New directions in community and farm reforestation
Increased emphasis on environment, increased faith in private sector forests rather than government‐owned plantations, and improved techniques for tree growing have led to changes in reforestation policies, particularly in timber‐importing countries. Farm and community forestry has become more important, and often involves mixed broadleaved species and selective logging rather than clearfell. Private profitability is often low, but social returns may be considerably greater, warranting government support. While governments have experimented with a variety of instruments to encourage reforestation, policies have not necessarily addressed the main impediments. Measures to increase the share of resource rent gained by tree growers relative to other stakeholders in the timber production pipeline could accelerate plantings.
Roadmap for lucrative greening of supply chains: theoretical and practical perspectives
Increasing dependence on suppliers and the high concern for protecting the environment, force modern organisations to green their supply chains. In order to face this challenge, a model for creating lucrative supply chains by greening them is proposed in this paper. A hypothetical case study on this model has been presented to illustrate its working. The results of the t-test conducted during this research indicate the practical feasibility of this model. The paper concludes by stating that significant innovation and research are required in this direction, so that greening of supply chains leads to total prosperity of the organisations.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.