Financial returns from collaborative investment models of Eucalyptus agroforestry plantations in Lao PDR

Abstract

Global demand for forest products is increasing and plantation forests are supplying a growing proportion of wood to industry. Plantation expansion has however slowed and the location and management of plantations to meet future timber needs is uncertain. In South East Asia, population pressure and land tenure arrangements will challenge broad scale plantation establishment. Companies and government are looking to plantation models that integrate local community or conservation needs but there has been little financial analysis of integrated production systems that can inform investment decisions by corporations or smallholder tree growers. Lao PDR has at least four million hectares of degra..