Wood for Good

8/11/2019 Wood for Good

1/48

Wood for GoodS O L U T I O N S F O R D E F O R E S T A T I O N F R E E W O O D P R O D U C T S


2/48


3/48

Pipa Elias

Doug Boucher

Cara Cummings

Lael Goodman

Calen May-Tobin

Kranti Mulik

S O L U T I O N S F O R D E F O R E S T A T I O N F R E E W O O D P R O D U C T S

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 2

Wood for Good


4/48

ii U N I O N O F C O N C E R N E D S C I E N T I S T S

2012 Union of Concerned ScientistsAll rights reserved

This report was produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative. Pipa Elias is a consultant to the Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative. Doug Boucher , Lael Goodman ,and Calen May-Tobin are Union of Concerned Scientists staffmembers working on the Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative.Kranti Mulik is an economist in the Union of Concerned ScientistsFood and Environment Program. Cara Cummings is a consultantto the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is the leading science-based nonprot working for a healthy environment and a safer world.UCS combines independent scientic research and citizen actionto develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsiblechanges in government policy, corporate practices, and consumerchoices. More information is available about UCS at www.ucsusa.org.

The Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative (TFCI) is a project of the UCSClimate and Energy Program. TFCI analyzes and promotes ways to cutglobal warming pollution by reducing tropical deforestation. To learnmore about this work, visit www.ucsusa.org/forests.

This report is available online (in PDF format) atwww.ucsusa.org/deforestationfree and may also beobtained from:

UCS Publications2 Brattle SquareCambridge, MA 02138-3780

Or, email [email protected] or call (617) 547-5552.

Design: Penny Michalak

Front cover photos: (trees) Thinkstock.com/iStockphoto collection; (truck) Rhett Butler/mongabay.com;

(tropical forest) iStockphoto.com/Sze Fei Wong; (logs) iStockphoto.com/Mayumi Terao; (FSC logo) Eric G oethals/FSC

Back cover photo: Rhett Butler/mongabay.com


5/48

WOOD FOR GOOD: SOLUTIONS FOR DEFORESTATION FREE WOOD PRODUCTS iii

Table of Contents iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER ONE

2 Introduction

3 What Do We Make from Wood?

4 Natural Forests in Different Regions of the ropics

CHAPTER TWO

6 Wood Production and Its Impacts on Tropical Forests

6 Deforestation Causes Carbon Emissions

6 Logged Forests Can Be Lost Forests

7 Illegal Logging

8 Te Role of ropical Wood in a Global Market

CHAPTER THREE

12 Where Should We Harvest Our Wood?

14 Advantages of Forest Plantations

16 Mixed-Species Plantations

CHAPTER FOUR

17 Solutions and Recommendations

17 Producers in the ropics

22 Manufacturers and Retailers

27 Business and Individual Consumers

32 Governments

35 REFERENCES

Figures

9 Figure 1 otal Global Industrial Wood Consumption, 19852005

10 Figure 2 otal Annual Value of International Wood Product rade, 19852005

11 Figure 3 Consumption and Export Growthby Region, 19992010

13 Figure 4 Natural Forests and Plantations as a

Percent of Worlds Land Area, by Region14 Figure 5 Plantations Contribution to the

Market for Common ropical Wood Products in 2006

Tables

4 Table 1 Common Wood Products andTeir Sources

5 Table 2 Forest Area and Annual LogProduction of the Leading ropical ForestNations

8 Table 3 Annual Production of the MostCommon Wood Products, 2009

16 Table 4 Industrial Plantation ypes in theropics

24 Table 5 Certication Program Criteria

25 Table 6 Degree of Certication in ropicalCountries with the Highest DeforestationRates

Boxes

19 Box 1 Te Atlantic Forest Restoration Compac

22 Box 2 Community Forestry 26 Box 3 Businesses and NGOs Working ogethe

IKEA and WWF

29 Box 4 Te Asia Pulp and Paper Campaign

30 Box 5 Books vs. E-readers

31 Box 6 Construction Materials: Wood vs.Cement vs. Metal


6/48

i S t o c k p

h o t o

. c o m

/ S z e

F e i W o n g

Tis report was made possible by generous support from theClimateWorks Foundation, a member of the Climate and LandUse Alliance, and UCS members.

We would like to express our gratitude to Bill Barclay, Jamey

French, Roy Houseman, Fran Price, and Phil Shearman for theirthoughtful and rigorous reviews of this report. In addition tothese reviewers, Richard Donavan provided useful commentsand ideas that shaped this report. We also received support frommany people at UCS, including Angela Anderson, KathleenRest, Jeffrey OHara, Sarah Roquemore, Elizabeth Clark, andSarah Goldberg.

We are grateful to Heather uttle for her excellent and detailedediting and for ushering the report through production.Penny Michalak designed the report and helped remake

several of the graphs.

Please note that reviewers are listed to convey our gratitude for theirtime and effort, and that the opinions and arguments expressed inthis report are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Acknowledgments

iv UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS


7/48

WOOD FOR GOOD: SOLUTIONS FOR DEFORESTATION FREE WOOD PRODUCTS 1

i S t o c k p

h o t o

. c o m

/ S a m u e l

C l a r k

Tropical forests should be lled with the soundsof howling monkeys and chirping birds. But alltoo often you hear the buzzing of chain sawsand chugging of bulldozers instead. Tese lush

forests are being cleared for agricultural expansion, which puts

biodiversity, local communities, and the global climate at risk.Tis often occurs after logging trucks create in-roads to haul out wood for global markets. Unmanaged tropical wood extraction will continue to increase over the next decades unless businessesand governments begin enacting sustainable production require-ments now.

Like other natural resources, tropical wood is often minedfor products we use every day in the United States, such asfurniture, paper, and kitchen cabinets. But while wood is arenewable resource, many logging activities in the tropics aredone without regard to the forest ecosystem, and over time this

truncates tropical forests potential to regrow again and again.

There are many paths to sustainable woodproduction from the tropicsand right now,the greatest limitation is political will.

Governments and businesses must recognize that tropi-cal forest conservation and wood production are not mutuallyexclusive. Tis report explores how sustainably managed treeplantations (areas where foresters grow trees specically for woodproducts), wood certication programs, and government poli-

cies can help achieve these seemingly discordant goals.Plantations are a good solution for growing wood used com-

mercially as they can provide a higher yield than natural forests(i.e., forests that self-regenerate to regrow naturally). However,as this report details, plantations are only sustainable if they areestablished on previously disturbed lands, rather than replacingprimary (virgin) forests. Producers and businesses should pro-mote sustainable forestry approaches including the use of mixednative species in tropical plantations, and the management ofsecondary forests (forests from which trees have been harvested

in the past) to rejuvenate their potential to provide high-quality

wood for decades to come. Governments can make thesesustainable approaches more attractive for businesses and localcommunities, and support their implementation, by improvingland tenure systems and placing a value on ecosystem services(benets provided to humankind by trees, such as air and waterpurication, food, protection against soil erosion, etc.).

Certication programs, most notably the Forest Steward-ship Council and the Programme for the Endorsement of ForestCertication, promote sustainable wood production globally.

While these certications do not denitively prohibit loggingfrom primary forests, they are the best option available for ensur-

ing that wood production does not come at the expense of forestecosystem function.

Tere are many paths to sustainable wood production fromthe tropicsand right now, the greatest limitation is political

will. Governments need to change forest production policies,promote certication programs, generate markets for sustainablyproduced wood, and promote legal production systems. Teseefforts can ensure that everyonefrom forest owners and pro-ducers to wood product retailers and consumershas the oppor-tunity to protect our worlds forests for generations to come.

Executive Summary


8/48

2 U N I O N O F C O N C E R N E D S C I E N T I S T S

come mostly from the burning of fossil fuels, the third andfourth largest emitters, Indonesia and Brazil, are tropical; themajority of their emissions come from land use sectors, primar-ily due to deforestation and forest degradation.

Approximately 40 million hectares of tropical forestareas were cleared between 2000 and 2005an area larger than Montana.

While the chief driving forces of tropical forest loss arerelated to large-scale commercial agriculture (e.g., raising cattle,palm oil production), the cutting of forests for wood productshas an important role too (Boucher et al. 2011). Some forestsare clear-cut for their timber value and/or to prepare the landfor agricultural use, while others are converted into plantationsof fast-growing trees for pulp and paper. Many forests are selec-

tively logged, in which only a few trees are removed; this canlead to degradationa condition in which there is still someforest cover but many of the benets of the forest (includingcarbon storage, biodiversity habitat, and species diversity) arereduced. Tis, in turn, can sometimes later cause completeforest loss. International trade in tropical wood products is alsoincreasing, and tropical countries are expected to continue toexpand their role in wood trade over the next decade.

