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Forests
Special Issues
Optimization of Forestry and Forest Supply Chain
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Optimization of Forestry and Forest Supply Chain

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Economics, Policy, and Social Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2025) | Viewed by 2867

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Soleiman Mohammadi Limaei

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Geography, Law and Tourism, Centre for Research on Economic Relations, Mid Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden
Interests: economics optimization of forestry; optimization in forest supply chain; environmental economics; data envelopment analysis (DEA); game theory; dynamic programming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests' products and services are important to the economy by providing a range of raw materials, fuel, recreational values, etc. Forests also play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change. Therefore, economically, environmentally, and socially beneficial goals should be considered in forest policy and management.

Traditional supply chain management in forests has included reducing costs and reducing transportation times. Nowadays, the increasing environmental issues of this supply chain are important. Therefore, the forest industry should look at supply chain sustainability as a new measure of profitable management. The concept of forest management has shifted from sustainable products to sustainable ecology, sustainable economy, and society. In the past, less attention was given to multipurpose goals because, in many cases, these goals conflicted with each other, and it seemed impossible to accomplish them simultaneously.

Optimization techniques can be a useful method to determine optimal forest management and forest supply chain practices to achieve multi-objective goals (social, economic, and environmental goals) simultaneously.

This Special Issue provides an opportunity for researchers to present the results of studies on optimal forest management, sustainable forest management, and the optimization of the forest supply chain.

Dr. Soleiman Mohammadi Limaei
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • optimal forest management
  • sustainability
  • production planning
  • optimization
  • mathematical models
  • supply chain management
  • climate change

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 4747 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Forest Management: Balancing Environmental and Economic Goals Using Game Theory and Multi-Objective Approaches
by Neda Amiri and Soleiman Mohammadi Limaei
Forests 2024, 15(11), 2044; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15112044 - 19 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1116
Abstract
Forests are complex ecosystems that require integrated management to balance economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Conflicting objectives among stakeholders make optimal decision-making particularly challenging. This study seeks to balance the economic gains of forest harvesting with the goals of environmental conservation, with a [...] Read more.
Forests are complex ecosystems that require integrated management to balance economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Conflicting objectives among stakeholders make optimal decision-making particularly challenging. This study seeks to balance the economic gains of forest harvesting with the goals of environmental conservation, with a focus on the Shafarood forest in Northern Iran. We applied multi-objective optimization and game theory to maximize the net present value (NPV) of forest harvesting while enhancing carbon sequestration. The research utilized data on stumpage prices, harvesting costs, tree density, volume per ha, growth rates, interest rates, carbon sequestration, and labour costs. Applying the epsilon-constraint method, we derived Pareto optimal solutions for a bi-objective model, and game theory was applied to negotiate between economic and environmental stakeholders. In the fifth round of bargaining, a Nash equilibrium was achieved between the two players. At this equilibrium point, the economic player achieved NPV from forest harvesting of 9001.884 (IRR 10,000/ha) and amount of carbon sequestration of 159.9383 tons/ha. Meanwhile, the environmental player achieved NPV from forest harvesting of 7861.248 (IRR 10,000/ha), along with a carbon sequestration of 159.9731 tons/ha. Results indicate significant trade-offs but reveal potential gains for both economic and environmental goals. These findings provide a robust framework for sustainable forest management and offer practical tools to support informed decision-making for diverse stakeholders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization of Forestry and Forest Supply Chain)
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21 pages, 2608 KiB  
Article
An Interval Fuzzy Programming Approach to Solve a Green Intermodal Routing Problem for Timber Transportation Under Uncertain Information
by Yan Sun, Chen Zhang and Guohua Sun
Forests 2024, 15(11), 2003; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15112003 - 13 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 864
Abstract
This study investigates an intermodal routing problem for transporting wood from a storage yard of the timber harvest area to a timber mill, in which the transfer nodes in the intermodal transportation network have multiple service time windows. To improve the environmental sustainability [...] Read more.
This study investigates an intermodal routing problem for transporting wood from a storage yard of the timber harvest area to a timber mill, in which the transfer nodes in the intermodal transportation network have multiple service time windows. To improve the environmental sustainability of timber transportation, a carbon tax policy is employed in the routing to reduce the carbon emissions. Uncertain information on the capacities and carbon emission factors of the transportation activities in the intermodal transportation network is modeled using interval fuzzy numbers to enhance the feasibility of the routing optimization in the actual timber transportation. Based on the above consideration, an interval fuzzy nonlinear optimization model is established to handle the specific routing problem. Model defuzzification and linearization are then conducted to obtain an equivalent formulation that is crisp and linear to make the global optimum solution attainable. A numerical experiment is conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed model, and it reveals the influence of the optimization level and service time windows on the routing optimization, and it confirms that intermodal transportation is suitable for timber transportation. This experiment also analyzes the feasibility of a carbon tax policy in reducing the carbon emissions of timber transportation, and it finds that the performance of this policy is determined by the optimization level given by the timber mill and is not always feasible in all cases. For the case where a carbon tax policy is infeasible, this study proposes a bi-objective optimization that can use Pareto solutions to balance the economic and environmental objectives as an alternative. The bi-objective optimization further shows the relationship between lowering the transportation costs, reducing the carbon emissions, and enhancing the reliability on capacity and budget by improving the optimization level. The conclusions provide managerial insights that can help the timber mill and intermodal transportation operator organize cost-efficient, low-carbon, and reliable intermodal transportation for timber distribution, and support sustainable forest logistics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization of Forestry and Forest Supply Chain)
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