Improving incomes from small-scale forestry of Lithuania

A small-scale private forestry is forming in Lithuania (35.1% of the total forest area). An average size of a private forest estate is 3.4 ha. The private forest sector constitutes 221,700 private forest owners. Income from wood sales constitutes the main part of private forest owners’ income from forests. The main directions for increasing the income from forests include usage of logging residues and other currently non-used wood for wood fuel, usage of non-wood forest products, and sales of environmental services including CO2 sequestration. This paper examines economic analysis of forest fuel production from logging residues, opportunities to increase the income from private forests, using non-wood products, getting compensations for restrictions in protected forests and participating in the EU Emission Trading System, in Lithuania.