The 'climates' of the logging industry : effects on safety, commitment, turnover, and accidents : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Soc. Sci.) in Psychology at Massey University

New Zealand's logging industry is one of the country's largest exporting industries. With increased global competition and demands, work environments like the logging industry are finding that problems such as accidents and turnover rates are intensifying. Much research has been completed on accident and turnover rates, yet no decrease is apparent. New approaches in identifying reasons for such problems are therefore necessary. Gaining knowledge of the rationale for high turnover and accident rates (adverse activities) within the logging industry included investigating the general PC, group and organisational climate, safety climate, organisational commitment and intentions to quit (job behaviours/perceptions)of logging industry members. Field and Abelson's (1982) model asserts that PC can affect job behaviours/perceptions and adverse activities. Their 'new evolution' model of climate also argues that aggregation of psychological climate (PC) perceptions to gain evidence of group and organisational climate is possible if there is consensus in PC perceptions within groups and across organisations. Respondents were a heterogeneous group of contractors (n=6) and crew members (n=67) drawn from a list of Corporate and Woodlot crews provided by Carter Holt Harvey Limited and Fletcher Challenge Limited. The relationships between demographic variables and PC were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA's and Pearson r's correlations were also performed to analyse potential relationships between all the variables to determine effects on the adverse activities of the logging industry. The psychological climate, safety climate, organisational commitment, and intentions to turnover variables were found to be rather negative in direction. Aggregation of PC to group level climate proved unfruitful because of the lack of consensus within crews. However, organisational climate was evident across the logging industry. Some PC variables were found to be significantly related to safety climate variables, organisational commitment variables, and intention to quit variables. The contractors perceptions of the PC variables role ambiguity and workgroup friendliness and warmth were significantly related to crewmember turnover rates. Moreover, the contractors perceptions of the safety climate variable fatalism were significantly related to crewmember accident rates. The research limitations and implications were discussed along with recommendations for future research

Automated design analysis, assembly planning and motion study analysis using immersive virtual reality

Previous research work at Heriot-Watt University using immersive virtual reality (VR) for cable harness design showed that VR provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. This follow-on work was aimed at understanding the degree to which aspects of this technology were contributed to these benefits and to determine if engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail by nonintrusively monitoring and logging engineering tasks. This involved using a CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning that can be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-tasks to measure the system and users' performance. A novel design task categorisation scheme was created and formalised which broke down the cable harness design process and associated activities. The system was also used to demonstrate the automatic generation of usable bulkhead connector, cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user logging. Finally, the data generated from the user-logging allowed the automated activity categorisation of the user actions, automated generation of process flow diagrams and chronocyclegraphs

The Economic and Environmental Effects of an EU Ban on Illegal Logging Imports. Insights from a CGE Assessment

Illegal logging is widely recognized as a major economic problem and one of the causes of environmental degradation. Increasing awareness of its negative effects has fostered a wide range of proposals to combat it by major international conservation groups and political organizations. Following the 2008 US legislation which prohibits the import of illegally harvested wood and wood products, the European Union (EU) is now discussing a legislation proposal which would ban illegal timber from the EU market. In this study we use the ICES computable general equilibrium model to estimate the reallocation of global demand and timber imports following the pending EU legislation. With this exercise our final objective is to assess the economic impacts and measure the potential emission reduction resulting from the introduction of this type of policy. Results show that while the EU ban does not seem particularly effective in reducing illegal logging activities, its main effect will be the removal of illegal logs from the international markets. In addition, the unilateral EU ban on illegal logs increases secondary wood production in illegal logging countries as their exports become relatively more competitive. Through this mechanism, part of the banned, illegal timber will re-enter the international trade flows, but it will be “hidden” as processed wood. This effect is, however, limited. Finally, given the limited effect on overall economic activity, effects on GHG emissions are also limited. Direct carbon emissions from logging activities can decrease from 2.5 to 0.6 million tons per year.Forestry, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Economy and Environment, Computable General Equilibrium Models

