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Sustainable Forest Management
The area for the most effective action in promoting
sustainable forestry management is at the concession level. However, sustainable management implies additional
costs on concessionaires, namely lower yield due to low-impact harvesting, higher costs resulting from stricter
standards, and reduced revenue from a different distribution of costs and revenues over time.
The problem of lower timber yields in the short run
under sustainable forest management is offset in the long run by a greater overall volume since the resource is
replenished. Under standard forest management, the timber resource is not effectively replenished in a reasonable
time frame due to damage to the resource base (the forest) and poor utilization.
A more difficult problem is the time horizon, or distribution
of costs and revenues over time, under sustainable forest management. When rainforest is clear-cut, little time
elapses between agreeing to harvest a concession and bringing the timber to market. Conversely, under sustainable
forest management, there are substantial initial costs including planning, training, assessment, and inventory.
Revenue from the harvest is spread out over a number to years due to harvest restrictions in place to ensure sustainability.
When interest rates are high—as they often are in developing countries—sustainable forest management is particularly
unattractive, since the more drawn out the revenue stream the lower the present value of the harvest.
To address this time-horizon problem, either low-interest
rates are needed (nearly an impossibility because inflation is an exceedingly complex factor in monetary policy)
or compensation for concessionaires who participate in such sustainable forest management schemes. Direct payments
to participating concessionaires have advantages over the trade measures mentioned earlier when it comes to economic
efficiency, conformity with international trade rules (especially important in light of the recent "banana
wars" between the U.S. and Europe), transparency, and ease of administration.
To sponsor such direct payments, the governments of
tropical timber-exporting countries could shift some subsidies away from conventional logging and plantations and
toward sustainable forest management, and could levy taxes on all timber products. Although output taxes are more efficient
and can be applied for both domestic and foreign timber use, export taxes are probably a more likely choice because
they are easy to monitor. Bach and Gram (1996) compute that a 1-2 percent tax on all internationally traded timber products
would cover the entire cost of the direct-payments program.
Of course, such a program would require the formation
of some bureaucracy for implementation and monitoring. Bach and Gram (1996) suggest a partnership between the International
Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and IUCN to carry out inspections of concessions.
Source: Bach and Gram 1996.
Continued: Saving rainforests
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"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. "Jungle" is generally not used.
Recent news
Beef consumption fuels rainforest destruction (02/16/2009)
Nearly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results from cattle ranching, according to a new report by Greenpeace. The finding confirms what Amazon researchers have long known – that Brazil's rise to become the world's largest exporter of beef has come at the expense of Earth's biggest rainforest.
How to save the Amazon rainforest (01/04/2009)
Environmentalists have long voiced concern over the vanishing Amazon rainforest, but they haven't been particularly effective at slowing forest loss. In fact, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor funds that have flowed into the region since 2000 and the establishment of more than 100 million hectares of protected areas since 2002, average annual deforestation rates have increased since the 1990s, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 square miles) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004. With land prices fast appreciating, cattle ranching and industrial soy farms expanding, and billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure projects in the works, development pressure on the Amazon is expected to accelerate. Given these trends, it is apparent that conservation efforts alone will not determine the fate of the Amazon or other rainforests. Some argue that market measures, which value forests for the ecosystem services they provide as well as reward developers for environmental performance, will be the key to saving the Amazon from large-scale destruction. In the end it may be the very markets currently driving deforestation that save forests.
Amazon rainforest damage surges 67% in 2008 (12/20/2008)
The area of rainforest in the process of being deforested — razed but not yet cleared — surged in the Brazilian Amazon during 2008, according to new figures released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The announcement comes shortly after the Brazilian government reported a 4 percent increase in forest clearing for the year. Using an advanced satellite system that tracks changes in vegetation cover INPE found that 24,932 square kilometers of Amazon forest was damaged between August 2007 and July 2008, an increase of 10,017 square kilometers -- 67 percent -- over the prior year.
Cutting deforestation can fight climate change, reduce poverty and conflict (09/24/2008)
Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty, said a prominent group of politicians, development experts, and environmental NGOs meeting in New York City to discuss U.S. climate policy.
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest (07/31/2008)
Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This is a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
