Question

How is biological management different from economic management of forests? Explain using the concepts of Mean Annual Increment and Present Value Net Benefits.

AND

Discuss any three potential impacts of Climate change.

Answer 1

Forests can be seen by dual aspects economic aspect and biological aspect. Biological aspect have two growth functions current annual increment (CAI) and mean annual increment (MAI). MAI is the average annual increase in volume of individual trees or stands up to specified point of time. a measure of the present value (PV) of all net benefits (costs) occurring in the various years of the project can be developed once an appropriate discount rate has been chosen. Economic aspect says that the purpose of forestry is maximizing economic rent.The rotation age that maximizes the mean annual increment (MAI) is defined as the biological rotation.The biological rotation age seeks to maximize the long-term sustained yield(i.e., volume yield over multiple rotations)from a forest.In general, biological rotations do not consider financial costs and benefits of harvesting and are unlikely to maximize economic returns on the forest investment while economic rotations may not yield the highest ecological or social benefits. Stands may also be managed on an extended rotation which does not maximize the financial rotation but may provide other ecological benefits. Each rotation has various costs and benefits. The rotation age should be based on landowner objectives. If a tree has reached financial maturity, carrying it until the next entry causes a loss in value due to discount rates and risk of it losing value. In most cases the maximum NPV and MAI are not sharp peaks with steep declines on either side of the maximum but usually a gradual plateau. The gradual plateau allows for flexibility in interpreting the most efficient rotation. An extended rotation generally does not maximize financial benefits but may reflect other landowner objectives.

Potential Impacts of climate change

• Climate change causes global warming which affects the rainfall, snow, temperature which affect the other supply of water of water and nature's other processes.
• Climate changes can also cause wildfires causing to destroy the flora and fauna of the environment and thus hampering the surrounding.
• There are weather extremes. Such as in some parts there are floods due to heavy rainfall whereas in some parts there is drought as results of both the conditions people's life is at stake.