Examples of Sustainable Forestry

Sustainable management implies the maintenance of the productivity of the asset base. Thus, in theory, under sustainable forest management, logging should meet the needs of the present without compromising the continuity of the ecosystem and the goods and services that it provides. There are sustainable methods of harvesting rainforest hardwoods, although these appear to have the most success at the local level. For example, the Amuesha Indians in the Yanesha Forestry Cooperatives Project of Peru employ a technique sometimes known as strip logging, based loosely on a rotating concept much like their traditional technique of slash-and-burn agriculture. They log a strip of forest 65 feet wide and use their oxen to take trees to a local sawmill. The gap is narrow enough to allow rapid plant colonization and seed dispersal across the clearing, while the soil is relatively undisturbed by the use of animal transport. The surrounding forest rapidly fills in the gap and within 20 years the strip is covered with secondary forest. In the meantime, the Indians take timber from other strips. When the forest has recovered, the Indians can again return to log the secondary forest. The rotating cycle only impacts a relatively small area and is a renewable practice. Commercial logging companies could follow an adaptation of this renewable technique. Though in the short run it is more costly and inefficient, in the log run it helps preserve the rest of the forest and the services and resources it provides. In any case, it is important that some stretches of forest be left completely untouched to accommodate those species that cannot tolerate life in disturbed forest.

Profit Through Reduced-Impact Logging

Studies have found that reduced-impact logging can be used to reduce carbon emissions by up to 40 tons per hectare of forest compared to conventional logging. This, combined with the preservation of higher levels in biodiversity in selectively logged forests, lends a strong case to sustainable forest management over standard timber-harvesting techniques.

Using Alternatives to Tropical Timber

There is much potential for using alternatives to tropical timber logged from old-growth forests, including growing plantations (ideally mixed-species rather than monocultures) on degraded agricultural lands (not in place of natural forests). Tens of millions of hectares of land have been deforested and abandoned in Indonesia, Brazil, and other countries. In many cases reforesting these lands with timber species and then managing them sustainably could bring economic and ecological benefits to companies and local communities. A great example can be found in the Samboja Lestari project, an initiative popularized by orangutan conservationist Willie Smits' presentation at the TED conference in February 2009.

Demand for pulp wood for paper manufacturing is increasing, which adds further strain on tropical rainforests. More than 40 percent of the world's industrial timber ends up as paper, of which two-thirds is consumed by Europe, Japan, and the United States. However, also increasing is the use of non-wood fibers like bamboo and straw. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 1970 six million tons of non-wood fibers were produced, accounting for 4 percent of the total amount of fibers produced. By 1994, the use of non-wood fibers had doubled to 8 percent of the market (21 million tons). There is hope that non-wood fibers may replace the use of tropical trees in the manufacture of pulpwood. Besides, is it really necessary to use tropical rainforest wood from virgin forest for pulp?

Reused and Recycled Wood Products

Tropical rainforests are used as sources for pulpwood in paper manufacturing. However, with improved methods of paper recycling and more dependence on plantation forests, less wood need come from natural forests. Instead, rainforest wood can be used for more important purposes, for which it is more critical. As demand increases for pulpwood sources, more and more paper products are recycled and reused. International trade in waste paper is up 365 percent from 1980 levels, while consumption of such paper is up 217 percent.

Plantations

Increasingly, timber firms are turning to plantations to provide forest resources, without the high environmental costs of harvesting from natural forests. Forest plantations are essentially tree crops planted for the particular purpose of providing a specific source for wood products, like industrial roundwood, fuelwood, and pulpwood, or providing services like soil stabilization and prevention of erosion, carbon emissions mitigation, and preservation of clean water flow. Forest plantations are generally composed of a few tree species which have useful attributes like rapid growth, low management requirements, and high product yield.

Despite their potential to serve both as sources for wood products and as environmental servants, plantation forests make up only a fraction of the world's forests. However, interest in plantations is growing and according to FAO 1997, plantation coverage in developing countries has doubled since 1980. Unfortunately, many of these plantations come at the expense of natural forests which are cleared for plantation land. This practice must be revised to make full use of our resources, especially since properly planned plantations can be grown on highly degraded forest and non-forest lands and make ideal candidates for multiple-use reserves as buffer zones surrounding natural forests.

Plantations are also useful in that they provide work and resources for local populations. For example, small rubber plantations in Indonesia provide a livelihood for seven million people and are responsible for producing 70 percent of the country's rubber export revenues. Plantation species, primarily used for oil, food, and rubber production, are increasingly being used as secondary fuelwood sources by local families after harvesting primary products.


Review questions:

• What are some ways to reduce the impact of logging in the rainforest?
• What are alternatives to rainforest wood?