Fortunately, trees can grow back, and forests can be man-aged as renewable resources. Both natural forests and planta-tions can be regenerated after wood is harvested from them,

and if sustainably managed, can continue to be harvestedindenitely. Tis report looks at wood products from tropicalforests such as timber and paper, and how all of those involvedin the supply chain, from the logger who cuts the trees to theconsumer who buys the table made from those trees, can helpstop overall deforestationthat is to say, the loss of primarytropical forests due to the global demand for wood. Te indus-try should aim for zero overall deforestation while supplyingthe need for wood products and contributing to the economicdevelopment of tropical countries.

Tropical forests are home to hundreds of thou-sands of plant, mammal, bird, and insect species.Forests purify air and water, and provide foodand medicine for millions of people. But these

forests are disappearing around the world, threatening the well-

being of people who depend on them. And nearly all defores-tation in the twenty-rst century is occurring in the tropics,especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Approximately40 million hectares (ha) of tropical forest areas were clearedbetween 2000 and 2005 (Hansen, Stehman, and Potapov2010)an area larger than Montana.

Beyond its damage to biodiversity, ecosystem services, andthe livelihoods of many indigenous peoples who rely on theforests for their food and shelter, tropical forest loss is a majorcontributor to climate change. About 15 percent of annualanthropogenic (human-caused) carbon emissions come from

tropical deforestation (Boucher et al. 2011). Further, while thetwo largest producers of global warming pollution, the UnitedStates and China, are mostly temperate and their emissions

C H A P T E R O N E

Introduction

The durability, versatility, and beauty of wood make it ideal for manyproducts in our everyday lives.

i S t o c k p

h o t o . c o m

/ A l e x a n

d e r

C h e r n y a

k o v


9/48


WHAT DO WE MAKE FROM WOOD?

Although modern society has developed steel, plastic, polymers,and other industrial materials for our buildings, retail goods,packaging, and communications systems, wood is still a veryimportant part of our lives. Wood products include not onlysolid wood used for constructing houses or making furniturebut also a variety of processed products. Te modern forestindustry has found a variety of ways to cut up and use trees,such as veneer (thin slices produced by cutting around the logscircumference rather than sawing through it) and chips, andthen put them back together into secondary processed woodproducts (SPWPs) like plywood and particleboard.

Another major use of wood is for pulp and paperproducts like newsprint, books, tissue paper, printer paper, andcardboard. Tough estimates vary, experts have calculated thatas much as 42 percent of the worldwide timber harvested forindustrial purposes is used to make paper products (Abramovitz1999). North Americans consume large amounts of these paperproducts; in 2009, the average North American consumedmore than 225 kilograms (500 pounds) of paper productsequivalent to approximately 100 reams of letter-sized copypaper, and more than ve times the global average consump-tion (Environmental Paper Network 2011). While much of the

pulp used to make paper products comes from managed forestsoutside of the tropics, wood from tropical forests does make its

way into paper products and Brazil and Indonesia are the sixthand eighth top producers, respectively, of wood pulp for paper(Bowyer, Shmulsky, and Haygreen 2007). One analysis of chil-drens books in Germany found that 19 out of 51 books hadsignicant traces of tropical wood species not generally foundon plantations (Hirschberger et al. 2010).

Different kinds of trees can produce different products.Hardwoodsbroad-leaved owering treesare structur-ally complex, giving them unique and distinct appearances.

Tus they are more commonly used for furniture, panels, andother decorative items that show off the wood grain (Bowyer,Shmulsky, and Haygreen 2007). Since most tropical trees arehardwoods, historically most of the tropical timber trade wasin luxury hardwoods such as mahogany and teak for high-valuefurniture. Softwoods, most of which are needle-leaved coniferslike pines and rs, have wood that is relatively homogeneous;they are composed of just a few cell types and have long bers.Tis makes them ideal for construction materials, such aslumber and plywood, and for many kinds of paper. Histori-

i S t o c k p

h o t o

. c o m

/ N i c k S c h l a x

Fibers from protected tropical trees have been found in childrens books.

cally there has been little export of softwood products from thetropics, though the recent increase in plantations is changingthis trend (I O 2009).

Tere are many biological characteristics that affect howthe wood can be used, such as density, growth uniformity, berlength, and strength. Some of these characteristics dependon the species, while others depend more on the climateand where the individual tree grew (Bowyer, Shmulsky, and

Haygreen 2007). For many uses, however, hardwood speciescan substitute for each other, and similarly for softwoods. Forexample, besides aesthetics there is little structural differencebetween a kitchen cabinet made from maple from the UnitedStates or teak from Southeast Asia. able 1 (p. 4) describessome of the major wood products on the market and the typesof trees and forests from which they typically originate.

Although wood products play a major role in our everydaylives, some of them, like shipping pallets, generally escapenotice. With globalization comes an increase in the move-ment of goods around the world, and for the sake of efficiency,

these loads are moved almost exclusively on pallets, whichare frameworks of at wooden boards that can carry heavyloads and easily be lifted and moved by forklift. In the UnitedStates alone there are nearly 2 billion pallets in daily use, withmore than 700 million new pallets produced every year, andthat number is on the rise (Mazeika Bilbao 2011). In 2006the amount of wood used to make new pallets for the UnitedStates required between 14 million and 17 million trees.1

1 Calculated assuming a 33.3 cubic foot (ft 3) loblolly pine or a 41.6 ft 3 red maple.


10/48


BASE PRODUCT

BASE PRODUCT EXAMPLES OF SPECIES MOSTLY MIXED AND USUALLYFROM TEMPERATE FORESTS

END PRODUCTS

END PRODUCTS

EXAMPLES OF TREE SPECIES FOREST ORIGINS Temperate Temperate Tropical Tropical

Table 1. COMMON WOOD PRODUCTS AND THEIR SOURCES

More than 30 percent of the total hardwood produced inthe United States is used to build pallets and wood contain-ers, which makes the pallet industry the largest single user of

hardwoods in the country (Buehlmann, Bumgardner, andFluharty 2009). Pallets, however, have a relatively short lifespan; the entire stock is replenished every four years. Eventhough technologies exist for recycling and reuse (while beingcareful that reusing pallets can spread non-native insects),pallets still make up 2 to 3 percent of all waste in U.S. landlls(Buehlmann, Bumgardner, and Fluharty 2009). Currently,only about 8 percent of U.S. pallet materials are importedfrom other countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay),but as pallet production grows, it is likely that manufacturers

2 Lumber made from chipped wood bound and strengthened with resins or other substances

will turn to other countries where wood is readily available andless expensive (Sanchez 2011).

Other forest products include fuelwood (including charcoal)

and non-wood products such as fruits and medicinal plants(Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010). Tese will not be afocus of this report since they are not major drivers of defores-tation (Boucher et al. 2011).

NATURAL FORESTS IN DIFFERENT REGIONS

OF THE TROPICS

Te three main tropical forest regionsAmazonia (in South America), the Congo Basin (in central Africa), and South-east Asiavary quite a bit in their forest industries, based on

Hardwood lumber

Structural panels

Nonstructural panels

Composite lumberproducts 2

Construction (plywood siding,forms for pouring concrete)

Paneling, furniture (cabinetshelves, backing), decor, minoruses in construction

Construction (house framing,bridge framing/support),engineered beams

Softwood lumber

Pulp and paper

Black cherryOak

Southern pinesDouglas rHemlock

Southern pines(softwood)

Birch(hardwood)

Mixes of both softwoods and hardwoods; usually useslower-value species

With the exception of the decorative veneer on these panels (which useshardwoods), most can be made from waste during the processing ofwood into other products

Mostly softwoods, but a few hardwoods like gumand yellow poplar

Mahogany Teak

Tropical pinesRadiata pine

Radiata pine(softwood)

Acacia mangium(hardwood)

Eucalyptus(in this case usedas a hardwood)

Eastern andsoutheasternUnited States

Eastern,southeastern,and westernUnited States

Southern andwesternUnited States

Almost alltropicalregions

Uncommon,but in somehigh-elevationor otherwisecooler regions

Tropicallowlands

Furniture, ooring, millwork,cabinets, pallets

Building construction (houseframing, interior wall paneling,exterior siding), decking, exte-rior trim, windows, doors

Paper, cardboard, tissue


11/48


Table 2. FOREST AREA AND ANNUAL LOGPRODUCTION OF THE LEADING TROPICALFOREST NATIONS

Southeast Asia dominates tropical wood production even thoughit has much less forest than Amazonia or central Africa.Source: Corlett 2009.

important biological differences among their forests. Whilenearly all tropical forests have a very high diversity of tree spe-cies, Southeast Asia is distinctive in that many of its forests aredominated by a single family of trees, the Dipterocarpaceae.Tese dipterocarp forests (pronounced dip-teh-roh-karp) areunusual in that almost all the trees are excellent for timber: theyare tall, fast-growing, with few lower branches, and with woodthat is strong but not overly heavy. Dipterocarp dominanceof Southeast Asian forests means that often half or more ofthe timber in these forests is commercially valuable. Tis is instrong contrast to Amazonian and Congo Basin forests, wheregenerally only a few specieswell under 10 percent of the

volume of woodcan be sold on the timber market (Corlettand Primack 2011).

