Prospects and Utilization of Tropical Plantation Trees

Liew Kang Chiang, Liew Kang Chiang

• Verlag: CRC Press
• Jahr: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429810084
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Biological Sciences
• Thema: Botany

Large numbers of tropical trees from natural forests or plantation forest are available for human consumption and management. This book focuses on the prospects and utilization of tropical plantation trees in context of economic and business, planting, managing stocks, and uses of trees converted to various wood-based products. It provides information on key areas of tropical plantation trees including growth performance, nursery practices, soil properties, planting stock production, raw material cellulose, anatomy, pulping and papermaking, fiber modification, and properties of wood composites.

Features:

• Comprehensive information on prospects and utilization of tropical plantation tree species.
• Features information on potential products derived from tropical plantation trees including cellulose-based wood products, particleboard with bioplastic binder, and laminated veneer lumber.
• Discusses species usage of economic importance other than wood production.
• Presents information on nursery practices, growth performance, and soil properties of tropical trees.
• Illustrates methodologies for repeating investigations on work that has been done previously in tropical tree research.

This book introduces information for entrepreneurs or researchers before undertaking work with these tree species illustrating technical methodologies allowing for repetition or previous successful works. This information proves valuable to researchers if further work is needed for improvement on these plant-derived products.

1 Tropical Tree Plantation and the Economic Value Chain

Bryant Jia Ming Wong, Michelle Boyou and Norman Shew Yam Wong

CONTENTS

1.1 Introduction

1.2 History of Plantation Timber in Malaysia

1.3 Value Proposition of Plantation Timber

1.4 Implementations of Timber Plantations

1.5 Value Chain of Timber Plantations and Considerations

1.5.1 Land Use

1.5.2 Selection of Planting Materials

1.5.3 Deciding the Planting Regime and Planting Distance

1.5.4 Silviculture and Planting Maintenance

1.6 Marketing Considerations

1.6.1 Market Factors

1.6.2 Logistical Costs

1.7 Conclusions

References

1.1 Introduction

Land use in the early stages of the 21st century has been defined by a more enlightened perspective on the mix of social, environmental, and economic factors that must be taken into account to ensure a sustainable way of life. Climate change and income inequality have seen large focus on a global scale. In Asia, and particularly in Southeast Asia, these effects are even more pronounced given the remaining levels of forest cover, combined with nations still mired in nation building and populations that are undergoing urbanization with massive exposure to the forces of globalization.

Demand for wood and wood products is growing in line with a rising global population, and this is expected to triple from current rates by 2050 (Midgley and Arnold, 2017). Supplying this demand provides massive economic and social opportunities for Southeast Asian states, particularly in the areas of industrial production and rural employment. On the other hand, this also creates threats to already diminishing natural forest cover as pressure is put on forests that are unsuitable for large-scale industrial demand in order to satisfy the needs of the state and its stakeholders.

Much of the world’s tropical rainforest is located in the Amazon Basin in South America, while the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia have the second and third largest areas of tropical rainforest, respectively. Tropical rainforest can also be found in the Caribbean islands, Central America, India, South Pacific, Madagascar, West and East Africa, Central America and Mexico, and parts of South America outside of the Amazon. The distribution of the world’s tropical rainforest is scattered along the equator of the Earth, as can be seen in Figure 1.1. Asia has the highest percentage of forest plantation with 62% of the total area, followed by Europe with 17%, North and Central America with 9%, South America with 6%, Africa with 4%, and Oceania with 2% (Figure 1.2).

FIGURE 1.1 Sustainability and triple bottom line. (From Carle et al., 2002.)

FIGURE 1.2 Distribution of forest plantation area by region.

As time goes by, tropical rainforests are depleting at a worrying rate. Man has cleared vast areas of the forest for building materials and firewood and to utilize the cleared land for local animals and planting crops. The large-scale clearing of the tropical rainforests in Amazonia was principally to make way for cattle ranches, and in Asia, the tropical forests were cleared for palm oil and rubber plantations (Raj and Lal, 2013). Due to the notable growth of the world’s demand for wood, the international market for wood is undergoing swift changes and has put a lot of pressure on the world’s remaining natural forests.

