Carbon emission efficiency of forest processing industries in China

This paper uses an input-output table of China's provinces(2007-2016) to measure carbon emissions of these industries.It employs a Malmquist-Luenberger(ML) index with expected and undesired outputs,and an absolute β convergence and a conditional β convergence model,to conduct an in-depth analysis of dynamic changes and spatial convergence.Carbon emission efficiency of forest processing industries in 25 regions,including Shanghai,Chongqing,Zhejiang,and Jiangsu are increasing,whereas those of Tianjin,Liaoning,Heilongjiang,and Tibet are decreasing.The main contributing factors of carbon emission efficiency in three major regions vary over time.Further,carbon emission efficiency in the eastern,central,and western regions all have absolute β convergence and conditional β convergence,indicating that different regions are developing toward their own goals and industry,yet regions with lower efficiency are catching up with those where with more efficient strategies in place.Finally,this paper proposes according recommendations.

Construction of Forest and Grass Industry Economic Belt Using Land Resources in Road Side Slope

The construction of expressway and high-speed rail is at the sacrifice of the soil ecological environment. It brings about much damaged land and bare slope. It is necessary to restore vegetation and rebuild landscape. In the design of target plant community and configuration plants,it is required to select as far as possible plants that can blossom and bear fruit or pods. Then seeds of these plants can be harvested,processed and sold,and applied for other projects,so as to develop into a complete forest and grass seed industry chain. This not only reasonably utilizes land resources,but also provides a new approach to the problem of insufficient fine forest seed sources in China. This paper discussed the use of land resources in road side slope and forest and grass seed selection and breeding technology,and elaborated the industrialized development paths for forest and grass seed industries in road side slope. Finally,it arrived at following recommendations.( i) The construction of forest and grass industry economic belt using land resources in road side slope can realize maximum land value. Building a road can help people there get rich,and the type of land and water cultivates its type of forest and grass.( ii) It can make up for the losses incurred from construction of expressway and high-speed rail or destroying forest land,and it can increase farmers' income.( iii) It can increase the supply of domestic seeds,reduce seed import,save foreign exchange,and partly solve the problem of insufficient supply of forest and grass seeds.( iv) It is able to form a complete forest and grass seed industry economic cycle chain,increase employment,and provide new approaches for enriching and benefiting farmers.

An integrated method for matching forest machinery and a weight-value adjustment

Proper matching of forestry machinery is important when raising mechanization levels for forestry production. In the matching process, forestry machinery needs not only expertise, but also improved methods for solving problems. I propose combination of case-based reasoning （CBR） and rule-based reasoning （RBR） by calculating the similarity of quantitative parameters of various forestry machines in an analytical and hierarchical process. I calculated the similarity of machin-ery used in forest industries to enable better selection and matching of equipment. I propose a weight-value adjusting method based on sums of squares of deviations in which the individual parameter weights were modified in the process of application. During the process of system design, I put forward a design method knowledge base and generated a dynamic web reasoning framework to integrate the processes of forest industry machinery selection and weight-value adjustment. This enables expansion of the scope of the complete system and enhancement of the reasoning efficiency. I demonstrate the validity and practicability of this method using a practical example.

An application of data envelopment analysis to investigate the efficiency of lumber industry in northwestern Ontario,Canada

This study aims at exploring the technical efficiency of lum- ber industry in northwestern Ontario, Canada using data envelopment analysis （DEA）. The DEA model analyzes relative technical efficiency of lumber mills with disproportionate inputs and outputs by dividing the 10- year time series data, for inputs and outputs of 24 lumber mills, over two periods （1999-2003 and 2004-2008）. Four inputs, namely, material （log volume）, labour （man-hours）, two types of energy （hog-fuel and electric- ity）, and one output （lumber volume） are used in this study. The trend analysis shows an annual reduction of 10%, 13% and 13% for lumber output, log consumption （input） and number of employees, respectively, during the period 1999-2008. The results from DEA with two scenarios with energy inputs and without energy inputs, for the two periods are found to be mixed and interesting. While some mills have improved their performance in terms of best use of available scarce inputs in the second period, some have shown negative per cent change in efficiency. In the with energy input and the without energy input scenario, some of the mills show a reduction in efficiency in the second period from the first period, with the highest estimated reductions of-13.9% and -47.6%, respectively. A possible explanation for these negative performances of mills in the latter period is the decline in production in the second period compared to the first period, where these mills were not able to adjust their inputs （mostly labour） as proportional lay-offs might not have been possible. These results provide policy makers and industry stakeholders with an improved understanding of the trends of efficiency and employ- ment as well as reallocation opportunities of future inputs in order to increase benefits from this sector.

