#1 Introduction & Sustainability

Global Resources

Indian Forestry Service

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Chad Oliver, Instructor

Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Yale University

2 Photo, C. Oliver

High graded forest, Rocky Mountains, Idaho, U.S.A.

Forestry and Sustainability

• 1346: In France, the Waters and Forests Administration was accompanied by the Brunoy executive order for foresters “to inspect all woods and ensure that they can perpetually sustain themselves in good condition”

• 1713: Carlowitz von, H.C. Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturgemäße Anweisung zur Wilden Baum-Zucht. Reprint of 2nd edition, 2009. Remagen-Oberwinter, Germany, Verlag Kessel.Dupuy,

“Sustainable development is development that

meets the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations

to meet their own need.”

--Brundtland Report, 1987

United Nations

Sustainable Development

Venn Diagram view of Sustainability

ECOLOGICAL SOCIAL

ECONOMIC

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1992: THE RIO EARTH SUMMIT

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Government

officials from 178 countries and between 20,000 and 30,000 individuals from governments, NGOs and the media participated in this event to

discuss solutions for global problems such as poverty, war or the growing gap between industrialized and developing countries. In the

centre was also the question of how to relieve the global environmental system through the introduction to the paradigm of sustainable

development. It emphasizes that economic and social progress depends critically on the preservation of the natural resource base with effective

measures to prevent environmental degradation.

CRITERIA AND INDICATORS - PROCESSES AND INITIATIVES

• International Tropical Timber Organization

• Helsinki Process

• Montreal Process

• Tarapoto Proposal

• African Timber Organization

• Lepaterique Process

• UNEP/FAO Expert Meeting

• FAO/UNEP Expert Meeting

• FAO/ITTO Expert Meeting

MONTREAL PROCESS: Criteria for Sustainable Forestry

1: Biological diversity

2. Productive capacity

3. Forest health and vitality

4. Soil and water conservation

5. Global carbon sequestration

6. Socio-economic benefits

7. Legal, institutional, economic

8. framework

GENERALIZED, GLOBAL VALUES

Forest Manage-

ment Commodities

Biodiversity

Rural Jobs

Forest Health

Soil & Water

Carbon Sequestration

Forests provide many products & services:

Criteria for Sustainable Forestry

Sustainable Forestry

Each ecosystem type provides its “fair share” of values, both spatially and temporally.

--Oliver, 2003

Ecological

Matrix Approach Comparison of Areas

Area A Area B Area C Area D Area E

Biodiversity 9 3 2 10 ?

Productive Capacity 2 9 4 9 ?

Forest Health 4 7 3 7 ?

Soil & Water 2 8 6 8 ?

Carbon Sequestration 8 2 2 9 ?

Socio Economic 7 4 3 9 ?

Sustainability

Issues in Forestry with Sustained Yield

• Do we have the correct understanding of sustainability?

• Are present and future materials equally accessible?

• What to do if there is no future desire for the product because of technology shifts?

• What is future value shifts make a “competing” value more desirable?

• Are we saddling future generations with an “improvement” that they do not want?

• How susceptible is the provision or accounting of sustainability to error or corruption—politics, poor models, poor measurement?

OUTDATED STABLE PARADIGM:

The “climax” forest

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OUTDATED STABLE PARADIGM: Forests grow to stable, “old growth.”

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High Grading: a.k.a. “Commercial Clearcut”

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Yale Forest, Connecticut, U.S.A. Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Photo, C. Oliver

Even-aged from a clearcut High grade harvest

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Hardwoods

(timber value)

$ 750/ Acre

PNV

$ 20/ Acre PNV

Concern for sustainability #1: Degeneration of wood quality

Photo, C. Oliver

Management Approaches

• Exploitation

• Preservation

• Sustainable

• Central control/planning

• Religion/culture

• Free market economics

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Individual Stand

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Sustained Yield, “Area Regulation” harvests equal portions each year.

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2059

Timber Flow --stable, --declining --fluctuating

2039 1999

Sustained yield concept