Dipterocarp dominance of Southeast Asian forestsmeans that often half or more of the timber in theseforests is commercially valuable. As a consequence,logging in Southeast Asian forests can be highlyprotable.

As a consequence, logging in Southeast Asian forests canbe highly protable. Economic estimates indicate that the net

timber value of dipterocarp forests, though quite variable, aver-ages many thousands of dollars per hectare, versus hundreds ofdollars or less in Amazonia and the Congo Basin (Edwards etal. 2011; Fisher et al. 2011; Ruslandi and Putz 2011). And thisis just the value of the timber; it does not include prots fromthe land cleared by the logging.

Southeast Asia is not only the most protable region fortropical logging, but also the dominant region for produc-tion. As able 2 shows, although Indonesia and Malaysia haverelatively little forest, they have the worlds highest annual logproduction, generating more logs than Brazil (which has the

largest forest area in the world) and dwarng the output of theDemocratic Republic of Congo. Indonesia is also quickly cut-ting its tropical forests to replace them with oil palm plantations.

Te three main tropical forest regions also differ in whathappens to forests after they are logged. In both the Amazonand Congo Basin, where forests tend to be selectively logged,it is possible for them to grow back if left alone. Tis seems tohappen often in the Congo Basin because there is relatively littlepressure for conversion of the land to use for commercial cropproduction and pasture (Fisher 2010; Houghton and Hackler

FOREST AREA ANNUAL LOG 1,000 SQUARE PRODUCTION KILOMETERS MILLION CUBIC METERS

Malaysia 209 27.0

Indonesia 885 26.0

Brazil 4,777 22.9

Democratic Republic 1,336 0.1 of Congo

2006). In the Amazon, on the other hand, selectively loggedforests are often completely cleared after logging (sometimesimmediately, sometimes with a lag of several years) and turnedinto cattle pastures or soybean elds (Boucher et al. 2012). Inthe Brazilian Amazon, for example, selectively logged forestsare four times more likely to be cleared than those that havenot been logged at all (Asner et al. 2009a), and more than

three-fourths of the land that has been cleared is used for cattlepasture (May and Millikan 2010; Bustamante, Nobre, andSmeraldi 2009).

In Southeast Asia, the pressure for complete conversionto non-forest is even greater, since a larger proportion of thetimber has already been removed and because the alternativeuses are very protable. One of the leading alternatives in recentyears has been oil palm plantations, which have expandedrapidly (May- obin et al. 2012; Boucher et al. 2011); recentanalysis has shown that, like logging, palm oil production isa very lucrative business in Malaysia (Fisher et al. 2011; see

also Edwards et al. 2011; Ruslandi and Putz 2011). When acompany (or subsidiary companies of the same conglomerate)can capture the value of both the timber and the subsequentland use for palm oil production, there is a very strong incentiveto clear forests. Pulp and paper plantations have also expandedrapidly in Southeast Asia (Koh et al. 2011). Tough these plan-tations can be useful for meeting the global demand for these

wood products, careful planning is needed to ensure the mostdiverse, carbon-rich, and ecologically important forests are notbeing replaced with plantations (see Chapter 4).


12/48


C H A P T E R T W O

Wood Production and Its Impacts on Tropical Forests

Increased global demand for wood products like timberand paper is causing changes to tropical forests in a few

ways: some forests are clear-cut solely for their wood,some are replaced with fast-growing plantations, and

some are selectively logged. When unmanaged or unplanned,

each of these situations can lead to negative outcomeseitherdegradation of the forestland or, worse, total loss of the diverseforest ecosystem.

DEFORESTATION CAUSES CARBON EMISSIONS

rees absorb and store carbon as they grow, and clearing forestscauses the carbon to be released back to the atmosphere. Asnoted earlier, tropical deforestation is responsible for about15 percent of global warming pollution worldwide. Agriculturaluses such as pastures and crops clear the whole area of forest,generating most of these emissions. Selective logging in the

tropics is also a source of emissionsbetween 2000 and 2005more than 20 percent of the area was selectively logged (Asneret al. 2009b). However, not all of the forest biomass is removed

from selectively logged forests so the emissions of global warm-ing pollution are lower than in areas where all the trees areremoved (Putz et al. 2012).

A recent study comparing sources of deforestation-relatedemissions since 1850 shows that, globally, the total net

emissions from wood production have been relatively smallcompared with those from agriculture (croplands, includingshifting cultivation, and pastures) (Houghton 2012): about17 billion tons of carbon compared with 124 billion tons.Tis was the case even though an estimated 1.5 billion ha offorestland had been harvested for wood (sometimes repeatedly),compared with 2.4 billion ha cleared for agriculture.

LOGGED FORESTS CAN BE LOST FORESTS

Tere are several ways the demand for wood can permanentlychange tropical forests. First, there is clearing for conversion

to pulp and paper plantations. Tis is when forests are clearednot so much for the value of the timber (though a few valuabletrees may be picked out and used) but for the value of the land,

R h e t t

B u t l e r

/ m o n g a b a y

. c o m

Large-scale oil palm production and other forms of agriculture are the major cause of deforestation in the tropics.


13/48


R h e t t B u t

l e r / m o n g a b a y . c o m

The removal of even just a few trees can lead to complete deforesta-tion by creating roads into the forest and increasing the likelihood ofdevastating forest res.

so that high-value timber or pulp plantations can be planted. Although this conversion does replace the old trees with newtrees, it leads to a loss in carbon and biodiversity, since planta-tions rarely accumulate as much biomass or provide the samehabitat as the natural forest they replaced (Liao et al. 2010).

Selective logging can also indirectly lead to forest clear-ing. While the actual number of valuable trees removed isusually quite small (except in dipterocarp forests in Southeast

Asia, as explained previously), many more trees can be killedin the process through damage, accidental felling, or clear-ing for roads (Elias 2012; Gerwing 2002). Furthermore, theroads built for this selective logging then allow others users or

industries to come in and completely clear the remaining trees.In Africa it has been shown that selective logging can open theforest for further harvesting for charcoal production (Ahrendset al. 2010) and other unmanaged activities (Boucher et al.2011); in Southeast Asia selectively logged forests are oftenreplaced by oil palm plantations.

Complete conversion to agriculture is especially damag-ing because it leads to long-term land use change (Foley etal. 2007). A degraded, or even completely cleared, forest cannaturally regenerate if left alone. One study of selectivelylogged forests in Indonesia found that logged forests can regain

a comparable number of trees to primary forests in 5 to15 years, and comparable species numbers in 10 to 20 years(Slik, Verburg, and Keler 2002). Tough this process can beslow and is not guaranteed, it is an opportunity for the forestto regain some of the carbon and biodiversity that was lost(Rice, Gullison, and Reid 1997).

Selective logging increases fragmentation and theedge area of a forest, drying it out and making itmore susceptible to re. Tropical forests are oftennot adapted to res, so this burning can lead to

destruction of the entire forest.

Even without total deforestation occurring, logging candegrade forests and cause signicant emissions and a loss ofbiodiversity. A review of 19 studies of carbon loss after tropicallogging found that, on average, tropical forests lost 26 percentof the carbon they had before (Putz et al. 2012). Furthermore,after a certain point, degradation can start to change thestructure and functioning of the forest in signicant ways. Forinstance, selective logging increases fragmentation and the edge

area of a forest, drying it out and making it more susceptibleto re (Broadbent et al. 2008). ropical forests are often not

adapted to res, so this burning can lead to destruction of theentire forest.

ILLEGAL LOGGING

A further problem with tropical logging is that it is often doneillegally (Lawson and Macfaul 2010). Tese illegal activitiesinclude removing trees from protected areas, failing to pay taxesand fees for timber, cutting protected species, stealing woodfrom the rightful owners, and/or removing more timber thanallowed from a given area. Some industries also falsely use tim-ber harvesting permits to clear land for agricultural crops (Law-

son and Macfaul 2010; Contreras-Hermosilla, Doornbosch,and Lodge 2007). In the tropics, illegal logging can cause forestdamage and ecosystem impoverishment, loss of biodiversityand carbon, changes in soil nutrients, and increased susceptibil-ity to clearing (Elias 2012).