Discrepancies between targets and achievements in industrial forest production and export in Tanzania

It is important to revisit our plans and compare what was ideally targeted against what was actually achieved in implementation. In comparing the achievements with targets, strengths or weaknesses of established strategies can be accepted or corrections implemented since a plan also outlines some strategies for achieving the targets set. In this study, achievements in production and export of industrial forest products, i.e., sawn wood, plywood, chipboard and fibreboard, paper and paperboard and industrial round wood, are compared against targeted figures for 1996 for Tanzania. Discrepancies were obtained by subtracting targeted from achieved values and expressed both as absolute and relative differences in terms of the targeted values, with a negative sign for pro- duction where achievements were less than targets and a positive sign when achievements were higher than targets. Values achieved ranged from 4%-100% of the targeted values, depending on the product, and were only higher than the targeted value for industrial round wood. Possible causes of the discrepancies are inefficiency of parastatal companies, low private investment, sub-maximal in- dustrial operation and plant inefficiencies. Discrepancies could also result from unrealistic data used in planning due to difficulty in data availability and poor intra- and inter-sectoral coordination. The implications of these discrepancies are low contributions of the wood-based industry to the national economy, increased import substitution of wood-based products, increased socio-economic and environmental degradation and decreased integrity in planning and policy making.

Advances in eucalypt research in China

Eucalypt plantations in China currently exceed4.5 Mhm^2, and this country has the third largest area of such plantations after India and Brazil. China's eucalypt industry now comprises a complex, multifaceted industry including seedling propagation, fertilizer production and supply, plantation silviculture, harvesting and transport,wood processing for products including lumber, pulp and paper, and wood-based panels, as well as bioenergy production and various forest byproducts and non-wood forest products. In 2015, the combined value of output of this whole industry was around 300 billion CNY. Chinese research and development(R&D) has been instrumental in supporting growth and development across the whole breadth of the country's eucalypt industry. In this report,recent advances in this R&D are reviewed under six key topics:(1) advanced propagation technology;(2) genetic resources and breeding;(3) targeted silviculture;(4) eucalypt disease and pest management;(5) enhancing plantation ecology and sustainability; and(6) wood processing and byproduct technology. R&D has greatly facilitated expansion and proliferation of all parts of China's eucalypt industry. This industry is now of major importance to China's economy; it involves tens of thousands of growers and companies that provide livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people.

Comparison of Ontario’s roundwood and recycled fibre pulp and paper mills’performance using data Envelopment analysis

The pulp and paper industry converts roundwood and recycled fibre,collected from wastepaper into printing and writing papers,and other specialty grades of paper.The pulp and paper mills in Ontario have been facing extreme competitive pressures,which have affected their performance leading to several mill closures.The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the relative performance of three types of Ontario’s pulp and paper mills(using all fibre,only roundwood fibre,and only recycled fibre).This study uses bootstrap data envelopment analysis in analyzing and comparing the operational efficiency of the Ontario’s pulp and paper mills,with 224 sample data observations over a period of 17 years.The results indicate low levels of overall technical and managerial efficiencies in the pulp and paper mills using recycled fibre.The results of the study highlight that the pulp and paper industry needs to divert their attention to streamlining the manufacturing processes,reducing costs,improving raw material usage,and making capital investments in the new and improved technology,in order to improve the operational efficiency and competitiveness of the Ontario’s pulp and paper mills.The pulp and paper mills using recycled fibre require huge capital investments,especially for installing the latest de-inking technology.The results of this study provide policy makers with detailed performance analysis so that future input resources can be reallocated to improve the performance of the pulp and paper mills in Ontario.

Characterization of primary and secondary wastewater treatment sludge from a pulp and board mill complex to evaluate the feasibility of utilization as a soil amendment agent and a fertilizer product

In this study,we have determined the main important physical and chemical properties as well as the heavy metal concentrations of the primary and secondary wastewater treatment sludge from a pulp and board mill complex located in Finland in order to evaluate the utilization of these by-products as a soil amendment agent or a fertilizer product.Easily soluble Ca,Mg,K,Na,P and S concentrations in the sludges were extracted by ammonium acetate(CH3COONH4)and easily soluble Cu,Mn and Zn concentrations by CH3COONH4+Na2EDTA.For the determination of total nutrient and total heavy metal concentrations in sludges,they were digested using aqua regia(3 mL HCl+9 mL HNO3).The total heavy concentrations in the primary sludge were lower than the Finnish heavy metal limit values for fertilizer products.In the secondary sludge,all other total heavy metals than the total Cd concentration(4.8 mg/kg;d.w.)were lower than the heavy metal limit values for fertilizer products.Due to the low total heavy metal concentrations,which were lower than the Finnish limit values for fertilizer products,the primary sludge is a potential fertilizer.Although the total Cd concentration(4.8 mg/kg;d.w.)in the secondary sludge exceed the limit value of 1.5 mg/kg(d.w.)for fertilizer products,this residue may be used as a soil improver,a growing media or as a fertilizer product in landfill sites or in other closed industrial areas,because the Finnish limit values for fertilizer products are not applied at these sites.