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The Forest Sector: Important Innovations

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  • Sedjo, Roger

    (Resources for the Future)

Abstract

Unlike other resources such as petroleum, coal, and copper, forests are renewable. Yet, in many respects forests historically have been treated as a nonrenewable resource in that forest stocks were depleted or "mined" and loggers moved on to exploit other "deposits." The lands were often put to other uses, typically agricultural, or allowed to regenerate naturally. This paper looks at technical change in forest extraction, i.e., logging under a number of different conditions. It finds that, on average, labor productivity has been increasing in recent decades. However, total factor productivity in the US has declined in recent years. In addition, the study examines the tree-growing potential of plantation forestry. It finds that there is underway a substantial shift away from the harvesting of old-growth forests and toward intensive forest plantations. Plantations allow for high productivity in tree growing and are being used to offset decreased wood availability due to the inaccessibility and high costs of many old- and second-growth forests. The decreased accessibility reflects not only the impacts of past logging but, perhaps more importantly, the increase in forests in protected area set-asides. Additionally, natural forests face increasingly stringent regulations on logging and forest management activities. High-yield intensively managed forests, on well located, high productivity sites, offer the potential of obtaining high yields while using relatively small land areas by allowing the near full output potential of practices including species selection, fertilization and pest control. Finally, tree planting creates the opportunity to apply genetic improvements to the tree stock thereby further increasing growth productivity and allowing for control of tree characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Sedjo, Roger, 1997. "The Forest Sector: Important Innovations," RFF Working Paper Series dp-97-42, Resources for the Future.
  • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-97-42
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    File URL: http://www.rff.org/RFF/documents/RFF-DP-97-42.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stier, Jeffrey C., 1982. "Changes in the technology of harvesting timber in the United States: Some implications for labour," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 255-266, December.
    2. Robert M. Solow, 1974. "The Economics of Resources or the Resources of Economics," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 12, pages 257-276, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Roger A. Sedjo & Kenneth S. Lyon, 1983. "Long-Term Forest Resources Trade, Global Timber Supply, and Intertemporal Comparative Advantage," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1010-1016.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shunsuke Managi, 2010. "Productivity measures and effects from subsidies and trade: an empirical analysis for Japan's forestry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(30), pages 3871-3883.
    2. Parry, Ian W.H., 1997. "Productivity Trends in the Natural Resource Industries," Discussion Papers 10585, Resources for the Future.
    3. Das, Gouranga Gopal & Alavalapati, Janaki, 2001. "Trade-mediated biotechnology transfer and its effective absorption: an application to the U.S. forestry sector," MPRA Paper 37254, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Feb 2002.
    4. Seeland, Klaus & Godat, Joël & Hansmann, Ralf, 2011. "Regional forest organizations and their innovation impact on forestry and regional development in central Switzerland," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 353-360, June.
    5. Mälkönen, Ville, 2006. "Optimal forest conservation: The role of green-image demand and investments," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 51-73, March.
    6. Centre for the Study of Living Standards, 2003. "Productivity in the Forest Products Sector: A Review of the Literature," CSLS Research Reports 2003-02a, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    7. Terheggen, Anne, 2010. "The new kid in the forest: the impact of China's resource demand on Gabon's tropical timber value chain," MPRA Paper 37982, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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