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Modelling Forest Growth and Finance: Often Disregarded Tools in Tropical Land Management

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Silviculture in the Tropics

Part of the book series: Tropical Forestry ((TROPICAL,volume 8))

Abstract

While many studies analyse patterns of tropical land management with a backward-oriented approach that utilises data of the past, we propose to consider future-oriented modelling approaches to find sustainable land-use options. This proposal is illustrated with application examples for advanced growth modelling in tropical forests, a short overview on financial performance analyses for tropical land uses, and the introduction of a new modelling approach. This modelling approach sees tropical land management as a financial portfolio of land-use options. Its advantage is the ability to make transparent effects of financial risk reduction that arise from mixing forestry and agriculture-based land-use options. The approach thus does not analyse land uses as stand-alone options, like most other analyses do. The land-use portfolio modelling shows that sustainable land use may also be financially attractive for farmers, if abandoned farm lands are reforested (with a native tree species in our case) and sustainable management in natural forests is carried out. We conclude that the combination of advanced growth with sound financial modelling may lead to improved bioeconomic models. Developed bioeconomic models are necessary to increase the biological realism and acceptability of the results obtained.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that various interest rates applied for calculations in Table 11.2 hinder a sound comparison. If we keep in mind that great interest rates reduce annualized net revenues substantially, the comparison between exotics and natives underlines even stronger the superiority of the exotics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forest Management, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Thomas Knoke

  2. Department of Ecological Modelling, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Andreas Huth

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  1. Thomas Knoke
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  2. Andreas Huth
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Correspondence to Thomas Knoke .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Munich, Institute of Silviculture, Hans-Carl-von- Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising, 85354, Germany

    Sven Günter

  2. Kronwinkler Str. 14, München, 81245, Germany

    Michael Weber

  3. Bierhäuslweg 20, Dietramszell, 83623, Germany

    Bernd Stimm

  4. Kirchblick 5, Loiching, 84180, Germany

    Reinhard Mosandl

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Knoke, T., Huth, A. (2011). Modelling Forest Growth and Finance: Often Disregarded Tools in Tropical Land Management. In: Günter, S., Weber, M., Stimm, B., Mosandl, R. (eds) Silviculture in the Tropics. Tropical Forestry, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19986-8_11

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