subsidy policies to encourage the commercial production of NTFPs and to strengthen the NTFP market in the region.