M A B Digest
1. Eutrophication management framework for the policy-maker (1989).
Walter Rast, Marjorie Holland and Sven-Olof Ryding.
2. Human investment and resource use: a new research orientation at
the environment!economics interface (1989).
Editors: Michael Young and Natarajan Ishwaran.
3. Contributing to sustained resource use in the humid and sub-humid
tropics: some research approaches and insights (1989).
'' Maltolm Hadley and Kathrin Schreckenberg.
4 The role of hmd/inland water ecotones in landscape management
and restoration: a proposal for collaborative research (1989).
Editons: Robert J. Naiman, Henri Décamps and Frédéric Fournier.
5. Management and restoration of human-impacted resources: approaches
to ecosystem rehabilitation (1990).
Editors: Kathrin Schreckenberg, Malcolm Hadley and Melvin I. Dyer.
6. Debt-for-nature exchanges and biosphere reserves: experiences and
potential (1990).
Peter Dogsé and Bernd von Droste.
7. Carbon, nutrient and water balances of tropical rainforest ecosystems
subject to disturbance: management implications and research
proposals (1991).
Jonathan M. Anderson and Thomas Spencer.
ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL
SUSTAINABILITY OF TROPICAL
RAIN F O R E S T M A N A G E M E N T
Edited by
Kathrin Schreckenberg
Malcolm Hadley
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication
do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of U N E S C O
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The opinions expressed in this
digest are those of the contributors and editors and not necessarily those of U N E S C O .
Addresses of the editors of this report
Kathrin Schreckenberg
Malcolm Hadley
Division of Ecological Sciences
UNESCO
7, Place de Fontenoy
75700 Paris,
France
Overall direction: Bernd von Droste
Series editor: Malcolm Hadley
Computer assisted layout: Ivette Fabbri
Cover design: Jean-Francis Cheriez
Text preparation for this report: Amale R . Gauthier
Photograph on back cover: Tree seedling nursery at Taï, Côte d'Ivoire.
Photo by B . Rollet
Suggested citation: Schreckenberg, K . , Hadley, M . (Eds.) Economic and ecological
sustainability of tropical rainforest management. M A B Digest 8. U N E S C O , Paris.
Published in 1991 by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
7, place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris
Printed by H . M . Éditions, Paris
© U N E S C O May 1991
Printed in France
PREFACE
About this series...
The M A B Digest Series was launched by U N E S C O in 1989. A m o n g several types of publication are distillations of the substantive findings of
M A B activities, overviews of recent, ongoing and planned activities
within M A B in particular subj ect or problem areas, and proposals for n e w
research activities.
The target audience varies from one digest to another. S o m e are designed with planners and policy-makers as the main audience in mind.
Others are aimed at collaborators in the M A B Programme. Still others
have technical personnel and research workers as the target, whether or
not they are involved in M A B .
...and M A B Digest 8
This report sets out proposals for a collaborative effort of research, training, demonstration and information diffusion geared at exploring the
working hypothesis that economically viable and ecologically sound
management of mixed tropical forests can be achieved, given the right
combination of ingredients. The intended primary audience are those
presently or potentially involved in the M A B Programme. The report m a y
also be of interest to the broader community of research workers and
technical personnel concerned with the ecology and use of tropical forest
ecosystems and landscapes.
The proposals emanate from a research planning workshop held at U N E S C O House in Paris from 4-6 September 1989. The workshop comprised
some 20 specialists, invited in their individual capacities. A number of
these specialists prepared written background papers, as an aid to discussion, while several additional papers were m a d e available by specialists
not participating in the meeting. Lists of participants and of discussion
papers are given as Annexes 1 and 2 respectively.
The proposals outlined in this report form part of a wider set of interlinked activities planned or underway in the humid and sub-humid tropics within the framework of the M A B Programme and related U N E S C O
activities in the ecological sciences and natural heritage field. This
broader canvas of activities (see M A B Digest 3) includes research, training, demonstration and information diffusion on such topics as: biological diversity, traditional ecological knowledge, and integrated conservation; forest regeneration and ecosystem rehabilitation; tropical soil
fertility and its biological management; savanna ecology and management; tropical ecosystems and global change. Discrete activities are
underway or planned in these various domains. In addition, these topics
m a y also be considered within a more wide-ranging set offieldactivities
contributing to the programme of work proposed in the present document
(i.e. a particularfieldactivity might include components which take advantage of biological diversity and traditional ecological knowledge,
which seek to understand and manipulate biological processes for improving soil fertility, which test alternative approaches to ecosystem
rehabilitation, etc.).
CONTENTS
Summary
Status and use of tropical forest lands
The humid tropics - a changing world
Sustainability of management
Values and benefits from tropical forests
9
13
13
18
25
Objectives and principles of action
Objectives
Overall philosophy and orientation
Time and space scales
Technologies, techniques and tools
Diversity of scientific research designs
Critical mass of effort
Seeking new partnerships with the private sector
Modelling
29
29
30
33
38
40
42
45
48
Step-by-step methodological approach
Research site selection
Surveys and evaluation
Identification of alternative land uses
Evaluation of alternative land use patterns in relation
to natural resources and socio-economic conditions
Recommended land uses in relation to the varying resources
and socio-economic conditions
51
52
52
55
56
56
Research components for sustainable rain forest
management
Ecosystem processes
Socio-economic factors
Designing sustainable w o o d harvesting systems
from tropical rain forest
N o n - w o o d forest products
Rehabilitation of degraded forest lands
Organization
57
58
63
66
70
77
79
Time frame and research arrangements
Contributingfieldprojects
Funding and servicing
79
80
81
Methodological development and synthesis
Building up institutional capacities and training
82
85
Institutional context
86
References
Annex 1
87
M A B research planning workshop
on economic and ecological sustainability
of tropical rain forest management,
4-6 September 1989. List of participants
93
Annex 2
List of background papers
95
Annex 3
Indications of recent (1989-90) and proposed
M A B field activities in the humid tropics
97
SUMMARY
The last few years have seen an upsurge of interest in seeking out ways
and means of managing tropical landscapes in order to ensure a perpetual stream of multiple products and services at low cost. In part, this upsurge reflects growing disenchantment with the results of transferring to
the tropics development paradigms that have evolved in temperate zones,
and with the economic underpinning of such paradigms. These paradigms
have encouraged the replacement of traditional mixed farming systems
by monocultures of high yielding varieties of one or two crops. Biologically diverse forests have been converted to pastures or single species
plantations. Forestry and forest development have become near synonymous with the production and harvesting of a single product, timber,
often using inappropriate technology applied insensitively. For a variety
of biological, social, cultural and economic reasons, benefits from such
approaches have often proved illusory, short-lived or expensive to
maintain.
Sustainability is difficult to define due to its multi-faceted character.
This might make it equally difficult to achieve, with a large number of
constraints thatfirst need to be overcome. Some of these are of a technical kind. Many more are political or socio-economic in nature. But a
number of approaches do appear encouraging for managing tropical
forests in ways that are ecologically and economically sustainable.
The notion of a critical mass strategy is among those that offer
promise. Just as there may be a critical minimum habitat area or a critical minimum population size for the long-term conservation of particular species, so a critical mass strategy may offer one way of convincing
9
economic developers and local communities that the sum of sustainable
activities exceeds in profits the sum of many ongoing unsustainable activities. Such a strategy requires making full use of the range of products
and services that tropical forests can provide. It calls for scientific research and demonstration schemes that give concrete, practical, shortterm evidence of the value of rainforests, in order to convince economic
developers that much larger areas of tropical forest need to be set aside
for conservation purposes than is currently planned. To be attractive, the
critical mass strategy needs to be comprehensible, convincing, concerted
(i.e. focused on achievable goals) and cost-effective. For sustained political stability, the profits accruing from such a strategy should be distributed across as large a cross-section of the population as possible.
The combination of target and strategic research is another that holds
considerable scope, in that it seeks to create a bridge between practical
action and scientific significance. Target research originates from recognition of a specific resource management problem. It draws on present understanding and is geared to devising suitable management practices, usually over a relatively short-period of time (e.g. 2-4 years). In the
humid tropics target research might focus on such resource use themes
as (a) designing sustainable wood harvesting systems from tropicalforest
(e.g. testing the use of high and low technology in alternative harvesting
strategies), (b) the use of non-wood forest products and services (e.g.
through extractive reserves, intensified and diversified agroforestry systems, domestication of promising plant and animal species, medicinal
plants, natural history oriented tourism), (c) the rehabilitation of degraded land areas, and (d) ameliorating the efficiency of agricultural and
forestry production through manipulation of soil biological processes
(e.g. experimentation with crop residue management options to improve
nutrient use efficiency).
Strategic research, on the other hand is of a longer-term nature, and
aims at contributing to the mechanistic understanding of the functioning
of ecological systems (e.g. in explaining the success of many agroforestry processes, and providing a firmer scientific basis for the extrapolation of results). Long-term ecological studies have an important role to
play in the overall tropicalforest research agenda, for their intrinsic interest but also for their possible practical implications. Thus, studies on
the reproductive ecology of tropical forest plants, including the complex
inter-relationships between plants and their animal pollinators and disperses, can provide insights important for forest management,
for
10
example in tree improvement programmes and conservation planning.
Detailed research on nutrient conserving mechanisms in tropical forests
growing on infertile soils can provide guidelines for the design of sustainable production systems in these zones.
It is within such a context that a six-year period of field research, training, demonstration and information diffusion is proposed within the
framework of the M A B Programme of UNESCO
for the period 19901995. The long-term objective is to determine ways of using tropical rain
forests that are both ecologically and socially sustainable and at the same
time are also economically viable. To achieve this an interlinked network
of a limited, manageable number (e.g. 4-10) of field projects, designed
to address the long-term objective, will be set up. These projects will
serve as illustrative examples of sustainable development for other tropical forest areas and sites. Each project will be of relatively large scale
(i.e. more than 5 researcher years/year/project, over a several year period). Though some field activities may continue after 1995 (particularly
in terms of demonstration efforts), it is anticipated that each of the contributing field activities will have concrete achievements to demonstrate
by the end of the six-year period. Indeed, in some cases, it is hoped that
schemes can be set up that will be economically self-supporting within a
4-6 year-period. As for other MAB work on tropical forest ecosystems,
these studies represent a contribution to the Tropical Forestry Action
Plan (TFAP), coordinated by UNESCO's
sister UN specialized agency,
FAO.
The field projects will be undertaken by national participating institutions, often entailing mutually supportive contributions from both tropical and industrialized countries, and in co-operation with UNESCO
and
other collaborating international organizations, programmes and projects. A basic premise is that there are a number of approaches to managing tropicalforests in ways that are ecologically and economically sustainable. This plurality will be reflected in a diversity of field project
designs, but with certain commonfeatures and a shared basic philosophy
(e.g. adoption of a systems approach, conservation as an integral part of
management, attention to socio-cultural as well as ecological and economic perspectives).
The research approach and focus will thus differ from site to site but
in each case projects will aim to cover a reasonably large geographic
area, involve wherever possible the private sector, bring early profits for
the local people and make use of the tropical diversity for which these
11
forests are so renowned. Approaches and activities will include: placing
rainforest management within the broader context of sustainable development of tropical landscapes, and fostering holistic long-term approaches to landscape management; promoting an experimental approach to the understanding of the effect of timber harvesting and of other
management impacts; encouraging the involvement of local people in the
management of and profit from their forests; comparing plantations with
natural forest harvesting in terms of economics, and social and ecological effects, and evaluating different timber harvesting techniques and
their economic and social consequences; studying the use of non-timber
forest products by the local people and examining possibilities for incorporating these into income producing activities; gearing the testing of
scientific hypotheses to management issues.
12
STATUS A N D USE OF TROPICAL
FOREST LANDS
• A genetic treasure house, the primary source, a cornucopia of products
and values.
• A jewel in the world's natural heritage.
• T h e last frontier, the moonshot of the tropical countries.
• A n over-exploited but underused resource, a wasted asset.
• Nature's powerhouse, a global lung.
• A biologist's dream, a forester's nightmare.
• A n abundance of plants, a scarcity of food, an empty place.
• A counterfeit paradise, castles built on sand, a non-sustainable
resource.
These are just some phrases that have been evoked to encapsulate the
richness and vulnerability of tropical forest ecosystems and their importance both to the people of the humid tropical regions and to humankind
as a whole. They also provide a backcloth to considerations about the
management of tropical forest ecosystems, and ways and means of addressing sustainability within a tropical context.
The humid tropics - a changing world
O f all the major ecosystem types of the world, it is the tropical forests
that perhaps reflect best the changing face of our planet and the wide
range of different perceptions of that change. Thus, 8000 years ago,
Mediterranean vegetation had been m u c h modified by m a n . Massive
13
deforestation began in China 4000 years ago, while 500 years ago, m a n y
European forests had been converted to crop lands. A century ago, the
forests of North America had been largely transformed. But it is only this
century that has seen rapid, far-reaching change for the peoples and
forests of the humid tropics, even though these regions have had a long
history of h u m a n civilization, as witnessed by the ancient forest cultures
of the M a y a s , the people of Angkor W a t and the Benin of Nigeria.
This type of change is illustrated by the rapid transformation of tropical forests. Estimates vary, in part because of different criteria used to
measure deforestation. According to the World Resources Institute ( W R I IIED 1988), about 11.1 million ha of tropical forests and woodlands are
destroyed every year. Thisfigureincludes 7.3 million ha (0.61% of total)
of tropical closed forest cleared for agriculture, and another 3.8 million
ha (0.52% of total) of open woodlands in the drier tropics cleared for agriculture or the harvesting of fulewood. In addition about 4.4 million ha
of tropical forests are selectively logged every year. M o r e recent estimates by F A O ( F A O 1990a, 1990b), suggest that 17 million ha, or approximately 1% of the total estimated tropical forest area, are being destroyed each year - half in the humid tropics.
The main impetus comes from rapidly growing populations, the striving for economic development, and the search for n e w sources of food
and fuelwood. Not only is it a time of change, but there is also a change
of scale as regards the effects of h u m a n activities on tropical forests. Until
recently, the movements of people and goods remained within a small
part of the tropical forest biome itself. N o w , there are important links with
other regions.
S o m e might argue that such changes in themselves are not a cause for
great concern. Indeed, one might point out that the prosperity of m a n y
mid-latitude temperate region countries was initially based on the conversion of their forests to agricultural systems of various kinds, including forests of monocultures. Unfortunately, the sort of development that
has taken place in m a n y tropical regions during the last few decades has
caused widespread ecological problems such as loss in soil fertility and
genetic impoverishment, to the extent that large swathes of land in the
tropics are n o w lost to productive use. In m a n y cases, forests are not m a n aged in any real sense of that term. In practice m u c h tropical forest is exploited in the same w a y as mines of minerals and ores. Resources are
mined within a short-term view and without considering that forest
14
ecosystems can be used continuously and in a renewable fashion, w h e n
subject to adequate management.
Rapid change as a consequence of development
Because the magnitude and speed of change are both large in certain regions of the tropics, complex sets of events are usually associated with
these changes in the landscape. For example, it is becoming obvious that
the species diversity of the landscape decreases with increasing intensity
of h u m a n activity. Environmental deterioration follows forest destruction. H u m a n welfare, particularly for those indigenous groups with natural resource based economies, usually declines in the n e w landscape.
M a n y question the sustainability of the n e w landscape because more external input is needed to support it and because the n e w activities that are
associated with it deplete local natural resources and strain local cultural
and socio-economic systems.
At the present m o m e n t the future management of tropical landscapes
is under debate. Competing development views are under discussion although very little communication occurs between proponents of contrasting views. S o m e advocate a return to an almost natural landscape as the
alternative for future sustainability. Under this alternative, humans are in
close contact with natural systems and natural diversity is maximized.
Others advocate a more urban future with high yielding, highly subsidized systems capable of sustaining high population densities. Under
this alternative, natural ecosystems would play a minor role in sustaining h u m a n activities. M a n y possibilities exist between these two extreme
views of the future.
Caught in the middle of this controversy are the people and natural resources of the tropical landscape. Guidelines are needed to accommodate
future change in the tropics without destroying the landscape, adversely
changing the environment, degrading its natural systems and its indigenous cultures, and to help tropical peoples in seeking improved standards
of living in a highly competitive world.
15
Adjusting to and managing change
The identification of solutions for problems of such complexity will not
be easy. But it is obvious that any solution will have to deal with change,
as it is impossible to freeze the forces that are causing changes in the tropical landscape. It is the responsibility of those in charge of development
plans to consider mechanisms for dealing with and directing change for
the mutual benefit of people and the forest. Ideally a change in the landscape is acceptable if it results in an improvement in the welfare of people
without irreversibly damaging associated natural ecosystems. Such
change m a y be termed by some "sustainable development". In fact, the
challenge facing scientists in the tropics is to outline what kinds of change
in landscapes are compatible with the conservation of biological resources while also useful to improving h u m a n welfare. Another challenge is
to learn h o w to reverse past mistakes by rehabilitating lands that were degraded by decisions that later proved not to be sustainable, i.e. they resulted in damage of the natural resource base.
Managing change in n e w sustainable directions can be facilitated by
application of existing scientific knowledge on the biological, social and
economic aspects of tropical forest ecosystems, supplemented by n e w research initiatives tofillcrucial gaps in understanding and system linkages
at various time and space scales. The promotion of economic growth as
the basis of development in the tropics needs to be complemented by social, cultural and ecological development. The urgent social problems of
poverty manifest in famine, malnutrition, unemployment, drug trafficking and violence need to be addressed more resolutely than hitherto. The
role of w o m e n and of non-governmental groups in resource management
needs to be valorized. T h e role of the private sector in putting tropical
forest management on a more sustainable basis has also to be recast and
diversified. Research should be closely linked to capacity building and
diffusion of information.
Urgency of action, regional differences, global context
M a n y argue that it is urgent to resolve existing problems within a decade
at most, because the natural resource base of the tropical landscape cannot tolerate the current pressures of change. While this degree of urgency
m a y be debatable w h e n applied to the totality of the tropical landscape,
16
there is no question that sectors of the tropical landscape are already beyond quick repair. For example, extensive desertified areas occur in the
dry and montane tropics, and large areas of moist tropical forest are being
damaged byfireand other h u m a n activities in sectors of the A m a z o n and
South-east Asia.
It is thus clear that a regional approach is needed w h e n approaching
the problems of h u m a n use of tropical landscapes. Such a regional focus
has advantages because it allows account to be taken of the unique cultural and environmental characteristics of the landscape under consideration. In the past the tropics have been assumed to be homogeneous by
those w h o do not understand the incredible diversity and complexity of
the cultural and ecological tissue of the tropical landscape. Development
in m a n y parts of the tropics (where the Third World is concentrated) has
been guided by "western development concepts" rather than building up
on indigenous systems of resource use and decision-making and local
knowledge and technology. The lack of a sound endogenous development
policy has consciously or by default led to m a n y tropical countries e m barking on "western principles of development". These principles encouraged m a n y tropical countries to enter a desperate race for economic
growth, ignoring the real problems and venturing into forest development
projects notfittedto the ecological, social, cultural and economic conditions of these regions. At the same time, unsuitable matching of technologies to resource context has been compounded by institutional and
socio-political shortcomings.
