Stumpage Appraisal Using Tender Price in Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia

Previous studies have shown that tropical forests are under valued. This may result in unsustainable harvest, biased against conservation and low revenue to the government. A study was conducted m the state of Pahang, Peninsula Malaysia to determine the trend and patterns of tender prices based on 277 logging transactions between the period 1993 to 1998. An analysis was also conducted to compare the actual tender price offered by the concessionaires with the estimated tender price using residual value technique for three logging compartments. Data on tender prices were collected from the Pahang State Forestry Department sales record. For the comparative analysis of tender price between actual and estimated price, data were obtained from state-own logging enterprises. These include data on timber volume, log price, logging and actual tender price. The result indicate that the average tender price offered by the concessionaires is RM6,271.44 per hectare, and the highest average tender price IS RM14,236.51 per hectare. The highest average tender prices (RM10,558.76 per hectare) is in the District of Lipis, followed by District of Jerantut (RM8,996.21). In general, the tender price has shown fluctuating trends during the study period, mainly due to economic situation and demand supply situation of log. The result from comparative analysis indicates that the concessionaires are relatively over-estimate the stumpage value, ranging from 6.4 to 20.14 percent. The study suggests that tendering would indicate full market value of a logging compartment when it is used for timber production. The estimated tender price using the residual value technique can be used to set the floor price. Further research is needed to obtain a comprehensive tendering mechanism before Implementing any police reform on forest revenue system in the state

Development of local volume table for second growth forests using standing tree measurements

The need to have an accurate measure of tree volume is fundamental in forest management and administration as tree volume is widely used for estimating the productivity of a forest stand, as well as for the assessment of taxes and fines. In moist tropical forest, volume table has been recognized as the best approach to estimate volume especially due to some difficulties in tree measurements. Various researches on tree volume estimation have been conducted in Peninsular Malaysia with the purpose of improving planning in the management of forests. In order to construct reliable volume tables, enumeration of a relatively large number of sample trees of various size classes and species or species groups are required. The enumeration of each sample tree requires accurate diameter measurements of several sections of the stem. To obtain such measurements, traditionally the sample trees have been measured either using felled or standing trees and therefore costly and time consuming. Currently, the same level of accurate measurements can be obtained without the need to undertake destructive sampling or direct measurements, such as by climbing trees. This paper highlights the use of digital measurement tool for the measurement of standing trees for the development of volume tables. The benefits and limitations of this digital approach over traditional data collection technique are discussed

Light Intensity and Soil Compaction as Influenced by Ecotourism Activities in Pahang National Park, Malaysia

Pahang National Park provides a diversity of flora and fauna, which is popular for ecotourism activities within Malaysia. The ecotourism activities such as trekking and camping may result in some degree of changes to the forest condition in the protected areas. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the influences of ecotourism activities on the light intensity and soil compaction in Pahang National Park. A total of 40 plots measuring at 20 × 25 m were established in camping area, trekking trail and natural area of the park. The light intensity and soil compaction were measured using hemispherical photography at nine points and a hand penetrometer at five points, respectively, randomly selected in each plot. The Analysis of Variance shows there was a significant difference in the means of light intensity and soil compaction in three study sites (p < 0.05). The light intensity in the trekking trail is significantly greater than in natural area (18.87% vs. 13.13%). The soil compaction in the trekking trail is significantly greater than in natural area and camping area (p < 0.05). This may suggest that ecotourism activities especially trekking activity has significantly influenced the trend of forest light intensity and soil compaction in Pahang National Park

The Forest Observation System, building a global reference dataset for remote sensing of forest biomass

International audienceForest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth's ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (aGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. aGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world's forests. all plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities

The tropical managed forests observatory: a research network addressing the future of tropical logged forests

While attention on logging in the tropics has been increasing, studies on the long-term effects of silviculture on forest dynamics and ecology remain scare and spatially limited. Indeed, most of our knowledge on tropical forests arises from studies carried out in undisturbed tropical forests. This bias is problematic given that logged and disturbed tropical forests are now covering a larger area than the so-called primary forests. A new network of permanent sample plots in logged forests, the Tropical managed Forests Observatory (TmFO), aims to fill this gap by providing unprecedented opportunities to examine long-term data on the resilience of logged tropical forests at regional and global scales. TmFO currently includes 24 experimental sites distributed across three tropical regions, with a total of 490 permanent plots and 921ha of forest inventories