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1996 | Buch

Sustainable Forestry Challenges for Developing Countries

herausgegeben von: Matti Palo, Gerardo Mery, M.Sc.(For.)

Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buchreihe : Environmental Science and Technology Library

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Über dieses Buch

This book is an outcome of a research project on "Sustainable Forestry and the Environment in Developing Countries". The project has been run by Metsantutki­ muslaitos METLA -the Finnish Forest Research Institute since 1987 and will be completed this year. A major output by this project has so far been a report in three volumes on "Deforestation or development in the Third World?" The purpose of our multidisciplinary research project is to generate new knowl­ edge about the causes of deforestation, its scenarios and consequences. More knowledge is needed for more effective, efficient and equitable public policy, both at the national and intemationallevels in supporting sustainable forestry in develop­ ing countries. Our project has specifically focused on 90 tropical countries as one group and on three subgroups by continents, as well as the three case study countries, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Chile. The University of Joensuu has been our active partner in the Philippine study. We have complemented the three cases by the analyzes of Brazil and Indonesia, the two largest tropical forest-owning countries. Some other interesting country studies were annexed to complement our book both by geography and expertise. The United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research, UNUIWIDER in Helsinki Finland has also been partly engaged. Most of the results from its project on "The Forest in the South and North in Context of Global Warming" will, however, be published later in a separate book.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Global Prospects

Frontmatter
Transition from Deforestation to Sustainable Forestry — A Distant Dream?
Abstract
This volume addresses the acute challenges of sustainable forest management with emphasis on the developing countries. Sustainability is analyzed primarily as being an opposite phenomenon to deforestation. A multilevel approach is adopted in order to take into account that the causes of deforestation are multilevel. Accordingly, the volume contains contributions at global, continental, country, and sub-national levels. The contributions by 17 authors have a multidisciplinary character and represent such fields as forest economics and policy, forest mensuration and inventory, tropical silviculture, land use economics, environmental economics and history, as well as geography and political history. One of the aims of this volume is to present a collective analysis of deforestation and sustainability using the most reliable and valid empirical data available. The authors have been among the first scientists in the world to have had access to the new FORIS-database established by the FAO. Consequently, their deforestation modeling is based on better data by quality and quantity than other respective modeling attempts. Population pressure, income, deforestation costs and risks were found both theoretically and empirically to be underlying causes of tropical deforestation. There is no immediate way to stop deforestation. A transition to sustainable forest management can gradually take place along with general transformation of societies with adequate national and international political will.
Matti Palo, Gerardo Mery
Geography of Tropical Deforestation
Abstract
The article takes a preliminary look at tropical deforestation in light of the latest data provided in the Forest Resources Assessment 1990, Tropical countries, by FAO. The phenomenon of deforestation is studied from the spatial point of view by discussing different land use options and their requirements and consequences. The variables included are forest cover, relative annual rate of deforestation, population density, and per capita GNP, as well as GNP per km2. The meaning of population density as the main variable in explaining the rate of deforestation is expanded with a classification of deforestation into three types: natural deforestation, subsistence deforestation and deforestation caused by profit maximization. These three types of deforestation each have their own causes and they vary both in time and space. The present state (1990) of deforestation and the above mentioned variables in the tropical countries are described in thematic maps in order to give a global view to the problematics of deforestations a glance. Finally a few conclusions on Africa, Asia and Latin America are drawn. As this is a preliminary look at the phenomena, no statistical analysis has been included.
Erkki Viitanen
Modeling Underlying Causes of Pantropical Deforestation
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to find out whether universal causal factors exist in pantropical deforestation processes. Causal models to explain deforestation are specified for two alternative dependent variables: deforestation rate and forest cover. According to our theoretical specification deforestation rate is expected to be correlated positively with population pressure and income (at low levels), as well as negatively with logging and forest clearing costs and increasing risk. Forest cover is interpreted as a negative proxy of deforestation proper and is assumed to have diametrically opposite signs in correlations with the specified factors. The two specifications are estimated with ordinary least square techniques based on the cross-sectional data primarily from the years 1980 and 1990, based on FAO FORIS database. Our model estimations show empirical support for the fact that the specified causal factors are universal underlying causes of pantropical deforestation. This is contrary to the prevailing understanding. We assume that our novel findings are primarily due to the high degrees of freedom of our analysis at the level of the 578 subnational geographical units and the improved quality of tropical deforestation data.
Matti Palo, Erkki Lehto
Pine Plantations of the South
Abstract
In the tropics and southern hemisphere, the total area of forest plantations was 50 million ha in 1990, of which 58% were non-industrial and 42% industrial plantations of hardwoods and softwoods. About 90% of the industrial softwood plantations have been established with pines from the northern hemisphere. The area of fast-growing industrial pine plantations in the southern hemisphere and tropics is almost eight million ha and the annual increment 140 million m3. Because of the young average age of the plantations, the annual cut is presently only 55–60% of the increment. The available cut is estimated to exceed 100 million m3 by 2000 and 150 million m3 in 2020. Compared to slow-grown boreal softwoods, fast-grown southern pine logs tend to produce inferior lumber, but tree breeding, pruning, product-oriented management and new processing technology will result in an improvement in the quality of both wood and end products. Although the areas of deforestation and afforestation rarely overlap, industrial forest plantations play an important role in the fight against environmental destruction.
Pentti Hakkila
North Queensland’s Tropical Rainforests: The World Heritage Controversy
Abstract
When the state owned tropical rainforests of North Queensland, in northeastern Australia, received World Heritage listing from UNESCO in 1988, it largely put an end to the fighting over the future of these forests. With the imposition of World Heritage, logging in state owned rainforests was halted. Queensland still argues that it was managing the forests for a sustainable harvest, and that as these were state owned forests, the Federal government had no right to nominate the forests for World Heritage. This paper examines: what World Heritage means; the history of the conflict; the motivations of the various parties involved; the sustainability of the operations in these forests; and what the results of World Heritage have been in the years since 1988. The conclusion it draws from all this is that the partial solution which has been achieved has not addressed all of the pressures being placed upon these forests. Even those areas which are protected are faced with an uncertain future as a result of the ongoing conflict which surrounds their protected status. The confrontational manner in which individuals on both sides of the issue approached the matter has restricted the range of options available for resolving it. Because rainforests are a small part of Australia’s forest estate, and the nation itself is a rich, developed country, it can afford this kind of solution, but it is unlikely that such an approach will prove a viable form of conservation elsewhere in the tropics. Foresters would do well to learn from this example and heed Squire’s (1993) warning, “Forestry must take the lead in initiating public involvement and cooperation in planning if it is to survive as the profession with the primary responsibility for balancing sustained wood production, and ecosystem conservation in native forests.”
Edmund Redfield