A circumstance that complicates understanding of the forces of change
in tropical landscapes is the globalization of h u m a n activity, mentioned
above. N o longer can individual regions or even countries control their
development of resources without external intervention. Today it is obvious that the world is being converted into a global economy and that
even the world's climate m a y be undergoing change at scales only anticipated in the planet's prehistory. Global factors are particularly relevant
to the modification of the tropical landscape. Today, the people of m a n y
countries are exerting influence on the tropics either by demanding tropical products, tropical forest conservation, or tropical resources, by influencing local economies through the debt problem, by their contribution to global climatic change, and/or by advocating absolute
preservation of the region. These global phenomena are n e w and there is
a need to incorporate their effect on development plans for local
landscapes.
17
Theflipside of the effects of global phenomena on tropical landscapes,
is the effect that tropical landscapes have on global phenomena. A n y
strategy for sustainable development of tropical landscapes should take
into consideration its global implications although not necessarily as an
academic exercise of mitigating negative impact. Instead, the global role
of tropical landscapes is a means for tropical people to demonstrate the
importance of tropical phenomena to the well being of the world's econo m y and as a basis for acquiring just compensation for these values.
Because of globalization and other outside influences on tropical countries, the expectations of people and governments in terms of development
possibilities are greatly enhanced. Yet, not all tropical landscapes have conditions conducive to development levels commensurate with such expectations. S o m e regions m a y be water limited, others space limited, or energy
limited. In theory all limitations can be overcome with n e w technology and
resources from the outside. Therefore the eventual limiting factor to sustainability of resource use is the region's capacity to attract outside resources
to overcome internal limitations and the ability to do so in perpetuity. H o w ever it would seem futile to promote forms of development knowing that
they will never be self-sufficient but will always have to be propped up by
external support. Thus, regional plans for use and development of tropical
landscapes must take into consideration resource and ecological limitations
(such as climate change) as well as people's needs and desires.
Sustainability of management
Definitions and perceptions
M a n y definitions of sustainability and of sustainable development have
been proffered (for example, see compilation in Pezzey 1989) and this report does not propose to add to the growing list. Although no concensus
has been reached on h o w sustainability should be defined, a general working definition of sustainable development has been given by the World
Commission on the Environment and Development: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without c o m promising the ability of future generations to meet their o w n needs. It
contains within it two key concepts: the concept of 'needs', in particular
18
the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority
should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by a state of technology and social organisation on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs" ( W C E D 1987).
In practice, in terms of the management of tropical lands, the concept
of sustainability operates at several levels. There is thus the sustainable
production of goods, services and benefits, entailing the study and development of techniques and systems with special attention to maintaining
environmental and conservation benefits, yields of timber and non-timber
products, and the generation of income and productive employment over
several generations, without serious degradation of the environment or
its productive capacity. There is also the development of sustainable m a n agement systems, with projects aiming to develop systems which satisfy
local and regional social, political, economic and administrative requirements and realities, while flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions. Cultural sustainability must also be assured, as emphasized by
Sachs (1989) (see B o x 1). T h e combination of appropriate techniques
within management systems which contribute to sustainable development, in turn need to be embedded in land use systems aimed at intensifying resource use and improving standards of living in ways which can
be maintained over several generations.
Within such a generalized schema, sustainability is clearly a relative
concept. It is markedly influenced by time and space scales and the perception of different groups of people. For example, logging practices that
appear to be sustainable purely in terms of timber production m a y result
in a reduction of genetic diversity or excessive soil compaction only observable after several rotations. Similarly while ecological sustainability
is necessary, it is not a sufficient condition for long-term economic sustainability - a management regime can be perfectly ecologically sustainable, but not provide resource users with enough goods or services for
their needs. Sustainability is also an evolving concept which, for any particular activity, must adapt to its changing environment, e.g. gathering of
non-timber forest products m a y be sustainable until the time w h e n traditional management practices break d o w n due to population pressure, immigration of people with different cultures, etc. T o achieve perfect sustainability in all respects m a y be an impossible goal. O n a practical level,
it is m o r e useful to aim in a direction of ever increasing sustainability,
and to identify principles, objectives and actions that promote a process
of change leading to sustainable development (Box 2).
19
Box 1. Five pillars of sustainable development
Sachs (1989) has argued that the concept
of sustainable development encompasses a
n e w awareness of the limits of the spaceship earth and of the fragility of its global
ecological balances, a need-oriented approach to socio-economic development
and the recognition of the fundamental
role of cultural autonomy. It has a double
function: to indicate the direction in which
to m o v e and a set of criteria to evaluate
more specifications. Sachs has proposed
that an approach to sustainable development needs to be rooted in five basic
dimensions of sustainability.
Geographical sustainability
Avoiding the environmental disruption
often resulting from an unbalanced spatial
distribution of h u m a n settlements and
economic activities; reducing excessive
concentration of population in metropolitan areas, and destruction of fragile but vitally important ecosystems through uncontrolled colonization processes; need to
seek a more balanced rural-urban configuration and to establish a network of biosphere reserves to protect the biological
diversity while assisting local populations
to live better.
Social sustainability
Cultural sustainability
Setting in train a development process
bringing about a steady growth with
greater equity of income and asset distribution to ensure a substantial i m provement in the entitlements of the
broad masses of population and a reduction of the gap in standards of living between the haves and the have-nots.
Perhaps the most difficult to achieve, as it
implies that the process of modernization
should have endogenous roots, seeking
change within cultural continuity; hence
the multiplicity of modernization paths to
modernity, as argued by A . Touraine, and
the need to translate the normative concept
of sustainable development into a plurality
of local ecosystem-specific, culture-specific and even site-specific systemic solutions, using the ecosystem as a paradigm
for h u m a n - m a d e production systems and
applying the "peasant rationality" at a
higher level of the knowledge spiral.
Economic sustainability
M a d e possible by a steady flow of public and private investment, efficient allocation and management of resources
and a fair external environment.
•••
Ecological sustainability
Stretching out of the carrying capacity
of spaceship earth by intensifying the
uses of the resource potential of the
diverse ecosystems with m i n i m u m d a m age to the life supporting systems, limiting the consumption of fossil fuels and
other easily depletable or environmentally harmful products and reducing the
volume of pollutants by means of energy
and resource conservation policies,
recycling, substitution by renewable
and/or plentiful and harmless resources,
search for low-waste and resource-efficient technologies, promotion of 'regenerative
agriculture'
and
agroforestry.
A somewhat similar set of considerations
emerges from a synthesis of intensive
studies of shifting cultivation in northeastern India. Ramakrishnan (in press) has
concluded that sustainability concepts
have to incorporate such ingredients as
(a) improved economic well-being without jeopardizing future needs, (b) appropriate use of resources without obvious degradations setting in, (c) resource use in a
manner that would contribute to equity
and social justice and avoid serious social
disruptions, and (d) appropriate use of
resources in a manner that optimizes
maintenance of cultural and biological
diversity for the future.
20
Box 2. Sustainable development and the forest sector
In a discussion paper initially prepared
for the Canadian Council of Forest M i n isters, Maini (1989,1990) has proposed
some principles and objectives relating
to the Canadian forest sector and its sustainable development.
T h e Canadian forest land covers
about 50% of Canada's land surface and
constitutes about 10% of the global
forest resource. There is thus wide recognition of the overwhelming significance of the Canadian forest sector (i.e.,
forests, forest industry and the supporting infrastructure), from economic, social and environmental viewpoints. T h e
economic significance of this sector is
expected to continue in the future, with
anticipated world-wide increase in dem a n d for forest products over the next
twenty years. Stewardship of Canada's
forest environment and sustainable development of the Canadian forest sector
is thus of considerable importance, both
nationally and within a global context.
Clearly, the economic, social and environmental context of the forest sector
in Canada is very different to that for
most tropical forest landscapes. N o n etheless, some of the principles, objectives and guiding actions put forward by
Maini m a y provide useful insights for
considering sustainability within a
tropical context, even though points of
emphasis will vary.
Guiding principle
Maini proposes the following underlying principle to govern the use of the
forest environment:
• Sustainable development of the
forest land and its multiple environmental values involves maintaining,
without unacceptable impairment,
the productive and renewal capacity
and species diversity of forest ecosystems.
Objectives
Like all other ecological systems,
forests have "environmental limits".
Even though m a n y forests are able to
withstand a considerable degree of natural disturbance (e.g. climatic fluctuations, fires, insects, cyclones), they degrade w h e n these limits are exceeded.
Sustainable development requires m a n aging the impact of h u m a n activities
within the tolerance limits of forest ecosystems. Practising sustainable development of the forest sector is considered
to be an ethical responsibility to future
generations, which calls for a threepronged approach in terms of forestry
practices, the manufacture of forest products and the protection of forest land
from other industrial and development
activities. The following four objectives
are proposed to meet this challenge:
• Maintain the productive and renewal
capacities and species diversity of
forest ecosystems;
• Protect other forest environmental
values, such as wildlife and fisheries
habitats, watersheds and aesthetics;
• Maintain the quality of water, air and
soil receiving industrial effluents, to
environmentally acceptable levels;
• Reduce pollutant deposits on forests
from other production and consumption activities to levels that are within the assimilative capacity of the
forest environment.
Policy stance
In order to accomplish these four objectives, the preferred policy stance is to
"anticipate and prevent" rather than to
"degrade and cure". Within such a perspective, the concept of sustainable
forest development calls for: understanding the capacity of the forest environment to sustain a multiplicity of
h u m a n uses as well as diverse species
and ecological processes; managing
21
|
Sustainable forest sector development
1
Forestry
practices
OBJECTIVES
1. Maintain productive
and renewal
capacity and
anrl lanH rarait/inn
forest ecosystems
effluents from
manufacturing
activities
* Practice integrated
forest management
•
3. Maintain
environmental
quality of water, air
cnû^iûc Hii/ûrcitu rtf
2. Protect other forest
environmental
values (e.g., wildlife
habitats,
watersheds)
ACTIONS
i
Forest
products
manufacturing
* Use pollution
abatement
technologies to
i
Forest land
protection from
other Industrial
activities
4 . Reduce pollutant
deposits to prevent
forest decline
' Determine tolerance
limits of forest
ecosystems to
rinunlnn m n i W t i u
roHi ira harmful
nnllntante thrnnnh
to recognize early
warning signals
effluents to
acceptable levels
research
• Develop capability
to predict
environmental
consequences of
h u m a n activities
' Reduce wood waste
and improve wood
utilization
_
,.
' Encourage recycling
through systematic
research
* Participate actively
in setting emission
control standards
and promote
innovalionto
develop pollution
abatement
technologies
* Establish a national
network of
ecological reserves
as baselines
Feasibility of sustainable forest management for timber
Sustainable forest management incorporates aspects over and above a
mere sustainable yield. T o be successful it should be ecologically and
technically possible, economically feasible and attractive, and socially
and politically practicable. According to Synnott (1989), forest manage-
22
current and future h u m a n activities
within the capacities of the forest environment (i.e., respecting "environmental limits"); and using or manipulating
the forest environment without prejudicing its ecological integrity and use by
future generations. In essence, sustainable development is a process of change
in which the exploitation of natural resources, the direction of investment, the
orientation of technological development and institutional change are all in
harmony and enhance both current and
future potential to meet h u m a n needs
and aspirations.
Actions
In order to promote such a process of
change leading to sustainable development, Maini proposes that concerted actions are required in the following ten
areas:
• M a k e use of existing knowledge in
practising integrated forest management and establish a network of d e m onstration areas.
• Strengthen research to predict the response of the forest environment to
disturbances associated with natural
causes and with h u m a n activities,
and transfer that knowledge.
• Develop the capability to recognize
early warning signals of environmental stress and indicators of forest
and of forest environment health.
• Establish systems of ecological
reserves in forest lands to provide the
baselines against which the environ-
mental consequences of h u m a n activities can be determined.
• Increase forest land productivity in
selected areas and produce more
w o o d per hectare through improved
forest management and forest protection so that more forest land is available for other uses.
• "Do more with less". Reduce waste
in forest harvesting operations and in
products manufacturing; improve
utilization of w o o d for a variety of
end products; encourage recycling
where appropriate, to reduce demand
for raw material; reduce environmental pollution.
• Reduce effluents from forest products manufacturing to environmentally acceptable levels.
• Reduce pollutants from other industrial and consumption activities that
cause forest decline in terms of productivity, renewability and species
diversity.
• Undertake systematic policy research to understand decision-making processes in the forest sector and
to harmonize different economic, environmental, policy and political
time horizons.
• Communicate widely the commitm e n t , policies and p r o g r a m m e s
undertaken by various stake-holders
in the forest sector to achieve the objectives of sustainable development.
ment for timber that is technically and ecologically successful has existed
on an operational scale or on a proven pilot or trial scale in m a n y countries. Examples include Ghana, Nigeria, western Cameroon, Uganda,
Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, East and West Malaysia, Philippines, India,
Burma, Pakistan and Queensland. S o m e examples are given in Hadley
(1988) and G ó m e z - P o m p a et al. (1991).
23
Synnott (1989) argues that the ingredients of success included strong
management and appropriate silviculture. Foresters were empowered to
implement and enforce the basic elements of management. Conspicuous
a m o n g these were the powers to maintain control over logging, farming,
grazing and burning. Less conspicuous, but also important, were the written Management Plans and annual records. Similarly the existence of permanent forest estates with surveyed and gazetted boundaries was also an
important factor in achieving successful forest management. In silviculture, technical success depended on having timber species which were
commonly occurring gap-colonizers, without uncontrollable climber and
weed populations.
There was m u c h variation in the frequency and intensity of logging expected or practised. Systems were based on logging only once in the lifetime of a typical large tree, as in the Uganda and Malayan Uniform or
monocyclic system, or two to three times, as in the Ghana and Philippines
Selection or polycyclic systems. It is clear from practical experience,
demonstrations and calculations that different options are possible in any
one place, always provided that the shorter the cycle the less damaging
the logging. The logging intensities and cycles chosen were determined
usually by a combination of extrapolated growth rates, the estimated time
needed for desired species to regenerate naturally in sufficient abundance
to form a n e w stand, the judgement of experienced foresters that damage
was generally difficult to control and long recovery periods therefore
necessary, and political bargaining. Suitable conditions for regeneration
vary according to the ecology of the desired trees and their competitors,
and the most valuable species did not always regenerate as abundantly as
hoped. However, in some areas where attempts have been m a d e , a cutting system has been developed adequate to ensure a continued, sustainable yield of usable timber, and silvicultural treatments have been developed to increase the yield.
Most of the successful systems have involved silvicultural treatments
such as climber-cutting and the elimination of some of the unwanted individual trees. These have resulted in higher densities of the required
species and/or slightly faster growth of existing trees. Without silvicultural treatments, annual production of timber is lower, and a higher proportion of total production consists of unwanted trees or climbers. Nevertheless, even without treatments, a sustained yield of timber can be
produced, at a lower rate and lower management cost.
24
M a n y of these systems were also socially and economically sustainable and successful in their time or by the standards of their time, even
though some of the systems and objectives of management would be unacceptable today. Indeed, in some managed natural forests in the Indian
subcontinent, the prescribed programmes have remained virtually unchanged for over a century. Similarly, the management of m a n y European forests remained unchanged for centuries, in the interests of the
great landowners, in spite of protests and illegal hunting. It must be admitted that even systems which are socially unpopular and reactionary,
economically inefficient, or biologically absurd, m a y be sustainable for
as long as official andfinancialbacking continues.
The essential elements of the few established systems which have remained in operation were that they remained suitable even under changing political or social circumstances, or that they have been adapted to
accommodate such changes. They include examples where productivity
was increased to cope with increasing w o o d demand and labour supply
(as in Uganda with line-planting and charcoal-refining), and others where
intensity was reduced, including Queensland where objectives n o w give
priority to conservation rather than production. T h e systems that failed
for social or political reasons did so because the earlier systems were not
appropriate in changed circumstances, or because the authorities lost the
will, power, imagination or resources to continue (Box 3).
The lesson is that sustainable management of tropical forests, like the
management of any other enterprise or resource, must be designed to be
sustainable in perpetuity, but also beflexibleenough to adapt to changing social and political circumstances.
Values and benefits from tropical forests
International Issues
Internationally, rain forests are perceived to have important non-market
values. These include maintenance of the present climatic regimes and
genetic diversity. Such international public resource goods demonstrate
the degree of international interdependence inherent in the environmentalfield,and emphasize the need for global cooperation. Systems need to
25
be established that can deal with the problem of industrial countries acting as free-riders (not willing to pay for having access to a certain good
but ready to consume it if produced), since their financial contributions
will be needed. If the international community fails to establish such systems, serious environmental conflicts m a y develop in the future.
Logging restrictions in any one country increase the rate of logging in
all other countries. Thailand's logging ban, for example, will probably increase the rate at which Malaysian and Burmese forests are logged. Trade
barriers could be used as a means to promote the more sustainable use of
rain forests. Outright bans on the importation of rain forest timbers, h o w ever, could be counter productive as the reduced demand will lead to
lower prices and hence lower the apparent value of the forests.
Ideally timber and other forest goods should be priced to take into account their costs of production. This can be achieved through taxation by
either or both the countries of export and import. In either case, selective
taxation of certain forest products can have positive or negative impacts
on logging practices. High import tariffs on processed timber, for
example, m a y lead to reduced investment in processing in the producing
country and might lead to more or less selective logging, depending on
the species present and the qualities required by the market.
National Issues
Constrained by the present and historical (colonial) influence of the international community, it is still largely the responsibility of each nation
to work toward sustainable resource utilization. Commercial rain forest
logging provides an important source of government revenue. S o m e developing country governments depend upon the continued exploitation of
rain forests even though they m a y lose a large part of their forest revenues
to foreign interests or private companies (Repetto 1988). M o r e equitable,
politically acceptable and socially efficient methods of revenue collection and distribution need to be found.
Tax incentives and loan concessions m a y create incentives for private
investors to convert rain forests into cropping and/or grazing land. Shortterm timber concessions are often cited as a prime culprit in leading to
unsustainable logging practices. However, under the right conditions,
short-term concessions m a y not necessarily be a bad thing as they get the
loggers out of the forest and diminish pressure to allow re-entry into
26
B O X 3. Constraints to achieving sustainable forest
management
In the great majority of cases, the reasons for failure of both formerly successful forest management systems and
of newly introduced ones have not lain
with the ecological or technical elements of sustainability, but rather with
the financial, social, political and administrative elements. Following Synnott (1989), most cases of abandonment
or failure of forest management can be
found in the following categories:
increase profits has resulted in the
lowering of revenue paid to governments for timber as fees or royalties,
and the abandonment of restrictions
which ensure the technical and ecological sustainability of harvesting.
Typical aggravating factors: ineffective
controls o n logging intensity and
methods, nominal fees paid only on
some of the timber cut, technical staff
with declining pay and resources, logging and timber interests closely allied
to local and regional governments.
Typical solutions: public environmental and political education, political decision to sustain supplies of all forest
goods in local and national interests.
Local demand for land or wood
•
The process: With time, local requirements for firewood and cropland exceed the production from the
current sustainable management system. This often leads to over-cutting
of the forest, and occupation by livestock and fanners, unless changes
are m a d e to provide w o o d , food or
jobs in other ways.
Profitable forest conversion
* The process: Large profits can often be
m a d e from converting forests to other
uses, especially w h e n done on a large
scale, with cheap loans and labour.
Profits arise from crop and livestock
production (even w h e n not sustainable), mining, and from increased land
values after clearance.
