Cultivated and non-cultivated forest

Transcription

1 eurostat STATISTICAL OFFICE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES B1 - National accounts methodology, statistics for own resources Item 2.4 of the agenda Luxembourg, May 2001 Cultivated and non-cultivated forest Eurostat B1 Eurostat Task Force on Forest Accounting Meeting of 12 and 13 June 2001 Luxembourg, BECH building Room B2/404

2 Cultivated and non-cultivated forest 1 Introduction Cultivated and non-cultivated forest in SNA and ESA Cultivated and non-cultivated biological assets Land Suggested operational criteria The production activities Overmaturity Is almost all growth cultivated? Forest not managed for timber production purposes Productivity and distance from forest roads IEEAF pilot applications Data about cultivated and non-cultivated forests TBFRA EAF National accounts References Introduction Like SNA 93 and ESA 95, the IEEAF (Eurostat 1999) distinguishes between cultivated and non-cultivated forests, both for standing timber and for wooded land available for wood supply. This classification is used in asset accounts for standing timber and for wooded land available for wood supply, but it is of particular importance for the valuation of output in forestry. This is because growth of cultivated timber is recorded as output, in the form of additions to work in progress. Including growth in output will normally result in a smoother time series for output compared to a situation where output is based only on removals. In years where removals are particularly high, e.g. because many trees have been felled by storms, net growth will be lower than normal, and vice versa. Output that includes growth will also better reflect the resources used in forestry management. This can be important for countries with large-scale re-afforestation projects, where there may be little logging combined with relatively large management costs for planting, thinning etc. Cultivated/non-cultivated is a new type of classification for forests, and finding operational classification criteria, and the data to go with them, has proved to be difficult. Comparability across countries is a special problem, since forestry conditions vary greatly across EU and EFTA countries. Given the need for comparability of IEEAF data, the difficult source data situation and resource constraints, it is important to find a relatively simple definition that can be used by most countries for IEEAF purposes. This can be supplemented by other definitions that may be more appropriate in certain circumstances. This note is intended to summarise the suggested classification criteria, and review the data situation. Section 2 reviews the definition of cultivated and non-cultivated forests in SNA and ESA. Section 3 describes some operational criteria that have been suggested for distinguishing between cultivated and non-cultivated forest. The issue has been discussed in some detail in earlier Task force meetings and in the IEEAF document, so the discussion of the criteria is relatively brief. Section 4 reviews the data that are available in the Economic Accounts for Forestry (Eurostat 2000), the national accounts and the TBFRA-2000 (United Nations 2000). 2

3 Questions for consideration by the Task Force members: 1. Is the IEEAF definition of cultivated/non-cultivated forest based on overmaturity a satisfactory solution? (See section 3.2) 2. Can the data on the area of plantations and semi-natural forest in TBFRA-2000 be used to represent cultivated forest in IEEAF? (See sections 3.2 and 4.1). 3. How do we get from data on the area that is cultivated to estimates of the cultivated stock of standing timber? 4. Which definitions of cultivated forest are used in your country s national accounts and economic accounts for forestry? Are they compatible with the overmaturity definition? (See sections 3.2, 4.2 and 4.3) 5. Are there other definitions of cultivated forest that are appropriate in special circumstances? 2 Cultivated and non-cultivated forest in SNA and ESA In the asset classification of the SNA and ESA, forests as such do not exist: (wooded) land and biological assets related to wooded land (trees, etc.) are separately classified and recorded in the balance sheets and the current, capital and other changes in assets accounts. 2.1 Cultivated and non-cultivated biological assets Animals and plants (including timber) that are owned by institutional units and are a source of benefit to their owners are classified as assets in the SNA and ESA. They are classified in several different asset categories, with the following definitions (ESA 95 Annex 7.1): AN.1114: Cultivated assets Livestock for breeding, dairy, draught, etc. and vineyards, orchards and other plantations of trees yielding repeat products that are under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units, as defined below. Immature cultivated assets are excluded unless produced for own use. AN.1114 is further divided into: AN Livestock for breeding, dairy, draught, etc. Livestock that are kept for the products they provide year after year. They include breeding stocks (including fish and poultry), dairy cattle, draught animals, sheep or other animals used for wool production and animals used for transportation, racing or entertainment. AN Vineyards, orchards and other plantations of trees yielding repeat products Trees (including vines and shrubs) cultivated for products they yield year after year, including those cultivated for fruits and nuts, for sap and resin and for bark and leaf products. AN.1221: Work in progress on cultivated assets Livestock raised for products yielded only on slaughter, such as fowl and fish raised commercially, trees and other vegetation yielding onceonly products on destruction and immature cultivated assets yielding repeat products. 3

