Background and objectives: Smallholder households with a plot size of 1–5 ha manage nearly half of Vietnam’s acacia plantations. They mostly harvest acacia timber after short rotation periods (5–6 years) producing woodchips with relatively low financial returns compared to potential profits from sawlog production through long rotation periods. The domestic wood production cannot yet meet the needs of the booming furniture industry for raw materials. This paper investigates factors that influence the adoption of long-rotation periods for sawlog production by small-scale plantation owners. Materials and methods: The impact of farmer and farm characteristics and the characteristics of the external environment on the probability to adopt long rotation periods is analyzed. The data were collected through focus group discussions (FGD) and a household survey to capture the wider socio-economic situation of small-scale plantation owners in central Vietnam. Findings: Results from FGDs and probit regressions show that factors that potentially constrain small-scale plantation owners from the production of sawlogs can be grouped into four themes: (1) small and fragmented land holdings, (2) high risks related to natural disasters and other biotic and abiotic hazards, (3) high production and monitoring costs, and (4) lack of knowledge and experience in plantation management. Conclusions: Potential policy approaches to promote the adoption of long rotation periods should include a package of measures that simultaneously address the constraints of smallholders and the various risks that they face.

The need to protect forest resources from unsustainable, yet rational, human actions has attracted global attention. This is because smallholder dependence on forests can degrade forest resources and cause deforestation. While efforts to understand forest programmes and motivations to protect forests have increased in recent decades, there remains a limited understanding of household factors affecting participation in forest support programmes, especially in the context of high-pressure areas, such as the Miombo woodlands. This study was conducted in the North-Western, Copperbelt and Eastern Province of Zambia. In each province, we selected landscapes consisting of protected and non-protected forest areas. We administered structured interviews to 1123 households and used logistic regression to estimate determinants of participation. We found that better education, landholding size, increased share of forest income, cash crops and non-farm income, and access to forests and markets have a negative impact on participation in forest support programmes. Being located in landscapes with protected areas was positively associated with participation. We suggest that, in order to increase participation, forest programmes should focus on households with low levels of education, limited livelihood opportunities, and poor access to markets. Besides, programmes should provide incentives, including support for farm inputs and at the same time encourage reforestation and agroforestry methods.

Secondary forests, i.e., those arising after the clearance and abandonment of previously forested land, dominate tropical forest landscapes, rapidly sequester carbon, provide essential ecosystem services and are prone to re-clearance. Secondary cloud forests (SCF) play a particularly critical role for biodiversity and hydrological regulation. To promote their persistence, sustainable management is necessary; however, there is limited information regarding SCF potential for sustainable timber production. We estimated the revenue from selective timber harvesting in a pilot study in a 20-year-old SCF in Mexico. We explored the effect of the harvested timber volume, harvesting costs and price of forest products on the Net Present Value (NPV). Small landowners could only extract 17% of the harvestable standing volume due to a high number of small trees, a high (34%) volume of non-timber species, and their limited capacity to process timber. A third of the income derived from fuelwood, and overall financial returns were negative. A positive NPV may result from a 20% harvesting intensity, a 10% reduction in harvesting costs, or a 20% increase in stumpage price. Our results warrant the development of forest policy instruments and economic incentives for small-scale SCF landowners to alleviate poverty and meet national and global restoration and climate mitigation goals.

One of the main sources of increasing population pressure in forested landscapes of Zambia is in-migration from other rural areas. This in-migration is driven by environmental degradation and limited employment options in the villages of origin, and, to a limited extent, in-migration from urban areas due to widespread unemployment and increased cost of living in cities. The current study examines the relationship between in-migration, forest clearing, and land use change in forested landscapes in Zambia. This question is especially relevant considering that in 2020, 85% of total carbon dioxide emissions in the country were attributed to Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF). Based on a dataset of 1123 households living in or near the Miombo woodlands in Zambia, we estimate a multivariate tobit model to explain forest clearing and the area under annual crops at the household level. Households reported the availability of agricultural land, natural resources, or fertile soils as their main reason for migration. Regression results showed that being an in-migrant household was associated with 28% more forest area cleared for crop production during the 5 years prior to data collection and with an 8% increase in area cultivated with annual crops. Our results add to limited available quantitative evidence on the impacts of in-migration on forest clearing and land use in tropical forest frontiers at the micro-scale. With rising in-migration in the future that leads to further forest clearing in migrant-receiving areas, the cycle can repeat itself, where increasing population pressure and deforestation can lead to environmental degradation and migration to other forested landscapes. To address this chain, future policy should aim to deal with the root causes of internal migration, including by investing in landscape restoration and sustainable agricultural intensification in origin areas.