• Typical aggravating factors: rising
•
populations, rising material costs, falling agricultural production, u n e m ployment, populist politics, unimaginative foresters.
Typical solutions: agroforestry, fuelw o o d plantations, investment in agriculture and job-creation, flexible
and intensified forest management,
land reform.
* Typical aggravating factors: large
Commercial timber interests
•
The process: Profit-oriented logging
companies often have a strong influence on government decisions affecting forests. T h e compulsion to
land-holdings in private h a n d s ;
cheap loans, subsidies and incentives
available to well-connected landowners; private ventures readily disguised as "development".
* Typical solutions: rigorous economic
and environmental appraisals and
policies, incentives with social as well
as profit priorities.
coupes w h i c h should be closed until the trees are mature for the next scheduled cutting. Non-transferable timber concessions, l o w royalty rates and
unenforcable logging restrictions are other factors w h i c h m a y induce
unsustainable logging practices.
27
Often governments are unaware of the interdependence of sectoral
policies. Official forest policies are often incompatible with national
policies determining land use and investment. W h e n inflation is high and
forest rights poorly defined, the conversion of forests into agricultural
land m a y be an optimal private strategy. Agricultural and regional development policies can further accelerate this rain forest conversion process.
W h e n assessing net benefits of logging and clearing, non-timber inc o m e from forests is often ignored. Most national accounts and other
economic information present a very distorted view of resource use to decision-makers. Usually all the revenue from clearing is entered into national accounts as income rather than the conversion of a natural capital
asset into m o n e y . Less biased and more informative indices and measures
are needed.
Regional (within country) and local issues
Several external constraints and impacts influence the w a y forest resources are used by local consumers. These influences are often totally beyond local control. T o d a y over 3 0 0 million subsistence farmers
throughout the tropical world practise more or less unsustainable forms
of shifting cultivation, an activity that is considered to be perhaps the
greatest threat to at least some parts of Asia's tropical forests ( I U C N
1989). Understanding the socio-economic patterns within, and between,
local and indigenous forest resource use groups, as well as their relation
to the national and international political and economic environment, is
crucial if this forest destruction trend is to be changed.
Often forest dwellers have no legalrightor interest to protect a forest
and hence have little incentive to invest in its maintenance. Forest
property rights need to encourage forest dwellers and users to care for
forests. "Forest care" like "land care" is a necessary prerequisite to sustainable forest management. W h e n maintenance of a national or state government* s forest is in nobody's self-interest, timber licence, tenure and
royalty policies need review.
Road construction and other infra-structure development can create opportunities for short-term exploitation, poaching, etc. Corruption and
poaching are important to m a n y local economies. Policies which replace
these activities with mechanisms to encourage compliance with official
plans could be beneficial.
28
OBJECTIVES A N D PRINCIPLES
OF A C T I O N
Objectives
The long-term objective of M A B work in the humid and sub-humid tropics is to 'contribute to the development of sustainable land-use systems
that are in tune with the social, cultural and biological characteristics of
the peoples and ecological systems of these regions in a time of rapid and
far-reaching change'.
The medium-term goal is to determine and demonstrate ways of using
tropical rain forests that are both ecologically and socially sustainable
and at the same time are also economically viable. This will be approached through the setting up, during the six-year period 1990-1995,
of an interlinked network of a limited number (e.g. 4-10) offieldprojects
of research, training, demonstration and information diffusion. T h e projects will serve as illustrative examples of sustainable development for
other tropical forest areas.
In the immediate two-year period 1990-1991 the objectives are:
• to develop a more precise project proposal for the six-year period of
work on ecological and economic sustainability of rain forest management;
• to refine and distribute methodological guidelines for aspects of this
programme of work;
• to initiate studies in at least 4 countries which as an ensemble will encompass the principal approaches to economic diversification in rain
forest areas;
29
• to contribute to the training of at least 20 resource managers and research scientists.
Overall philosophy and orientation
In seeking to attain the stated objectives, work will be rooted in the overall ecological approach to problem-solving that has been characteristic of
the M A B Programme since its launching in the early 1970s. A m o n g these
persistent features are the following:
• Conservation must go hand-in-hand with development, with conservation of genetic diversity being considered as an integral part of m a n agement. "Park-in-a-bottle" conservation that gives no consideration
to such basic needs of the population as food, shelter and education
cannot succeed in the long term.
• Local people are the driving forces of sustainable development. C o n servation and development should be carried out with the involvement
of local populations rather than for them.
• The nature of the issues underpinning sustainable development calls
for contributions from and co-operation a m o n g a range of natural and
social science disciplines, as well as concerted actions enjoining decision-makers, local people and research workers.
• Considerable benefits can flow from developing a continuum of actions that encompass basic and applied research, training, education,
diffusion of information and demonstration.
• A focus on people-environment interactions and interfaces is easier to
advocate than to achieve, but such an approach characterizes the distinctive contribution that M A B can m a k e to the overall international
effort to promote sustainable resource use in the humid tropics. A primary focus of this work (Fig.l) should be on issues at the convergence
of ecology (=environment), socio-economics (=social system) and resource use (technology).
These persistent features in philosophy and approach are being tempered
by suggestions for reorientation put forward by M A B ' s International C o ordinating Council. These suggestions include the importance of increasing the scale of research (in terms of both space and time), of reinforcing
work on the rehabilitation of degraded lands, and of accentuating previously under-emphasized considerations such as the economic driving
forces of resource use and the h u m a n behavioural dimensions of environ-
30
I^—^—*^^
Fig. 1. The convergence of ecology, socio-economics and resource use
characterizes people-environment interactions
mental change. These suggestions have been encapsulated in four n e w
research orientations, dealing respectively with ecosystem functioning
under different intensities of h u m a n impact, management and restoration
of human-impacted resources, h u m a n investment and resource use, and
h u m a n response to environmental stress.
The intention of the M A B Council is that these orientations should
serve as a motor for re-examining and renewing the overall approach and
methodology of M A B . They provide a means for enriching and re-aligning the research and synthesis activities undertaken within the framework of M A B . They should, to a greater or lesser extent, be reflected in
all M A B activities, and Figure 2 provides some indications of h o w these
orientations could bereflectedin future work on the ecological and economic sustainability of tropical forest management.
Translating the concerns of the four n e w research orientations into concrete activities is a gradual process that will take place over several years.
A start was m a d e in 1988-89, on setting this process into action, with
small task forces being organized on each of the four orientations. It is
hoped that the recommendations of the various task forces will be helpful to those involved in designing future research activities within M A B .
A s illustration, mention might be m a d e of recommendations of the task
force on H u m a n investment and resource use (Young and Ishwaran
1989). A m o n g the principal conclusions were a suggested concern with
31
Mechanisms of forest
regeneration
(pollination, seed
dispersal, seedling
establishment)
and effects of different
harvesting systems on
these proa3sses.
y
Humid and sub-humid
/
Carbon, w \
tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems
M
nutrient and
water
balances of
¿L Ecosystem
/ *\
Human | P \
tropical rain
/ ^ functioning
/
\
investment
\
forest
/
under different /
\
and
\
ecosystems
/
intensities of /
\ resource
\
subject to
I
human impact
I
use
1
disturbance
(e.g.
logging).
1
\
\
Management and
restoration of \
human impacted \
\
resources
\
/
/
/
Rehabilitation
of degraded
tropical lands
(strategies,
costs).
Human
response to
environmental
stress
Designing
sustainable
wood
harvesting
systems
from
tropical rain
forest
(alternative
harvesting
strategies).
i Assessing
demands
for
non-wood
forest
products.
/
/
/
Response
of migrants
and local
populations
to changing
economic
opportunities
and
environmental
change.
Fig.2. Graphical representation of the overlapping concerns of the four n e w
research orientations within M A B and examples of h o w these four orientations
might be translated into particular research themes in one broad bioecological
region (i.e. humid tropics).
32
the adjustment to and management of change and a recommended focus
on the interface between ecological and economic systems through examining the policy goals of environmental integrity, economic efficiency
and equity. S o m e policy-relevant issues relating to the management of
tropical forest landscapes areflaggedin B o x 4.
Time and space scales
The interactions between ecology, resource use and socio-economics
need to be viewed within a range of time and space scales. These scales
often hold the clue to understanding the constraints of a particular resource use situation, as well as helping to signpost opportunities for shaping future change.
Time dimensions
Temporal considerations include both the past and future, both short-term
and long-term.
The historical record has often tended to be ignored or under-emphasized in ecological research on tropical forests. Yet several studies have
highlighted h o w natural and human-induced changes over centuries and
millennia have determined the present tropical landscape. Examples include the effect of palaeographic processes in controlling the distribution
of rain forests (Walker 1990), the influence of changes in local c o m munity and central government on deforestation in India (Gadgil 1989),
the role of shifting river courses in affecting forest regeneration in western Amazonia (Salo et al. 1986).
In looking forward, any discussion of managing tropical forest must
take account of both future demand for forest products and possible future yields. This is no easy task. The working Ufe of a rubber or oil palm
tree, for example, can extend to thirty years, while hardwoods m a y have
optimum rotations of well overfiftyyears. Furthermore, tree improvement programmes, such as the celebrated one for rubber, can continue to
increase tree yield for at least double that time, even w h e n conducted, as
with Hevea rubber trees, on a single provenance (Ashton and B a w a 1990).
33
Box 4. S o m e policy relevant considerations
relating to the management of tropical forest
landscapes
whether or not those benefits will be
reflected in market transactions.
Future rain forest use and development is dependent on policies which • Assuming that timber rights are secure, private reafforestation is only
influence current investment. Recogprofitable w h e n the expected return
nition of the determinants of investis greater than the opportunity cost of
ment is essential. Altruistic intenthe capital and labour required to
tions aside, planting a tree, for
achieve the reafforestation. In some,
example, is only profitable w h e n the
perhaps m a n y situations, the net rate
time, effort and m o n e y invested is reof regeneration is too slow to offer a
turned with interest.
profitable return.
Net social benefit will be greatest
w h e n , discounting future benefits at
an appropriate interest rate, all land Social considerations
is allocated to maximize total bene- • Equity is a major problem in rain
fits over the long run. This economic
forest development. Very few policy
efficiency criterion implies that all
options m a k e at least one group of
land should be allocated to the uses
people better off and n o group of
which yield the greatest potential
people worse-off. Moreover, a bias
economic benefits irrespective of
towards the poor is normally a pre-
Economic considerations
•
•
Source: Based on Young (1989).
Such time scales, characteristic of forestry, are intrinsically of a different order of magnitude to that of m a n y other sectors of resource use
(e.g. cereal production) (see Fig. 2 of M A B Digest 2, Y o u n g and Ishwaran 1989). Such differences in generation time, compared with the lifespans and time frames of governments and economic planning policies,
have important repercussions on those responsible for land use planning
and resource management in the tropics. Tree biologists w h o do turn to
resource economists for advice are rarely satisfied.
In Ashton and B a w a ' s (1990) analysis, the relative demand for tropical products from the traditional consumers in the currently industrialized
nations will steadily decline. Unless there is substantial further industrialization, which currently does not seem likely, it is probable that industrial products such as rubber latex will go into overproduction. Others,
such as vegetable oil, which are produced by temperate as well as tropical plants, are already beginning to experience overproduction. Yet the
34
condition to sustainable development, ignored by most policies.
• Policies which favour large landholders over small ones, do not increase
the welfare of the rural poor. Such
policies increase pressures on and encourage encroachment into rain
forests.
Development considerations
• Development involves the replacement of traditional forest practices
with n e w ones. T o prevent degradation, property right arrangements
must anticipate and accommodate
change.
• Revenue from rain forest clearing is
often used to solve fiscal, economic
and political problems in other sectors and regions.
Management considerations
• T o o often governments nationalize
forests without replacing the traditional management structures which
encouraged forest dwellers to care
for the resources they use. Encroach-
ment, exploitive logging and poaching soon follows.
A s information about likely rates of
regeneration is inadequate, investment in sustainable logging practices
tends to be minimal. Typically, private investors prefer to invest in assets which will bring a k n o w n return.
Inevitably, whenever assets are
undervalued they are misused. Sustainable policy development is dependent upon information about the
resources in question. Quantifying
and valuing a forest's non-timber and
timber resources is a necessary prerequisite to the estimation of the likely effects of different policy options
on local, regional and national economies.
N e w cost-effective methods to account for the effects of policies on
forest resources need to b e developed. While it will prove i m possible to estimate the value of
everything, the aim should be to reduce the biases in the information
available to decision-makers.
need to create n e w employment in the tropics, and particularly in the rural
sector, is obvious and urgent.
Ashton and B a w a (1990) go on to speculate on the kind of products
that will be in demand. Besides industrial products such as rubber latex,
it seems likely that the specialized chemical products for which tropical
plants are so celebrated, and which are or have been used world-wide as
pharmaceuticals, flavourings or cosmetics, are atriskof being replaced
by manufactured alternatives (increasingly, pharmaceuticals are m a n u factured through culture of micro-organisms as well as from fossil fuel
by-products, while vanilla is among the products which can n o w be synthesized in tissue culture). O n the other hand, the relative price of hardwoods has increased more rapidly than those of any other tropical c o m modity over the last forty years (though most of them are still cheaper
than timber from temperate forests), and the likelihood is that demand,
world-wide, will continue to be high. The spectacular growth of the world
trade in rattan in the last decade indicates the promise of forest products
35
which form the basis of craft-based industries whose products are in
universal demand. Food crops, notably tropical fruit, are assured of a
strong h o m e demand and, also, with improved marketing and storage
technology, international demand.
In m a n y cases, such as rattan and Brazil nuts, most or all harvesting is
still conducted in natural forest. Increasingly, culture must be intensified
though, as in the case of these two commodities, plantation will only be
possible in mixture with other species. Ashton and B a w a (1990) are thus
fairly optimistic concerning identification of the kind of forest products
upon which research should be concentrated and therefore the species
which should be selected, the attributes which should be enhanced
through breeding, and the cultural ground rules which can best ensure
high production, lowriskand sustainability. Above all, cultivation in the
coming decades will increasingly require exploitation of tree diversity in
nature, as well as research on commercially promising species in different commodity groups.
Spatial perspectives
At the same time as encouraging research scientists to think in terms of
time scales, there appears to be a clear need to encourage planners to view
the use and management of tropical forests within a large-scale landscape
perspective. Anderson and Spencer (1989) give examples of the different
levels of resolution at which a number of tropical rain forest management
problems can be investigated. A landscape approach is needed for different types of "intact" management and replacement systems to provide the
optimal mix of uses for people (Fig. 3) at a price that is affordable both
by local populations and central and provincial governments. Such an approach is also consistent with one of the principal themes of the F A O - c o ordinated Tropical Forestry Action Plan, specifically that of "Forestry as
a part of land use" ( F A O 1987).
A n example of forests as an integral part of large-scale managed tropical landscapes is provided by Oldeman (1989) w h o has presented a sketch
of such a landscape. Such a landscape has the size of a large river basin
(the Rio N a p o in Ecuador, the Rio Caqueta in Columbia and the Rio Jari
in Brazil are three examples mentioned by Oldeman). After a careful m a p ping operation to establish the potential of such basins, sustainable land
use is reached by two simple principles, which in practice create complex
36
Management
A A
Mature forests
> 6 0 - 8 0 yr-old
O
<
^-z
Services
. water
^j
"."soil"
*
. biological diversity
. recreation
. minor forest
products
. research
W o o d products
veneer
raw timber
CO
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. water
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research
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. soil
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tr
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O
Fig. 3. Land-use change in tropical forest lands showing: 1. the conversion of forest lands to other land uses;
2. the products and services (dotted lines) that people derive from the conversion process and the four stages of
forest or land use; 3. restoration (arrows on left side of boxes) of forests; and 4. trends in costs and benefits to
people from changes in land-use (left side of diagram, trends increase in direction of arrows). Each stage of
forest or agricultural land (boxes) can be managed sustainably (shown by circled arrows in boxes), converted to
more intensive use (downward arrows), or restored to a more complex forest (upward arrows). Heavy shaded
arrows show those restorations most favoured by natural forces. Intensive conversion or restorations may jump
over a stage of land-use (boxes) if enough energy is available to overcome costs. Each type of land-use has
uniquely important benefits (shown in the trends and listings of products and services) and thus optimal land-use
in a landscape requires a mix of all four land-use types. Source: Brown and Lugo (1990).
37
land patterns. Thefirstprinciple is that hydrological key points (e.g. highest part of the drainage basin, sources of creeks andrivers,more erodible
soils) are protected by permanent vegetation, including nature reserves
and extensively managed production forests. The second principle is that
the areas that can be occupied for more intensive land use be divided into
farms each with comparable and optimal production potential (surface
areas depending on soils), and with lands distinguished as to their aptitude to grow certain crops.
Following such a land use plan, the region once settled would look
mainly forested from the air. The forests would consist of nature reserves, extensively managed forests and plantation estates, with an increasingly intensive road network. The forest would be interrupted by cleared
agricultural lands with improved farming systems capable of feeding the
local population and providing food and other products for the cities and
export. River basin authorities have already been set up in a number of
tropical countries and Oldeman suggests that these might constitute a
proper institutional support for efforts to conserve tropical forests in several countries and regions.
However, such a landscape planning approach based on land capability
classification is understandably unpopular both in developing and industrialized countries, implying as it m a y , the reorganization of existing suboptimally used landscapes. The approach would appear to be most promising in areas where there is as yet little h u m a n population and the
execution of the plan would be carried out by immigrants. T o m a k e the
plan a reality, governments would need to assure a large amount of infrastructure and managerial and technical back-up. Given that colonization
areas tend to be too far away to merit political attention, this would not
always be easy to achieve. A n y future projects along these lines should
m a k e use of the experiences gained by the F E L D A schemes in Malaysia,
the Brazilian Transamazonica project and the Indonesian Transmigrasi
programme.
Technologies, techniques and tools
It is through technology that h u m a n beings exert a major effect on the environment. These effects can be deleterious or ameliorative. In the m a n agement of tropical forest lands, there are m a n y domains where improved
38
techniques and technologies, and the more sensitive use of present technologies, have a role to play in promoting sustainable development.
Timber logging and harvesting is one domain where modern technologies trigger forest damage and land degradation, and more particularly
loss of genetic material. Figures of 50-60% of standing trees damaged
following mechanized selective logging are not u n c o m m o n (e.g. Abdulhadi et al. 1981,1987). Skidding, hauling and yarding operations induce
soil compaction and erosion, and compound the direct damage that is
caused to trees. Moreover, the current practices of selective logging in
several tropical countries is in fact a process of creaming or "high grading" the best individuals of the commercial species. The process thus
leaves only undesirable, smaller, younger and genetically inferior individuals in the residual stands to provide seeds for the next crop (Kartawinata et al. 1981). In addition to this "genetic erosion", there is the problem of species loss, and it is suspected that the loss of species from any
one area is proportional to the loss of individuals (Kartawinata 1978).
Strict control of harvesting operations and use of less damaging machines
can curtail logging damage, as demonstrated in Suriname in the Celos
Harvesting System (Hendrison, in press).
Plantation technology represents another challenge. While investment
in rubber, tea and coffee plantations is well developed, investment in rain
forest timber plantation technology has been minimal, perhaps because
m a n y of the prime timber species do not perform well in open plantations.