4 AN.213: Non-cultivated biological resources Animals and plants that yield both onceonly and repeat products over which ownership rights are enforced but for which natural growth and/or regeneration is not under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units. Examples are virgin forests and fisheries within the territory of the country. Only those resources that are currently, or are likely soon to be, exploitable for economic purposes should be included. According to the SNA 93 ( 10.12), the criteria for distinguishing between cultivated and noncultivated assets is whether or not the growth and renewal is under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units. Animals and plants whose growth takes place under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units are classified as cultivated assets, in the produced assets category. They can be either fixed assets in AN.1114 (assets yielding repeat products) or work in progress in AN.1221 (assets yielding onceonly products, e.g. standing timber). The growth is recorded as output, in the form of additions to work in progress, of the institutional units that exert the control. If the growth is not under direct control etc. of institutional units, the animals and plants are classified as non-cultivated biological resources (AN.213), part of the non-produced assets category. The growth is not recorded as output, but as natural growth of non-cultivated biological resources in the other changes in volume of assets account. 2.2 Land The SNA and ESA classify land in four asset categories: AN.2111 Land underlying buildings and structures AN.2112 Land under cultivation AN.2113 Recreational land and associated surface water AN.2119 Other land and associated surface water There is a strong relationship between the classification of land and the classification of biological assets. In the case of forests, the status of the timber determines the status of the land. When the timber is classified as cultivated, then the corresponding land should be classified as land under cultivation. If the timber is non-cultivated, the land should be classified as either recreational land or other land. Even though the classification of land and timber is closely related, it does not mean that the share of forest land under cultivation is equal to the share of timber that is cultivated. There can be significant differences in density (and also growth rates) between cultivated and noncultivated forests. As an example, Norway estimates that about 55% of the total forested area is cultivated. The cultivated forest grows faster than the uncultivated, so 86% of the total growth is on the cultivated area. See section 3.4 for more details. 3 Suggested operational criteria This section describes some operational criteria that have been suggested for distinguishing between cultivated and non-cultivated forest. 3.1 The production activities To qualify as a cultivated asset, the production activities involved (i.e. control, responsibility and management of natural growth and/or regeneration) should constitute production in the SNA/ESA sense and not consist just of legislative control. The activities should be (IEEAF, 3.75): Classified in forestry industry (government administration is not enough) Significant relative to the value of the resource Directly connected with the forest 4