Illegal logging also undercuts economic development inthe forestry sector. Very little of the prot from these activitiesremains in the local community. In one example, experts esti-mated that only 2.2 percent of the total product value was heldlocally by those who illegally logged the forest; the rest went to


14/48


In the tropics, illegal logging can cause forest

damage and ecosystem impoverishment, loss ofbiodiversity and carbon, changes in soil nutrients,and increased susceptibility to clearing

middlemen such as brokers, buyers, manufacturers, and export-ers (Kishor and Damania 2007). Tese communities are alsothreatened by the black market created by these illicit activities,

which erodes social norms and can lead to violence (Chimeliand Soares 2011). Finally, illegal logging depresses world timberprices by 16 percent (Snow 2009), threatening the economicviability of legitimate forest producers worldwide by creating

unfair competition.For all these reasons, illegal activity makes logging less sus-

tainable. Illegal harvesting is likely to lead to forest degradation,increasing the probability that sooner or later the area will becompletely deforested (Elias 2012). Recent evidence indicatesthat efforts by developing- and developed-country governmentsto curb illegal logging, such as the United States Lacey Act,have slightly reduced the rates of illegal logging in the tropics(Elias 2012; Lawson and Macfaul 2010). A strong, continuedeffort is needed to end illegal logging and move toward sustain-able management.

THE ROLE OF TROPICAL WOOD I N A

GLOBAL MARKET

Te wood products market has become global, but the tropicsare still a relatively small part of it. As able 3 shows, tropical

forests accounted for about 8 to 20 percent of global produc-

tion in the major wood product sectors in 2009. Internationaltrade and market globalization is steadily increasing the ease with which tropical wood enters northern markets, and cheapprocessing in growing economies are making these productseven more accessible.

However, the market is changing, and tropical countries arebecoming increasingly important as both producers and proces-sors of wood. Recent trends show that the countries losing theirforests at the fastest rate (mainly tropical countries) are alsoquickly becoming more signicant exporters in the global woodmarket (Kastner, Erb, and Nonhebel 2011).

Consumption and TradeGlobal wood consumption over the past couple of decades hasincreased (FAO 2006), albeit minimally. In 2005 consumptionof industrial wood (i.e., wood processed into other formsversus unprocessed rewood) was about 1.55 Bm3 (Figure1), one-third of which was pulp and paper and two-thirds of

which was sawlogs (i.e., logs to be sawn in the mill) and veneer.Despite the increasing use of electronics in society, which couldreplace paper use, it is still the pulp and paper sector that hasgrown the most over recent yearspulpwood log consump-tion increased almost three times more rapidly than sawlog andveneer log consumption (1.7 percent per year versus 0.6 per-cent per year) (FAO 2007a).

As with consumption, globalization and economic growthhave led to increases in the international trade of wood and

Table 3. ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF THE MOST COMMON WOOD PRODUCTS, 2009

Tropical woods share of the global market is expected to increase over the next decade. Wood is measured in cubic meters. A cubic meter isabout 35 cubic feet-a volume that would make a very comfortable doghouse for a large dog like a Saint Bernard. Paper products, on the otherhand, are measured by weight (FAO 2012). Note: FAO data are self-reported by countries, and therefore subject to error and non-compatibility.

3 Tropical production values compiled from available data for those countries included as tropical production countries in ITTO 2009.

PRODUCT GLOBAL PRODUCTION TROPICAL PRODUCTION3

Newsprint 32.6 Mmt 2.6 Mmt

Printing and writing paper 105 Mmt 15.3 Mmt

Plywood 80.3 Mm 3 13.3 Mm3

Sawn wood 362 Bm 3 72.8 Mm3

(wood cut into boards, lumber, planks, etc.)

Mmt: million metric tons Mm 3: million cubic meters Bm 3: billion cubic meters


15/48


From 1985 to 2005 international trade of forestproducts increased from $60 billion to $257 billion;by 2020, it is expected to reach around $450 billion.

wood products, though trade rates have grown much fasterthan consumption rates. From 1985 to 2005 internationaltrade of forest products (including pulp and paper, woodproducts, and SPWPs) increased from $60 billion to

$257 billion with an average annual growth rate of 6.6 per-cent, and wood products and SPWPs registering the fastestgrowth (Figure 2, p. 10). By 2020, the global trade in woodand wood products is expected to reach around $450 billion(U.S.), with 40 percent of it being in SPWPs (FAO 2007a).

raditionally, European and North American countrieshave dominated both the production and trade of wood and

wood products, but this is changing. Since 1990, China hasincreased its share in the global wood market from 1.5 to7.2 percent, predominantly due to exports of SPWPs. Chinais expected to continue its expansion of market share, as isBrazil and Russia, and they will be key players in the globaltrade market by 2020. Changes are also happening in pro-duction. Globally more than 50 percent of industrial woodproducts come from 7 percent of the worlds forests, but veryfew of these are in the tropics (FAO 2010a). Despite theincrease in timber and pulp production in tropical regions,predominantly in Asia and Latin America, tropical countriesstill account for only a small share of world exports. How-ever, increasing demand in emerging countries such as Brazil,

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

02003 2004 2005200220012000199919981997199619951994199319921991199019891988198719861985

M I L

L I O N C U B I C M E T E R S

Figure 1 . TOTAL GLOBAL INDU STRIA L WOOD CON SUMPT ION, 1985 2005

Global consumption of wood products has risen slowly over the past few decades. Source: FAO 2006.

i S t o c k p

h o t o . c o m

/ A d a m

K o r z e k w a

A processing facility turns pulp and wood chips into paper.

PulpwoodSawlogs and Veneer Logs


16/48


300

250

200

150

100

50

02002 2003 2004 20052001200019991998199719961995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983

B I L L I O N S O F U

. S .

D O L L A R S

Figure 2. TOTAL ANNUAL VALUE OF INTERNATIONAL WOOD PRODUC T TRADE, 1985 2005

International trade in forest products has increased over the past couple of decades. The quickest growth has occurred inwood products and SPWPs. Source: FAO 2006.

China, and India is expected to drive further growth in inter-

national trade (Whiteman 2005), and could lead to increasedproduction in developing countries also.

Processing Already, developing countries are important in processing woodto produce SPWPs, such as particleboard used in furniture. Ofthe 15 major exporters of furniture, six are now tropical devel-oping countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico,and Tailand (Kaplinsky et al. 2003). China has overtakenItalys position as the largest exporter of furniture. Australia,Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States

are the largest importers of furniture, so there is now a consid-erable ow of wood from tropical forests to developing-countryprocessing facilities and then on to developed-country consum-ers. Furthermore, developing countries have increased theirown demand for wood products (Figure 3).

Pulp and paper products are the part of the market that hasseen the largest increase in demand over the past decade. In

Asia demand is fast outpacing supply, but despite increases inproduction, the region is still a net importer (Aulisi, Sauer, and

Wellington 2008). F l i c k r / C h i K i n g

Tropical forests provide habitat for many mammals, birds, and insects.

Pulp and PaperWood Products (logs, wood chips,sawn wood, wood panels)SPWPs


17/48


Figure 3 . CONSUMPTION AND EXPOR T GROWTH BY REG ION, 1999 2010

Since 1999 consumption has grown in tropical regions. Exports have increased from Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.Note the difference in scale between Asia and the other regions. Source: FAO 2012.

ASIA1,000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

01999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

M I L L I O N C U B I C M E T E R S

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

AFRICA

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

1999

1999

2000

2000

2001

2001

2002

2002

2003

2003

2004

2004

2005

2005

2006

2006

2007

2007

2008

2008

2009

2009

2010

2010

M I L L I O N C U

B I C M E T E R S

M I L L I O N C U B I C M E T E R S

ExportsConsumption


18/48


C H A P T E R T H R E E

Where Should We Harvest Our Wood?

The forests that occupy about 30 percent of thetotal land area worldwide include both naturalforests and plantations (FAO 2007a). Naturalforests differ from plantation forests in terms

of their structure and purpose. Natural forests are home to

a diverse range of species and can produce a wide range oftimber and non-timber forest products. Plantation forests, alsoknown as planted forests, are cultivated systems established bymanual planting and/or seeding, with the primary purpose of

wood production.4 Plantations tend to be lower in biodiversitythan natural forests in the same regions, but their much highergrowth rates allow them to yield large amounts of wood prod-ucts over many harvests from small areas compared with natu-ral forests. Tis comparison is particularly stark when compared

with primary natural forests, in which subsequent harvestsyield little more than half as much wood as the rst (Putz et al.

2012). Given the loss of biodiversity and carbon and the dangerof complete deforestation when natural forests are harvested inthe tropics, it is not necessarily less environmentally damagingto produce wood products by harvesting natural forests ratherthan by establishing plantations on cleared areas (e.g., degradedpastures). Te pros and cons of these two alternatives havegiven rise to sharp debates among scientists in recent years (Putzet al. 2012; Shearman, Bryan, and Laurance 2012).

While plantations account for only 5 percent of globalforest cover, they are becoming increasingly prominent as coun-tries aim to develop new sources of sustainable wood produc-

tion to meet growing market demand. Tis trend is particularlyevident in Asia, which is home to 62 percent of the worldsplantations (FAO 2007a) (Figure 4).