The likely benefits of improving rain forest timber plantation technology
and the policy changes necessary to improve plantation technology have
yet to be clearly elucidated.
Traditional ecological knowledge can also contribute to the search for
n e w production techniques and systems in the tropics, which de facto
serve to promote diversity. A n example are phytopractices (after "phytopractiques" in French), a newish term which groups all those treatments
which m a y improve, select, propagate or preserve plants on an individual basis (see, for example, Aumeeruddy and Pinglo 1989). Included are
a range of plant manipulation techniques and practices, such as fusion,
grafting and layering which are applied with care to each plant or a few
associated plants, in order to improve the quality and quantity of the products that can be obtained from those plants. A c o m m o n thread is the culture of plants as individuals. A s in h u m a n society, a primary focus on the
individual and its idosyncrasies is one that tends to favour diversity rather
than uniformity. It is also one that can contribute to sustainability.
39
Equally if not more important than the techniques and technology that
convert decisions into action are the tools that shape policies. Crucial here
are the economic paradigms that underpin the transfer of development
paradigms. The major problem has been, and remains, that of evaluating
the range of products and services provided by a natural forest, and actually including such estimations in an overall economic evaluation of development options. The difficulty is that, unlike timber, m a n y of the nonw o o d products and virtually all environmental functions and services of
the forest do not at present enter formal markets, and, therefore, no prices
are observed, and relatively few data on quantities or physical measurements exist.
It m a y well be true that a variety of methods and techniques is becoming available for evaluating non-marketed goods and services and correcting for distorted prices, and that progress is being m a d e in testing the
potential usefulness of these techniques in valuing the various functions
and services of the tropical forest (e.g. Anderson 1987, McNeely 1988,
Sherman and Dixon 1988). But in practice, the standardized project analysis techniques which continue to dominate tropical forestry evaluation
largely fail to take into account the complex economic theory of renewable natural resources (Burns 1986). A s long claimed by m a n y foresters
and ecologists, the weakness of the long held economic case against
management of tropical mixed forests is that it omits m a n y benefits because they do not earn revenue or are external to the forest administration (Leslie 1987). W o r k within the framework of M A B could contribute
to the refinement of such tools, for example through economic accounting of benefits and services in a spectrum of biosphere reserves.
Diversity of scientific research designs
A basic premise underpinning the proposals in this document is that there
are a number of approaches to managing tropical forests in ways that are
ecologically and economically sustainable. This plurality will be reflected in a diversity offieldproject designs but with certain c o m m o n features and a shared basic philosophy c o m m o n to activities undertaken
within the so-called M A B approach (e.g. adoption of a systems approach;
conservation as an integral part of management; attention to socio-cultural as well as ecological and economic perspectives). The plurality is reflected in several interlinked types of survey and research, ranging from
40
basic to applied, intensive to extensive, and natural to social science, etc.
O n e example is thefivestep approach proposed within the Dutch Tropenbos programme (Box 5). Another is that of target and strategic research,
both of which can contribute towards more sustainable use of resources
in tropical regions (Ingram and Swift 1989).
Target research originates from recognition of a specific resource m a n agement problem. It draws on present understanding and is geared to
devising suitable management practices over a relatively short period of
time (e.g. 2-4 years). Thus, target research in the humid tropics might
focus on such resource use themes as (a) designing sustainable w o o d harvesting systems from tropical forest (e.g. testing the use of high and low
technology in alternative harvesting strategies), (b) the use of non-wood
forest products and services (e.g. through extractive reserves, intensified
agroforestry systems, domestication of promising plant and animal
species, medical plants, natural history oriented tourism), (c) the rehabilitation of degraded land areas, and (d) ameliorating the efficiency of
agricultural and forestry production, through manipulation of soil biological processes (e.g. experimentation with crop residue management options to improve nutrient use efficiency).
Strategic research, on the other hand, is generally of a longer-term nature, and aims at contributing to the mechanistic understanding of the
functioning of ecological systems (e.g. in explaining the success of m a n y
agroforestry processes, and providing a firmer scientific basis for the
extrapolation of results). Long-term ecological studies have an important role to play in the overall tropical forest research agenda, for their intrinsic interest but also for their possible practical implications. They are
necessary to determine limits to growth, the carrying capacity of land and
reactions to different management regimes. Detailed research on nutrient
conserving mechanisms in tropical forests growing on infertile soils can
provide guidelines for the design of sustainable production systems in
these zones (Jordan 1989). Studies on the reproductive ecology of tropical forest plants, including the complex inter-relationships between
plants and their animal pollinators and dispersers, can provide insights
important for forest management, for example in tree improvement programmes and conservation planning (Bawa et al. 1989).
41
Box 5. From extensive surveys
and intensive studies to multi-purpose land
evaluation
Afive-stepprocedure has been proposed
within the D u t c h T r o p e n b o s prog r a m m e , whereby extensive survey and
inventory are combined with intensive
ecological and social studies, these leading to the elaboration of a regional land
use and resource management plan for a
given area (van Beusekom et al. 1987).
T h e 'five-step' approach of research and
planning can be summarized as follows:
Storage of the data in a computerized
database, compatible with national geographic information systems, and/or
with an agreed geographic information
system;
Processing of collected data in a provisional, qualitative land evaluation,
serving to identify knowledge gaps, to
guide research for each land unit towards future land use, to develop a
framework for modelling and to devise
or modify a broad-scale land-use plan;
Identification of a limited number of
Stepl
sites
of 1-10 ha, for further detailed reIdentification of a representative area
search. These sites must b e repreand broad inventory of its resources.
Identification of an area of, say, sentative for the major land units.
1 million ha that can be considered representative for a whole region, having
elements of most ecological zones in it. Step 3
Often, a broad band within one water- Detailed quantitative investigation of
shed including both elevated and dis- ecological characteristics, potentials
sected land and low-lying, flat terrain, and regulatory processes at the selected
will be suitable.
sites. This step would consist of research
Implementation of a reconnaissance on subjects such as forest structure, aniinventory of all relevant aspects of the mal behaviour, growth and yield, natuarea, encompassing climate, land forms, ral regeneration, entomology, species
geology, hydrology, soils, forest types diversity, biomass and organic matter,
and timber volume, present land use, nutrient and moisture cycles, and forms
faunal communities, settlement patterns of degradation.
and anthropological history.
Step 2
Aggregation of the inventory data and
their qualitative evaluation; delineation
of major land units and selection of sites
for futher detailed studies.
Presentation of the inventory data on
maps of scale of 1:100,000 or 1:250,000
(for example one on landforms, surface
materials, soils and hydrology; another
on forest types, land use, settlement patterns and agroclimatic zones) and subsequent delineation of ecological land
units;
Step 4
Quantitative studies on h u m a n activities
and needs, in relation to alternative
forms of land use and aggregation of
data into a characterization of land use
systems.
Step 5
Integration of all information into a
quantitative multi-purpose land evaluation, and the design of suitable options
for the management of the main forest
land units.
42
Critical m a s s of effort
Until the mid-1980's, m a n y conservationists considered development in
any form to be the antithesis to conservation. Conservation and development were considered to be mutually exclusive. The heros of the previous
decade were some of the more militant of the non-governmental environmental groups and people w h o were willing to lie d o w n in front of bulldozers trying to halt development for the cause of conservation.
O n the development side the concerns often seemed to be limited to
the financial pages of annual reports. Corporate managers were often
forced into situations of keeping current profits high at the expense of future earnings. These shortsighted strategies were often not only environmentally unsound, but could not even sustain long-term corporate development.
There is hope that this polarization of developers and conservationists
m a y be becoming less extreme. Successful, long-term business ventures
seem slowly to be evolving away from the competitive and exploitive
strategies that defined winners and losers, to more equitable strategies
that m a k e most of the involved parties winners. Labour involvement in
management decisions is an example. This kind of mutualism is good for
the business community as it is in a biological community. Faced with
looming environmental problems, of increasing magnitude, m a n y concerned individuals from both the community of developers and the c o m munity of conservationists are beginning to reach across the perceptual
chasm that has separated them. Working cooperatively, instead of at odds
as in the past, these individuals as a community can achieve m u c h more
in both conservation and long-term economic development.
In order to convince developers to adopt sustainable use strategies, a
"critical mass" of effort is proposed. Without defining it specifically,
"critical mass" will have been reached if conservationists can convince
the developers that the sum of sustainable activities exceeds in profits the
sum of traditional unsustainable activities. Most business people, if
shown a more profitable course, will follow it. For sustained political stability, these profits should be distributed across as large a cross section
of the population as possible. People will often tolerate poverty, if it is
fairly evenly distributed. Disparity is what creates problems.
T o implement the "critical mass" strategy, four other "c" words need
to be incorporated in defining the strategy. Entrepreneurs would be
attracted to follow such a strategy if it is comprehensible, convincing,
43
concerted, i.e. focused on achievable goals, and cost-effective (Muul
1989a, 1989b). The number of components in a sustainable development
scheme (Fig.4) m a y vary depending on the situation. But, their sum or
"critical mass" needs always to add up to more than the level of potential
profit gained from unsustainable exploitation of the forests.
The numbers are already starting to appear in the literature, (e.g. Peters
et al. 1989). Valuation of non-wood resources, such as fruits and latex ($422
ha" yr" ), from an area of Amazonian rain forest was found to exceed the
profits from clear-cutting the forest for timber ($10 ha" yr" over 20 yrs),
and alternative uses of land, such as cattle ranching ($148 ha" yr"1), or even
sustainable selective cutting for timber ($310 ha" yr" ). It should be noted,
however, that while the non-wood products in this study were priced at the
point of sale to thefinalconsumer, the timber was priced at the local sawmill price and not on the basis of the m u c h higher value of itsfinalproducts
(furniture, plywood, etc.). It would be dangerous, therefore, to overestimate
potential non-wood forest incomes. At the same time, it was not possible for
the study to enumerate the added value of medicinal and other less well
k n o w n plants. Such additional data could further support sustainable harvesting of a variety of plant products as opposed to clear-cutting.
Efforts to achieve a "critical mass" could be focused on particular geographic areas such as selected biosphere reserves. While their core zones
are reserved for conservation and scientific research, their transition and
buffer zones offer m a n y opportunities for encouraging commercial interest. T o p of the list might be eco-tourism followed by managed exploitation of certain forest products including timber, rubber, fruits, pharmaceutical products and animals. S o m e of the useful species m a y be
domesticated to ensure both a more secure supply for buyers and better
income for the local population at the same time as reducing pressure on
the wild population.
Seeking new partnerships with the private sector
It remains to be seen whether the critical mass and similar approaches can
be m a d e to work, and whether close partnerships between conservation
and economic development are anything more than wishful thinking. It
could be argued that a thoroughly predatory approach characterizes the
major business companies, no matter h o w m u c h it m a y be disguised. E n trepreneurs will be as exploitive as they are allowed to be. O n e problem
44
Improved harvesting
and extraction methods
Improvement of desirable
species
Pollution
mitigation
Biological diversity
Role in mediating
regional and global
climate
Traditional
Medicines
Malaria
eradication
Scientific
information
for nonspecialized
audiences
Natural
history
guides
Specialized farms
and gardens
(e.g. for butterflies,
agoutis, orchids,
crocodiles)
1
/
Mixed
Agroforestry
Production
Systems
\
CRITICAL
7
Small-scale
(e.g. Mouse deer,
lizards, agouti)
through mulching, etc.
Non-food,
non-timber
products
Public Health
and
Education
Programmes
.» Rattans
Bamboo
Fibres
Bioenergy (modern
small-scale production
systems for local use)
Biomass for industrial
processing (whole-crop
uses, plant fibre and oil
production and
processing, crop derived
chemicals)
Improved energy
conversion systems
(e.g. stoves, charcoal
kilns)
Habitat Conservation
and Species
Protection
Natural
History
Tourism
Manipulation of soil fertility
/
Locally
Available
Energy
Sources
mtmmt
Access to
canopy (e.g.
canopy
walkways)
Beef
(e.g. Gaur)
Invertebrates
(caterpillars)
Fruit trees
Quantifying
Forest
Services
Erosion control
Inexpensive
simple animal
screening tests,
for promising
candidatures
Pisciculture and other
aquatic animals
Sustainable
W o o d Producing
Systems
Water quality
and flow
, Silvicultura! treatments
Zoning
Positive incentives
to stop hunting
Protection of core areas
Rehabilitation
of Degraded
Land Areas
Species conservation
outside reserves
Keystone resources
Propagation of rare species
(e.g. orchid gardens, butterfly farms)
Fig. 4. S o m e ingredients in a critical mass strategy for sustainable development of
large-scale tropical forest landscapes. Generalized graphical representation of
approach and components described by Muul (1989a, 1989b)
45
is that the social constraints in the societies of most developing countries
are not strong enough to insist on the safeguards which are (sometimes)
demanded in industrialized countries but, as Prance (1989) points out,
m a n y foreign companies active in the tropics do employ environmental
safeguards equal to those at h o m e . Too m u c h focus on their negative impacts could, therefore, drive away those companies which actually are
most environmentally sound, leaving the way free for local enterprises
which might be less conscious about the environment. M o r e co-operation
and constructive criticism is what Prance recommends.
Such co-operation can take m a n y forms, reflecting the diverse functions of private sector enterprises in relation to tropical forest resources.
Companies could be classified in four large groups: (a) harvesters/transformers/producers of tropical resources; (b) researchers on tropical forest
goods and services; (c) financiers of private and public investments in
tropical forest projects; and (d) trade and transport enterprises (Hadley
and Dogsé 1990).
• Harvesters and producers of forest resources range from small family 'enterprises' to huge multinational timber companies. The overall
impact of a large number of small scale forest operators is often immense although each firm's impact might be marginal. The fact that
small enterprises often rely on large-scale firms opening up pristine
forest areas, illustrates the importance of understanding the interplay
between large and small-scale private enterprises.
• Research is crucial for generating increased knowledge on the potential products from tropical forest ecosystems. It m a y contribute to the
identification of valuable animal and plant species which could be used
in the development of n e w marketable forest products (e.g. medicines
and in biotechnological research). It is possible, however, that the discovery of n e w forest commodities in m a n y cases might only lead to increased non-sustainable forest use, as the major problem in the tropics
frequently is not the lack of resources but their mismanagement.
• Private credit institutions play a crucial role in the w a y forests are
being managed by providing investment capital for a wide spectrum of
extraction, industrialization, and infrastructure projects. The aggravated debt crisis has also m a d e several heavily indebted tropical countries more susceptible to economic restructuring and development programmes suggested by the creditors. Frequently such programmes have
emphasized increases in export oriented activities, such as tropical
46
hardwood logging, so as to earn the hard currency necessary for servicing the debt.
Trade and transport constitutes the physical link between the supply
and the demand of tropical forest goods. It is therefore of strategic importance for international policy-makers interested in correcting production and consumption trends. This is especially so for the part of
the goods produced in the tropics that is consumed elsewhere (in the
North) and therefore passes through transport channels. Actions restricting logging in one country might, however, increase the rate at
TABLE 1
The tropical forest as a biological and chemical factory. Comparing the management of a successful industrial factory with much contemporary 'management' of
tropical forests.
Indicators/
variables
Manager of successful
industrial factory
Contemporary 'manager' of
tropical forest land
Capital
Capital wealth of
company
maintained/enhanced.
Asset-stripping a frequent
occurrence.
Resources mined.
Capital depreciation.
Profits
Annual profits
distributed ± equitably
(to shareholders,
government, workers).
Unearned windfalls for a
favoured few businesses and
individuals.
Reinvestment
Part of profits
reinvested within
company (e.g. in
developing new
products).
Majority of profits lost to forestry
sector. Low investment in
tropical forest R & D .
Time scales
Balance between short-,
medium- and long-term
concerns.
Overwhelming importance to
short-term time horizons.
Government
Policies geared to
promoting national
industries, stimulating
employment, etc.
Many government policy
instruments (e.g. subsidies,
taxes) both inside and outside
the forestry sector, inimical to
sound sustained management
and socio-economic advancement (pace W R I Repetto 1987
study).
Source: Hadley (1989).
47
|
|
|
which forests are cleared in other countries, unless regulations are enforced on a global level. Co-ordination is therefore necessary.
In seeking links with these different groupings, advantage might also be
taken of some of the procedures and criteria that successful private c o m panies bring to their operations. A n analogy might be m a d e between the
management of a successful industrial factory and what has passed for
the "management" of m u c h tropical forest land in recent decades
(Table 1). The use of tropical forest resources has been dominated by
short-term interests concerned with asset-stripping and maximizing current profits rather than with safeguarding the long-term capital investment. Little has been done to promote equity in the distribution of profits.
Government policies have been inimical to sustained development as vividly illustrated by Repetto (1987) in a study of some of the impacts on
tropical forest development of investment incentives, tax and credit subsidies, pricing policies and concessions. Such incentives m a y lead to considerable economic losses, reductions in potential profits and net foreign
exchange earnings, loss of badly needed government revenues, and increased windfalls for a favoured few businesses and individuals. A m o v e
away from such perverse economic incentives is among the shifts required if tropical resource use is to be put on a more sustainable basis.
Modelling
The goal of modellers is generally to develop models of the dynamics of
rain forests under the impacts of natural disturbances, logging operations
and the effects of climate change (Noble 1989). The purpose of such m o d els is to help us understand the impact that new logging treatments (as
well as other disturbances) will have on the processes determining stand
dynamics.
Models of forest dynamics
Models are generally built for either explanation or prediction. This is an
important distinction since methodologies and performance acceptable
for one purpose m a y not be acceptable for the other. Nevertheless, while
48
foresters m a y start with empirical models, most will try to m o v e to m o d els which are biologically explicable.
Forestry yield models are excellent examples of predictive models.
They m a k e heavy use of empirical relationships derived from measured
growth data to predict future growth. They are easy to develop and provide good predictions of yield. However, they provide little insight into
which processes are important in controlling the dynamics and productivity of the forest and should not be used to extrapolate beyond the conditions used in deriving the equations. A n alternative term used for these
models is interpolative.
In contrast, explanatory models of forest dynamics are often based o n
a detailed representation of the factors controlling recruitment, competition, growth and mortality. Their major purpose is to provide a test-bed
for examining the relative importance of various processes, the sensitivity of outputs to changes in parameter values and, in s o m e cases, to extrapolate to conditions not observed in nature. The alternative term used for
these models is extrapolative.
There are m a n y situations where predictions of the future course of
vegetation dynamics are needed but there are n o suitable data sets o n
which to base predictive models. Explanatory models can be used to m a k e
predictions in these situations. However, the effort required to determine
a suitable model structure and to estimate the parameters required m a k e
them costly to build. It is also difficult to test whether their output is sufficiently realistic for the purpose for which they were developed. Thus
the use of explanatory (i.e. extrapolative) models for prediction should
be recognized to be a compromise and restricted to those situations where
predictive (i.e. interpolative) models are not available.
Both types of models are needed to assist in developing policy for m a n aging logging in tropical rain forests. However, adequate data are not
available in most localities to build predictive models even for short-term
log yields. Thus, w e will need to rely on extrapolative models despite
their greater cost and lesser precision.
For a comprehensive rain forest modelling programme, at least three
types of modelling effort are needed. Firstly, where possible, existing
data sets could be analysed and additional forest yield models developed.
