Sist, P., Garcia-Fernandez, C., Fredericksen, T, S. (special editors) 2008. Moving beyond reduced-impact logging towards a
more holistic management of tropical forest. Forest Ecology and Management Special issue, 256, 7, September 2008
1.
Context
Worldwide concern for the fate of tropical forests surged in the late 1980s (Poore et al., 1989). The
environmental effects of rampant deforestation and the impacts on forest-dependent people shifted forestry discussions towards the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) concept, a concept that
gained impetus in forest policy dialogue and international forums. The United Nations Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, stressed the urgent need to stop environmental degradation and
tropical deforestation. In Rio, more than 178 Governments adopted the first political declaration on forests by providing a statement of principles for a global consensus on the management,
conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. Chapter XI of Agenda 21 stated the need for sustaining the multiple roles and functions of forests, and for enhancing their
protection, sustainable management and conservation. This need was further reaffirmed in 2000 in the United Nations Millennium Declaration (chapter IV) and at the second Earth Summit held in
Johannesburg in 2002, as a mean to reduce poverty and encourage sustainable development. In the course of this process, SFM was consolidated as one of the keystone elements of the new forestry
paradigm.
Existing protected areas, are restricted to a relatively small fraction of the world’s forest as they
represent 477 million ha, or approximately 12% of the forests. One-third of the forest areas are primarily used for production, with an
additional 34% designated for multipurpose functions (FAO, 2006). Consequently, more than
half of the world’s forests are, in principle, available for production of goods and services. Evidently, with an annual deforestation rate of around 13 million ha, not all of these areas
will remain under forest cover, or will be sustainably managed. ITTO (2006) estimated that only 36 million hectares of forest in the tropics fits this prescription. It is in this context
that conservation strategies, when applicable will have to seriously consider sustainable management approaches where many hundreds million ha of forests are potential candidates. This scenario
will be further reinforced in forest areas under community control as they are critical actors in conservation strategies, with an estimated investment of $1.2-2.6 billion per year
(Molnar et al., 2004)
Several trends have unfolded under the auspices of the SFM concept. The initial focus was on the
impacts of timber harvesting operations in tropical forests, which led to the search for guidelines to minimize the damages of logging and to sustain timber yields (Dykstra, 2002; Applegate et al., 2004). Although RIL is not equivalent to SFM, it constitutes a
substantial step towards this goal (Dykstra 2002). In this sense, the design and implementation of reduced impact logging (RIL) techniques in tropical rain forests of Africa, South-East
Asia and the Amazon in the late 1980s was a first practical step to improve timber harvesting practices (Putz et al., this volume). These techniques act at the operational plan level by planning
skidtrails, practicing carefully controlled felling and skidding and reducing damage to soils and residual trees. Numerous studies have demonstrated that, under moderate logging intensity, these
techniques can reduce by 50 % the damage on residual stand and soil (Dykstra and Heinrich 1996; Sist et al. 2000). Therefore, they are now widely recognized as an essential component of
sustainable timber harvesting prescriptions and the main ecological criteria in forest management plan certification processes, such as that of Forest Stewardship Council.
This set of technical recommendations, however, has often ignored the complexity of the ecological characteristics
and functional roles of the harvested timber species. Hence, the capacity of RIL practices, as currently formulated, to guarantee sustainability and comply with the increasingly diverse nature of
the demands that forests are expected to meet has been largely questioned (Sist et al.2003, Putz and Fredericksen 2004, Gayot and Sist 2004, Sist et al. 2007). Most RIL operations are still
based, as all other selective logging systems operating in the tropics, on a very simple rule: the minimum diameter cutting, which is applied to all commercial species. These cutting limits are
set to accommodate processing technologies and market demands, rather than the biology and conservation of the harvested species (Sist et al. 2003). To date, the ecology of tree species has
received limited consideration in the development of harvesting and regeneration protocols (Sheil and van Heist 2000, Jennings et al. 2001, Sist et al. 2003), For some researchers, the low degree
of disturbance caused by RIL is not favorable for light-demanding timber species such as mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in the Amazon region, and some other African timber species
(Kaya ivorensis, Entandrophragma spp) (Fredericksen and Putz 2003). For others, the mean growth rates of most of the timber tree species in the Amazon are too low to achieve
sustained yield within the length of the rotation cycle (about 30 years) and without post-harvesting liberation treatment to stimulate the growth of the remaining potential crop trees (Dauber et
al. 2006, Sist and Ferreira 2007). These studies have reinforced the need to define new silvicultural recommendations for timber harvesting and post-harvesting treatments to sustain
production, tree diversity, and ecosystem functions of forests.
One of the most distinct and widely acknowledged characteristics of tropical forests is their high
diversity, but tropical silviculture has mostly focused on timber resources and almost totally ignored this aspect. Although the
conceptual underpinnings of multiple-use forest management (MFM) for timber and non-timber values were laid out more than a decade ago (Panayotou & Ashton 1992), efforts to promote this
management model in the tropics are still incipient. Loggers usually disregard the impacts that timber harvesting have on many economically important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and on
local livelihoods. Legal and regulatory aspects for timber and NTFPs are handled separately and are mostly focused on timber management. Additionally, the large majority of community-based
forestry initiatives currently promoting SFM systems generally place all their emphasis on timber, even though NTFPs harvesting could be a complementary income generation activity between
long-term timber rotation cycles.
