Earticle

Acacia mangium is an evergreen fast-growing tropical tree, which can grow up to 30 m tall and 50 cm thick, under favorable conditions. It is a low-elevation species associated with rain forest margins and disturbed, well-drained acid soils. It is native to Papua, Western Irian Jaya and the Maluku islands in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and north-eastern Queensland in Australia. Due to its rapid growth and tolerance of very poor soils, A. mangium was introduced into some Asian, African and western hemisphere countries where it is used as a plantation tree. A. mangium has good quality wood traits, such as a comparatively low proportion of parenchymatous cells and vessels, white and hard wood, and high calorific value. Therefore, it is useful for a variety of purposes, such as furniture, cabinets, turnery, floors, particleboard, plywood, veneer, fence posts, firewood, and charcoal. It is also being used in pulp and paper making because it has good pulp traits, with high yields of pulp, quality of kraft, and produces paper with good optical, physical and surface properties. Because there are significant provenance differences in growth rate, stem straightness, heartwood formation and frequency of multiple leaders, the productivity and quality also varies depending upon environmental conditions, so genetic improvement programmes have been undertaken in countries like Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. The programme includes provenance identifications and testing, plus tree selection and clonal multiplication, establishment of seed orchards and hybridization. The phenology, reproductive biology, fruit characteristics, silvicultural practices for cultivation, pest and diseases problems, production of improved planting stock, harvesting, wood properties and utilization have been discussed in this paper.

Protected area based ecotourism is now the most interesting topic to the nature lover and policy maker throughout the world because of its linkage with economic benefits, protected area management and biodiversity conservation. Based on this premise our study explores the visitors’ perception on the recreational potential of Kaptai National park and its potentiality in ecotourism development in Bangladesh. The field survey was carried out both in holidays and non-holidays of the week from the late winter season in 2009 to the spring season in 2010. A total of 118 visitors were interviewed with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Study findings revealed that about 62% male constitute the visitors group with the maximum number of visitors in the age of between 15-25 years (35.59%). The tourists were very much attracted by boat riding (93.22%) followed by scenic beauty of Rampahar-Sitapahar (85.59%). A major portion of about 57.14% tourists wished to visit the park within a year because they got a lot of pleasure from Natural and green environment (86.44%) followed by boating on Kaptai Lake (85.59%). Most of the visitors (36%) were happy about existing facilities but defined some problems such as tour guiding facility, food and drinking water supply, etc. About 71% and 66% respondents perceived that Kaptai National Park made them to be concerned and protective of nature and supports and sustains local ecosystem respectively and 43% respondents agreed that Kaptai National Park ensures the social equity and involve local people in ecotourism which are the most important elements of sustainable ecotourism. The present study results also predict that the park might be a good recreational area for enjoying with family members and group of friends through proper management and promoting the relationships among tourism, local people and biodiversity conservation.

The study was carried out in two different forest types viz., Banj oak and Chir pine forests to assess the variation in forest species composition and soil properties along altitudinal gradients in the Garhwal Himalayas. The results of the study showed that between the forests soil moisture was higher in Banj oak forest because of closed canopy and dense forest compared to Chir pine forest. The sand particles were reported higher in Banj oak forest which might be due to the addition of organic matter favouring coarse structure of soil, helping in holding maximum water in soils. However in the Chir pine forest low amount of soil organic matter and presence of clayey soil, develops soil compactness which reduces the penetration of water resulting in high soil bulk density. The higher accumulation of litter and presence of moisture in Banj oak forest favours higher nutrient level of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compared to Chir pine forest. The soil organic carbon also reduced with increasing altitude at both gradients. While bulk density has reverse trend with soil organic carbon in both the forests at different peaks of same region. In Banj oak forest, the highest density and total basal cover was reported 1,100 tree ha-1 and 58.86 m2 ha-1 respectively. However, the highest values of density and total basal cover of Chir pine forest was 560 tree ha-1 and 56.94 m2 ha-1 respectively. The total density and basal cover of both the forests reduced with increasing altitude. The study concludes that Banj oak forest has better nutrient cycling ability, well developed forest floor and has a greater protective and productive features compared to the Chir pine forest which is without lower vegetation cover and having only pine litter accumulation which does not allow any other species to grow.

Decomposition of plant material is an important component in the study of forest ecosystem because of its critical role in nutrient cycling. Different tree species has different nutrient release patterns, which are related to leaf litter quantitative traits and seasonal environmental factors. The quantitative traits of leaf litter are important predictors of decomposition and decomposition rates increase with greater nutrient availability in the forest ecosystems. At the ecosystem level, litter quantitative traits are most often related to the physical and chemical characteristics of the litter, for example, leaf toughness and leaf mass per unit area, and lignin content tannin and total phenolics. Thus, the analysis of litter quantitative traits and decomposition are highly important for the understanding of nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. By studying the role of litter quantitative traits on decomposition and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems will provide a valuable insight to how quantitative traits influence ecosystem nutrient dynamics. Such knowledge will contribute to future forest management and conservation practices.

Malaysia possesses about 1.56 million ha of Peat Swamp Forest (PSF). The PSF safeguard enormous biological diversity, while providing crucial benefits for the sustainable development of human communities. Numbers of threatened plant species are associated with the PSF, including the commercially important Gonystylus bancanus timber. To prevent significant losses of biodiversity, it is important to manage the PSF for both biological conservation and sustainable use. Equally important is to restore all degraded PSF in an attempt to ensure the PSF ecosystem is suitable for the vegetation to grow and rehabilitate back to the normal condition. Prior to plan any forest restoration program, there is a need to properly map the degraded PSF in order to estimate the forest conditions and determine the vegetations status. Most of the time this need to be done at a landscape level and requires a technology that can provide accurate, timely and reliable information for the planner to make decision. This paper describes a study using geospatial technology in combination with ground survey to classify the degraded PSF in South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest (SEPPSF), Malaysia, into different degree of vegetation classes. With map accuracy of about 83%, the technique proved to be useful in delineating the different degree of PSF degradation from which the information can be used to properly plan forest restoration program in the area. The final output which is in the form of map can be used in developing a Restoration Master Plan for the degraded PSF areas.