Secondly, a project should be initiated to model the light penetration and
light response of rain forest species of all size/age classes. Most of the
modelling techniques required to do this are already available. T h e most
urgent need is for more data on the response of rain forest to light, tak-
49
ing into account both the quantity and quality, and the temporal and spatial distribution, of the light. Experiments to provide data for building
models should also take into account the complex of factors conveniently labelled as "competition" - though as m a n y of these factors m a y operate below ground they are hard to study. The resulting models would be
purely explanatory. They would be used to analyse the sensitivity of m o d els to changes in model structure and parameter values. The goal eventually would be to develop the simplest useful model of these processes
to be incorporated in the more general models described below.
The third modelling effort should be to develop a stand model (sensu
Shugart 1984, cf. K I A M B R A M ) of rain forest communities. This model
would be used to test our understanding of all the interacting processes
involved in non-gap recruitment and growth, gap formation (i.e. mortality
and damage to existing plants and the n e w environmental conditions), and
recruitment and growth within gaps leading to gap closure. T h e J A B O W A family of models, using parameter values estimated for broad classes
of species, remains the best starting point but w e must remain acutely
aware of their limitations and highly critical of their predictions.
Knowledge-based systems
A subsidiary goal of modelling activities could be to combine the various
rules and generalizations developed through the long experience of rain
forest foresters and ecologists, to m a k e them available in a systematic
w a y and to apply them to situations where less experienced managers m a y
be faced with problems of making decisions with inadequate data. These
'expert' or 'advisory' systems provide no definitive answers but instead
m a y act as a reminder of some of the principles that need to be considered
and some of the interactions that might occur. For example, in assessing
a n e w logging area the manager m a y provide a list of the species known
to be on a site. T h e advisory system would draw on the data base and
k n o w n species relationships to suggest which other species might be present and the economic and traditional value of these species. It would also
provide the best assessment of the types of response the species might
show to the logging treatment and some of the flow-on of consequences
to the fauna of the region (e.g. to changes in fruiting patterns).
50
STEP-BY-STEP
METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACH
Demonstrating ways of using tropical rain forests that are both ecologically and socially sustainable and at the same time are also economically
viable, is necessarily site specific to a great extent. It entails a focus o n
the sustainability of local land use in the context of national priorities and
the need to develop alternative approaches where local and/or national
requirements conflict. A s each nation and region has its particular political, social, and land management systems, research undertaken should be
realistically compatible with these systems. This said, a series of projects
with the same overall objective (though perhaps each with a different
focus), has the potential to produce results that are valid, or at least useful, for application in a wider regional framework. Within such a context,
a process of survey and evaluation m a y be helpful to identify specific
research objectives which are attainable with:
• Available time scale
- targeted (2-3 years)
- strategic (e.g. more than 5 years)
• Current techniques and approaches
- available nationally
- available internationally through training, institutional twinning
arrangements and/or visiting specialists
• Socio-economic constraints which limit experimental design and
extension of results.
51
Once objectives have been set for eachfieldinitiative in relation to available resources, the adoption of an agreed step-by-step approach can promote comparability of results between sites and the creation of a comprehensive m a n a g e m e n t decision support system. T o achieve this,
economists, biologists and sociologists must collaborate both in research
design and the synthesis of results. A n outline for a step-by-step methodology is given below. Within this general framework, researchers at each
site m a y choose to concentrate on certain aspects, depending on the local
conditions and problems and their o w n particular interests.
Research site selection
It is hoped that separatefieldprojects can be set up in several areas around
the world with at least one in each of the main tropical rain forest regions
of Latin America, Africa and South-east Asia. In the choice of sites, certain criteria should be taken into consideration:
• The site should be set in a region where there are still management options, i.e. forest still exists in sizeable areas and is likely to survive if
a certain option is shown to be economically or socially desirable.
• Local scientists should be in control of or collaborating in the research
and expatriate involvement should be minimized.
• It should be possible to obtain land for manipulative experiments such
that control can be legally maintained for the research period.
• Local people and government are not antagonistic, but rather enthusiastic participants and partners in the research effort.
• Access is reasonable.
• Simple basic facilities can be provided.
• There is a reasonable amount of social and biophysical information
available, (i.e. the project is not starting from scratch).
Surveys and evaluation
T h e area surveyed in each case will depend on the topic considered; for
some elements, national and regional policies, plans and data will be
important. Each survey should begin with a literature search to allow for
the modification of the preliminary research design. Such a formal
52
assessment of the published and unpublished resarch results of social,
economic and biological research relevant to forest management in the
region would include, for instance, species lists, ecological information,
climatic parameters, forest usage, land tenure. S o m e of the following surveys are described in greater detail in Volume 4 of the Tropenbos Technical Series on 'Inventory and evaluation of tropical forest land' (Touber
et al. 1989), with the five-step approach to land evaluation outlined in
B o x 5.
Physical
• Collate all available information on climate, soils and hydrological
status of the area. Supplement if necessary.
Land-use
A priority is to identify different land use classes (e.g. natural or plantation forest, arable farming, grassland, degraded) and for each of these to:
• Determine area extent;
• Determine land tenure system (government ownership, village, individual);
• Document history of land use systems, as systems subject to past disturbance m a y be in the process of change (either agrading or degrading);
• For each type of land use, look at crops, yields, technology and expertise available or in use;
• Identify the major determining factors of land use, the trends and areas
of conflict, with a particular emphasis on those land uses which intensify or reduce forest exploitation.
Forest and other blotic resources
• Collect local knowledge on the ecology of timber trees, e.g. response
to gap size, life history strategies, development phases, position in
landscape.
• Collect local knowledge on wildlife ecology, response to logging,
habitat requirements, population size, migration, etc.
• Survey logged areas and m a k e initial assessment of floristic succession, forest structure, soil and hydrology.
53
• Assemble information on the legal control of the timber extraction process.
• Survey current logging for actual timber extraction practices and parameters.
• M a k e an economic assessment of the current logging industry and
identify w h o meets the costs and w h o gets what benefit.
Socio-economic
• A study of local h u m a n population dynamics to determine their ethnic
composition, population growth rates and migration trends.
• A survey of central and local government agencies present, their functions and their effectiveness.
• A survey of the economic activities of the various population groups
with special emphasis on the importance of employment in the logging
industry and other economic uses of the forest, but also providing an
overview of the general profit and income-distribution in the area.
• A survey of local and regional markets and their potential and trends.
• A survey of the health and educational conditions of the local population and of government and non-government services available to
them.
• A n inventory of all the plants and animals used by local people, their
relative importance and trends in their availability.
• A n investigation of the social structure of local communities with particular emphasis on those practices of relevance to land management,
land tenure, decision-making and controls on natural resource use.
• A survey of local peoples ' perception of problems related to forest land
use and their possible solutions.
• Documentation of any written or oral history relevant to land management in the area.
• A comparison of communities with different experiences of changes
in land use to allow for an assessment of the apparent socio-economic
impact of logging history.
Sustainability
This heading would bring together any potential and actual constraints to
sustainable development and their long-term trends, including ecological
54
stress, degradation, population pressure, poaching, etc., and would allow
for prioritization of research and development activities.
T h e evaluation of current land use will demonstrate elements which
are suspected of being not sustainable, on which current trends suggest
crisis points will arise in the future or where current use is well below
potential.
Identification of alternative land uses
For a given area, land use m a y be changed in a number of ways. This m a y
involve an alteration in the intensity of current use, the techniques used,
the patterns and ratios of land use or the introduction of completely novel
initiatives.
Such alternatives are particularly valuable if they seek to relieve identified unsustainable biophysical or socio-economic trends. A n example
would be the introduction of a management scheme producing a constant
cash flow in an area where logging of traditionally owned land at 40 year
intervals gives cash income too infrequently to induce responsible forest
management. Such a scheme would then have to be evaluated for its biophysical impact within the models generated by the survey above.
T h e source of suggestions for alternative land uses must include the
local people and their viewpoint should be an essential element in all
stages of the evaluation. A number of possible options are described in
the following section of this digest such as natural history oriented tourism, creation of extractive reserves, intensification of agroforestry, and
rehabilitation of degraded sites with plantations or through facilitation of
natural processes.
Evaluation of alternative
land use patterns in relation to natural resources
and socio-economic conditions
Thefirststage of evaluation of any changes in land use should be in the
context of models derived from the survey described above. Should they
'pass' this stage, they can then be subject to formal scientific experimentation to test their impact on the bio-physical and/or socio-economic
55
environment. Particular attention would need to be paid to stress points
identified in those systems, e.g. the evaluation of a low-technology approach to timber harvesting which promotes local processing might be
concerned with impact on forest regeneration and growth as well as village economics.
The experimental evaluation will require process understanding and
process modelling, e.g. predicting forest regeneration parameters, often
through successive cycles of logging, and associated erosion, hydrology
and nutrient dynamics. M u c h of this research will be detailed and sophisticated but will be designed to be relevant to the ultimate landscape m a n agement scale. Such research will generally need to be accompanied by
small-scale implementation of proposed practices or other local development measures to convince both local government and communities that
researchers are worth listening to.
A n y n e w land use which passes the small-scale experimentation stage
must then be evaluated in terms of overall land use patterns and national
economic and development strategies. Evaluation should also consider
the opportunities available for the introduction of potential alternatives.
Recommended land uses
in relation to the varying resources
and socio-economic conditions
A workshop might usefully be held after 2-3 years of research and smallscale implementation to review the breadth, depth and holistic nature of
the developing knowledge base. Future work should be adjusted in the
light of perceived needs. It m a y be hoped that at the end of an initial 5
year period, each project site will have carried out sufficient research
from which to draw conclusions about the best combination of land uses
for the project site and its surrounding area. These conclusions should be
used to produce the best management guide available irrespective of the
state of the research projects and any intention to continue the research.
The management guide can then be presented to and discussed with local
people and government and N G O officials at local, regional (i.e. within
country) and national levels.
56
RESEARCH COMPONENTS
F O R S U S T A I N A B L E RAIN F O R E S T
MANAGEMENT
A s outlined earlier in this digest, sustainable management incorporates
m a n y different, and sometimes conflicting, aspects. T o reiterate Hadley's
definition of 1988, for it to be successful, sustainable management should
be ecologically and technically possible, economically feasible and attractive, and socially and politically practicable.
Management strategies are developed according to the conditions
existing in any one place at a certain time. Synnott (1989) argues that
there are m a n y examples of management systems that have worked in the
past but that no longer function in today's changed social and economic
conditions. Today w e are also faced with the possibility of a change in
the global climate with the result that the ecological parameters at any
one site, such as nutrient cycling processes or species diversity and distribution, m a y change.
A footballer does not continue shooting in the same direction once the
goalposts have changed. The shot is altered depending on whether the
goal has become larger, smaller or has been m o v e d completely. T o take
the analogy of a football match further - while the rules of the g a m e m a y
remain constant, the winning strategy changes according to the make-up
of the team, whether it has a good goalkeeper, leftwing or centre-forward
and h o w well the players interact. In the same way, forest managers need
to understand h o w the different components of sustainable forest m a n agement work and h o w they interact. With this understanding, the chances are high that they will be able to determine a management strategy
that is successful even in the face of changing parameters.
57
This section addresses some of the strategic parameters that need to be
understood, (i.e. ecological processes and socio-economic factors), and
some of the different management strategies, (e.g. for timber or biomass
production, tourism, extractive reserves or agroforestry). Also considered
are some of the problems of the rehabilitation that becomes necessary if
management strategies are not based on a proper understanding of the
conditions in which they exist.
Ecosystem processes
Studies on a variety of ecological processes can shed light on the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems, in ways that are of scientific interest and that also hold practical implications. There follow two examples,
with their origins in the two principal branches of ecology. O n e deals with
energy-budget ecology (concerned with fluxes of energy and materials at
different spatial scales), the other is concerned with evolutionary ecology
(dealing with genetic information at different temporal scales) (di Castri
and Hadley 1988). Together, the two approaches provide for a broad
swathe of ecologists to contribute to the search for ways of managing
tropical forests that could ensure a perpetual stream of products and services at relatively low recurrent cost.
A conceptual framework of forest logging and regrowth.
Anderson and Spencer (1991) outline a conceptual model for the dynamics of above-ground biomass, soil organic matter ( S O M ) , nutrients and
bulk density in rain forest soils following logging and natural regeneration or conversion to plantations. In closed-canopy forest, vegetation and
soil organic matter are assumed to be in steady state, with inputs of carbon and limiting nutrients equalling outputs. Soil bulk density is low in
surface horizons and associated parameters of infiltrability and hydraulic
conductivity are assumed to be high. Surface water runoff and solute/solid
content is therefore low.
After disturbance by logging or clearing, harvest removes a proportion
of above-ground biomass and nutrients. Vegetation killed and left on the
site is transferred to the soil pool (appearing as a peak of S O M and
58
nutrients immediately after cutting) and decomposes over time, or m a y
be burnt releasing carbon and minerals as a pulse and increasing plant
nutrient availability. Bulk density rises after felling and clearing as a consequence of compaction by vehicles or as S O M mineralization is accelerated in the exposed soil. Runoff and erosion often increase unless vegetation or litter protects the soil surface. Biomass recovery during natural
regeneration occurs with the rapid development of light demanding pioneer or plantation trees exploiting the post-clearance nutrient flush. Leaf
biomass and area often declines in the mature phase following canopy
closure of plantation species or canopy dominance by shade-tolerant
species in natural forest. Soil properties (bulk density, runoff, etc.) m a y
not recover under fast-growing plantations to preclearance values and can
decline further (Anderson and Spencer 1991).
S o m e questions raised by this scenario are:
• C a n the assumed steady state conditions be used as a base-line against
which to measure disturbance and recovery?
• Are nutrient pools significantly depleted by the direct (extraction) or
indirect effects of logging or deforestation?
• D o the nutrient losses from the system affect the growth of forest vegetation or plantations or, more specifically, does the timing of nutrient
release from soils and unburnt vegetation influence the production of
forest regrowth.
• Does erosion, and/or down-slope redistribution of sediment and nutrients affect the heterogeneity of forest regrowth?
• Does forest conversion to plantations change stream water volume and
quality in the long term?
T h e extent to which the response of natural and artificial forests conform
to this general pattern of disturbance and regrowth needs to be considered
for natural forest, after logging/clearing and during regrowth of tree
cover. T h e main elements of research would be the carbon and nutrient
cycles and forest hydrology (Box 6).
Genetics
In the undisturbed forest, populations of each species are genetically
structured in a manner which is presumed to be adaptive to the particular niche occupied. This structure is maintained as an outcome of breeding system interactions between individual trees during each cycle of
59
B O X 6. Three main elements of ecosystem research
Anderson and Spencer (1989, 1991)
identify three main areas to be considered in ecosystem research:
time taken for S O M to recover in secondary forests following deforestation.
CARBON CYCLES
The carbon cycle comprises two major
parts, the above-ground biomass and the
soil organic matter ( S O M ) . A s has been
shown by Doyle (1981) in Puerto Rico
and by Lieberman et al. (198S) in Costa
Rica, in tropical rain forest where the
age structure and spatial distribution of
individual tree species are heterogeneous, biomass is maintained at a relatively constant level. However, in areas
where disturbances b y climate, tectonics, fire or humans are too large and/or
frequent, the capacity of the system to
recover from disturbance m a y be exceeded and then sustainable biomass declines, e.g. under polycyclic logging
practices and with shortening of the fallow period in shifting agriculture.
Soil organic matter includes fractions
of variable turnover rate ranging from
months to thousands of years depending
on its composition and depth. The stability
of S O M pools buffers periodic perturbations to the carbon and nutrient cycles
caused by tree falls, climatic events and,
to a variable extent, large-scale h u m a n disturbance. The dynamics of active, slow
and stabilized S O M pools are critical for
the maintenance of soil fertility after disturbance.
W h e n tree cover is disrupted or
cleared, there is initially a large carbon
input of dead vegetation as well as an unqualified volume of dead root biomass.
Thereafter, carbon mineralization exceeds
gains and the carbon content declines until
vegetation cover is restored. In successional forests, rates of biomass accumulation are extremely heterogeneous because
of species composition and soil properties;
few studies have yet quantified these relationships (Anderson and Spencer 1989,
1991). Similarly, data are lacking on the
NUTRIENTS
The forest floor (litter, roots and S O M )
contains 80% of the nitrogen and phosphorus in the system and the pool size is
large relative to internal cycling and accession or losses of these elements. It
also contains about 70% of the total calcium in the system. Calcium, nitrogen
and phosphorus are all complexed in
S O M and turnover is relatively slow
compared to potassium and magnesium
which are largely conserved in biomass
pools.
In the absence of major disturbances
which disrupt the balance between production and decomposition, forest biomass is generally considered to be supported by more or less 'closed' cycles of
limiting nutrients such as N and P so that
inputs and losses of these elements are
generally small in relation to the internal
pools and fluxes.
Nutrient losses from forests will occur
when there is an excess nutrient mobilization over retention by plants, and soils exchange capacity, and there is a net flux of
water through the system. Factors determining the timing and magnitude of nutrient losses will include the proportion
held in vegetation and soil pools, the extent of vegetation clearance, the fate of tree
residues ( d e c o m p o s e d , burned or
removed), the stability of S O M pools acting as exchange sites, soil acidification by
decomposing residues, etc. The key question is whether these losses exceed the inputs from precipitation and weathering
and deplete the nutrient stock required for
optimum regrowth of natural or plantation
forests. Research is required into the effects on nutrient cycles of different forms
of forest use including slash and burn agriculture, polycylic and monocyclic harvesting systems, conversion to intensive
agroforestry and even extractivism.
60
FOREST HYDROLOGY
Rainfall inputs to tropical forest either
reach the forest floor directly as
throughfall or are intercepted by the canopy. Intercepted moisture is in part
evaporated back into the atmosphere and
in part transmitted to the forest floor, by
either crowndrip or along tree branches
and trunks as stemflow. If rainfall intensity exceeds the soil infiltration capacity, unabsorbed water runs off as infiltration excess overland flow.
However, this is relatively rare as infiltration capacities of forest soils are
generally high as a consequence of good
soil aggregate structure and macropore
channels formed by roots and soil fauna
activities.
Soil erosion is minimal under natural
forests because leaves break up the initial erosive power of rain and subsequent layers of vegetation and litter
protect the soil against splash erosion
from throughfall (Wiersum 1985). The
reduction or removal of forest canopy
reduces interception, throughflow and
stemflow, exposing the forest floor to increased volume and kinetic energy of
storm events. Unabsorbed water runs
over the surface with potential consequences for soil erosion. W h e n surface
cover is removed, raindrop impact destroys surface aggregate structure and
loosens fine soil fractions blocking m a c ropores and increasing soil erodability.
Reduction in canopy cover and litter
cover can therefore result in increased
soil losses with the litter interface between rain and soil the most critical factor (Wiersum 1985).
Clearance of forests by mechanical
methods often leads to a high level of c o m paction. Combined with the effects of soil
exposure, this can result in massive soil
erosion on even gently sloping ground
during tropical storms. E v e n partial
clearing for logging, in the form of roads
and skid tracks, can severely increase erosion hazard by reducing their infiltration
capacity and leading to frequent gully formation alongside.
F e w studies exist on water, sediment
and nutrient redistribution within
tropical forests following disturbance
and recovery. Areas for developing hydrological studies linked to forest m a n agement , m a y include:
Surface hydrology
* Organic matter (seeds?), nutrient (including throughflow) and sediment
movement d o w n slope and implications for vegetation regrowth on runoff and run-on areas with particular reference toriparianstrips;
* Processes of splash and sheet erosion
after canopy removal and regrowth.
