Citation: Castillo Vizuete, D.D.; Gavilanes Montoya, A.V.; Chávez Velásquez, C.R.; Borz, S.A. A Critical Review on the Perspectives of the Forestry Sector in Ecuador. Land 2023, 12, 258. https://doi.org/10.3390/ land12010258 Academic Editors: Fausto Sarmiento, Andreas Haller, Carla Marchant and Masahito Yoshida Received: 21 November 2022 Revised: 5 January 2023 Accepted: 6 January 2023 Published: 16 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). land Review A Critical Review on the Perspectives of the Forestry Sector in Ecuador Danny Daniel Castillo Vizuete 1,2 , Alex Vinicio Gavilanes Montoya 1,2, * , Carlos Renato Chávez Velásquez 2 and Stelian Alexandru Borz 1 1 Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, ¸ Sirul Beethoven 1, 500123 Brasov, Romania 2 Faculty of Natural Resources, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur, km 1 1 /2, Riobamba EC-060155, Ecuador * Correspondence: alex.gavilanes@unitbv.ro; Tel.: +593-984761535 Abstract: The contribution of the Ecuadorian forest industry to the development of the country is of undeniable importance since it enables job creation, the production of goods and services, and the generation of wealth. As such, special attention should be paid to the problems that are affecting its development and that prevent enhancing the competitiveness of the companies in this important productive sector of the country. This review of the international literature found in relevant databases synthesizes findings on the forest wealth of Ecuador vs. deforestation. We also provide an overview on the state-of-art technology in timber harvesting and the wood processing industry. Within each of these topics, we analyze and discuss some factors such as irrational logging of native forests, incipient afforestation, as well as the elements on primary and secondary transformation of wood in Ecuador. We conclude that the participation and cooperation of all actors in the productive chain of the forestry sector in Ecuador is of the utmost importance to adequately address the demands of the national and international markets. Keywords: forest; management; governance; deforestation; harvesting; relations; conceptual framework 1. Introduction Forests are the biologically richest ecosystems [1], covering cca. 31% of land sur- faces [2]. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 1990, the planet had 4128 million hectares of forest; this decreased to 4059 million hectares in 2020 [1]. The importance of forest resources lies in biodiversity [3], provision of essential environmental goods and services for human well-being [4–6], development of ecological functions [7,8], social values [9,10], and dynamization of the economy [11]. These are supported by the reports of the World Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which mention the influence of forests on the livelihoods of 25% of the world’s popu- lation [12,13]; for instance, it is estimated that 68% of the rural population is directly dependent on forests and their timber and non-timber forest products, whereas the areas with the greatest dependence on forest resources are Latin America (27%), Africa (21%) and Asia (20%) [9]. Forest management includes those activities aimed at the conservation and use of for- est resources in an orderly manner, to meet the needs of current and future society [14]. Therefore, forest management is vital for forestry [15,16], with sustainability purposes [17,18]. Additionally, it is highlighted that the main components of a forest harvesting system are felling, extraction, loading, and transport [19,20]. Under these considerations, the use of forest resources in Ecuador can be divided into two: (i) timber forest products and (ii) non-timber forest products and wood by-products [21]. Furthermore, the basic criteria of sustainable forest management according to the national regulatory framework are: (1) increasing the Land 2023, 12, 258. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010258 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/land