Economic Forest Sustainability: Comparison between Lithuania and Sweden

Forests

Vilis Brukas¹  Stasys Mizaras²  Diana Mizaraitė²  Thomas Straka³ 

[1] Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), P.O. BOX 49, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden;Institute of Forestry, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Liepų street 1, LT-53101 Girionys, Kaunas district, Lithuania; E-Mails:;id="af1-forests-06-00047">1Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), P.O. BOX 49, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Swed

关键词: forest sector;    forestry;    private forest owner;    net present value;    social equity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6010047

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The study conceptualizes economic forest sustainability as “the forest-related income and economic well-being sustained over time” and then compares Lithuania and Sweden at different scales. Sweden adopts a holistic perspective of the forest sector, where forestry and forest industries are perceived as a well-integrated economic branch. Forestry is expected to deliver raw material to forest industries, at the same time creating good preconditions for profitable forest management. Forest owners are given large freedom to act according to market signals and their own household needs, while the resulting intensive forest management cumulatively leads to a significant contribution to the country’s welfare. Lithuania, in contrast, lacks an integrated sector perspective, forestry and forest industries being regarded as two separate realms. Private forest property rights are severely constrained by numerous legislative stipulations, leading to a significant reduction of economic value in production forests. On top of that, thirty percent of private owners face additional restrictions through forestland zoning, leading to further substantial loss of economic value. We suggest several measures for improving the economic forest sustainability in Lithuania, where a genuine national forest program could serve as a suitable bearing medium.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.