Not surprisingly, the increase in forest plantations in thetropics has led to an increase in market share for plantation-

Plantations are becoming increasingly prominent as solutions tomeet the growing market demand for wood products.

F l i c k r / A n

d y R o b e r t s

P h o t o s

Plantations tend to be lower in biodiversitythan natural forests in the same regions, buttheir much higher growth rates allow them toyield large amounts of wood products overmany harvests from small areas comparedwith natural forests.

4 Some forests are also planted for the purpose of soil or water conservation, windbreaks, or other environmental services. Those forests are not assessed in this report.


19/48


Figure 4. NATURAL FORESTS AND PLANTATIONS AS A PERC ENT OF WORLDS LAND AREA, BY REGION

GLOBAL FOREST AREA3.87 billion hectares

(14.96 million square miles)

NATURAL FOREST AREA

95.3%PLANTATION AREA

4.7%

based wood products. Figure 5 (p. 14) shows that the majorityof wood pulp production (over 95 percent) and reconstituted

wood panel production (over 85 percent) in the tropics (AsiaPacic, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean) is fromplantation timber. Te share of plywood and sawn woodcoming from tropical plantations is under 30 percent, but isgrowing. In the Latin American and Caribbean regions, almostall of the pulpwood and reconstituted panel wood are derivedfrom plantations, with the majority of the pulp coming from

eucalyptus (FAO 2007a). Currently 50 percent of all short-berpulp traded in the global market is from eucalyptus, and this isprojected to reach 60 percent in the future (BRACELPA 2007).

If these trends continue, the annual potential productioncapacity of plantations will reach around 1.8 Bm3 per year by2020, with more than 80 percent of this situated in the tropicsand other countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Tis volume

would be adequate to meet most of the industrys global wooddemand in that year (FAO 2007a).

More than 60 percent of the worlds plantations are in non-tropical regions, and Asia, in particular, has established a greater portion of planta-tions compared with other regions. Tropical regions are also those with the most rapid forest loss, and plantations are expected to expandgreatly in the tropics in the future. Thus, it is important that any expansion of plantations in tropical regions does not replace natural forests.Data sources: FAO 2003; ITTO 2006a.

TropicalNon-tropical

Asian Area


20/48


Figure 5. PLANTATIONS CONTRIBUTION TO THE MARKE T FOR COMMON TROPICAL WOODPRODUCTS IN 2006

Plantations in the tropics already provide most of the wood that goes into paper and panels, and are expected to meet a greater proportion ofmarket demand for other wood products in the years ahead. Source: ITTO 2006b.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%Pulpwood Reconstituted

PanelsPlywood Sawnwood

It is often said that there is no good sourcefor woodthe choice is either establishingindustrial plantations or cutting down treesin natural forests. But industrial plantationsneed not have a negative connotation.

For example, industrial could simply refer to the end useof the wood produced (i.e., wood products rather than fuel).By this denition, industrial plantations represent 48 percent ofglobal plantation area. Non-industrial plantations establishedfor fuelwood, soil and water conservation, and wind protection,account for 26 percent; the remaining 26 percent are estab-

lished for other or unspecied purposes (FAO 2001).Industrial could also refer to the use of industrial machin-

erychain saws, bulldozers, trucks, etc.to cut and haul awaythe trees. Te most common reason industrial plantations areviewed as negative is when the term is used as a description ofthe spatial and temporal pattern of plantations, with rows oftrees uniformly spaced apart and short harvest rotation lengths(i.e., with only a few decades between planting and harvest/replanting).

ADVANTAGES OF FOREST PLANTATIONS

Forest plantations are poor in biodiversity and carbon, butfor wood production they offer a number of advantages. Byconcentrating productivity on a few fast-growing, commerciallyvaluable species and using the latest technology and geneticvarieties, forest plantations can result in much larger yieldsthan natural forests. In the tropics plantations can produce3 to 10 times more commercially usable wood than naturalforests (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010). When planta-tion trees are young, they grow most quickly; some species inthe tropics can grow from 2.5 to 6 meters in height per year.Plantation-based wood products tend to get better prices, sincethe trees are grown to be the ideal shape and size for processing.Tis uniformity also increases processing and manufacturingefficiency. In contrast, the production of wood from naturalforests, even if environmentally sustainable, may not be eco-nomically viable (Shearman, Bryan, and Laurance 2012; FAO2007b; Bowyer 2006; Nair 2001).

It is often said that there is no good source for woodthechoice is either establishing industrial plantations or cuttingdown trees in natural forests. But industrial plantations (see able4 on p. 16 for examples) need not have a negative connotation.

Natural ForestsPlantation s


21/48


Exotic Species

Exotic species are those that grow in an environment differentfrom their natural habitat. According to the U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency, the term exotic refers to species that arenot only able to survive but also able to reproduce outside theirhabitats where they evolved or spread naturally (EPA 2012).Exotic trees are generally planted because they are fast-growing,including species ofEucalyptus, Acacia, and some pines, so theirgrowth rates are often much higher than those of the nativespecies of the region. For example, exotics can sometimesproduce 5 to 10 times more wood than native species in partsof the tropics (Espinoza and Gonzalez Ronalds 2007). Te

planting of exotic species is criticized on the grounds that theydisplace native plant and animal species and reduce biodiversity.

In the tropics, eucalyptus and pine are the most commonlyplanted exotics, and in Latin America they are the norm forplantations and meet the majority of the ber demand of thepulp and paper industry. In Brazil growth rates of eucalyptus(originally from Australia) can reach 40 to 55 cubic meters perhectare per year for a seven-year rotation (FAO 2001). Brazilhas 5 million ha of forest plantations, of which 60 percent iseucalyptus and the majority of the rest is pine (BRACELPA2007). Pinus radiata (native to California) is also grown as an

exotic species in south-temperate countries such as Australia,Chile, and New Zealand.

Monoculture plantations are often criticized for

their negative impacts on the local environmentsuch as reduced biodiversity, soil nutrientdegradation and groundwater depletion.

MonoculturesMonoculture refers to plantings of just one species. Globally,the majority of forest plantations are monocultures, with alimited number of tree species in common use (FAO 2001).Monoculture offers some benets over mixed-species planta-tions: it focuses resources like water and soil nutrients on justthe fastest-growing tree types, makes nursery practice and stand

management easier, and produces uniform wood (Evans andurnbull 2004).

However, monoculture plantations are often criticizedfor their negative impacts on the local environment (Erskine,Lamb, and Bristow 2006; Lamb, Erskine, and Parrotta 2005),such as reduced biodiversity, soil nutrient degradation (Cossal-ter and Pye-Smith 2003), and groundwater depletion. Mono-cultures are considered to be more susceptible to pest outbreaks(Lugo 1997), though inconsistencies exist and there is littleexperimental evidence (Keenan, Lamb, and Sexton 1995;

Watt 1992). Finally, monoculture plantations generally do

not produce many traditional forest goods used by local peoplesuch as fruits, seeds, and medicinal plants (Evans 1999), and

New plantations should be established on degraded land (like this grassland covered by invasive species in Indonesia). B e t h

G i n g o l

d / W o r

l d R e s o u r c e s

I n s t

i t u t e


22/48


Table 4. INDUSTRIAL P LANTATION TYPES IN THE TROPICS

For more information on these types of plantations, see Chapter 4. Source: Adapted from Pokorny, Hoch, and Maturana 2010.

6 Erskine, Lamb, and Bristow 2006; Menalled, Kelty, and Ewel 1998; Khanna 1997;Cannell, Malcolm, and Robertson 1992; FAO 1992; Kerr, Nixon, and Matthews 1992;Morgan, Campbell, and Malcolm 1992.

commercial plantations have been associated with social con-icts (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010).

MIXED SPECIES PLANTATIONS

Mixed-species plantations can combine species with somewhat

different but complementary physiological requirements. Forexample, planting deep-rooted species with shallow-rooted spe-cies improves water use efficiency, while nitrogen-xing legumi-nous trees can enhance soil nutrients for other nearby trees.

Mixed-species plantations provide a number of advantagesover monoculture plantations, such as protection from pests,improved biodiversity habitat, and restoration of degraded areasthat closely mimics natural regeneration (Parrotta and Knowles1999; Guariguata, Rheingans, and Montagnini 1995; Keenan,Lamb, and Sexton 1995; Montagnini et al. 1995). Compared

with monocultures they may produce more biomass per unit ofarea due to limited competition between species and optimaluse of land area (Montagnini et al. 1995). For example, mixedspecies can reduce competition for sunlight and can optimizesoil nutrients, reducing the need for chemical fertilizer inputs

(Guariguata, Rheingans, and Montagnini 1995; Lamb andLawrence 1993). Tough there are a number of studies thathighlight the benets of mixed-species plantations (Forresteret al. 2006; Kelty 2006; Wood and Vanclay 1995), includinghigher yields,6 these plantations are still rare in practice(Nichols, Bristow, and Vanclay 2006).