FORESEEN : a forest and remote sensing exchanges network

The Guiana Shield in South America is one of the largest wild areas in the world. However, this area is currently facing unsustainable logging, poor and often illegal mining practices and agricultural activities. This paper presents a project aiming at: promoting capacity building and training of people from this area in remote sensing; preparing a vegetation map using low resolution data; and develop tools to estimate the impact of human activities on the forest using high resolution satellite imagery. The building of a network of trained experts in remote sensing is devoted to complete these objectives. (Résumé d'auteur

Roadless space and logging in intact forest landscapes of the Congo Basin

Background: Forest degradation in tropical regions is often associated with roads built for selective logging. Forest areas that are not accessible by roads are considered valuable because they provide habitat that is not immediately impacted by major human activities. The protection of such Intact Forest Landscapes (IFL) is high on the biodiversity conservation agenda, leading to a motion of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to better protect IFL in certified forest concessions. However, in many parts of Central Africa logging takes place at very low intensities and most roads are abandoned after few years of timber harvesting. Taking limited road persistence into account we asked: How did road networks in FSC certified concessions affect IFL? Methods: Intact forest landscapes can be conserved by retention of “roadless space”, a concept based on distance to the nearest road from any point. We used the Empty-Space Function, a general statistical tool from stochastic geometry, to calculate roadless space based on time series of LANDSAT images. We followed the spatial and temporal dynamics of logging roads in a part of the Congo Basin that has recently seen rapid expansion of road networks for selective logging. We compared the development of roadless space in certified and non-certified logging concessions inside and outside areas declared as being IFL in the year 2000. Results: The persistence of logging roads was limited over time, with only 12% of the overall network being permanently open. However, also taking only actively used roads into account, roadless space inside IFL has decreased rapidly due to expansion of logging into previously unlogged areas. Concessions that are now certified by FSC showed a slower rate of decrease before certification but after that their roadless space decreased to a level comparable to non-FSC concessions. The established concessions outside IFL showed a slight increase in roadless space due to forest recovery on abandoned roads. Conclusions: We recommend that forest management should make the preservation of large connected forest areas a top priority by effectively monitoring - and limiting – the occupation of space by roads that are accessible at the same time. Given the strong dynamics in road detectability, we challenge the static definition of intact forest landscapes based on a buffer around any road ever detected. Instead we suggest the empty space function as a viable alternative to calculate roadless space. (Texte intégral

Nut production in Bertholletia excelsa across a logged forest mosaic: implications for multiple forest use

Although many examples of multiple-use forest management may be found in tropical smallholder systems, few studies provide empirical support for the integration of selective timber harvesting with non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction. Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) is one of the world’s most economically-important NTFP species extracted almost entirely from natural forests across the Amazon Basin. An obligate out-crosser, Brazil nut flowers are pollinated by large-bodied bees, a process resulting in a hard round fruit that takes up to 14 months to mature. As many smallholders turn to the financial security provided by timber, Brazil nut fruits are increasingly being harvested in logged forests. We tested the influence of tree and stand-level covariates (distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity) on total nut production at the individual tree level in five recently logged Brazil nut concessions covering about 4000 ha of forest in Madre de Dios, Peru. Our field team accompanied Brazil nut harvesters during the traditional harvest period (January-April 2012 and January-April 2013) in order to collect data on fruit production. Three hundred and ninety-nine (approximately 80%) of the 499 trees included in this study were at least 100 m from the nearest cut stump, suggesting that concessionaires avoid logging near adult Brazil nut trees. Yet even for those trees on the edge of logging gaps, distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity did not have a statistically significant influence on Brazil nut production at the applied logging intensities (typically 1–2 timber trees removed per ha). In one concession where at least 4 trees ha-1 were removed, however, the logging intensity covariate resulted in a marginally significant (0.09) P value, highlighting a potential risk for a drop in nut production at higher intensities. While we do not suggest that logging activities should be completely avoided in Brazil nut rich forests, when a buffer zone cannot be observed, low logging intensities should be implemented. The sustainability of this integrated management system will ultimately depend on a complex series of socioeconomic and ecological interactions. Yet we submit that our study provides an important initial step in understanding the compatibility of timber harvesting with a high value NTFP, potentially allowing for diversification of forest use strategies in Amazonian Perù

