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A critical review of operation research tools applied to forest management in brazilian journals

Abstract

The use of optimization methods as tools to aid the forest management has grown in the recent decades. However, there is a need to understand how these techniques were applied to forest management in Brazil. Thus, this work presents an overview of the behavior of Brazilian forestry science in this aspect, indicating trends and gaps that can serve as bases for future studies. The most relevant academic journals were selected from the Journal Citation Reports database and the articles were analyzed in terms of the database used (whether real or theoretical), genus of species grown, level of planning (strategic, tactical or operational), planning model, method used to solve the proposed problem (classical mathematical programming or metaheuristics), type of objective function and category of restrictions. As a result, 44 articles published in the period from 1976 to 2019 were found. The types of data that predominated were the real ones in the recent years, which indicates an approximation of the academia in the business sphere. The exotic species had a greater participation in the studies than the native ones. Strategic planning is more approached, followed by tactical and finally operational. As for the methods, there was a tendency to use combinations between classic and heuristic methods. The objective function that was most applied was to maximize revenue and the restriction involving the volumetric production. Therefore, it was possible to identify trends and gaps and analyze the results in a critical view.

Keywords:
Forest Management; Forest Optimization; Mathematical Programming

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