5 Examples of such activities related to forests are seeding, planting of saplings, thinning and pest control, e.g. by removal of infected trees. 3.2 Overmaturity In order to make the definition of non-cultivated forest operational, criteria based on overmaturity and lack of forestry intervention have been considered. In a note to IEEAF Table 1a the following definition is used: Within wooded land available for wood supply, cultivated and not cultivated areas are distinguished. Not cultivated wooded land is defined as this wooded land where: a) there is a significant number of overmature trees (e.g. trees whose age exceeds for more than 30 years the standard felling age, given the conditions of the stand) and b) there was no forestry intervention for e.g. 25 years. Some problems with applying these operational criteria have been noted: The criteria are generally based on forest inventory data, which are only available every 5-10 years. For some species and types of uses no intervention for the past 25 years is normal. The volume of over-mature trees is not equal to the volume of timber in over-mature forests. Both the relative importance of non-managed forest and the practical criteria for estimating its size will thus be country-specific. 3.3 Is almost all growth cultivated? It has been suggested that for the purpose of valuing output, the distinction between cultivated (i.e. regularly managed) and non-cultivated (overmature) forest may not be necessary in practice for EU countries. The reasons are that: In most EU countries non-cultivated or over-mature forest that is available for wood supply is rare. Natural forests are mainly in protected areas that are not available for wood supply. Overmature forest normally has very low natural growth. This means that almost all growth is in the cultivated part of the forest, and is considered as output (in the form of additions to work in progress) according to ESA Forest not managed for timber production purposes In some countries a part of the forest although available for wood supply might not actually be managed for timber production purposes. For example, forest owners may not intend to actually use the timber (e.g. absentee owners due to inheritance, dominance of hunting use, private contracts to protect the forest, etc.). The Task Force meeting in September 1999 concluded that if such aspects are important, a provision should be made for this situation in the classification and valuation procedure for the stock and the natural growth. If the trees are not harvested, they will eventually be lost. According to the ESA 95 ( ), output of work in progress should be reduced by the value of recurrent losses. (Catastrophic and exceptional losses are treated as other volume changes, and do not affect output.) Normally, such a correction would be done ex post, but this is not very practical for forests, since trees are work in progress for many years. 5

6 A practical solution is to deduct a share of the natural growth that will presumably never be harvested, when the value of output is estimated. This might be called non-recoverable increment (IEEAF 3.168), and could be based e.g. on expert opinion. 3.5 Productivity and distance from forest roads Norway has used productivity of forest and distance from the nearest forest road as criteria for distinguishing between cultivated and non-cultivated forest (Statistics Norway 2000). The maximum area of cultivated forest is estimated in the following way: Total forested area - Non-productive forest (producing less than 1 m 3 of wood per hectare per year) = Productive forest - Protected part of productive forest (national parks etc.) - Area of productive forest more than 2 km from nearest forest road = Max. area of cultivated forest Following this definition about 55% of the total forested area is cultivated. The cultivated forest grows faster than the uncultivated, so 86% of the total growth is on the cultivated area. 3.6 IEEAF pilot applications As a part of the process of defining the IEEAF, pilot studies were undertaken in several countries. The distinction between cultivated and non-cultivated forests was one of the areas covered. The results were the following: France considers all forest and other wooded land that is available for wood supply to be cultivated. Germany recognises that some of the forest available for wood supply can be considered natural, but the forest inventory does not provide data or a definition of natural forests. Sweden and Finland divide forest and other wooded land available for wood supply into three groups: Afforested, natural/mature and other. The majority of the land and standing timber is in the category Other. This is similar to semi-natural forests in TBFRA , see section 4.3. Natural forests are mainly in protected areas that are not available for wood supply. There are no substantial differences between the growth and management of afforested and naturally reproduced forests in these countries. 1 UN-ECE/FAO Temperate and Boreal Forest Resources Assessment

7 Classification of forest and other wooded land available for wood supply used in IEEAF pilot applications Sweden Finland Germany France Afforested forests: Cultivated forests arable land afforested Afforested forests: forests on former agricultural land, afforestation less than 20 years ago Cultivated forests: forest land used for wood production with regular intervention Natural forests forests 30 years older than final stand age and no intervention for the past 25 years Other forests exploitable forest except afforested forest and natural forest Mature forests no intervention for the past 30 years but not necessarily strictly natural forests Other forests Natural forests Forest land used for wood production with no intervention (for memory item, no data available) 4 Data about cultivated and non-cultivated forests The TBFRA-2000, the national accounts, and (in some cases) the Economic Accounts for Forestry (EAF 97) include data about cultivated and non-cultivated forests. Section 4.1 describes the categories for naturalness of forests that are used in the TBFRA Section 4.2 reviews the data that has been provided according to EAF 97, which is based on the principles in ESA 95. Section 4.3 reviews the information about forestry that is available in the GNP Inventories, i.e. the descriptions of the data sources and estimation methods of the national accounts, which are provided by Member States to Eurostat for the purpose of verifying the GNP estimates. 4.1 TBFRA-2000 The UN-ECE/FAO Temperate and Boreal Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (TBFRA- 2000) classifies Forest/other wooded land into three categories of naturalness 2 : Plantation(s) Forest stands established by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation. They are either: - of introduced species (all planted stands), or - intensively managed stands of indigenous species which meet all the following criteria: one or two species at plantation, even age class, regular spacing. Excludes: Stands which were established as plantations but which have been without intensive management for a significant period of time. These should be considered seminatural. Forest/other wooded land undisturbed by man Forest/other wooded land which shows natural forest dynamics, such as natural tree composition, occurrence of dead wood, natural age structure and natural regeneration processes, the area of which is large enough to maintain its natural characteristics and where there has been no known significant human intervention or where the last significant human intervention was long enough ago to have allowed the natural species composition and processes to have become re-established. 2 Definitions from 7