Iriai an Indigenous forest management system in Japan from the viewpoint of “common pool resources” was a success resilient institution and resulted with sustainable production system and environmental conservation. This study was conducted in Osawa of the Nagano prefecture through group discussions, field observations and an in-depth field survey. Osawa Property Ward Forest is managed under the concept very much similarly to raditional “Iriai”. This study firstly examined the changes of collective forest management system in terms of awareness and interest in forest management; forest management activities; role of forest; and collection of forest products. Then it analyzed the current threats for collective forest management have been identified as: land abandonment due to loss of benefits and lack of active community participation; deterioration of forest environment particularly the micro-climate and aesthetic values; conflict with local government authorities restraining the use of money in property ward forest and conflict with outsiders on damping of the garbage. Community cantered forestry management rules; livelihood contribution; protection of environment; local initiatives for protection and economic activities are the prevailing opportunities for collective forest management. The main requirements for revitalization of collective forest management are explained as local reciprocity; imposition of community based forest rules; encouraging local innovations; and building partnerships with stakeholders. Collective forest management system addresses the limitations of conventional forestry models, which had invalidated traditional ‘iriai’ institutions, and key to restoring sustainable use of forest and environmental resources. Cross-institutional collaborations together with responsibilities of local communities would ensure the revitalization of forest resources.

Present study analyzes the rooftop gardening status, floristic composition and cost and return of the rooftop garden in Sylhet City Corporation of northeastern Bangladesh. Data was collected from 450 rooftop gardeners randomly during July-September 2010. Study reveal that rooftop gardening is generally for mental satisfaction (95.3%) followed by leisure time activity (87.8%) in the study area and almost all the family members of gardeners’ were involved; while collection of planting materials, sites preparation and marketing of products were reported to be carried out by males only (male 71.33%). Middle income classes were most interested in rooftop gardening (43.78%). The survey recorded 53 plant species (35 families) of which Cucurbitaceae family represented highest eight species. Shrubs (28%) were highest followed by herbs (26%) among agri-crops (36%) and flower species (30%). About 89% of the rooftop gardeners procured planting materials from nursery, market, fair, neighbor, relative and friends and they mostly prefer to use seedlings (48%) for roof gardening followed by direct seed sowing (21%). Gardeners sell products sporadically in different local markets, directly or through intermediaries, with no uniform pricing for system. Rooftop gardening improves the food security and meet nutritional deficiency to the gardeners. Survey revealed that generally very few people consider rooftop gardening commercially to get profit and from the cost-return analysis this gardening system can be economically viable if proper and scientifically managed. The study conclude that active government and NGOs could play vital role to increasing this activities by providing training and motivate people with technical aspects of rooftop gardening.

Nowadays, excessive using of fossil fuel contributes to global warming. Also, this phenomenon increases steadily. Therefore forest biomass from logging residues has received attention. The goal of this study was to determine the sustainability and economic feasibility of forest-biomass energy source. Accordingly, forest biomass resource was calculated, and harvesting and transporting machines which can be used in investing area were chosen, when using forest biomass as energy source. And then through these data, the harvesting cost was decided. The forest biomass resource calculated, thinned trees and logging residues, was 37,330.23 m3 and 14,073.60 ton, respectively. When harvesting timber in each sub-compartment, the average thinned trees yield was 120.73 m3, and tree logging residues was 402.80 ton. The use of tower yarder as harvesting and transporting equipments in study area was 85.4% and 66.7%, respectively, in up hill and down hill yarding. The average harvesting cost of biomass in the possibility area of timber yarding operation was expensive as 81,757 won/m3, 85,434 won/m3 and 50,003 won/ton, respectively, in thinned trees and logging residue. If using data from this research analysis, tree could be felled by choosing sub-compartment.

The purpose of this study was to understand the geographical and environmental distribution of wild animals in Baekdudaegan region using field survey and GIS data. Crucial factors were selected and analyzed to understand the distributional characteristics of wild animals (7 species in 6 families) and rare endemic plants (14 species in 11 families). These crucial factors include stand factors (forest type, DBH class, and crown density), soil factors (bed rock, soil texture, and organic matter), geographical factors (elevation, slope, aspect) and climatic factors (temperature, rain fall, humidity). Finally, 10 factors were selected by statistical analysis and categorized for analyzing geographical and environmental features. Four families such as Muridae, Sciuridae, Suidae and Talpidea in wild animal showed the similar habitat characteristics with the 10 factors.

This study was conducted to evaluate the non-timber forest functions of the Research Forest area of Kangwon National University. In this study, forest recreation function was investigated through survey method answered by forest management experts. The evaluation factors for forest recreation function were separated into external and internal factors. Each factor was classified into intermediate element and detailed element. Therefore in this study, the evaluation factors of forest recreation function were divided into two groups which are the potential of external factors and the suitability of internal factors. Potential of the external factors were divided into accessibility, location, landscape and induction factors while the suitability of internal factor was divided into stand structure, forest structure and human impact. The priority of the potential of external factors was in order that location, accessibility, induction factors and landscape. The most important factors for the location, accessibility, induction and landscape factors are based on regional characteristics.