Soil type, litter/SOM dynamics, vegetation height and stratification, and leaf
morphology are important factors
which can be applied in soil conservation or rehabilitation practices;
Subsurface hydrology
* Lead/lag relationships between the
time of peak discharge and variations
in solute concentration in streamwater,
estimation of the relative contributions
of quickflow and baseflow, and the
evaluation of the relative importance of
the different subsurface pathways;
* The linkages between saturated areas
and S O M processes on hillslopes;
Hydrological modelling
* Conceptual models need to be developed for tropical environments
which predict storage volumes and
residence times of water in the
different parts of the hydrological
system from data on inputs, outputs
and storage parameters. Such models
hold out the promise of predicting
drainage basin response to clearance
from readily measurable catchment
characteristics.
See Bruijnzeel (1990) for a recent critical review of the current state of knowledge of the
hydrology of tropical forest before and after various kinds of disturbance.
61
sexual reproduction. Logging alters the spatial distribution and age class
structure of trees in the forest, and hence the effective size of inter-breeding populations. It is a reasonable hypothesis that this will affect the patterns of effective pollen dispersal and hence genetic structure of subsequent generations. At the limits of dispersal, this is quite obvious - a
single remaining isolated tree of a self-incompatible species, or a remnant stand consisting solely of functionally male trees, will fail to regenerate at all. However, w e have very little information on the extent to which
populations are buffered against less extreme levels of disturbance. This
is of practical importance in the definition of logging rules, including the
numbers and age classes of trees taken, which will permit long-term sustainability.
In order to determine the genetic consequences of logging in rain
forests, it is necessary to obtain m u c h more information o n pollination
and breeding systems, gene flow, fecundities and the genetic structure of
seed crops, and the genetic variability within and between populations of
the constituent tree species. The diversity of tropical rain forest trees is
too great to attempt a systematic study of the reproductive ecology of all
species. It is therefore suggested (House and Griffin 1989) that species
be classified according to a limited set of characteristics pertaining to the
breeding system and that this classification, in conjunction with consideration of their relative economic importance, would be used to define a set
of, perhaps, 5-10 species for detailed study.
T h e research programme, as proposed by House and Griffin (1989),
would entail three major stages:
• For a selected group of species, process studies including descriptions
of phenologies, mating systems, pollen and fruit dispersal, gene flow
and fecundities, before and after logging operations.
• Determination of the consequences of logging on the genetic structure
of seed crops and residual breeding populations.
• Establishment of models based o n information from process and
genetic structure studies to predict the effects of alternative timber
harvesting strategies. Although the systems described are complex, it
should, in principle, be possible to develop models relating breeding
system processes to the genetic population structure of subsequent
generations. A particular aim would be to predict the sensitivity of
genetic structure to differing levels of perturbation of the natural
breeding system.
62
These studies would be carried out within the framework of a series of
logging experiments as outlined later in this section. It would be important to ensure that all descriptions and experiments are based on population samples, not individual trees, and include studies before and after
experimental harvesting operations. Genetics researchers should thus be
involved in planning the experimental harvests, particularly in relation
to plot size and residual stocking. S o m e of the implications of the genetic
structure of populations of rain forest tree species for sustained forest
management are outlined in B o x 7.
Socio-economic factors
A s mentioned earlier in this digest, sustainable use of tropical rain forests
is not merely a matter of applying the correct extraction techniques and
cutting cycles. There is a wealth of political, social and economic factors
that must be taken into account to ensure the successful long-term m a n agement of an area of rain forest. M a n y of these are determined at the national or even international level and m a y appear to be beyond the scope
of a limited research initiative. However, their influence on diverse aspects of tropical forest management is so far-reaching that it would be
foolhardy to ignore them in any attempt to implement a strategy of sustainable forest use.
At an international level, a dominating force is the need for states to
earn foreign exchange, particularly in the case of m a n y developing countries that are suffering under increasingly heavy debt repayment burdens.
Loans are often accompanied by certain conditions aimed at the restructuring of national economies. While these m a y be sound in narrowly
defined economic terms, they often have detrimental repercussions on
the environment, e.g. insistence on increased cash-crop production m a y
lead to greater clearing of forests to provide the necessary land for largescale agriculture or for food production by small farmers. This said, funding agencies are becoming increasingly aware of their environmental responsibilities and have begun to search for other mechanisms for debt
relief, such as debt-for-nature swaps.
At the same time, public pressure has led some producer countries,
such as Thailand, to ban completely the logging of timber or to place
restrictions on the export of unprocessed logs or on those of certain
species. Certain importing nations, acting under similar public pressure,
63
B O X 7. The significance of the genetic structure
of populations of rain forest tree species for the
development of sustained forest management
House and Griffin (1989) have identified three areas in which an understanding of the genetic structure of rain
forest tree species is of particular importance for the development of a system of sustainable management.
quential flowering and sharing the
same pollinators.
Genetic variation m a y diminish over
time with consequent reduction in
ecological amplitude. Rare establishment opportunities m a y be
missed (due to absent genotypes),
further reducing population densities.
Depending upon the heritability of
traits of commercial importance and
the type of selection practised,
selective logging operations m a y degrade crop quality over successive
generations.
1. Timber harvesting
Sustained tropical rain forest management which includes timber production
would primarily affect gene flow in the
harvested species by changing population densities and genetic structures,
with some or all of the following predicted effects:
• Reduced levels of gene flow between
individuals and sub-populations m a y
increase genetic differentiation between groups, and thus modify their
ability to respond to varying selection pressures.
• Reduced levels of gene flow m a y increase the chance of maintaining
novel alleles (Antonovics, 1968),
leading to further differentiation
from other populations.
• The removal of closely related neighbours m a y increase the level of outcrossing in seed crops in species
where pollen flow is not restricted.
• Reduced availability of compatible
pollen m a y have a significant effect
on the size of the seed crop.
• Creation of canopy gaps through harvesting could alter the phenological
rhythms and fecundities of other
species, with implications for species
composition.
• Forestry operations m a y cause reductions in some, relatively specialized
pollinator population densities with
repercussions on several, non-harvested tree species exhibiting se-
2. Seed tree selection for the
establishment of plantations
The quantities and genotypes of seed
progeny in any one canopy are determined
by the mating system, proximity and relatedness of breeding partners and the intensity of flowering. It is essential to ensure that sufficient high quality seed
remains on site for regeneration after logging. Since there is evidence that the yield
of tree plantations can be reduced by inbreeding depression (e.g. Griffin 1990), an
understanding of the processes which
determine the mating system is particularly important if seed collected from the
natural forest is to be used for establishing
plantations.
3. Harvesting fruit and medicinal
products from native forests
A n improved knowledge of population
flowering and fruiting phenologies
would assist in determining the most effective frequency and intensity of
harvesting.
64
are considering enforcing complete bans on the import of tropical timber.
The effects that such policies m a y have in other countries have not yet
been adequately documented to permit governments to consider fully the
international implications of their actions.
Governments of countries with (originally) large forest resources were
able to capitalize these resources quickly and with little investment required on their part, by selling concessions for logging, cattle-ranching
or cash-crop production. While today they cannot fail to be aware of the
fact that their forests represent a finite resource, they often have no satisfactory management alternatives available to them that could provide a
similar level of short-term revenue. In addition, m a n y countries have no
realistic idea of the exact value their forests represent. They have no detailed forest inventories (though remote sensing technology should increasingly facilitate large-scale surveys), and even where such inventories exist, both timber and non-timber forest products are the subject of
inadequate economic valuation methods.
A s Repetto and Gillis (1988) have emphasized, m a n y governments,
committed in principle to conservation and wise resource use, have a negative impact on the forests under their stewardship through policies that
inadvertently or intentionally aggravate losses. Repetto and Gillis identify a number of government policies, generally adopted for worthy objectives (industrial or agricultural growth, regional development, job creation or poverty alleviation), which have resulted in economic and fiscal
losses while contributing to the depletion of forest resources. These include forestry policies (e.g. harvesting fees, royalties, logging concessions, administration of timber concessions with private loggers), tax and
trade regimes, industrialization incentives, laws governing land tenure,
and agricultural resettlement and development policies.
Government environment departments are often w e a k and do not have
the means to enforce even the most worthwhile policies. In addition, lack
of coordination within and between different government sectors m a y result in damage to forests, e.g. transmigration to reduce populations in
areas of high concentration or the building of n e w communication routes
m a y lead to rapid deforestation. M a n y other factors m a y shape government policies and affect their attitude towards their forest resources.
These include the existence of indigenous populations with no legal right
to the land, or opposition groups turning forest areas into sensitive
security zones.
65
At a regional or local level, policies also need to be examined for their
potential to promote or counteract sustainable management of tropical
forests. D u e to the difficulty of economically valueing non-timber forest
products, it is often not obvious just h o w important a role forests m a y
play in maintaining the local economy, e.g. in the provision of clean water
for towns, or food and other subsistence goods for local people. Poaching and the concomitant corruption of local officials m a y also play an important part in determining regional policies.
At the level of the inhabitants of the forest, more research is needed to
determine h o w they and their traditional land use practices are affected
by different forms of rain forest management, e.g. alternative logging
practices, introduction of plantations, promotion of tourism or conversion
of cleared areas to intensive agroforestry. Conservation and research must
be seen to be part and parcel of development rather than acting in contradiction to it. Therefore, where appropriate, the impact of research and
conservation programmes on the provision of health care, education and
jobs for the local comunity should be actively considered during the planning and implementation phases. This also emphasizes the need to assess
the local population's perception of its needs and desired 'progress
avenues' in order to orient subsequent research in the most useful direction.
In designing sustainable resource exploitation systems (e.g. extractive
reserves), a major factor determining their success is often the co-operative capacity of the local community - their ability to design and follow
management plans, to organize collective small-scale processing and to
carry out primary marketing. Research is needed to help communities
overcome these problems and enable them to derive the greatest benefit
from any land awarded to them under legal tenure.
Designing sustainable wood harvesting systems
from tropical rain forest
There are few countries in the world's tropics which can afford to lock
up a significant percentage of their forest in inviolate reserves. Even if
all other factors were favourable, the costs of establishing compensatory
plantations for w o o d supplies would be prohibitive. Plantations also bring
with them their o w n set of environmental and socio-economic problems.
66
Rain forest conservation in m a n y cases, is therefore probably totally dependent on the development of sustained yield management strategies.
While sustained yield management techniques must be enhanced to
allowflexibilityin harvesting the wide range of resources available (e.g.
timber, building materials, horticultural plants, traditional medicines,
g a m e , quality water, plant and animal conservation), w o o d will probably
continue to be the most important forest resource to be exploited. Unfortunately, some c o m m o n forms of w o o d harvesting create unacceptable
environmental and socio-economic problems. These can include,
amongst others, soil compaction, erosion hazard, extensive damage to
vegetation around harvested trees, opening of forest areas to shifting cultivation and displacement of indigenous populations.
Past silvicultural systems in tropical rain forests (including the more
complex types of w a r m subtropical rain forests) have been described as
either:
Polycyclic i.e. several logging interventions within one lifetime of a
typical harvested tree; intermittent removal of selected trees, ideally resulting in scattered, relatively small gaps in the forest canopy, thus perpetuating shade-tolerant and slow growing species; or
Monocyclic i.e. logging only once in a "rotation" or lifetime of a typical harvested tree; involves removal of all saleable trees in one operation,
resulting in extensive opening of the canopy; thus favouring light-demanding and fast-growing pioneer species (e.g. Malayan Uniform Silvicultural System).
Given the m a n y undesirable side-effects that m a y result from large-scale
clear-felling (see B o x 8), it seems inappropriate for natural forests designated to be managed on a sustained yield basis. Fortunately the majority
of exploited tropical forests are not clear-felled but lightly logged. Nevertheless, insufficient supervision of light logging can have m a n y of the
same negative effects as clear-felling. Soil compaction and excessive
damage to the residual stand are perhaps the major direct negative effects
of unsupervised logging. Indirectly there are also m a n y problems resulting from the cutting of roads into forests, opening the w a y for encroachment by landless farmers.
M u c h of the w o o d which could be produced from tropical forests is of
high value and because the extent of the resource is limited, its value
would seem set to increase. Clearly, less damaging ways must be found
to harvest the resources, which provide a major part of m a n y countries'
67
B O X 8. S o m e implications of clear-felling
in Papua N e w Guinea
S o m e implications of post clear-fell
forest development for forest management in Papua N e w Guinea have been
outlined by Saulei and L a m b (1991) as
follows:
Large-scale clear-felling
of tropical rain forest reduces
management flexibility
Even assuming that the apparent favourable rates of structural and floristic recovery continue, it is clear that
m a n y years must elapse before these regrowth forests will yield another harvestable crop. W h e r e land shortage is a
problem, the long recovery period
might be unacceptable, particularly if
the natural forest resource is not large
enough to sustain a timber industry for
the length of the recovery period.
Successive pulpwood rotations
m a y be Impractical
If the recovery time for sawlog production is too long, a second pulpwood
logging could be undertaken, perhaps
at the economic cycle of 30 years.
However, quite apart from having a
lower proportion of primary forest
species in any resulting w o o d chip mix,
and hence having a lower pulp yield,
the option to go for a second pulpwood
logging m a y result in heavy nutrient
loss, reduction in floristic composition
of further regrowths and increased erosion from the site. The consequence of
this would most likely be that the forest
soils could not sustain any further rotations for long. Thus large areas m a y be
converted to degraded grasslands, as
has happened already in the past due to
frequent periodic burning.
There is considerable scope
for Improving the rate of recovery
of the forest and Its floristic
composition after logging
The foremost problem to tackle, insofar
as clear-fell logging is concerned, is to
m a k e a number of changes or modifications to the present logging practices.
Firstly, the use of caterpillars in logging
operations should be stopped and these
replaced by skidders with rubber tyres.
Further, the numbers of bulldozers and
skidders involved in hauling logs from
the forest should be reduced such that
only a few bulldozers are used in salvaging operations. At the same time the area
of operations should also be reduced.
This would ensure minimal disturbance
of surface soils and litter, and hence ensure high soil seed bank density as well
as reducing soil compaction. W h e r e
soils are compacted, these should be
ripped up following the completion of
logging operations to allow free drainage and assist recovery rates. Secondly,
the timing of harvesting, during either
the wet or dry season, should be cued to
the time at which canopy trees shed their
fruits to enable their propagules to germinate and establish in the cleared area.
Thirdly, the size of logging areas should
be reduced, leaving more scattered residual trees, especially those used as
fruit trees, others of traditional importance and those of non-economic use, to
act as focal points which potential seed
dispersera could use either for roosting
or as dispersal points (see also W e b b
1977). This would not only improve the
structural diversity of logged areas, but
also benefit birds. Fourthly, under clearfell logging, attempts should be m a d e to
reduce damage to felled tree trunks,
stems and roots so as to encourage more
coppicing.
68
export earnings, in such a way that they continue to do so into the distant
future and are not exhausted in the next few generations.
A n alternative to clear-felling and traditional commercial logging
could be the introduction of portable sawmills which allow logs to be
sawn at or near the stump. K n o w n locally as "wokabout somils", they are
being tested in Papua N e w Guinea, where they m a y be particularly appropriate given the prevailing land and forest tenure systems (Sargent and
Burgess 1988). They seem environmentally more desirable as extraction
damage and road building are minimized. They would be especially suitable for operation by family groups, expecially groups of forest owners.
A forest owning family could begin by purchasing a portable sawmill and
a chainsaw at a cost of a few thousand U S dollars. A s the business developed, it could be expanded by the addition of a small winch, four wheel
drive tractor and trailer. While such "wokabout somils" would be incapable of feeding major urban-based forest industries, they could be excellent for recovering m u c h of the timber contained in the damaged
residues left by under-supervised commercial loggers. Such two-stage
logging operations have been applied successfully in Uganda (J. Palmer,
pers. c o m m . ) .
However, the existence of a large number of small-scale forest m a n a gers/processors would have some important political, social and economic consequences which would need to be examined closely. Amongst
other things, governments would be encouraged to re-examine their o w n
role in forest management. Provision of extension services would be
vital, particularly in thefieldsof resource assessment, silviculture, road
construction, sawing techniques, marketing and business management.
A comparative research design might entail comparison of two techniques of removing timber from the forest. Thefirsttechnique might be
that commonly employed by large timber companies using crawler tractors to extract logs to ridge-top roads; and the second a technique that can
be operated by villagers using small mills that can be moved to the stump
by hand combined with portable winches and wheeled tractors to remove
the timber.
A major difference between the impacts of the two extraction techniques might be in the degree of soil disturbance and compaction
produced. A s recommended by Stocker (1989), the experimentalists
would have to buy the loggingrightsbeforehand, hire the equipment and
control every aspect of the logging undertaken. Otherwise the probability
of failure would be high, as previous attempts have shown. However,
69
making either of these techniques replicate what would actually happen
under commercial practice supervised by a government forestry service
might require some discussion.
Other extraction methods could also be investigated, such as the use of
animals (mules and buffalo are already used in some countries) to drag
out logs or various yarding systems. However, while the latter are appropriate for certain types of terrain and particularly for clear felling, they
still cause an unwarranted amount of damage for selective logging systems. T h e development of completely new technologies could also be
considered; for example, IllarMuul (pers. c o m m . ) has proposed development of a new aerial extraction technique that would cause a m i n i m u m of
damage to adjacent vegetation and would require only a moderate energy
supply.
Non-wood forest products
Domestication
There is a wide range of opportunities for utilizing tropical rain forest
areas for wildlife ranching or wildlife domestication using local or imported (exotic) species. A few examples will be mentioned here, just to
give an idea of the possibilities. O n e species of possible interest for domestication is the iguana. If reared in captivity and released into the wild
as yearlings, iguanas can produce at least as m u c h high-protein, good tasting meat per hectare as cattle (Gruson 1989). Iguanas have been hunted
in Latin America for thousands of years, but are n o w , due to deforestation, getting scarce in m a n y areas. Ranching iguanas would not only produce meat, it would also serve as a powerful incentive for local c o m munities to keep forest areas intact, since iguanas feed on, and live in or
under the trees. This example shows that farmers can, instead of changing the environment by cutting d o w n the forest to suit the needs of livestock, select animals, such as iguanas, that complement the natural vegetation. A number of schemes are underway along these lines in Brazil,
Costa Rica and Venezuela to domesticate various forest species such as
the agouti, paca and capybara (J. Palmer, pers. c o m m . ) .
70
The international trade in butterflies is estimated to be approximately
U S $ 20 million per year. Several hundred villages in Papua N e w Guinea
are actually rearing or collecting butterflies, beatles, and other insects for
export (National Research Council 1983). T h e Papua N e w Guinea
government treats insects as a national resource. It has m a d e butterfly
fanning part of the nation's village economic development programme
and has created an Insect Farming and Trading Agency (IFTA). Using
similar concepts of combining village income and conservation, the
Papua N e w Guinea Division of Wildlife has also started farming crocodiles, wallabies, rusa deer, and two native birds, the megapode and the
cassowary.
There are m a n y semi-domesticated fruit and nut species around the
world. In Malaysia the aborigines (Orang Asli) use a wild chestnut (Castanopsis), which is highly nutritious and could easily be domesticated.