8 Semi-natural forest/other wooded land Forest/other wooded land which is neither "forest/other wooded land undisturbed by man" nor "plantation" as defined separately. Compared to the SNA/ESA categories, plantations are clearly in the cultivated category, while forest/other wooded land undisturbed by man is non-cultivated. The problem is how to treat the semi-natural forests, where cultivated and natural dimensions are mixed. A stringent definition of cultivated biological assets would classify most semi-natural forests as noncultivated, while a more inclusive definition would result in a large share being classified as cultivated. The definitions used in practice varied between countries (see table below), but for Finland and Sweden the definitions of forest undisturbed by man seem to be similar to the definition of natural/mature forest used in the IEEAF pilot studies. The TBFRA-2000 definitions of naturalness refer to the total area of forest and other wooded land, and not just the area that is available for wood supply, as in the IEEAF. This means that the areas classified as undisturbed by man" will include some areas that are not available for wood supply. This could be the case for some of the semi-natural areas as well, e.g. if it has been recently protected. Definitions used in TBFRA-2000, table 53 and 54. Country Undisturbed by man Austria Belgium Denmark Finland In 1997 a study on The Hemeroby (Naturalness) of Austrian Forests, published by the Institute of Ecology University of Vienna, in co-ordination with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and in close collaboration with the Austrian Forest Inventory assessed that 3 per cent of the Austrian forest and other wooded land can be considered as natural. Very few forests of this kind remain. The total area of 200 ha is an estimate of the areas of very few forests such as Draved Forest in South Jutland, Suserup Forest in West Zealand, Varsøe at East Jutland and a few more. The forests are protected intensively by a declaration in accordance with the nature protection act. Forests with mean age of growing stock higher than 160 years in Southern Finland and higher than 200 years in Northern Finland and with no signs of human activities (cuttings, drainage etc) during the past 30 years were regarded as undisturbed forests. France Source: Les indicateurs de gestion durable des forêts françaises, 1995, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Countryside and Forests Directorate. Germany Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Forests undisturbed by man cover 83,000 ha, but on a great part human intervention is not long enough ago according to the definition. National parks, nature reserves, all sub-alpine birch forests, the rest of the sub-alpine forest older than 100 years, all low productive forest with a production capacity less than 1 m 3 o.b./ha/year, and all other forest older than the lowest recommended final felling age where no treatments whatsoever 8