Tropical Asia

Frontmatter
Tropical Asian Deforestation and Sustainability Prospects
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review tropical Asian forest resources, to find out the underlying causes of deforestation in the region and to analyze prospects for deforestation and sustainable forest management. Asia has 48% of all tropical rainforests, but also other moist closed forests, such as teak and sal forests, open forests and some mangrove and bamboo forests. In 1981–1990 the annual average tropical deforestation rate in Asia was 3.9 million hectares. We estimated eight models in order to explain deforestation. We found empirical evidence that increasing population pressure and income are expanding deforestation, and that increasing deforestation costs and risks are decreasing deforestation. We made three simple scenario models. According to our scenario prospect deforestation will reduce the total tropical Asian forest area by about 38% until 2020.
Matti Palo, Erkki Lehto
Change and Continuity in the Philippine Forest Policy
Abstract
The paper begins with a review of the history and economic development of the Philippines and identifies the fundamental structural characteristics of the country: unequal distribution of wealth and resources. The purpose of the paper is to present the role of the social structure in the deforestation process in the Philippines. While recognizing the role of marginal farmers in deforestation, the paper focuses on the interests of the wealthy minority in logging and their indirect impacts in preventing necessary social reforms. The paper also enumerates the factors behind recent changes in forest policy directed towards the reconstruction of the neglected forest sector. The recent major changes that occurred in forest policy, such as intensification of reforestation and orientation towards community forestry, are outlined. Finally, the factors that still put pressure on the forest resources, which are beyond the reach of forest policy and counteractive positive development, are recognised.
Olli Saastamoinen
Land Use History of the Philippines
Abstract
Land-use history of the Philippines from the sixteenth century to the present day is outlined on the basis of existing statistics, inventories, and other research on land use. Although it is difficult to find reliable empirical data on historical land-use changes, the major land-use trends are obvious. Population growth and economic opportunities have stimulated the conversion of forest land to other uses. Notable conversion of forest to agriculture started in the eighteenth century when the Philippines was integrated into the world economy. During this century, forest cover has continued to decline rapidly while the areas of intensive agriculture and extensive land uses have continued to increase. The apparent trends operating at the national level may, however, result from conflicting trends operating at the sub-national level. For example, in some areas urban expansion reduces agricultural land area.
Elina Uitamo
Deforestation as an Environmental-Economic Problem in the Philippines
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to outline a theoretical approach for the determination of a socially optimal use of forested land resources in the Philippine uplands. Allocation of land to different land uses is not optimal because of existing institutional, informational, and market failures. Cultivation of upland areas has caused increasing and continuous degradation of soils, and consequent adverse effects in the lowlands. These impacts are not internalized in a farmer’s decision making, especially under uncertain land tenure. A dynamic model of social and private optimization of land use concentrates on the issues of property rights, heterogeneity of land in terms of accessibility, the level of adoption of soil conservation measures, and environmental externalities.
Paula Horne
Forest Degradation and Rehabilitation Prospects in Indonesia
Abstract
The largest moist tropical forests outside the Amazonian region are located in Southeast Asia. As elsewhere in the region, Indonesian forests, characterized by an abundance of valuable timber trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae, have been decimated considerably due to extensive logging. In contrast to the extremely well-established and intensive land-use systems practiced in the central regions of Java and Bali, peripheral areas of the Outer Islands have been subjected to extractive economies, including exploitation of timber and short-fallow shifting cultivation. The result has been the conversion of at least 20 million ha of former forest land into virtually useless grasslands, while another 16 million ha are in a more or less irreversible state of low production and secondary tree species composition. The official figure of forest land in Indonesia has recently been changed from 144 million ha down to 110 million ha. Although the emphasis in forestry policies has recently been turned towards more sustainable management practices, the major challenge of Indonesian forest resource management will be the successful rehabilitation of logged-over low-volume forests and reclamation of extensive Imperata grasslands, as part of the general land-use planning. A starting point for these would be the establishment of reliable forest statistics and, subsequently, formulation of long-term forestry policies and a management planning framework. Indonesia has recently mobilized a massive forest plantation program. But one problem has been a comparatively low survival rate.
Jussi Kuusipalo
Environmental-Economic Evaluation of Forest Plantations
Abstract
Deforestation in tropical countries has continued at the annual estimated rate of 15.4 million hectares during the 1980s. It has been suggested that one solution to the question of sustainable development could be the establishment of tree plantations. In order to satisfy complex socioeconomic needs in rural areas, plantations should be established to maximise social and environmental benefits rather than wood production per se. Achievement of economic, social and environmental goals is possible by improving the tools that are used in project evaluation and decision making. In this article, the basic methods and some tentative results for environmental-economic analysis of afforestation and reforestation projects are presented so that conventional cost-benefit analysis could be expanded to include environmental effects.
Anssi Niskanen