Industrial timber planting on medium to large scales is key to addressing these opportunities and threats. A rudimentary SWOT analysis quickly demonstrates its suitability as a land use solution in response to economic, environmental, and social needs (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 SWOT Analysis on Land-Use Solutions in Response to Economic, Environmental, and Social Needs

Strengths 1. 300% more productive compared to natural forest yield per hectare. 2. Consistent, uniform supply of species and size in boles. 3. More efficient as a carbon sink.	Weaknesses 1. Less biodiversity compared to natural forests. 2. Requires large amount of initial investment with payoff horizons >5 years. 3. Management intensive.
Opportunities 1. Development of local supporting and downstream industries. 2. Rural development in and around planted areas. 3. Timber producing forest planting more attractive compared to cash crop planting.	Threats 1. Increased clearing of natural forest land to satisfy demand.
S/O Strategies 1. (S1, S2, O1): Target economies of scale and associated benefits from consistent, predictable supply. 2. (S1, O2): Institute policies that enable and encourage smallholder timber planting, market access, etc. 3. (S1, S2, S3, O3): Institute policies that encourage timber planting in order to benefit from better ecosystem services.	W/O Strategies 1. (W2, W3, O1, O2): Enable long-term planning by providing a stable business environment. 2. (W3, O2): Ensure that education and training are available and aligned with stakeholder needs. 3. (W1, O3): Ensure that planting plans and regimes take a holistic view towards sustainability.
S/T Strategies 1. (S1, S2, T1): Leverage higher efficiency of timber plantations in order to reduce forest clearing for industrial purposes.	W/T Strategies 1. (W1, T1): Produce and implement clear, precise land-use plans in order to ensure sustainability of forests and plantations.

Enters et al. (2004) lay out a process of integrating enabling and encouraging policies through direct and indirect incentives, based on studies of the Asian context as well as the history of timber planting internationally. Byron (2001) identifies key factors in the success of smallholder forestry. The studies and the strategies highlighted by the analysis above clearly indicate the state’s major role in guiding a complex mix of public and private stakeholders.

Knowledgeable landowners and managers are essential in establishing productive plantations. Management is complicated by long payoff horizons as well as numerous other factors, including shortcomings in supporting industries and unpredictable markets, as well as the variety of options that are available. Thorough knowledge of the value chain of timber plantations will go a long way to ensure that correct decision making is exercised from day 0 of the planting regime.

1.2 History of Plantation Timber in Malaysia

The history of plantation forestry has been focused on expanding plantations’ estates for wood production rather than to achieve a wider set of values and outcomes. Over the years, there has been a continuous change in plantation forestry, which occurred in response to several factors, which including the ever-growing global demand for forest products, market and technological forces in favor of plantation wood, the diminishing supply from natural forests, policy decisions designed to protect forests from being harvested, the declining competitiveness of other land uses, and the adoption of policies to promote plantation forests. The mix of public and private, priced and unpriced, ecosystem goods and services associated with plantation forests, and the spatial and temporal variability associated with many of them, means that developing policies to enhance their provision is particularly challenging (Kanowski, 2010).

Policy planning can be viewed from two perspectives: (i) vertically, as different levels of scale – international, regional, on-site, and operational – and (ii), in relation to time – the progress and implementation of a project, weekly work programme, or national policy as they develop (Evans and Turnbull, 2004). The emergence of ‘new generation’ approaches to environmental and sustainability policy is particularly relevant to the provision of ecosystem goods and services from plantation forests (Kanowski, 2010).

In Malaysia, forest plantations are not new in concept or in practice. The awareness of forest plantations has arisen from and is influenced by from fear of timber deficits. From Table 1.2, we can see the history of plantation forestry in the country, especially in Peninsular Malaysia. However, in Sabah and Sarawak, the situation is more straightforward and less illustrative. Figure 1.3 shows a Acacia mangium plantation located in Sabah.

Table 1.2 Summary of the Most Notable Events in the History of Forestry in Peninsular Malaysia

Year	Events
1877	Rubber (Hevea bra...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Editor
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 Tropical Tree Plantation and the Economic Value Chain
• Chapter 2 Managing Planting Materials and Planting Stock Production of Tropical Tree Species
• Chapter 3 Nursery Practices on Neolamarckia cadamba Seedlings’ Growth Performance
• Chapter 4 Tree Planting Techniques of Batai (Paraserianthes falcataria) and Its Soil Nutrients
• Chapter 5 Tropical Tree Planting and Forest Communities: Prospects for Enhancing Livelihoods and Involvement in Sabah Forests, Malaysia
• Chapter 6 Response of Shorea Species to Drought Stress
• Chapter 7 Wood Anatomical Structure of Aquilaria malaccensis Associated with Agarwood Occurrence and the Uses of Agarwood
• Chapter 8 Cellulose-Based Products and Derivatives
• Chapter 9 Organosolv Pulping and Handsheet Properties of Acacia Hybrid
• Chapter 10 Water Absorption Properties of Chemically Modified Sungkai (Peronema canescens) Wood Fibers in Medium Density Fiberboard
• Chapter 11 Properties of Acacia mangium Wood Particles and Bioplastic Binder
• Chapter 12 Laminated Veneer Lumber from Acacia Hybrid
• Index