Applied forest management for tropical and subtropical plantations

William Ladrach

• Publisher: Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9789977662961
• Topic: Ciencias biológicas
• Subtopic: Ecosistemas y Hábitats

Global demand for forest products is increasing daily. This implies an incremental pressure on tropical and subtropical forests to supply wood products. Natural forests continue to supply wood, although their capacity is decreasing steadily. We are depending more and more on forest plantations to satisfy industrial needs for solid wood as well as pulpwood. Fortunately, the warm climates have an enormous potential to produce wood fiber when the production is based on applied science. By selecting the appropriate species for given sites and the use of the principles of silviculture and genetic improvement, tree plantations can often produce more than 50 m3/ha/year. Because of their capacity for rapid growth, the tropical and subtropical regions have a great advantage over the temperate regions. William Ladrach has dedicated more than 40 years to the research and management of forest plantations in various parts of the world, principally in Central and South America. This book, Applied Forest Management for Tropical and Subtropical Plantations, provides a guide to future forest production. It is a guide to applied forestry and covers subjects from viewpoints of the biological, ecological, economic and industrial sciences. This work is of great value to foresters, students, industrial managers, researchers and others who work in equatorial countries. It will have a strong and positive impact on the establishment of tree plantations during the coming decades.

15

Forest finance

Profitability of reforestation projects

Interest and discount

Risk versus gain and the importance of fiscal incentives

Financial terminology

Financial analysis using the typical hectare method

Sensitivity analysis

Stumpage value

Land cost in a forestry analysis

What is inflation and how does it affect the forestry investment?

The use of inflation in financial analyses

How to valuate plantations for the buying and selling of forest properties

Calculating forestry machine operating costs

Machine sinking fund

A cost comparisons for two harvesting methods

Financial analysis of a total forestry project

How to make the decision to invest in forest tree plantations

Profitability of reforestation projects

Three basic conditions are required for an investment to be profitable (Rose & Blinn, 1987):

• The benefits need to be greater than the costs of a project after adjustment of the cash flow for time.
• Each component of a project must provide benefits that are equal to or greater than the costs, after the cash flow is adjusted for time.
• There is no other alternative at a lower cost that would provide the same benefits.

From the point of view of international banks (Keipi, 1997), the five most important factors for the successful development of tree plantations are:

1. Political and macro-economic stability.
2. Free commerce and free access to foreign investment.
3. Legal clarity regarding land ownership.
4. A stable government with an adequate capacity to enforce laws and administrate incentive programs.
5. Good natural growing conditions, adequate technology and a basic infrastructure.

A calendar of events or activities is required for each project with a defined length of time. Some activities generate costs while others produce profits to the investor. The following four steps are required for a financial analysis (Davis & Johnson, 1987):

• Define the time limits for evaluating a project,
• Identify the calendar of activities for the project,
• Convert all activities into their equivalent monetary values,
• Adjust the rates of interest corresponding to the periods in which there will be the expected expenditures and incomes.

The objective of the financial analysis is to compare the relationship between expe...

Table of contents

• inicio
• Credits
• Content
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Presentation
• Preface
• 01-History of forest plantations
• 02-Plantations to supply wood
• 03-Plant production and forest nurseries
• 04-Plantation establishment
• 05-Silviculture
• 06-Mensuration
• 07-Diseases and insects
• 08-Wildfires
• 09-Wood harvest and transport
• 10-Forest certification
• 11-Forest research
• 12-Wood physiology and pulping
• 13-Environmental influences
• 14-Administrative organization
• 15-Forest finance
• References
• Anexes
• About the author