A new tropical silviculture paradigm aiming to integrate and valuate both timber and NTFPs must be now implemented
in the field in order to sustain livelihoods while maintaining productivity, tree diversity, viable habitat and ecological functions of the forest ecosystems. By promoting the diversity of
tropical forest resources, this paradigm would also stimulated the interest of a wide range of actors, indigenous and traditional populations, small farmers, and not only logging companies. The
multiple use forest management systems should not only incorporate present knowledge of tree and forest ecology, but also take into account the economic and social constraints impeding their
implementation in the field by forest managers. One important issue is, for example, to consider small scale forestry in the framework of partnerships between forest companies and local
communities.
Sustainable forest management also depends on the legal framework where silvicultural systems have to be
implemented. Concessions have been widely developed in the tropics as a legal system to promote sustainable forest management on a long term basis. Concessions, however, face serious limitations
for promotion of forest management for multiple uses, as well as for integrating local population into their production systems.
2.
Objective and Contents of the Special Issue
This special issue aims at identifying the main challenges of tropical silviculture and management beyond RIL,
which has been so far the most prominent effort to promote SFM. This volume is divided in three sections: (i) the history and lessons learned from RIL; (ii) multiple-use forest management
alternatives; and (iii) concession systems and their role to promote SFM.
The papers in the first section either analyze the limitations of RIL or proposed new alternatives to
improve current techniques. This section starts with a paper by Putz et al. that presents the main challenges for the implementation of RIL (silvicultural treatments, integration of
NTFPs, training on RIL techniques). In the second paper, Freitas and Pinard give recommendations to select harvestable trees based on criteria taking into account their
ecological characteristics (density, diameter population structure, dispersion mode, etc.). These recommendations go beyond the use of diameter cutting limits which is a widely questioned
aspect of RIL. The third paper by Schulze et al. addresses the critical issue of the impact of logging on the regeneration of rare timber species. For this, the authors selected
five important timber species in the Brazilian Amazon occurring at low density and assessed the impact of logging on the reconstitution rate of their volume within the 30-year rotation cycle. The
last paper of this section, by Peña-Claros et al., evaluates the efficacy of
post-logging silvicultural treatments implemented in a semi-deciduous moist tropical forest of Bolivia on the growth of future crop trees (FCTs). This paper clearly shows that silvicultural
treatments to increase the growth of FCTs provide one method for moving tropical forest management closer to sustained yield.
The three papers in the second section are focused on certain specific aspects associated with
multiple-use forest management models, from the integration of multiple forest values to the inclusion of multiple stakeholders. In the first paper of this section,
García-Fernández et al. analyze the role of Multiple Forest Management (MFM) models as a tool to promote SFM. The authors review the basis for the allegedly acknowledged
superiority of multiple-use forestry compared to timber-dominant models and then suggest the scope for its implementation in tropical settings. In the second paper, Guariguata et al.
discuss the extent of the compatibility of timber and NTFPs extraction in two neotropical forests: the community concession forests of the Petén, Guatemala, and the extractivist communities in
northern Bolivia. The comparison between these case studies led the authors to suggest that specific legislative, education, and project interventions may help to promote the compatibility of
timber and non-timber extraction and management. Additionally, they build the case for analyzing the trade-offs and potential economic benefits from timber and non-timber integration to promote
broader adoption of multiple use models. In the last paper of this section, Ros-Tonen et al. analyze the role of partnerships between multiple actors as a tool to achieve SFM by looking
at some recent examples in the Brazilian Amazon. The idea behind these partnerships is that parties would achieve more jointly than on their own by combining knowledge, skills and political
power. These authors argue that, in addition to product-oriented partnerships which focus on forest management, there is also a need for politically-oriented partnerships as an essential
condition to create the appropriate legal and political framework for SFM.
The remaining two papers address a different dimension of SFM, concession systems. In the first paper,
Karsenty et al. look at the role of concession systems as means to deliver multiple services of public and collective interest and achieving SFM. They argue that the success of
industrial concession models in achieving these goals lays on some basic assumptions: forest functions and services should be maintained and managed as public goods, and concession systems need
to be regularly monitored to ensure that all targets are met. These authors conclude that concessions may not be the only answer to promote SFM, but they are part of the solution in situations
where land tenure rights are unclear with a subsequent risk of forest conversion. In the last paper, Driss Ezzine et al. review the evolution of the logging sector in the Congo basin
since the early 20th century leading to various types and scales of concession systems, and analyze RIL adoption in these different scenarios. They argue that in spite of the proven
environmental and economic advantages RIL offers, its impact on the ground has been limited. This paper shows the need for a closer association between certification and RIL-related practices in
order to promote broader adoption. They also stress the importance of understanding the heterogeneous behavior of the logging industry in the region and its implications for SFM.
In summary, the nine papers included in this volume provide considerable evidence of the need to move
beyond RIL guidelines and timber-dominant forest management models. They build up the case to broaden the scope of forest management towards multiple products, services and beneficiaries, a fundamental step to achieve SFM. They also caution, however, about the need to step out of the current conceptual realm of forest
management towards the operational aspects of multiple-use forest management.
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