Deforestation, Production Intensity and Land Use Under Insecure Property Rights

We propose a framework with endogenous allocation of land between agricultural production, sustainable forest management, and unsustainable forest exploitation in the form of illegal logging to explore deforestation and agricultural and timber supplies when property rights are insecure. Uncertainty over property rights arises through risk of confiscation on sustainably-managed forest land, and through illegal logging activities on frontier native forest land. Confiscation risk is shown to increase deforestation by increasing both land conversion to agriculture and illegal logging. Contrary to current wisdom, we find that higher timber prices do not necessarily lead to an increase in the land used for sustainable forestry, because higher prices stimulate illegal logging activity. Increased monitoring and stronger enforcement reduce illegal logging, and thus deforestation. Confiscation risk decreases timber supply from unsustainable forestry practices while the affect of timber price on timber supply is ambiguous

Exportation of Timber in Ghana: The Menace of Illegal Logging Operations

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the linkage between external timber trade in Ghana and the increased incidence of illegal chainsaw operations which do not only threaten the country’s forests and other natural resources but also the erosion of the basis for sustainable agriculture which is the main-stay of the country’s economy. It uses ethnographic data from case studies of a recent research in selected forest reserves fringe communities in High Forest Zone of the country to explain the frustrations of local people with government policies that favour export to the neglect of local demand for timber and wood products. Although government pronouncements suggest that it is gaining an upper hand in the battle against illegal logging operations, evidence on the ground suggests that the greater part of the lumber on the local markets is supplied through illegal means predominated by itinerant chainsaw operators and their urban financiers . The paper concludes that the country’s forest and tree resources face massive degradation and overexploitation if the government does not take a bold decision on illegal logging, especially the activities of chainsaw operators. An option, though unpalatable and politically sensitive, may be the mainstreaming of chainsaw operations through the re-introduction of limited permits to registered local groups of timber traders and their chainsaw operators to supply the domestic market. This should be under a system which enjoins such groups to be collectively responsible for the activities of their members. And, the government should also strengthen the Forestry Services Division (FSD) to design and operationalize an enhanced monitoring and surveillance system of logging activities.Economic recovery program (ERP), Timber exportation, Illegal chainsaw operation, Timber traders, High forest zone, Forestry services division (FSD)

Cost and Earning Structure of Logging Industry in the State of Sabah

The logging industry in Sabah is not widely understood owing to a lack of published information concerning its activities even though it is one of the most important sectors to the state economy. Hence, this study was undertaken to provide a better understanding of the cost and earning structure of the logging business in the state of Sabah. Data used in this study were collected from logging survey of 31 logging contractors in the state. Due to lack of information provided by the respondents, only 10 questionnaires were used in the analysis. The questionnaire contains information required in this study with regards to costs, production and market prices. The results show that variable cost (direct cost) components constitute about 54 percent (RM66.66/m3) of the total logging cost. The most important cost components are the cost of logs transportation, cost of royalty and cess payment, and cost of skidding. This is due to logging activities been done further inland into the hilly and mountainous areas. Whilst the fixed cost (indirect cost) constitute about 46 percent (RM56.98/m3) of total logging cost. Subsequently, the variable cost gives a higher coefficient of variation (13.20 percent), compared to that of the fixed cost (11.73 percent). The average total production cost obtained in this study was RM 123.64/m3. The average percentage of net profit over production cost and sales were estimated at 144.2 percent and 71.9 percent, respectively. This indicates that the logging industry in Sabah is highly profitable. In this study, the State Government is capable of capturing a large portion of the economic rent averaging about 93 percent o f the total potential rent. Even though the State Government is capable of capturing large portion of the economic rent in the logging industry, about 80 percent the logging contractors still able to gain windfall profit averaged 7.4 percent aside from the profit margin. The policy implication of the study suggests that the existing mechanism of forest allocation system needs to be reviewed in order to ensure that the total rent collected is equated to the stumpage value