9 Country United Kingdom Norway Undisturbed by man have been conducted over the last 25 years. Excludes: (a) power lanes, roads, railways, agricultural land and urban land; (b) excludes areas influenced by ditching and (c) excludes areas influenced by fellings during the last 50 years. Given as a very rough estimate of forest assumed not to be affected by any significant human intervention in several hundred years. This estimate is somewhat low, and the area showing natural forest dynamics is expected to be considerably higher. According to the TBFRA-2000 data, forest undisturbed by man is a very small part of the total forest land area in almost all EU countries (see the table below). The highest reported shares are in Sweden (16.1%) and Finland (5.8%), while most the other countries report shares of 0.2 per cent or less. The weighted average for EU15 is about 5%, reflecting the large share (43%) that Sweden and Finland have of the total forest area in the EU. Several countries reported a high share of plantations, e.g. Ireland, Denmark, UK and Belgium, while the countries with large forest areas generally reported very low shares. The weighted average for EU15 is less than 7%. Forest land by naturalness (per cent) Country Undisturbed by man Semi-natural Plantations Forest area 1000 ha Austria 0,9 99,1 0, Belgium 0,0 54,4 45,6 646 Denmark 0,1 23,4 76,5 445 Finland 5,8 94,2 0, France 0,2 93,5 6, Germany 0,0 100,0 0, Greece na na 3, Ireland 0,2 0,0 99,8 591 Italy 0,1 98,6 1, Luxembourg 0,0 na na 86 Netherlands 0,0 70,5 29,5 339 Portugal 1,6 73,7 24, Spain 0,0 85,9 14, Sweden 16,1 81,8 2, United 0,0 31,3 68, Kingdom EU15 5,1(*) 88,2(*) 6,7(*) Norway 2, , Source: TBFRA-2000, Tables 1 and 54. (*) Eurostat estimate, assuming that Greece has no forest undisturbed by man, and that Luxembourg has the same share of plantations as Belgium. Experience from the TBFRA-2000 also shows that it is difficult to collect data according to naturalness in practice. UN-ECE comments 3 : 3 Mr Prins, cited in from Eero Mikkola. 9

10 Data were requested on forests undisturbed by man, semi-natural and plantations. These were new concepts at the international level and in most cases not directly measurable by forest inventory, especially in areas like Europe where there is a broad spectrum from one naturalness extreme to the other with few clear divisions. Correspondents were asked to exercise their judgement on undisturbed and plantation ( semi-natural is a residual), and explained it in the notes. There is probably still room for further discussion and harmonisation of concepts, notably as regards plantations, where the multiplicity of silvicultural concepts and changes over time made the boundaries difficult to draw. (There are already indications that some corespondents may wish to revise their judgements on this topic.) Suggestion: For IEEAF Table 1a Forest balance: Area of wooded land, the area of plantations and seminatural forest could be used as an estimate of the cultivated area. If this turns out to be higher than area available for wood supply, the whole area available for wood supply is considered cultivated. This still leaves the question on how the cultivated stock of standing timber is to be calculated. Is it reasonable for our purposes to assume that the density is the same in cultivated and non-cultivated areas? 10

11 4.2 EAF 97 The EAA/EAF 97 Manual states in paragraph that, while the EAF follows the ESA 95 in principle, it is agreed that in cases where standing timber stocks are relatively regular (i.e. their volume does not fluctuate substantially from one year to the next), timber output is to be recorded only at the time of felling. The reasons given for not considering standing timber as work-in-progress is that it is relatively complex and requires a lot of data. So far, seven countries have reported data according to EAF 97. There is no direct information available on the treatment of growth of standing timber, but comparing the old and new data can give an indication. There are (at least) two ways of recording growth as output, depending on whether or not fellings are deducted: The IEEAF treats forestry and logging as two separate activities, and records the value of growth 4 as output of standing timber in forestry, and the stumpage value of the timber felled as intermediate consumption in logging. The net growth (i.e. growth less fellings) is recorded as changes to work in progress of standing timber. The ESA 95 sees forestry and logging as one activity. In this case, there is no intermediate consumption of standing timber and the output of standing timber is based on net growth. The IEEAF definition gives higher values for output and intermediate consumption than the ESA definition for forestry and logging together, but value added and changes to work in progress should be the same. Net growth can be positive or negative, but according to Forestry Statistics 1995 to 1998 (Table 1.4 Increment, fellings and removals) all EU countries had positive net growth in the reference period in the mid 1990s. In this case, the treatment of natural growth (either net or gross) as output should show up in the EAF 97 data as: Increase in output compared to old EAF data Increase in intermediate consumption compared to old EAF data, if forestry and logging are treated as separate activities. A (positive or negative) value in changes in stocks, which includes work in progress and finished goods. Even if work in progress is positive, it may be offset by negative changes in stocks of finished goods. Changes in stocks were not reported in the old EAF. There may of course also be revisions to the EAF data for other reasons, e.g. new data sources or estimation methods. Table 1 compares results from old and new EAF. The data are for 1997, but the years back to 1990 show a similar pattern. As seen in table 1, only France and Sweden report data on Changes in stocks (assuming the 0 for Belgium and Luxembourg really means no data available). For France, there is a large value for changes in stocks, and an even larger increase in output. There is also a large increase in intermediate consumption. The new French data are similar to the data provided for the IEEAF pilot study, which includes natural growth as production, see Table 2. 4 In Forestry Statistics this is called net annual increment, since it is net of natural losses. 11