A m o n g animals, the mouse deer (Tragulus), which weighs one to two kilograms, grows rapidly and has tasty meat, is an ideal animal for domestication. Because it is considered a gourmet food item, it is illegally
hunted despite its totally protected legal status. Domestication would take
the pressure off wild populations and would provide local people with
needed protein and income from marketing the excess meat.
The Malaysian government is supporting domestication schemes of the
gaur, a large species of forest cattle (Bos gaurus). Currently, Malaysia
imports about 50% of its beef requirements. Attempts at raising exotic
breeds of beef cattle have not been very successful because of the difficulty in maintaining adequate pasture. Native vegetation quickly overgrows planted grass. O n e of the advantages of the gaur is that it subsists
on browse of native vegetation. It is also resistant to native diseases and
parasites, grows faster than domestic cattle, and yields a higher proportion of the expensive cuts of meat (porterhouse, "T" bone) because of its
elongated row of vertebrae that form the sagital crest (Muul 1989a).
Ecotourlsm
Nature tourism is one among very few management alternatives that actually seeks to preserve forests in their natural state, and at the same time
gives the country important revenues in foreign currencies and provides
employment for local labour. The value of national parks and reserves
measured in terms of tourism revenue can be especially high and will
71
probably be even higher in the future, as there seems to be a growing international demand for genuine nature experiences and adventures. This
is a result of growing urban populations, higher incomes and more freetime in the industrial world, combined perhaps with the shrinking supply
of rain forest areas. A n example is provided by Costa Rica, where in 1986
tourism (mainly nature tourism) was the number three foreign exchange
earner (US$ 138 million). Ecological rain forest tourism is increasing markedly also in Brazil where tourism has created local lobbies in favour of
protecting the A m a z o n . The number of foreign tourists arriving in M a naus (Amazonas State) increased from 12,000 in 1983 to 70,000 in 1988.
In the 1990s, tourism is expected to become the largest source of income
in Amazonas State (Brooke 1989).
Kenya is perhaps the most famous example of a country where the government depends heavily on nature tourism revenues. In the last few
years, due to falling coffee prices, and a 50 percent increase in tourists
since 1984, tourism jumped ahead of coffee and tea to become the largest
source of foreign exchange. O f the nation's 694,000 foreign visitors in
1988, about 534.000 were tourists bound for the g a m e parks and the coastal resorts. It would seem, therefore, to be a worthwhile investment to further study h o w international nature tourism could be given a higher profile
by national tropical forest managers, and h o w tourist activities could be
designed to minimize potential negative impacts.
Since most of the animal and plant life is concentrated in the canopy
of the tropical rain forest, observation can be difficult. O n e promising
w a y to increase the possibilities for interesting observations is to install
canopy transect walkway systems. Such systems are being used successfully in Malaysia, attracting visitors from all over the world (Muul
1989a). T h e walkway system consists of suspended bridges connecting
the crowns of the emergent canopy trees. Platforms in the crowns are used
for observation purposes. O n e section of the walkway connects the system to a hillside adjacent to the study area. This allows access to the canopy without the need to climb a ladder to reach the walkway system.
Tourism brings foreign exchange into a country and also provides an
income for the local inhabitants w h o provide guides and other services.
Tourism can also elevate local and international awareness of the uniqueness and the great diversity of the tropical rain forests and their aesthetic
and economic value while providing one w a y in which the industrial
world citizen can share in the cost of tropical forest management.
72
Agroforestry
M o r e and more studies emphasize the need to learn from indigenous
populations h o w to understand and manage the diversity inherent in tropical rain forest ecosystems, and to integrate this knowledge with western
scientific experience. Posey (1987) describes, for example, that indigenous agricultural soils (managed by Kayapo people in the southern part of
the state of Para in Brazil), actually improve in p H and in major nutrients
over the 20-year management cycle forfields,often to such a degree that
w h e n compared with soil fertility data from other nearby areas, the success of indigenous soils management is "shockingly impressive". T h e
problem with indigenous subsistence management schemes is, however,
that few countries are prepared to maintain a society restricted to subsistence existence. It will therefore, in m a n y cases, be necessary to develop
n e w systems that build on both local knowledge as well as forestry and
agricultural techniques developed elsewhere, both in the tropics and in
the industrial world.
O n e such system is agroforestry. Agroforestry is a collective n a m e for
land-use systems and technologies in which woody perennials (trees,
shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately combined on the same
management unit with herbaceous crops and/or animals, either in some
form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry systems there are both ecological and economic interactions among the different components (Lundgren 1982). Agroforestry is not a new technology. It has often been used traditionally in different ways in m a n y parts
of the world. Farmers have, however, often chosen (or been forced) to
abandon such forest use because of the existence of inappropriate land or
forest tenure systems. O n e of the major obstacles to the implementation
of sustainable agriculture techniques for rising populations near forests
is often the difference between traditional land tenure and modern statute
law.
Traditional agroforestry knowledge combined with modern agricultural and forestry techniques is often stated to be one of the most exciting
ways of achieving successful tropical rain forest management. Agroforestry m a y be particularly appropriate where forest dwelling populations
are expected to grow well above past growth rates or where their forest
area is likely to become reduced. In such cases, additional research is
needed to enable a progressive change in land use from traditional shifting cultivation or extractive forests to more intensive agroforests to take
73
place. If current efforts to develop agroforestry technology are to have
any hope of meeting even a reasonable proportion of current expectations,
it must be done with a m u c h stronger emphasis on the h u m a n context of
supposed management improvements, than is the case at present (Raintree 1986).
Extractive reserves
T h e concept of extractive reserves in large part originated from the crucial role of a rain forest resource - rubber - in the lives of hundreds of
thousands of rural families in Amazonia (Allegretti 1989). This role is
likely to change in the future as the long-term prospects of wild rubber in
the Brazilian economy are not good. Rather than crystallizing current patterns of resource exploitation, the establishment of extractive reserves,
therefore, aims to alter current income levels derived from rubber and
promote exploitation of other rain forest products.
Extractive reserves, of which several have n o w been legally established by the Brazilian Government, are state-designated areas given over
to management by the local rubber tappers. In m a n y aspects, the concept
of extractive reserves represents a radical departure from the way in
which regional development has been planned in Amazonia. In contrast
to colonization projects, extractive reserves already contain people and
do not require the relocation of settlers w h o are unfamiliar with local conditions. Because a knowledgeable population is already present, development within extractive reserves will require the active participation of
local residents. Ongoing discussions between communities of rubber tappers and scientists have led to the consensus that extractive reserves
should not be established merely to preserve traditional economic activities, but rather to permit these activities to evolve. N e w forms of resource use can be generated by the interplay between scientists and local
residents, but always within the overriding prerogatives of conservation.
Finally, the legal recognition of property rights proposed for extractive
reserves follows traditional patterns of land-use and social organization.
T o be economically successful, extractive reserves will require smallscale processing plants and cooperatives for rubber production and sale.
In addition, other forest products will need to be systematically exploited.
Finally, alternative national and international markets must be found for
74
direct sale of a wider variety of goods that can be produced within the
reserves.
Allegretti (1989) identifies several possible impacts of the establishment of extractive reserves on regional development:
• Minimization of migration. Establishment of extractive reserves
could minimize regional migration to urban centres by offering n e w
opportunities for employment and improving the general quality of life
for the rural population.
• Likelihood of success. The chances for success of extractive reserves
are likely to be far greater than programmes designed from the top
d o w n by governmental agencies. This is especially the case in areas
currently contemplated for establishment of extractive reserves:
grassroots organizations have sprung up in these areas with virtually
no government support.
• L o w protection costs. Extractive reserves probably represent one of
the most economically viable forms of environmental protection, as
they contain a residential population with an intimate knowledge of
local resources and directly involved in their preservation.
The concept of extractive reserves is one that merits extension to other
tropical forest areas outside the A m a z o n where rubber m a y not be the
main product, but rather timber or a variety of non-wood products.
Wildlife
C r o m e (1989) suggests that wildlife could be studied from three points
of view:firstlyin its o w n right as a conservation target, second as an integral part of rain forest processes and third, as an economic and possibly socially important product from the forest.
1. Wildlife as conservation targets
O n e of the problems with wildlife is that it suffers in m a n y indirect ways
from forest exploitation, the most significant being increased hunting
pressure as access to forest areas is m a d e easier. Both direct and indirect
effects must be examined. Though there have been some studies of the
effects of logging on wildlife, none appear to have been integrated into
multidisciplinary logging studies.
Faunal surveys of existing virgin and logged areas, successional areas
and non-forest habitats are important to identify which species have
75
survived in the already disturbed system and what the limits to their survival are, to provide information on species not covered by the experiments, and to assess whether, overall, the exploited forest maintains adequate wildlife over a large area. Such survey data m a y already exist or
m a y be obtainable by amassing the natural history lore of the local people,
and the naturalists, scientists and managers of the particular country.
S o m e species m a y be chosen for specific studies in their o w n right, for
their conservation interest, or due to their economic importance for local
people or as part of the wildlife trade.
2. Wildlife and the conservation of processes
It would be desirable to be able to say h o w processes were being affected
by directly measuring inputs and outputs to the particular processes, e.g.
the numbers of seeds dispersed, flowers pollinated, etc. However, such
work requires intensive, detailed studies at a small site, perhaps on only
one or two trees and is unlikely to produce within the time allotted the
general results that would be required to assess the ecological sustainability of a particular management treatment. Therefore the wildlife contribution to the measurement of disruption to or the health of a process
m a y better be determined in terms of the changes in abundance or the
variability of the abundance of the ecological groups involved in the process (e.g. pollinators, dispersers).
3. The economics of wildlife
Emphasis needs to be given to the economic resource that wildlife represents as well as to its conservation. The value of wildlife is usually m i nimized in relation to timber production yet it m a y represent a great value
and this recognition m a y be a further boost to conservation. Wildlife m a y
be valuable to the local inhabitants as food, cultural objects and a source
of revenue, to the country as a whole as an important tourist attraction
and also as valuable export items. Infield (1989) found that in the villages
in and around Korup National Park in Cameroon earnings from hunting
and trapping (both illegal) contribute about half a village's total cash inc o m e . Infield argues for a formal agreement on hunting, with controls in
place (e.g. permitting hunting of the relatively c o m m o n blue and bay duikers while banning that of the endangered drill and red colobus), to allow
villagers to earn a substantial and sustainable income from hunting while
also helping to maintain healthy populations of wild animals and the
forest in which they live.
76
Rehabilitation of degraded forest lands
A n y research into the sustainable management of tropical rain forests
should also investigate the problem of degraded forest lands. Malingreau
and Tucker (1988), in a remote sensing study of Brazil's southeastern
A m a z o n basin, found that while about 90,000 k m had been cleared by
September 1985, an area of 266,000 k m had been damaged (i.e. three
times that amount). A s populations increase, the proportion of degraded
land is likely torise,and in areas of severe land shortage, its management
will become a matter of significant concern. In India, one-third of land
has already been classed as "waste" land. However degraded lands have
received very little attention, compared with natural systems, and there
is n o w a growing need for improved scientific understanding on which
the effective management of degraded systems can be based. A s an acknowledgement of the importance of this subject, the second of M A B ' s
four n e w orientations is entitled 'Management and restoration of h u m a n impacted resources' (Schreckenberg et al. 1990).
Rehabilitation is used here as the generic term to describe a management strategy designed to arrest the degradation of landscapes and to
m a k e them more useful. Restoration and redevelopment are regarded as
tactics of rehabilitation efforts. Restoration aims to reinstate entire c o m munities of organisms closely modelled on those occurring naturally,
while redevelopment is a more utilitarian concept, aiming to halt degradation, achieve sustainability and optimize the use of a site, primarily for
humankind, without being constrained by the need to attempt to recreate
the original ecosystem.
For any form of rehabilitation, the precise definition of goals is a vital
first step in order to choose the most appropriate method. The socio-economic conditions having produced the degradation in thefirstplace must
be taken into account as must the limited amounts of time, m o n e y and
scientific resources available to remedy the situation. Modelling is a very
important tool to enable scientists to overcome the timelag between initial pollution or degradation activities, the apparition of their effects and
the mobilization of decision-makers to remedy the situation.
The choice of methods for rehabilitation can be broadly reduced to a
passive 'letting nature get on with it' attitude or a more active form of intervention. T h e division is clearly artificial as there are m a n y ways in
which small interventions can be undertaken to speed up or facilitate
natural processes..
77
Natural processes:
L u g o (1988) argues that natural succession is the best and fastest restoration procedure available for those rain forest environments where d a m age to soil and the biota has not been irreversible. Natural succession will
be fastest where h u m a n damage to the ecosystem is lowest, given that
there are no other limiting factors such as the environment being too dry,
too wet, too cold or suffering from low fertility. In the case of the latter,
the manager will need to decide whether or not to attempt to accelerate
the natural recovery process (Lugo, in press).
Intervention:
L u g o (in press) distinguishes four types of rehabilitation activities: (i) reducing environmental stressors (e.g. controllingfire,grazing or overcutting), (ii) adding materials (e.g. planting or seeding species, adding water
or fertilizers), (iii) accelerating or decelerating ecosystem processes (e.g.
accelerating seed input by attracting seed vectors such as bats and birds),
and (iv) changing site conditions (e.g. changing drainage and topography
or reducing light input by shading).
Research needs can focus on two areas; h o w to avoid degradation in
thefirstplace and h o w to rehabilitate already degraded lands. In the first
case, research is needed, for example, into less ecologically damaging
means of extracting timber, and to determine the exact effects of disturbance at different scales (in terms of area, frequency and intensity) on the
various ecosystem processes required to maintain a tropical rain forest.
In the second case, more emphasis is needed on describing alternative
methods for rehabilitation, whether by plantations of exotics, reseeding
of native species or redevelopment of an area to intensive agroforestry.
Not enough information is available about the ecological requirements of
m a n y rain forest trees for successful establishment, their potential for
rehabilitating degraded sites, the contents of the soil seed bank and the
activities of seed dispersers.
78
ORGANIZATION
Time frame and research arrangements
It is hoped that the sorts of approaches outlined in this digest m a y be of
interest to a broad community of researchers and managers concerned
with the sustainable development of tropical forest landscapes, and working in a variety of institutional settings. F r o m the U N E S C O - M A B side,
the intention is to seek to put some of these approaches to the test, through
a six-year operation from January 1990 to December 1995. Though some
field activities will continue after that time (particularly in terms of d e m onstration efforts), it is anticipated that each of the contributingfieldactivities will have concrete achievements to demonstrate by the end of that
period. Indeed, in some cases, it is hoped that a contribution can be m a d e
to schemes that will be economically self-supporting, or near self-supporting, within a 4-6 year period.
Three principal types of research instruments or arrangements have been
developed within M A B : pilot projects, long-term research in biosphere
reserves and comparative studies. The multi-component, multi-faceted
types offieldactivity proposed in this document correspond to the pilot project category of research instrument within M A B . In addition to setting up
4-10 pilot projects on the theme of the ecological and economic sustainability of rain forest management, it is possible that some of the sorts of research topics outlined earlier might also be undertaken and promoted as part
of long-term research and buffer zone development in biosphere reserves
(another of the principal research instruments within M A B ) . Other topics,
such as those relating to ecosystem processes, might be promoted through
79
a third type of research arrangement within M A B - that of comparative
studies in relatively finely focused technical fields.
Contributing field projects
During 1990-1991, informal discussions and contacts are envisaged for
gauging interest of institutions to take part in the overall project, particularly with a view to providing technical and financial support to research efforts at specific sites as well as to the overall project. S o m e indications of
such interest had been manifested by the time of the research planning workshop in September 1989. It is expected that other concrete expressions of interest will be triggered through the process of distribution and review of the
present document in draft and final form. Four examples are given in the following paragraphs, by w a y of illustrating some of the sorts of project proposal that have been put forward so far for exploring the central hypothesis
stated earlier in the report - namely, that it is possible to determine and d e m onstrate ways of using tropical rain forests in ways that are both ecologically
and socially sustainable and at the same time are also economically viable.
Brazilian Amazon. Research is being carried out by the National Institute for
Amazonian Research (INPA) on the topic of 'extractivism'. S o m e of the
studies are socio-economic in nature, investigating the importance of different extractive products in family, village and town-level economies and
examining the history of extractive production systems. Other studies concentrate more on the ecology of certain 'extractive' species, their phenology,
their harvesting and regeneration potential and the variability in product
quality. Overall, these studies should provide a better basis for discussion
and planning concerning the possible expansion or adaptation of extractive
production systems as a means of maintaining tropical forest in as nearly a
natural state as possible, while providing local people with an improved
standard of living.
Eastern Malaysia. At Kinabalu National Park in Sabah, and in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, southern China, an N G O (Integrated Conservation Research
Corporation) is working together with government authorities to promote
several components of a critical mass strategy. These include: development
of natural history tourism with canopy walkways being constructed as the
main attraction and local people trained as guides; protein-production
80
through the proposed breeding of mouse deer and gaur cattle; ethnobiological surveys and testing of species used in traditional medicine; initiation of
a programme of public health with focus on malaria control; development
of n e w logging strategies to avoid waste of timber and damage to the remaining stands; protection of endangered species through domestication and
captive breeding; reclamation of deforested lands.
Madagascar. Four sites are included in a project supported by U N E S C O ,
U N D P and Germany to demonstrate integrated conservation of biodiversity
and development of local communities. Management plans are being prepared for each site taking into account the needs of the local populations and
realizing, to the greatest extent possible, the potential of the sites' very
diverse flora and fauna. The emphasis is on providing local communities
with sustainable land use alternatives within the framework of a programme
of integrated rural development. Ecological research is carried out in parallel with development activities identified together with the local c o m munities. In some of the sites, the development of natural history tourism
has great potential and in all cases a heavy emphasis will be placed on environmental awareness raising activities for the local populations and visitors. Activities have progressed furthest in the Mañanara Nord Biosphere
Reserve and are taking shape in the Bemaraha World Heritage site,
Ankarafantsika and Andasibe.
Papua N e w Guinea. A s an integral part of the National Forest Action Plan, a
large-scalefive-yearresearch project is being planned to underpin forest development activities. A n initial task will be to reach an accepted definition
of indicators of ecologically, economically and socially sustainable forest
use in the national context. This definition should help to orient other parts
of the research programme which will include: studies on the impact of both
existing commercial timber harvesting and alternative logging systems on
the factors governing sustainability of forest production in P N G ; growth and
yield studies in previously logged forest; and research into the conservation
requirements for sustainable timber harvesting in P N G .
Funding and servicing
There exists no substantial central pot of m o n e y for the funding offieldoperations, and it would scarcely be realistic to expect that such a central source
81
of funding would become available. Rather, the main approach is to encourage lead institutions and host countries to include particularfieldprojects in
their o w n scientific and sectoral development plans, and then to seek financial and technical cooperation through national, bilateral and multilateral
channels to which they have access and recourse. In some cases, "twinning
arrangements" can be envisaged, with a given tropical country co-operating
with one or more industrialized countries for a particularfieldoperation.
