Assessing the Economic Resilience of Different Management Systems to Severe Forest Disturbance

Abstract

Given the drastic changes in the environment, resilience is a key focus of ecosystem management. Yet, the quantification of the different dimensions of resilience remains challenging, particularly for long-lived systems such as forests. Here we present an analytical framework to study the economic resilience of different forest management systems, focusing on the rate of economic recovery after severe disturbance. Our framework quantifies the post-disturbance gain in the present value of a forest relative to a benchmark system as an indicator of economic resilience. Forest values and silvicultural interventions were determined endogenously from an optimization model and account for risks affecting tree survival. We consider the effects of differences in forest structure and tree growth post disturbance on economic resilience. We demonstrate our approach by comparing the economic resilience of continuous cover forestry against a clear fell system for typical conditions in Central Europe. Continuous cover forestry had both higher economic return and higher economic resilience than the clear fell system. The economic recovery from disturbance in the continuous cover system was between 18.2 and 51.5% faster than in the clear fell system, resulting in present value gains of between 1733 and 4535 € ha−1. The advantage of the continuous cover system increased with discount rate and stand age, and was driven by differences in both stand structure and economic return. We conclude that continuous cover systems can help to address the economic impacts of increasing disturbances in forest management.

Ensuring the efficiency of forestry enterprises’ potential management as an element of sustainable development

“…Another issue that can be solved within PPP programs, in our opinion, is the proper implementation of the forest silvicultural system. Scientists define that a continuous cover forestry system is the one that benefits both ecological and economic aspects of forest management [7]. Such a system envisages that the next generation of trees is established before the final crop trees have reached the optimal rotation period [7]; this promotes the balanced forest use mechanisms and contributes to the sustainable development of the country as a whole.…”

“…Scientists define that a continuous cover forestry system is the one that benefits both ecological and economic aspects of forest management [7]. Such a system envisages that the next generation of trees is established before the final crop trees have reached the optimal rotation period [7]; this promotes the balanced forest use mechanisms and contributes to the sustainable development of the country as a whole. To conclude the main aspects related to the rational level of forest management, we believe it is important to identify key issues of the respective sphere.…”

“…Another research dedicated to the peculiarities of forest management was held by Knoke et al [7]. The authors emphasize the necessity of providing forest resilience under climate change conditions.…”

“…Two silvicultural management systems are analyzed in the research, i.e. continuous cover forestry and clear fell forestry [7]. The research by Malindzakova et al [8] reflects forest management peculiarities and main directions.…”

Financial Comparison of Continuous-Cover Forestry, Rotational Forest Management and Permanent Carbon Forest Regimes for Redwood within New Zealand

“…Stands managed under CCF are often characterised as having an uneven age distribution and a recent survey showed that a coupe size of ≤0.5 ha is a typical threshold harvest area within Europe [5]. CCF has many environmental advantages over clear-cut forests, which include greater resilience to pathogens, pests, climate change [7] and disturbance [8], and a lower incidence of soil erosion and windthrow resulting from storms [9]. Compared to RFM, the use of CCF has been found to be more profitable [10][11][12], but results are often contradictory [13] and this is an ongoing area of research, which has more recently also incorporated carbon revenues [14].…”