Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 16 > Issue 1

Optimizing joint production of timber and carbon sequestration of afforestation projects

Roland Olschewski, roland.olschewski@wsl.ch , Pablo C. Benítez
 
Suggested Citation
Roland Olschewski and Pablo C. Benítez (2010), "Optimizing joint production of timber and carbon sequestration of afforestation projects", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 16: No. 1, pp 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2009.03.002

Publication Date: 0/1/2010
© 0 2010 Roland Olschewski, Pablo C. Benítez
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
JEL Codes:Q23Q51Q57
Carbon sinksCertified Emission ReductionsCDMFaustmannHartman
 

Share

Download article
In this article:
Introduction 
Methodology 
Results 
Discussion and conclusions 

Abstract

Optimizing harvesting decisions has been a matter of concern in the forestry literature for centuries. However, in some tropical countries, growth models for fast-growing tree species have been developed only recently. Additionally, environmental services of forests gain importance and should be integrated in forest management decisions. We determine the impact of a joint production of timber and carbon sequestration on the optimal rotation of a fast-growing species in north-western Ecuador, comparing different optimization approaches and taking the latest developments of the Kyoto Protocol into account. We find that payments for carbon sequestration have substantial impact on the rotation length: in contrast to an optimum of 15 years when focusing on timber production only, joint production leads to a doubling of the rotation length, which means that timber harvest should be postponed until the end of the carbon project.

DOI:10.1016/j.jfe.2009.03.002