Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
discusses the role of sustainable forest management in meeting our needs for for-
est products and services. The third and fourth points above address, respectively,
the rehabilitation of degrade lands, which are often former forest land; and how
a combination of tree-based systems, both natural and planted forests, can be
developed and sustained to meet society's needs. Both of these points are
addressed throughout this chapter.
21.4.2
Sustainably Managed Forests
Sustainable forest management is 'the stewardship and use of forests and forest
lands in a way, an at a rate, that maintains their biological diversity, productivity,
regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfil, now and in the future,
relevant ecological economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels,
and that does not cause damage on other ecosystems' (FAO 2000). It is often
referred to as having high potential for meeting society's demands for wood and
non-wood products, as well as, environmental services (also see the Montreal
Process on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management - SFM - dis-
cussed by van Noordwijk et al., Chapter 20 this volume). There remains much
debate regarding whether sustainable management can actually save tropical for-
ests. Some scientists (e.g., Rice et al. 1997) state that sustainable forest manage-
ment (with focus on sustained yields of multiple services and products and
longer-term production) generally provides lower returns and damages forests more
than conventional timber harvesting (with focus on short-term timber supplies and
short-term profits). Others claim (e.g., Pearce et al. 2003) that sustainable forest
management, although generally less profitable than conventional logging
approaches, performs better in terms of carbon storage and biodiversity conserva-
tion. The latter suggests sustainable forest management has high prospects in safe-
guarding forests and meeting society's multiple demands as values attached to
forests and associated services rise over time. In an analysis of various landuse sys-
tems Tomich et al. (1998) confirmed that community-based sustainable manage-
ment provided superior biodiversity, carbon storage, and rural social/livelihood
services compared to commercial logging. A global study funded by USAID found
that commercial logging is a common cause of forest conflict, with local communi-
ties against companies and government agencies (ARD 2004; Forester et al. 2004).
Commercial logging frequently usurps legal traditional local rights and is the major
cause of forest degradation in many areas (Lasco et al. 2001; Mittelman 2001; ARD
2004; Barr et al. 2004; Wulan et al. 2004; Forester et al. 2004; Sheng and Cannon
2004). Our view is that the academic argument over 'what is' sustainable forest
management is moot. Sustainable management is the only viable option to conserve
the world's dwindling natural forest resource, enabling natural forests to provide
the environmental services that they are uniquely positioned to supply - biodiver-
sity conservation, soil and water conservation, and carbon storage - and contribute
strongly to healthy ecosystems, multiple socioeconomic benefits, and support of
social/livelihood services to poor rural communities.
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