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The U.S. has dramatically altered its wood product imports and exports during the past few years, and at present, it is the second largest wood product importer in the world. Hence, an understanding of market structures, factors in selecting foreign suppliers, and the emphasis placed on environmental issues/certification are critical to understand from the perspective of wood products importers in the U.S. This study provides an analysis of the U.S. wood products import sector with special emphasis on current and future opportunities for tropical wood products exporters to the U.S. market.In this study, 158 wood products importers in the U.S. were surveyed using a mailing questionnaire. The adjusted response rate was 40.6 percent. Results indicated that most of the respondents were small to medium scale firms, but major importers of wood products. According to respondents, wood products to the U.S. mainly come from Brazil, Chile, and China. From the importers' perspective, Brazilian wood products ranked first for its quality followed by wood products from Chile and Finland. Product quality, long term customer relationships, on-time delivery of orders, fair prices, and supplier reputation were the factors deemed important in selecting overseas suppliers. Majority of respondents were importing certified wood products. FSC, SFI, and ISO 14000 were the mostly accepted certification programs. However, certification was not a major factor in foreign supplier selection criteria. When considered the U.S. wood products importers' tendency to diversify their products and species imported, attractive opportunities exist for wood products suppliers from tropical countries.

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Bundala is Sri Lanka’s first RAMSAR wetland declared under Ramsar Convention, and it has been declared as a national park in 1993 under Fauna and Flora Protection ordinance.At present, wide spread of P.juliflora in the Bundala National Park area has become a threat to diverse ecosystems, and the park management is removing substantial biomass of P. juliflora each year in an attempt to control this invasive species. As such, investigating the potential to utilize the removed biomass of P.juliflora has become important. This study was conducted with the objective of evaluating community and industry attitude and awareness of using P.juliflora as a dry matter energy source in Hambantota District. Two different questionnaires were used for two groups after pre testing in Ambalantota, Hambantota and Tissamaharama Divisional Secretariat Divisions. According to study findings, subsistence energy needs of community are basically fulfilled by common fuel wood species in the area such as Manilkarahexandra and Drypetessepiara. Community in the area is aware about the fast spread of P. juliflora over native species. Approximately 45% of study respondents represent brick industry and they often use rice husk ovens due to lack of firewood to be found in the area and the high availability of rice husk. Since industry and community prefer P.juliflora as a fuel, responsible agencies should make appropriate arrangements to harvest, process and make available the biomass to partially fulfill the thermal energy requirement in the area.Key words: Prosopisjuliflora, small scale industries, Bundala National Park, dry matter energy source

Plantation forestry plays an important role in mitigating global warming and climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide in their biomass. Eucalyptus grandis is an important timber species in plantation forestry in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the stem carbon stock, the total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered in stems and the monetary value of carbon sequestered in stems of selected E. grandis plantations in upcountry Sri Lanka. Four study sites were selected from Kandapola, Bogawanthalawa, Haputhale and Pinnawala to represent upcountry, intermediate zone and wet zone where E. grandis is confined to. Each plantation was divided into three strata and 0.05 ha circular sample plot was laid out in each stratum. Each individual in the plot was measured for total tree height and diameter at breast height (dbh). The carbon content of each E. grandis stem of individuals in the plantations was calculated using a constructed model to predict stem carbon of E. grandis, in which the explanatory variables are total tree height and dbh. Thereby total stem carbon stock of each plantation was estimated. Total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered in all the E. grandis stems of each plantation and monetary value of carbon sequestered in each stem were thereby calculated for each plantation. The lowest value of estimated amount of carbon sequestered in E. grandis stems per hectare was observed in Kandapola plantation (28.176 t/ha) while the highest value was observed in Pinnawala plantation (504.095 t/ha). The highest value of estimated total stem carbon stock of a plantation was observed in Bogawanthalawa plantation (17,390.669 t). For estimated amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered in E. grandis stems, the lowest value was observed in Kandapola plantation (103.405 t/ha) while the highest value was observed in Pinnawala plantation (1,850.027 t/ha). The highest value of estimated total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered in the stems of a plantation was observed in Bogawanthalawa plantation (63,823.757 t). When considering the monetary value of carbon stock in E. grandis stems, the lowest estimated value was observed in Kandapola plantation (3,803.72 Rs./ha) while the highest value was observed in Pinnawala plantation (68,052.76 Rs./ha). When considering plantation wise carbon stock, the highest value of estimated monetary value was observed in Bogawanthalawa plantation (Rs. 2,347,740.37). These estimates shall be presented to assess the carbon dynamics in E. grandis plantations in upcountry Sri Lanka.