Wood Requirements and Production Capacity of Community Forest, Naxing Zone, Phieng District, Sayaboury Province, Lao PDR

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Bouaphanh Chanthavong
Monton Jamroenprucksa

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the requirements for wood utilization and production capacity of community forest, Naxing Zone, Phieng District, Sayaboury Province, Lao PDR, and to recommend guidelines for community forest management. The study interviewed 239 households to investigate requirements of wood for their livelihood. The study also evaluated production capacity of the community forests using Line plot survey system  for tree data collection. The study shows the annual total wood requirements of 2,406.68 m3 in the community, Of this, 2,237.11 m3 is firewood, averaging 3.76 m3 per household and 0.752 m3 per person; 169.57 m3/year is construction wood averaging 0.286 m3 per household and 0.057 m3 per person. Sources of firewood are from community forests and from sawmills. It is estimated that about 78 percent of firewood is from community forests and the remainder (22 percent) from sawmills. The sources of construction wood are from community forests (28.45 percent) and state forest (71.55 percent). The survey results showed that the community forest area is 150.19 hectares. The total number of trees is 18,173 trees with 30 cm and more girth at breast height. The total volume of these trees is 10,289.52, m3 averaging 68.510 m3 per hectare. There are 39 species of saplings, totaling 42,804 saplings in the forest. Thus, the density of the tree saplings is 285 trees per hectare.  In addition, there are 46 species of seedlings totaling 191,793 seedlings, averaging 1,277 seedlings per hectare. The mean annual increment of the forest is 2.5 percent or about 255.33 m3 and 1.7 m3 per hectare. The study data showed that there was adequate construction wood available in the forest for the community. Yet, there is a need to manage the forest resources by limiting use of rare species, rehabilitate degraded forest areas and conserve rare and endangered species.


Key words: wood utilization, production capacity, community forest

Article Details

How to Cite
Chanthavong, B. ., & Jamroenprucksa, M. . (2022). Wood Requirements and Production Capacity of Community Forest, Naxing Zone, Phieng District, Sayaboury Province, Lao PDR. Thai Journal of Forestry, 26(2), 63–69. Retrieved from https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tjf/article/view/255889
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Original Articles