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Membership of IUFRO is open to any institution concerned with the promotion, support or conduct of research related to forests, trees and forest products.
The Short-Rotation Forestry Research Group aims at optimizing wood biomass production for social and economic purposes from the plantations raised using fast growing tree species, in a significantly short period than from conventional forest tree species plantations.
The group is subdivided into three working parties to facilitate flow of relevant research and development information across the different stakeholders. The three working parties are: theoretical aspects of short rotation forestry; applied temperate short- rotation forestry; and applied tropical short- rotation forestry.
STATE OF KNOWLEDGE
Short- rotation forestry (SRF ) is defined as the silvicultural practice in which high density, sustainable plantations of fast growing tree species produce wood biomass either on agricultural fertile lands, wastelands or degraded lands generally outside the traditional forests. The tress are gown with single stems or as coppice systems, with a rotation period of less than 30 years and with an annual wood production of at least 10 tones DM/ha. The biomass produced from SRF may replace the wood from traditional forest areas and is used for energy, paper and pulp, fodder, construction, bio-fuel and also to produce electricity. SRF has also been found useful in amelioration of degraded sites; establishing vegetation filters to treat polluted waste water and sewage sludge, reforestation of clear felled old virgin forests, carbon sequestration, etc.
Species of interest: Eucalyptus spp., Populus spp., Salix spp., Acacia spp., Acacia mollissima, Robinia pseudoacacia, Leucaena leucocephala, Gmelina arborea, Cryptomeria spp., Prosopis spp., Paulownia spp., Ailanthus spp., Anthocephalus spp., Casurina spp., Alder spp., Bamboos, hybrid Aspen, Melia azedarach, Cordia spp., Cupressus spp.