PLANTATION TYPE AVERAGE SIZE SPECIES TYPES EXAMPLES END USES

Softwood industrialmonoculture

Hardwood industrialmonoculture

Hardwood mixedspecies

Agroforesty

Outgrower schemes 5

Non-industrialfuelwood plantations

Afforestation andreforestation

Food and oilseeds

Up to tens ofthousands of ha

Up to hundreds of ha


Up to tens of ha

Up to tens of ha


Up to hundreds ofthousands of ha


Exotic fast-growing

Exotic or native, withpreference forhigh-value

Mixed, with prefer-ence for high-value

Mixed

Exotic fast-growing

Mixed

Mixed, with prefer-ence for natives

Monocultures, oftennon-native

Some species of euca-lyptus, pine, acacia

Some species ofeucalyptus, teak

Teak

Legumes, fruit trees

Eucalyptus, pine

Regionally dependentmix of species

Regionally dependentmix of species

Palm, banana, coffee

Fiber (mainly pulpfor paper)

Timber for construc-tion, wood for homedecor

Timber for construc-tion, wood for homedecor

Timber, wood, non-wood products (e.g.,fruit, crops, livestock)

Fiber

Fuelwood

Ecosystem protectionor rehabilitation

Food or oil products

5 In outgrower schemes, processing companies do not own the forests from which trees are harvested, but rather work with a number of forest owners in the area whoprovide wood for processing.


23/48


C H A P T E R F O U R

Solutions and Recommendations

All forests provide multiple benets to society.

All members of societyproducers that growand harvest trees, businesses that manufactureand sell wood products, consumers who buy

wood and wood-based products, and governments of both pro-

ducing and consuming countriescan play a role in supportingsustainable forest management practices. Tis chapter providesrecommendations for practices and approaches that can move the

wood products industry away from deforestation in the tropics.

PRODUCERS IN THE TROPICS

Wood producers in the tropics should move toward a paradigmof sustainable management through careful planning, increas-ing productivity to meet demand with less land, establishingefficient systems, and following best management practicesthat reduce the environmental impact of harvest and wood

production. In the tropics well-managed plantations thatdont endanger or replace primary forests can be used to meetdemand; ideally, these plantations are established on degradedlands instead of replacing natural forest, and utilize a mix ofnative species chosen to optimize output. Some careful removalof trees from secondary forests pre-identied for productionmay also be useful in meeting wood demand. In this case, theseforests should be designated as working forests, clearly distin-guishing them from other secondary forests in which harvest

will not happen.

Establishing a Forest Management Paradigm Without planned management it is difficult to predict thefuture of a forest after harvest. rees may grow back, but theymay not be the desired species. Or, the forest may be so dam-aged that it never regains its original level of biodiversity and

wood volume. In the worst cases there are no plans for theforest and it is cleared for other purposes. Without planningfor sustainability, wood is simply mined from the forest likea limited amount of gold can be mined from the earth, andit will not be a renewable resource. Forest management can

help achieve pre-determined goals, whether they are to grow asecond generation of harvestable trees or to reduce the environ-mental impact of wood extraction.

Te International ropical imber Organization (I O)denes sustainable forest management (SFM) as the process ofmanaging permanent forest land to achieve one or more clearlyspecied objectives of management with regard to the produc-tion of a continuous ow of desired forest products and services

without undue reduction in its inherent values and futureproductivity and without undue undesirable effects on thephysical and social environment (Blaser et al. 2011). Tereforean SFM plan requires actions to address the establishment, care,reproduction, and harvesting of a working forest.

RECOMMENDATIONS FORPRODUCERS

Establish Long-term

Forest Management Identify which native species can be grown in

plantations, identify degraded lands where theycan be planted, then appropriately managethem to meet demand

Take steps to manage and restore secondaryforests, using reduced-impact logging

Improve livelihoods for local communities Become a certied producer of sustainable wood

Follow Best Management Practices Protect water and reduce soil erosion

Reduce chemical inputs Protect biodiversity Protect genetic resources Plant on degraded land


24/48


Without planning for sustainability, wood is simplymined from the forest like a limited amount ofgold can be mined from the earth, and it will not be

a renewable resource.

Meeting Demand with Less LandPlantations that follow best management practices can be usefulin meeting wood product demand from the same piece of landover long periods. Tere are many options for growing produc-tion trees in the tropics, some of which are described below(and summarized in able 4).

Monoculture PlantationsMany factors should be considered when deciding to establish

a plantation in the tropics. First, species should be selected tomatch the location where they will be grown. Ideally, nativespecies are used as they are naturally adapted to the localclimate; plantation producers that plan to use exotic speciesshould choose those that are suited to the climate to minimizesupplemental inputs.

Ten, during the main years of tree growth, managers needto determine how to provide sufficient nutrients to the trees, assoil nutrients are lost at a greater rate in plantations than naturalforests given the speed of growth and short harvest rotation.

Fertilizer use in tropical plantations is not very common, but

has recently increased, and should be done sparingly to reducecosts and the possibility of leakage into the surrounding ecosys-tem (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010).

Once the trees have grown, forest managers need todetermine when to harvest them. Usually, this is dependent onthe ultimate use of the wood, with pulp rotations being muchshorter than timber or veneer rotations. Increasing rotationlength can sequester more carbon from the atmosphere but,depending on the product the wood will be used for, it mayreduce the value added during those years. For example, if atree is going to be used for pulp to make paper, it will not grow

as quickly in later years and will therefore be gaining less valueevery year. On the other hand, increasing the rotation length ofsome trees, like eucalyptus, can transform a plantationfrom being used for low-value pulp into higher-value solid

wood products.

Mixed-Species Plantations In the tropics, mixed-species plantations are most commonlyused to grow a diverse range of hardwoods. Producer benetsfrom mixed-species plantations include creating a diverseincome stream (including some non-timber products like fruit

or nuts), diversifying production risk, creating a seed source forthe next generation of trees, and improving yield (Onyekwelu,Stimm, and Evans 2010). See Box 1 for an example of a suc-cessful mixed-species plantation management plan.

Te management choices that go into mixed plantations aresimilar to those in monoculture species plantations; however,species selection and nutrient management warrant additionalconsiderations. Often, native species are used in mixed planta-tions, helping increase the ecological connectivity between theplantations and surrounding native forests. Nutrient manage-ment can be improved on mixed plantations by using species of

trees that increase nitrogen in the soil and therefore reduce theneed to use fertilizer (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010).

Agroforestry Agroforestry is the practice of combining agricultural landand trees on the same plot. Crop or animal production is usu-ally the main purpose, so farmers typically plant a few widelyspaced trees to reduce interference with agricultural practices.Te most famous example of agroforestry is planting cacaoor coffee under shade trees. Agroforestry systems can provide

Silvopasture systems provide a way to raise cattle while maintainingsome forest cover.

F l i c k r / J

. B . F

r i d a y


25/48


M ost of the diverse Mata Atlntica forestalong Brazils South Atlantic coast wascleared centuries ago and only small rem-nants remain. A large-scale effort has begun in this region

to restore forests and biodiversity by planting combina-

tions of fast-growing timber species, both exotics and

natives, with a wide diversity of native species destined to

become the core of future natural forests.

This project, known as the Atlantic Forest Restoration

Compact, is the result of input from hundreds of non-

governmental organizations (NGOs), government and

business organizations, and thousands of landowners. It is

based on the realization that protection alone will be insuf-

cient, and that planting forests for restoration, mostly on

low-value pastures, will have to be an important feature

of the regions conservation strategy (Calmon et al. 2011;

Rodrigues et al. 2009).

Box 1

The Compact sets a goal of restoring 15 million ha of

forest by 2050, thus increasing the regions forest cover

from 17 percent to at least 30 percent. Its guidelines are

intentionally exible to adapt to local environmental,

socioeconomic, and political conditions.

The most common approach in this restoration effort is to

plant a combination of a few valuable fast-growing species,

which may be natives or exotics such as eucalyptus, to-gether with a large number of slower-growing native trees

whose purpose is long-term ecosystem protection and

biodiversity restoration. The fast-growing species will be

cut out in a few decades, providing income for landowners

and thus giving them an economic incentive to participate.

The remaining native species will then be the foundation

of the new, restored Atlantic forest (Calmon et al. 2011).

The Atlantic Forest

Restoration Compact

W i k i m e d

i a C o m m o n s /

H l i o V L

Brazils Mata Atlntica forest

The Compact is based on the realizationthat protection alone will be insufficient,and that planting forests for restoration,mostly on low-value pastures, will have tobe an important feature of the regionsconservation strategy.


