LOGGING
(continued)
Sustainable Logging and Improved Forest Management
Although numerous companies claim to practice "sustainable
logging" virtually none actually do. Few companies even replant seedlings after logging, especially when forestry
regulations require a 35 year fallow period after logging, a length of time much greater than their 15-20 year
concession. However, damage to the surrounding forest and the forest ecosystem can be tremendously reduced by adopting
timber certain reduced impact logging practices including: 1) cutting climbers and lianas well prior to felling;
2) directional tree felling to inflict the smallest impact on the surrounding forest; 3) establishing stream buffer
zones and watershed protection areas; 4) using improved technologies to reduce damage to the soil cause by log
extraction; 5) careful planning to prevent excess roads which give access to transient settlers; 6) reducing wood
waste for cut areas (anywhere from 25-50% of the wood from a given cleared patch is wasted); 7) limiting the gradient
of roads to prevent excess erosion. These steps can reduce damage to the surrounding forest, reduce the erosion
of topsoil, enable faster recovery of the forest, and reduce the risk of fire. The biggest drawback to such harvesting
methods is the great management expense because more supervision, planning, and training are required and fewer
trees can be removed, reducing output and income. Nonetheless, it is obvious that some short term sacrifices will
have to made to establish new forest management for long term benefits.
Increasing the transparency of business transactions and standardizing the procedures of awarding concessions will
also improve forest management. By stimulating open competition through auctions questionable concessions granted
to political friends can be reduced. Instead of bribes, concession could be granted to the bidder that offers the
most, both in terms of cash and environmental impact. Governments could also require a "performance bond"
worth 10-15% of the value of a firm's investment for companies exploiting the forest. The bond is held to guard
against environmental degradation and used to repair damage caused by exploitation.
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 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 forested 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, but in the log run would help 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 for those
species which 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 tones 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 timbers. If we continue to use wood products for construction
and other purposes, timber companies could plant plantation forests in the northern temperate zone or on degraded
forest lands for use instead of logging primary tropical rainforest to satisfy timber needs. The temperate forest
ecology is far less delicate and recovers faster than the biologically-rich and fragile tropical forests.
Demand for pulp wood for paper manufacturing is increasing, which adds further strain on tropical rainforests.
More than 40% 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 is the use of non-wood fibers like bamboo and straw. According
to FAO 1997, in 1970 6 million tons of non-wood fibers, accounting for 4% of the total amount of fibers produced.
By 1994, the use of non-wood fibers had doubled to 8% of the market (21 million tons). There is hope that non-wood
fibers may replace the use of tropical trees is 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 a sources for pulpwood in paper manufacturing. However, with improved methods of
paper recycling and more dependency on plantation forests, less wood need come from natural forests. Instead, rainforest
woods 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% from
1980 levels, while consumption of such paper is up 217%.
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 idea 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% 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.
