LV EN RU DE FR

Forest Resources Economics and Geoinformatics

Course developers

Course abstract

The course consists of two parts where one part is oriented to the classification of forest resources, identifying influencing factors, viewing different valuation methods, and the other part, on this information for processing methods, visualization tools for data representation, etc.
Forest resources and forest economic features. Forest production and its users. Forest as capital value. Investment analysis and peculiarities in forestry. Economic justification for woodland use. The role and impact of risk factor, tax and management conditions in forestry development. Methods for determining forest value, assessment of forest non-timber resources.

Geoinformatics application in the economics of forest resources. Platform and software solutions to support forest management. Digital Mapping and. Geoinformational Analytical Methods in Forest Resource Management. Automation of geoinformational tasks.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

After learning the course there will be knowledge of the economic justification of forest wood and non-wood values (1st Test), and the skills to determine the value of the forest (2nd Test) and the competence to evaluate the most appropriate methods of determining forest value (Practical works).

Knowledge and understanding of the importance of GIS technologies and key challenges of their use in forestry (3rd Test), as well as skills in the preparation of digital maps, data exchange, and geospatial data analysis (4th Test). Competence to independently use geoinformatic solutions for economic evaluation of forest resources (Practical works).

Course Content(Calendar)

1. Wood supply and demand. Characteristics of forest economy, characteristics of their resources. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
2. Forest production, its users and role. Non-timber resources and its role. Methods of valuation of forest non-timber resources. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
3. Micro and macroeconomics in the context of forest sector, forestry and regional development. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
4. Time, inflation and risk factor and its role in forest economics. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
1st Test
5. The value of forest as capital. Economic justification for woodland use. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
6. Investment analysis and peculiarities in forestry. Methods for determining forest value. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
7. The role of tax and management conditions in forest economics. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
8. Multi-faceted forest use and its preconditions. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
2nd Test
9. The concept of geoinformatical, development trends in the world and in Latvia. Geoinformatical application in the economics of forest resources. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
10. Platform and software solutions to support forest management. Digital mapping and visualization of forest resources. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
11. 2D and 3D forest resource mapping. Web mapping technologies. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
12. Dynamic visualization for presenting information. Geoinformational Analytical Methods in Forest Resource Management. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
3rd Test
13. Spatial analysis approaches. Geostatistics. Spatial interpolation. Map Algebra. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
14. Modelling tasks and “Kriging” method. Use of optimization algorithms in forest management and other decision support. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
15. Optimization and location of routes in networks. Automation of geoinformational tasks. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
16. Automation of map analysis. The base of Python geospatial development. (Lecture 2h + Practical work 2h)
4th Test

Requirements for awarding credit points

To be able to write an exam: Must attend all theoretical and practical lectures; must write and complete all tests and practical jobs.

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

Need to prepare for tests and practical works independently.
During the lectures, the uncompleted practical works must complete independently to the next lecture of practical work.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

The assessment of knowledge, skills and competence takes place on a 10-grade scale. An oral or written answer is successful if at least 50% of the questions answered correctly.

Final test is a written exam, which will be designed by the theoretical studies, as well as practical work thematic.

The examination may not be written if, during the course of the study course, the assessment of the 4 tests (each 20 %) and practical works (total 20 %) is not lower than 7, the assessment of the examination shall be the cumulative assessment of the ratings obtained during the term of the semester.

Compulsory reading

1. Klemperer W. D. Forest resource economics and finance. New York etc.: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1996. 551 p.
2. Gregory G. R. Resource economics for foresters. New York etc.: John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1987.
3. Penzkofer M. Geoinformatics. Norderstedt, Books on Demand, 2017.186 p.
4. Carreira P. Geospatial Development By Example with Python. Birmingham; Mumbai: Packt Publishing, 2016. 340 p. E-grāmata EBSCO eBook Academic Collection
Pieejams: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=1163843&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Notes

For academic bachelor study programme “Sustainable forestry” students