12 Table 1: EAF data for Million ECU. Country Changes in stocks EAF 97 Output EAF 97 Output EAF old % change in output Belgium Finland na France Greece na Italy na Luxembourg (*) 0 18 na na Sweden (*) Data for 1995 Table 2: Data for France, 1994, million FF. Pilot study EAF 97 EAF old Output (basic prices) Natural growth Intermediate consumption IC standing timber/plants Gross value added Changes in inventories Work in progress In Sweden, EAF output is almost unchanged, which suggests that the stocks relate to finished goods rather than work-in-progress of standing timber. Intermediate consumption is also unchanged. Table 3: Data for Sweden, 1994, million SEK. Pilot study EAF 97 EAF old Output (basic prices) Natural growth Intermediate consumption IC standing timber/plants 8566 : : Gross value added Changes in inventories Work in progress 2851 Of the other countries, Greece also shows a significant increase in output, but no data on stocks are reported, so it is unclear if the reason is the treatment of natural growth as production. Finland and Italy show only minor changes in output and Belgium shows a reduction. Luxembourg did not provide overlapping data. Based on the data comparisons above, it is clear that France has included growth of standing timber in output of forestry, and that it treats forestry and logging as two separate activities. The other six countries (with the possible exception of Greece) seem to have followed the suggestions in the EEA/EAF 97 manual, and recorded timber output only at the time of felling. 4.3 National accounts In 2002, EU and EEA countries will report supply and use tables with 60 industries and 60 products to Eurostat. Forestry, logging and related service activities is a separate industry in the tables. In principle, data on work in progress of timber should be available here, but they will be aggregated with other forest products in the tables. 12

13 Some information on the treatment of the output of forestry in each country s national accounts will be available in the GNP inventories (i.e. descriptions of data sources and estimation methods) that are currently being sent to Eurostat. Chapter 3 in the GNP inventory describes the calculation of output in the different industries. Chapter 5 covers expenditures, including changes in work-in-progress. Chapter 9 describes the transition from GDP according to ESA 95 to GNP according to ESA 79. One of the adjustments is the treatment of cultivated natural growth of plants. At the moment, only a few countries have provided the relevant parts of the inventory. Belgium Growth is not included in output. Greece The inventory is currently only available in Greek. Netherlands Forestry is only mentioned briefly, and no details about growth of timber or cultivated forests are provided. Norway Currently, growth of timber is not included in output. However, it will be included during the next major revision of the national accounts, to be published in The definition of cultivated forest will probably be based on productivity and distance from the nearest forest road, see section 3.4. Sweden Net growth of timber for the whole country is included in output as work in progress, i.e. all growth is considered to be cultivated for the purpose of the national accounts. The valuation is made by multiplying growth in m3 by the stumpage price of timber. This value is multiplied by an adjustment factor of , to account for differences in the age composition between fellings and the growing stock. (Ch. 3, p. 21). UK According to the inventory, growth in timber is included as work in progress, but there are no details about the calculation or information about the definition of cultivated forests. 5 References Eurostat (1999): The European Framework for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Forests IEEAF. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Eurostat (2000): Manual of the economic accounts for Agriculture and Forestry. EAA/EAF 97 (Rev. 1.1). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. Statistics Norway (2000): Norwegian Economic and Environmental Accounts (NOREEA Phase 2) Project Final Report to Eurostat. United Nations (2000): Forest Resources of Europe, CIS, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. (Industrialized temperate/boreal countries). UN-ECE/FAO Contribution to the Global Forest Resource Assessment Main report. United Nations, New York and Geneva. 13