26/48


multiple environmental benets. rees grow roots deep into

the soil, creating a system that cycles water and nutrientsmuch deeper than most other plants, and sequestering morecarbon than, for example, a cattle pasture alone (Haile, Nair,and Nair 2010). rees grown along creeks and rivers alsoprotect waterways by preventing soil erosion and nutrientpollution. Furthermore, agroforestry can provide wildlifehabitats and corridors (Murgueitio et al. 2011) and improvefarm aesthetics.

Tese mixed-use, multispecies systems can provide farms with diversied income streams. However, up-front costs mayprevent these practices from being economically viable on

a small scale or for lower-value crops (Balderas orres et al.2010). National and international programs that reimbursethe initial costs of agroforestry may spur more small landhold-ers to practice it.

Sustainable Production from Natural ForestsPrimary forests should not be used for commercial woodproduction, either through rst-entry logging or conversion toplantations, as both cause a large carbon loss (Putz et al. 2012;

Liao et al. 2010). Logging of primary forests also causes a long-

term loss of potential timber volume and affects biodiversity(Putz et al. 2012). However, secondary forests identied forlong-term wood production can be useful for obtaining speciesnot grown in plantations.

In highly degraded forests, signicant management effortslike protection from further degradation, re risk reduction,and soil conservation may be needed to regenerate the forestand achieve a sustainable production system (Akindele andOnyekwelu 2010; Elias and Lininger 2010). In some casesdegradation is so severe that trees can no longer grow and theareas are invaded by grasses. Tese too can be restored to create

production forests, but usually require signicant plantingeffortsthus making these areas possible candidates for estab-lishing plantations.

Primary forests should not be used for commercialwood production, either through rst-entrylogging or conversion to plantations, as bothcause a large carbon loss.

When logging secondary forests, the damage normallyassociated with unmanaged harvest can be mitigated through

reduced-impact logging (RIL). RIL is the implementation ofmultiple science-based practices to reduce the environmentalimpact of selective logging (Lentini, Zweede, and Holmes2009; Putz et al. 2008). Tese practices include modifying thenumber of trees left in the forest, leaving trees of certain sizesto grow into a mature forest, harvesting during seasons that

will not damage the soil, establishing no-cut zones in steepterrain or close to water, and avoiding damage to the trees leftin the forest.

RIL can signicantly reduce disturbance from logging. InIndonesia, for example, over the next few decades an RIL plan

established in the late 1990s is expected to reduce disturbanceto soil and residual vegetation by 50 percent and cut costs by15 percent compared with conventional logging (Sist, Dykstra,and Fimbel 1998). In the Amazon, RIL experiments show thatthis practice can help reduce the impact of logging on wildlife(Presley et al. 2008; Wunderle, Henriques, and Willig 2006).

Research results vary as to the cost-effectiveness of RIL. What is clear is that these practices often require investmentsin logger education and long-term planning, and therefore it isoften necessary for governments to provide policies and incen-

N F M A

, F A O

Measuring and monitoring forests over time is critical for under-standing the effects of logging on the ecosystem.


27/48


tives to promote these more sustainable practices (Medjibe

and Putz 2012). Furthermore, there is no generally accepteddenition of RIL. While the specic RIL activities necessaryfor reducing environmental damage will differ among forests, agenerally accepted standardization may help with certicationefforts and broaden participation (Ezzine De Blas and RuizPerez 2008).

Best Practices for Sustainable Forest ManagementRegardless of forest or plantation type, a management planshould include the following ecological and societal goals:

Protecting water and soil. Forest management choices canaffect water and soil resources. ree corridors along waterways should not be harvested, as they help protect waterquality and reduce soil erosion (Keenan et al. 1999). Plan-tations also require a lot of water (Jackson et al. 2005), sothey should not be planted in regions or areas where water isalready scarce. Finally, short-rotation forests remove a lot ofsoil nutrients (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans 2010), so soilfertility considerations should be included in determiningrotation length.

Plantations require a lot of water, so they shouldnot be planted in regions or areas where water isalready scarce.

Reducing or avoiding chemical inputs. Fertilizer use intropical forests is on the rise (Onyekwelu, Stimm, and Evans2010), although it is expensive and its utility is still notgenerally accepted (Bigelow, Ewel, and Haggar 2004). In anyecosystem, overuse of fertilizer can affect water quality; con-ventional fertilizers are also energy-intensive to create, con-tributing to higher global warming emissions. o minimize or

eliminate the need for fertilizers, plantations should includespecies that add nitrogen to the soil naturally; if fertilizers areused, they should be applied sparingly to avoid runoff intolocal waterways.

Providing plant and animal habitat. Creating diverse forestscan help restore biodiversity on degraded landscapes (Lamb,Erskine, and Parrotta 2005). Monoculture plantations shoulduse native species as often as possible to help improve biodi-versity (Lamb, Erskine, and Parrotta 2005)a shift from cur-

rent practice in which 50 percent of tropical plantations useexotic species such as acacia, pine, or eucalyptus (Onyekwelu,Stimm, and Evans 2010). Furthermore, when establishingplantations, areas of high biodiversity should be avoided andplantations should not be so large that they signicantly inter-rupt biodiversity corridors.

Monoculture plantations should use native speciesas often as possible to help improve biodiversity.

Protecting genetic resources. Genetic selectionpickingthe best trees from the forest and harvesting their seeds forreplantingis a common technique among foresters. In thetropics, forest managers should increase the number of nativespecies on which they focus genetic improvement efforts, andensure there is variability among and within native speciesused for production.

Planting on degraded lands. Degraded lands vary a great dealin terms of how much forest cover, biodiversity, and eco-system function has been lost (Lamb, Erskine, and Parrotta2005). A good forest management plan can speed up recoveryand help create forests that provide desirable species andgrowth rates, as well as restore ecosystem services. Avoidingprimary forests or high-carbon-storage areas like peatlands

will also avoid signicant heat-trapping emissions (Jauhiainen,Hooijer, and Page 2012; Liao et al. 2010).

Following best practices for forest management can reduce thenegative impacts of wood production on wildlife.

i S t o c k p

h o t o . c o m

/ B r a n

d o n

A l m s


28/48


Improving livelihoods for local communities. Historically,

local communities received little benet from establishmentof traditional monoculture plantations in the tropics, not onlybecause they do not provide the fruit, seeds, and medicinesthat natural forests and mixed-species plantations can provide,but also because many plantations are owned by outside corpo-rations rather than local residents. Limitations including inse-cure land tenure, high up-front costs, or competing demandsfor land can exclude local communities from establishingtheir own plantations and benetting from the market (Lamb,Erskine, and Parrotta 2005). Institutional, legal, and policychanges are needed to make forest management more attractive

to local communities (as described in Box 2). Tese changesinclude providing secure land tenure, eliminating policies thatpromote deforestation, providing loans or other nancial incen-tives for sustainable plantations, providing technical assistanceand information, creating markets for native species, and devel-oping systems to pay for ecosystem services (i.e., putting a valueon services that forests provide, such as water purication anderosion prevention, and paying landowners for keeping forestsintact in order to maintain these services).

MANUFACTURERS AND RETAILERS

In the middle of the supply chain, between producers andconsumers and between trees and tables, are the vast numberof businesses that buy and sell tropical wood products. Most ofthem do not think of themselves as part of the forest productsindustry, but the range of enterprises that use wood products isextremely wide. Wood not only goes into houses and furniture,but also into office buildings, trucking, and textiles. Ship-ping goods uses cardboard and pallets in large quantities. Andpaperwork is a fundamental part of every business. Tus, manybusinesses can play a part in moving tropical wood productiontoward zero deforestation.

Businesses selling tropical wood products shouldlook for certied sources of wood as a reasonablestandard for ensuring their products are notcausing deforestation and forest degradation.

CerticationBusinesses selling tropical wood products should look for certi-ed sources of wood as a reasonable standard for ensuring theirproducts are not causing deforestation and forest degradation.

Box 2

Community Forestry

C ommunity forestry systems are those thatprovide local communities with formal respon-sibility of managing forests (Charnley and Poe2007). Community forestry has many benets, including

integrating local knowledge and goals into efforts to

conserve forests and implementing sound principles of

forest management. It may also aim to spur local land

ownership, though it can occur under various forms ofland tenure including privately owned land, government-

owned land, forests held as common capital, and land

owned or controlled by indigenous peoples.

Often, community forestry aims to promote local eco-

nomic development while protecting forests for the long

term. For example, in Mexico structures promoting com-

munity forestry have enabled communities to sell timber

and non-timber products while also protecting forests

and local ecology (Bray, Antinori, and Torres-Rojo 2006).

Other countries such as Bolivia, India, Nepal, and thePhilippines have also successfully implemented commu-

nity forestry (Charnley and Poe 2007). These systems can

be more effective in reducing deforestation than setting

aside no-touch forest areas (Elias and Lininger 2010).

Community-managed forests can also provide income

through agroforestry or non-timber forest products (Kotru

and Sharma 2011).