Thus, the bulk of thefinancialand other resources for a givenfieldoperation is handled on a country-to-country basis, or through arrangements between a given country and a multilateral funding source. U N E S C O can fulfill an active brokering role in developing such linkages, whenever asked
to do so. In addition U N E S C O will seek financial support for core servicing of the project (including provision for pump-priming support to field
projects, inter-site planning meetings, technical workshops, training courses, modelling activities, etc.), supplementing the limited funds that m a y be
m a d e available for such purposes from its o w n regular programme budget.
At each site, a small steering committee under local control could act to facilitate and direct research, ensuring among other functions that the appropriate synthesis and diffusion of results is undertaken.
Methodological development and synthesis
Underpinning field research are activities to promote the methodological
development and coherence within groups of field projects and to synthesize existing information in forms useful for different audiences. S o m e
examples of possible future initiatives follow, while an overview of past
and recent activities is given in M A B Digest 3.
Biodiversity resources in tropical Asia
A workshop was held in Bangkok in March 1989 on "Funding priorities
for research towards effective sustainable management of biodiversity resources in tropical Asia", principally forests and coral reefs. Sponsored
by N S F and U S A I D , the workshop brought together participants from
eight Asian countries, resource scientists from U S institutions, representatives of sponsoring agencies, and observers. A number of workshop
82
participants are involved in M A B activities in their countries, and indeed
certain M A B National Committees (e.g. Indonesia-MAB) were integrally
involved in the lead-up to the workshop.
A m o n g the proposed follow-ups of the workshop is the setting up of
about ten long-term management research sites in forest areas of the region. Certain of the candidate sites identified during the Bangkok workshop already contribute to the international network of biosphere reserves, and it m a y be mutually advantageous to seek collaborative links
between the network of ten forest sites proposed by the Bangkok workshop and activities within M A B (e.g. biosphere reserves as well as field
research projects envisaged in the present report).
M o r e specifically, one follow-up recommended in Bangkok was that
of a regional training workshop on methodologies, andfieldand analytical techniques. U N E S C O - M A B was invited to collaborate in the planning and convening of this workshop which took place in Indonesia in
June 1990 (Anon. 1990).
Rain forest modelling
A s outlined on pages 48-50 of this report, one proposed avenue for future collaborative work is rain forest modelling (Noble 1989), particularly in terms of explanatory models of the penetration of light, both in gaps
and in the canopy, and of the response of species of all size/age classes
to different light regimes, based on relatively simple field experiments.
The goal is to develop models of the dynamics of rain forests under the
impacts of natural disturbances, logging operations and the effects of global climatic change. The purpose of such models is to help us understand
the impact that n e w logging treatments (as well as other disturbances)
would have on the processes determining stand dynamics.
It is suggested that initially models be developed for three or four specific locations, but the emphasis in the modelling should be to build general
models applicable to a wide range of rain forest communities. It would be
best if these models were built by local scientists but with close links being
maintained between the modelling groups. Local variations in approach
should be encouraged provided that a comparative approach between the
groups was maintained and all groups recognized the need eventually to
develop general models. The formation of the group would be enhanced by
encouraging regular exchange of staff for both short and longer term visits.
83
If there were problems in finding appropriately trained staff in some areas,
scientists should be supported to receive additional training in established
modelling groups.
In terms of knowledge-based systems, thefieldis a new one and there
are no good models on which to base a rain forest advisory system. It
should be remembered that the advice available from such a system depends on the quality of the data entered. It has been difficult enough for
the United States Department of Agriculture to prepare a usable expert
system to assist with decision-taking by line managers and private land
owners in the Eastern Forest Biome (J. Palmer, pers. coram.). The even
greater complexity of rain forests and uncertainty concerning m a n y m a n agement options suggests that establishing a feasible advisory system for
rain forests would be extremely difficult. However, the circumstances are
very propitious for the development of such a system. There are a large
amount of qualitative and experiential data available (both scientific and
colloquial), and there is a need to put those data at the disposal of practitioners in rain forest management.
Rain forest Information system
A m o n g proposals tabled (but not discussed in detail) at the 4-6 September 1989 workshop was one to promote an integrated approach to rapid
inventory and evaluation of biophysical data through the development of
a rain forest resource information system (Gillison 1989). Gradient-based
inventory procedures, a core set of plant functional attributes and spatially referenced geographic information systems, would be three key ingredients in such a system. Prospects for system development will be initially examined at the level of one of the proposed contributory projects,
in Papua N e w Guinea.
Other technical syntheses
A number of other desk studies and technical workshops m a y be envisaged during the early 1990s, which would address aspects of the ecological and economic sustainability of tropical rain forest management. O n e
such workshop, to be held possibly in Australia, m a y focus on the m a n agement problems in using and protecting tropical rain forests for all
84
values. Also of note w a s the convening in March 1990 in Cayenne
(French Guyana) of an international workshop on the management and
conservation of the humid tropical forest ecosystem, with particular reference to comparative approaches between Africa and the Neotropics.
In terms of the publication and diffusion of information generated by
such workshops, multiple outputs for different target audiences should
be prepared whenever possible (e.g. technical syntheses for specialists,
digests for planners, overview articles for the informed general public).
The production and diffusion of written materials should be supplemented by graphic and audio-visual materials, to be prepared in cooperation with communications specialists and media. These materials
m a y include a series of environment-development briefs for decision-makers, a set of coloured wallcharts (drawing upon the experience of the
'Ecology in Action' poster exhibit produced by U N E S C O in 1981),
video-discs and television programmes.
Building up institutional capacities and training
Since the 1950s, U N E S C O has contributed to attempts to build-up research and training capacities in developing countries infieldsrelated to
ecological sciences and integrated management of natural resources.
Training at the sites of field projects and specialized institutions is a key
element in the ongoing training programmes within M A B . These include
regional training seminars on such topics as research problems and methodologies in tropical forest ecology, computer-based quantitative methods for environmental biologists and forest habitat matching. In addition
to group training, individual study grants are available, particularly as
part of the M A B Y o u n g Scientists Research Grant Scheme. Initiated on
a trial basis in 1989, this scheme aims to encourage young scientists to
use M A B research sites, biosphere reserves and natural World Heritage
properties in their research and training efforts.
Moreover, several so-called extra-budgetary projects being implemented by U N E S C O in the humid and sub-humid tropics contribute to
M A B activities in these regions, as well as serving primarily to harness
science to the needs of development and to build-up local capacities for research and management. These projects include work on the productivity
of savannas in Côte d'Ivoire, on the scientific basis for integrated regional
development in the M a y o m b e region of the C o n g o , on integrated
85
approaches to conservation in Mañanara Nord and several other sites in M a dagascar, on reinforcing scientific capacities for the conservation of Monts
Nimba in Guinea, and on reinforcing ecological research capacity in tropical forest areas and other biogeographical regions of China.
Further information on these and other efforts in h u m a n resources and
institutional develpment in the humid tropics are outlined on pages 43-48
o f M A B Digest 3.
Institutional context
At the international level, the project contributes to a very m u c h broader
international concern for tropical forest landscapes and their management. The overall project and its component field activities are thus
undertaken (a) within the existing frameworks of co-operation, such as
the Tropical Forestry Action Plan co-ordinated by F A O , and U N E S C O ' s
Action Plan for Biosphere Reserves; (b) in collaboration with the m a n y
international organizations and programmes interested in the humid tropics (e.g. U N D P , U N E P , F A O , World Bank, I T T O , W W F , I U F R O ,
I C R A F , I U B S , C S C , Tropenbos); (c) on a case-by-case basis, as joint ventures with co-operating partners.
Within both host and donor countries for the various project sites, activities should aim to fit in with the general research and development
strategies of the countries concerned. The local steering committee should
be based within a responsible institution in the host country and, where
appropriate, should include members from the major donor country or
countries.
Within U N E S C O , the project forms part of the M a n and Biosphere
( M A B ) Programme. More particularly it forms part of an interlinked set
of activities in tropical regions whose overall objective is to contribute to
the development of sustainable land-use systems that are in tune with the
social, cultural and biological characteristics of the peoples and ecological systems of the humid and sub-humid tropics in a time of far-reaching
change (see Annex 3). Complementary activities include work on: biological diversity, traditional ecological knowledge, and integrated conservation in the tropics; forest regeneration and ecosystem rehabilitation in
the humid tropics; tropical soil fertility and its biological management;
savanna ecology and management - responding to stress and disturbance
(for details, see M A B Digest 3).
86
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91
ANNEX
1
M A B Research Planning Workshop on Economic
and Ecological Sustainability of Tropical Rain Forest
Management - 4-6 September 1989
List of participants
Jonathan M . Anderson
Wolfson Ecology Laboratory
Dept. of Biological Sciences
University of Exeter
Exeter E X 4 4 P S
United Kingdom
Graham Harrington
CSIRO
Tropical Forest Research Centre
P . O . Box 780
Atherton,Qld4883
Australia
Ayité Marcel Baglo
Ecole normale supérieure
Université nationale du Bénin
B.P. 03-1831
Cotonou
Bénin
Kuswata Kartawinata
U N E S C O Regional Office
United Nations Building
Jalan Thamrin 14
273/JKTTromolpos
Jakarta
Indonesia
Pierre Charles-Dominique
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Tropicale
4, avenue du Petit Château
91800 Brunoy
France
Peter Dogsé
DepL of Economies
University of Stockholm
Stockholm - Sweden
(Presently on secondment to
U N E S C O - M A B Secretariat)
Jean Dubois
Engenheiro Florestal, Consultor
Cs. Postal 33110 (Leblon)
C E P 22442, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
Ariel Lugo
Institute of Tropical Forestry
Call Box 25000 - Rio Piedras
Puerto Rico 00928-2500
USA
Julio Ruiz Murrieta
Instituto de Investigaciones
de la Amazonia Peruana
Apdo. 784
Iquitos
Peru
93
Mar Muul
Integrated Conservation
Research Corporation
P . O . Box 920
Harpers Ferry, W V 25425
USA
W i m G . Sombroek
International Soil Reference
and Information Centre
P . O . Box 353 - 9, Duivendaal
6700 AJ Wageningen
Netherlands
ShobhaNathRai
Dharwad Indian Forest Service
Conservator of Forests
Kanara Circle
Dharwad
India
Tim Synnott
Oxford Forestry Institute
University of Oxford
South Parks Road
Oxford O X 1 3 R B
United Kingdom
Simon Saulei
Papua N e w Guinea Forestry
Research Institute
P . O . Box 314
Lae
Papua N e w Guinea
Cees van Tuyll
Deutsche Gesellschaft fur
Technische Zusammenarbeit
Postfach5180
6236 Eschborn 1
Federal Republic of Germany
Nengah Wirawan
Hasanuddin University
Ujung Pandang
Indonesia
In addition, the workshop benefitted from the presence during certain sessions of:
Priya Bahri (Frankfurt University), Roelof Oldeman (Wageningen Agricultural
University), and Arthur Riedacker (Ministère de Coopération et Développement,
Paris)
MAB SECRETARIAT
Bernd von Droste
Malcolm Hadley
Natarajan Ishwaran
Matuka Kabala
Kathrin Schreckenberg
A m a l e Reinholt-Gauthier
Division of Ecological Sciences
UNESCO
7, Place de Fontenoy
75700 Paris
France
94
ANNEX 2
List of Background Discussion Papers
There follows a list of papers prepared as a basis for discussion during the 4-6
September 1989 workshop. There are no plans by U N E S C O to publish a consolidated set of these papers given their widely differing nature, aims and origins. Certain of the original contributions will likely be prepared by their authors for publication in the scientific literature or as separate reports. Others will
be further elaborated as part of the process of putting the workshop's recommendations into practice. Readers interested in obtaining particular papers are
invited to contact the author(s) concerned. The list of papers is ordered alphabetically by the n a m e of the author or lead author.
Allegretti, M . Extractive reserves: an alternative for reconciling development
and environmental conservation in Amazonia.
Anderson, J . M . and T . Spencer. Carbon, nutrient and water balances of tropical rain forest ecosystems subject to disturbance and implications for m a n agement.
Ashton, P . Funding priorities for research towards effective sustainable m a n agement of biodiversity resources in tropical Asia. Selected extracts from
draft report of a workshop sponsored by N S F and U S A I D , held in Bangkok,
27-30 March, 1989.
C r o m e , F . H . J . International rain forest management project - general notes and
suggestions for wildlife studies.
Dogsé, P . Sustainable tropical rain forest management: some economic considerations.
Gillison, A . N . A rain forest resource information system: an integrated approach to rapid inventory and evaluation of biophysical data.
Hadley, M . and K . Schreckenberg. Contributing to sustained resource use in
the humid and sub-humid tropics: some research approaches and insights.
M A B Digest 3.
Harrington, G . Generalized research framework for designing economically,
socially and ecologically sustainable timber harvesting from tropical rain
forest.
95
House, S . M . and A . R . Griffin. The potential impacts of logging on the genetic
structure of populations of rain forest tree species.
Kartawinata, K . S o m e points on research relevant to maintenance of biological diversity.
M u u l , I. Integrated conservation strategy and the concept of "critical mass".
Noble, I.R. Ecological and economic sustainability of tropical rain forest m a n agement: modelling of forest dynamics after disturbance.
Rai, S . N . Sustained management of tropical forests: shifting policies from national to local needs.
Ruiz-Murrieta, J. Food from the forest: the case of the Peruvian A m a z o n .
Sastrapradja, S. Studies on the management of a biosphere reserve.
Sastrapradja, S. A proposal to organize a regional dialogue on tropical forests
and biodiversity.
Saulei, S . Regenerative processes in tropical rain forests.
Stocker, G . C . Alternative tropical rain forest harvesting strategies.
Synnott, T.J. Sustainable management of tropical forests.
U N E S C O , Division of Ecological Sciences. Ecological and economic sustainability of tropical rain forest management. Research planning workshop,
Paris, 4-6 September 1989. First Information Note.
W i r a w a n , N . Regeneration and growth studies of rattan and important non-dipterocarp timber species.
Y o u n g , M . D . Socio-economic issues surrounding rain forest management and
development.
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ANNEX 3
Indications of Recent (1989-90) and Proposed M A B
Field Activities in the Humid Tropics*
A. Africa
Cameroon. Forest conservation and buffer zone development of Dja Biosphere Reserve.
Congo. Pilot operations for the integrated management of forest ecosystems of the M a y o m b e region, including buffer zone development of
Dimonika Biosphere Reserve (UNDP-supported project, with threeyear phase III starting in July 1990).
Côte d'Ivoire. Buffer zone development at Taï (in cooperation with
Tropenbos, with review and planning workshop in February 1991).
Guinea. Ecosystem conservation and integrated development strategies
of Monts Nimba ( U N D P supported project).
Madagascar. Research, conservation and buffer zone development at
Mañanara Nord Biosphere Reserve with environmental education activities (production of publicity materials and film on lemurs). R e search and development activities being extended to three additional
sites - Ankarafantsika, Bemaraha and Andasibe. (Financial support
from U N D P and Federal Republic of Germany).
*
N . B . This is an indicative listing only, based on an information paper prepared for the
eleventh session of the International Co-ordinating Council for the M A B
Programme, held in Paris in November 1990. Corrections and suggestions should be
sent to the M A B Secretariat. Not included are field activities contributing to the
I U B S - M A B collaborative studies on Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) and
Responses of Savannas to Stress and Disturbance (RSSD).
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Nigeria. Long-term forest regeneration studies at O m o Biosphere
Reserve.
Zaire. Feasibility studies for buffer zone development at various protected area sites (Luki, Salonga, Virunga).
B. Asia
China. Rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest land areas at Dinghu
Biosphere Reserve (in cooperation with U S - M A B ) , at Jiangxi (in cooperation with J a p a n - M A B ) and at Xiaoling (within framework of
C h i n a - F R G - U N E S C O Cooperative Ecological Research Project,
C E R P ) . Integrated approaches to conservation through sustainable
economic development strategies in Xishuangbanna.
Indonesia. Buffer zone development (including environmental education
programme) at Cibodas Biosphere Reserve. Possible new research
project at Bukit Baka - Bukit Raya in West Kalimantan.
Malaysia. Long-term demographic study of woody plants in 50 ha plot at
Pasoh (recensused in 1990, after initial survey in 1985). Integrated approaches to conservation through sustainable economic development
strategies at Kinabalu National Park, Sabah.
Papua New Guinea. Proposed project on 'Ecological, Economic and Social Sustainability of Tropical Rainforest Use' ( E E S S T R U ) including
component studies on national management issues (indicators of sustainability), regional management issues (e.g. effects of logging and
other land use strategies on a rain forest economy, on village c o m munities) and rain forest logging and management issues (e.g. conventional logging operations, Wokabout Somil project). Draft proposals
elaborated in 1989-90 by PNG-Australia planning group under the
auspices of Forest Research Institute at Lae, put in operational terms
by ITTO-organized mission in January 1991.
Philippines. Buffer zone development in Puerto Galera and Palawan Biosphere Reserves.
Sri Lanka. Integrated approaches to sustainable development in Sinharaja
Biosphere Reserve, including studies on the population and breeding
biology of plants important in the local economy.
Thailand. Improving the biological productivity of tropical wastelands in
four study areas (joint Thai-Japanese project).
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Vietnam. Biological inventory and vegetation studies at N a m Cat Tien.
Proposed work on rehabilitation of degraded forest areas in southern
Vietnam (national workshop on tropical forest research and conservation scheduled for November 1991 in Hanoi).
C. Neotropics
Bolivia. U N A M A Z (Association of Amazonian Universities) training
seminar on agroforestry in Santa Cruz in mid-1990. Buffer zone development and environmental education.activities in Beni Biosphere
Reserve.
Brazil. Proposals drawn-up informally in 1989-90 by Brazilian research
institutions and U N A M A Z , on such topics as the identification and
demonstration of sustainable low-cost input land use systems in the
region of Manaus.
Colombia. Collaboration with Tropenbos project on developing systems
of multistrata agroforestry in the Guaviare (settler) and Araracuara
(Indian) regions.
Costa Rica. Institutional development of L a Amistad Biosphere Reserve.
Long-term ecological studies by the Organization of Tropical Studies
at La Selva Research Station in the Cordillera Volcánica Central Biosphere Reserve.
Cuba. Functional ecology studies at Sierra del Rosario Biosphere
Reserve (synthesis volume diffused in 1988). Plans drawn-up in 1990
for sub-regional Cuba-Mexico-Venezuela project on replacement of
agro-ecosystems in tropical America.
French Guyana. Dynamics of tropical forest ecosystems at several sites
in French Guyana (e.g. Paracou, Nourragues), with particular e m phasis on rain forest regeneration and plant-pollinator-disperser interactions.
Guatemala. Finalization and implementation of management plan for the
M a y a Biosphere Reserve.
Mexico. U s e and conservation of tropical rain forest ecosystems,
including inventory and diagnosis of tropical forests, causes and
consequences of deforestation, traditional uses of tropical forests,
forest-savanna interactions, forest regeneration, etc. at a range of sites
(including biosphere reserves) within Mexico (new long-term project,
starting 1990).
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Peru. Synthesis study carried out in 1990 in collaboration with IIAPIquitos on fruit trees in the Peruvian A m a z o n , their ecology and socioeconomic value. Possibly to be followed up by further studies and production of information materials on 'Food from the forest'.
Puerto RICO. Long-term studies at Luquillo Experimental Forest and Biosphere Reserve, including studies on forest regeneration and effects
of disturbance on ecosystem function.
Venezuela. Collaboration with Cuba and Mexico in tripartite project on
replacement of agro-ecosystems in tropical America.
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