GLOBAL FIBRE SUPPLY STUDY WORKING PAPER SERIES Factors Affecting Productivity of Tropical Forest Plantations: Acacia, Eucalypt, Teak, Pine Klara Vichnevetskaia Working Paper GFSS/WP/02 July 1997 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GLOBAL FIBRE SUPPLY STUDY WORKING PAPER SERIES Series Editors: Peter N. Duinker Faculty of Forestry, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada Gary Bull Forest Products Division, Forestry Department, FAO, Rome Working Paper GFSS/WP/02 Factors Affecting Productivity of Tropical Forest Plantations: Acacia, Eucalypt, Teak, Pine by Klara Vichnevetskaia (Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) July 1997 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations The designation employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Information Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. © FAO 1997 FOREWORD In late 1995, the FAO Forestry Department initiated the Global Fibre Supply Study (GFSS) with an outlook to the year 2050. The study was recommended by the FAO Advisory Committee on Pulp and Paper (now the Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products). The general objective of the study is to contribute reliable data, information, forecasts and analysis of industrial fibre sources in order to promote sustainable forest management. The GFSS will include a compilation of the latest available inventory data, including recovered and non-wood fibre, focusing primarily on the sources of industrial fibre as raw material for the sawmilling, wood-based panels, and pulp and paper industries. It will also include a projection and analysis of future developments in fibre supply, based on explicit consideration of the major factors affecting supply. The GFSS is unique among FAO studies in that special emphasis is placed on collection and compilation of fibre volume inventory and growth data for the developing regions - Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The study complements other FAO work, such as the Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study and the upcoming Forest Resources Assessment 2000. FAO is also updating its statistics on forest plantations and developing a method for estimating fibre volumes from non-forest areas in the tropical regions. Available data from these studies will be included in the GFSS. The major products of the GFSS will include: · A database accessible on-line through the Internet providing estimates of commercial wood volumes from natural, semi-natural and plantation forests; · An on-line interactive fibre-supply model incorporating key determinants of supply; · A statistical and descriptive report on the data and three fibre-supply scenarios which are based on factors deemed to be the most critical; · A working paper describing in detail the methods for data compilation, gap filling, data validation, forecasting and definitions, survey forms and country list; · A series of additional working papers on sustainable forest management, improved forest productivity from industrial forest plantations, fibre-supply modelling, recovered and non- wood fibre, and other topics; and · An issue of Unasylva, FAO's quarterly journal on forestry and the forest industry, dedicated to the theme of global fibre supply. This paper, solicited by the GFSS and prepared by Klara Vichnevetskaia, summarizes the world literature on productivity gains in plantations from tree improvement and better silviculture practices. We sincerely hope that it contributes productively to the world-wide dialogue on sustainable forest management for fibre and other values. Olman Serrano Chief Wood and Non-wood Products Utilization Branch Forest Products Division iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This series of working papers have seen the contribution of many silent partners. Our colleagues in the Forestry Department provided much needed advice on several issues. In addition, there have been many outside reviewers from different research institutions and technical cooperation agencies who have provided valuable information. We also want to thank our special assistant Ms Elisa Rubini who guided each report through the many technical hurdles in document preparation. iv PREFACE Biophysical science is a necessary input into any dialogue on forest policy formulation. While it is necessary, it is of course insufficient - policy must also be informed by the social sciences and formulated in a consultative, participatory process. The most powerful forms of biophysical science for policy-making are those which take an anticipatory view of the world, that is, forms of science which attempt to glimpse into the future for insights into how the world functions and how we might choose and shape a desirable future. The Global Fibre Supply Study (GFSS) of the Forestry Department at FAO is such a study. Its objective is to contribute reliable data, information and analysis of industrial fibre sources around the world for use in international forest-policy dialogues. In addition to the basic forest resources data and information, the GFSS will present a series of scenarios which depict possible futures for fibres supplies around the world. The projections are generated by a few biophysical accounting models that simulate, under specific assumptions, how much industrial fibre should be available through the year 2050. The assumptions underlying each scenario are critical. We know that future fibre supplies will be affected by, among other things: (a) silvicultural and tree-breeding strategies; (b) the availability of non-wood and recovered fibres; and (c) restrictions on timber harvests due to considerations for social and ecological forest values. The process of making useful assumptions must be informed by what we know or surmise is both possible and probable in the future of such factors. In the case of tree improvement and silvicultural practices, we might well assume a business-as-usual scenario, where the future is an extension of the recent past and present. However, we might well also try out the assumption that the theoretical gains in fibre production shown by research to be possible are actually implemented across the board. The underlying assertion, however, is that the forecasting exercise can be improved if we apply species- and region-specific gains from certain tree improvement and silvicultural measures, rather than just applying the same average gain for all species in all regions. For example, it is likely unreasonable to expect gains from improved tree spacing in plantations of Eucalyptus spp. in Africa to match those from improved symbiotic associations of Acacia spp. in Asia. Such a ‘weighted average’ approach should improve the overall reliability of the assumptions used to create the alternative scenarios. It was with this view in mind that the GFSS sponsored the literature review underlying this paper. Peter Duinker August 1997 v TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD................................................................................................................................................. iii PREFACE........................................................................................................................................................v 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2. ACACIA PLANTATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 PLANTATION YIELD ESTIMATION................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 COMMON FACTORS .................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2.1 Species/provenances matching to site.................................................................................................... 2 2.2.2 Spacing................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Factors unique for acacia plantations ..................................................................................................10 2.2.4 Seed pre-treatment ...............................................................................................................................14 3. EUCALYPT PLANTATIONS ..................................................................................................................16 3.1 COMMON FACTORS ...................................................................................................................................16 3.1.1 Species/provenances matching to site...................................................................................................16