Photo: Sustainable Harvest International (sustainableharvest.org)

A young Honduranprepares to plant amango tree.


29/48


RECOMMENDATIONS FORMANUFACTURERS ANDRETAILERS

Identify Opportunities to ImproveSustainability Identify the supply chain and determine producer

practices Determine which products are coming from

countries with high deforestation rates Support efforts by producers and consumers

governments to improve legal production

Determine which products are coming fromcountries where illegal logging is a problem

Certify Products as Sustainable Demand certied wood (even for lower-end

products) Send sustainably produced goods across the

entire sales network Work with consumers and stakeholders to support

local and global efforts to increase certication Become members of certication programs and

get involved in the certication process tostrengthen and improve those programs

Support certication in countries where deforestationis the highest

Identify Alternative Species that Can HelpReduce Demand and Pressure on NaturalTropical Forests

Invest in Sustainable ForestryOperations Plan to use certied producers for all business growth

and new investments Support impact investing to bridge the divide

between philanthropy and prot

Nongovernmental, voluntary certication programs have beenin place since the early 1990s, developed as a response to thelack of political will for government-level management require-ments (Auld, Gulbrandsen, and McDermott 2008).

able 5 (p. 24) outlines the guiding principles of two of thelargest and most well-respected wood certication programs.Te Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has a global standard

comprising 10 principles and more than 50 criteria, each of

which is tailored at national or local levels to meet differentecological, economic, and social conditions (Auld, Gulbrand-sen, and McDermott 2008). o determine if a forest is meetingFSC standards an auditor conducts a eld inspection. All theapplicable principles and criteria must be metthey are nota menu for land managers to select from but rather an entirepackage (FSC 1996). Te FSC logo is common among a widearray of wood products in the United States, though not allproducts containing certied wood bear a logo since they maybe made from wood from multiple sources. In fact, only a smallpercentage of the worlds certied wood ends up being sold

with the logo (Auld, Gulbrandsen, and McDermott 2008).Many producers have also developed their own certication

schemes, usually on a national level. Many of these, includingthe U.S. Sustainable Forestry Initiative and programs imple-mented in Brazil, Chile, Gabon, Malaysia, and Uruguay,are under the Programme for the Endorsement of ForestCertication (PEFC) , which creates mutual recognition ofnational-level programs and allows for common labeling(PEFC 2012; Auld, Gulbrandsen, and McDermott 2008).

Another major tropical producing country, Indonesia, hascreated the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute (LEI) (which has

opted to participate in a memorandum of understanding with the FSC rather than become part of the PEFC).

At a global scale, it is difficult to compare the ecologicalimpacts of FSC or PEFC programs, since their implementationon the ground varies both between and within the programs.Te exibility of standards to t local needs is important, butmakes comparison difficult. However, research shows that byand large producers that have had their wood certied havechanged at least some aspects of their management practices(Auld, Gulbrandsen, and McDermott 2008).

Certication systems like those of the FSC and PEFC

require products to be legally produced and procured; there-fore, businesses certifying their entire product stream aresupporting efforts to ensure legal production from the tropics.Some businesses have supported government efforts to addressillegal logging, and others should join the effort. Canfor Pulp,Te Forest Products Alliance of Canada, the National WoodFlooring Association, aylor Guitars, and the UK imberrade Federation, among others, are members of the Forest

Legality Alliancea group designed to achieve better forestgovernance, sustainable management of forests, and biodiver-


30/48


sity conservation by reducing the demand for illegally harvestedforest products (Forest Legality Alliance 2012; Forest Legality

Alliance n.d.).

Gaps in Certication ProgramsPrimary forests. Currently neither the FSC nor PEFC have anoutright ban on rst-entry logging of tropical forests. Te FSCs

requirements to protect biodiversity and the PEFCs require-

ments to protect ecosystem function implicitly prohibit thisaction, but certication of wood removed from primary forestsis still possible. Certication programs should consider theimplications of primary forest logging on biological diversityand carbon dioxide emissions, and reevaluate the sustainabilityof programs that do not explicitly stop this action.

Adoption. Lack of adoption is a serious concern in the trop-ics. Of the area certied by the FSC, less than 12 percent is inthe tropics; for the PEFC it is less than 3 percent (FSC 2012b;PEFC 2012). ropical forests have proportionally less area certi-

ed for sustainable production than those in temperate areas(Purbawiyatna and Simula 2008). Lack of adoption is problem-atic for a few reasons. First, since certication only occurs on aproperty-by-property basis, bad forest management practicesby non-certied owners could continue nearby while those man-agers that were already close to meeting the certication require-ments opt into the programs. As long as non-certied productsare still purchased, good practices may not spread to those badactors and simply support the status quo. Second, participationis low in those countries that are losing forest cover and export-ing wood, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myan-

mar (Burma), the Philippines, and others ( able 6).

Lack of adoption is a serious concern in thetropics. Of the area certied by the FSC, lessthan 12 percent is in the tropics; for the PEFCit is less than 3 percent.

Project-level standards. As certication programs continueto grow and adapt with increased scientic knowledge andexperience, some countries are behind in creating national-level standards and use only project-level standards ( able 6).Tese are the most general possible standards, since they canbe adapted to any forest ecosystem in the world, and are there-fore the most exible and easy to meet. Te FSC is currently

working to improve these generic standards, but at the currenttime they are insufficient compared with national-level certi-cation standards.

Overall limitations. Tere is a risk to overselling certication asthe solution to all bad forest management practices (Dauvergne

Table 5. CERTIFICATION PROGRAM CRITERIA

A list of the guiding principles for the Forest Stewardship Counciland the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certication;each provides sustainability certication for forest growers globallyand certies wood products sold in the United States and else-where. Sources: FSC 2012a, PEFC 2010.

Forest Stewardship Council Compliance with laws Workers rights and employment conditions Indigenous peoples rights Community relations

Benets from the forest Environmental values and impacts Management planning Monitoring and assessment High conservation values Implementation of management activities

Programme for the Endorsementof Forest Certication Maintenance and appropriate enhancement

of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle Maintenance of forest ecosystem healthand vitality Maintenance and encouragement of

productive functions of forests (wood andnon-wood)

Maintenance, conservation, and appropriate enhancement of biological diversity in forest ecosystems Maintenance and appropriate enhancement

of protective functions in forest management(notably soil and water)

Maintenance of other socioeconomic functionsand conditions

(Note: There are additional criteria if a group of forest

managers are applying for certication together.)


31/48


Table 6. DEGREE OF CERTIFICATION IN TROPICAL COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGH EST DEFORESTATION RATE

Sources: Annual deforestation data from FAO 2010b, FSC area certied from FSC 2012b, LEI area certied from LEI 2012, CERFLOR area certiedfrom INMETRO 2012.

7 Calculated using third column and FAO 2010b.8 These standards were released in April 2012 and are still being rolled out; therefore the values are still listed as non-applicable in the certied area in country column.

Indonesia

Brazil

Cameroon

Mexico

Myanmar (Burma)

Philippines

Ecuador

Papua New Guinea

Ghana

Solomon Islands

Democratic Republicof Congo

Bolivia

GuatemalaNigeria

Angola

$6.1 billion

$5.7 billion

$409 million

$405 million

$385 million

$194 million

$176 million

$165 million

$160 million

$114 million

$91 million

$63 million

$48 million$45 million

$43 million

1,407,542 ha in LEI standards985,333 ha in FSC project-level standards

1,537,997 ha in Brazilian National ForestCertication Program (CERFLOR) (PEFC-endorsed)

6,515,179 ha in FSC project-level standards

820,630 ha in FSC national standards

340,447 ha in FSC project-level standards

No PEFC or FSC standard



32,610 ha in FSC national standards



FSC Congo Basin regional standards 8

1,106,052 ha in national FSC standard

499,020 ha in FSC project-level standardsNo PEFC or FSC standard


2.5%

1.5%

4.1%

Less than 1%

---

---

Less than 1%

Less than 1%

Less than 1%

2.9%

---

1.9%

13.6%---

---

COUNTRY TOTAL WOOD PRODUCTEXPORT VALUE, 2011

CERTIFIED AREA IN COUNTRY,AS OF 2012

PERCENT OF FORESTAREA CERTIFIED7

and Lister 2010). Currently the unequal distribution of certi-cation means that many of the places where deforestation ishappening most quickly are not the same places were certica-tion is expanding rapidly. Terefore, businesses sourcing woodfrom those countries need to be especially vigilant and workto promote certication there. Finally, certication is meant tobe a standard for how forests are grown and harvested, not astandard for how forests are conserved. Terefore, certicationmust go hand in hand with forest conservation efforts(see Government Recommendations section).

Businesses can take action to spread the adoption of certi-cation (as exemplied i

Wood for Good

Documents

Transcript of Wood for Good