Latin America

Frontmatter
Latin American Deforestation and Sustainability Prospects
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review Latin American forest resources, to find out the underlying causes of deforestation in the tropical zone of this continent and to analyze the prospects for deforestation and sustainable forest management. In the forest resources description, Latin America is clustered in three regions, but frequently Brazil is analyzed as a separate entity due to its vast extension and prominent position in the continent. The natural forests of Latin America covered an area of approximately 960 million hectares in 1990. This vast area represents the largest closed broadleaved forest reserve of the world. The characteristics and approximate location of five major types of forests are presented. In 1981–1990 the annual average tropical deforestation area in the continent was 7.7 million hectares, the largest in the developing world. Eight models for explaining deforestation were estimated. Evidences were found for determining that growing population pressure is increasing deforestation. In addition, increasing incomes, deforestation costs and deforestation risks lead to decreasing deforestation. We made three simple scenario models. According to these scenarios a reduction of 21–28% of the total forest area of 1990 could be expected until the year 2020.
Matti Palo, Gerardo Mery, Erkki Lehto
The Roasted Forests
Coffee and the history of deforestation in Brazil
Abstract
The past thirty years of Amazonian deforestation is only a minor part of the 500 years long history of Brazilian deforestation. This process in turn is a part of the globalization of European colonial praxis. Hence the constructed Euro-Brazilian deforestation process, i.e., socio-economic structures and activities, which impede sustainable forestry, have always been marked by a) a lack of knowledge of local ecological conditions, b) the powerful advance of large estates, c) the dire role of state subsidies, d) multinational joint ventures, and e) land speculation and violence. This brutal social complex of extractive and productive economies has wiped out three great closed forest areas: the Atlantic rain forest, the subtropical forest of the interior, and the Araucaria forest, before its recent entrance into the Amazon. Coffee connected the four mam deforestation processes in twentieth century Brazil. The depletion of the forests of Brazil is one of the most dramatic environmental changes in the world.
Simo Laakkonen
Sustainable Management of Forest Plantations and Natural Forests in Chile
Abstract
The Chilean forest sector is playing an increasingly important role in the economy of the country. It has swiftly grown during the last 25 years. About 45% of the total land area has been classified as land deemed apt for forest growing. However, only less than 10% is covered by closed natural forests and 2% by the fast growing monocultures of Radiata pine plantations, which provide approximately 80% of total consumption of industrial roundwood. Most commercial forests are owned by private companies and individuals. The forest industries have expanded rapidly, concentrating a large part of commercial forests, exports of forest products, investments, and technological development. In spite of the increasing economic importance of forestry, the analysis of its development also reveals weaknesses. A wood production criterion has dominated and little attention has been paid to sustainable forestry. The development of the Chilean forest sector should be based on a better knowledge of the forest ecosystems’ extension and location, rational management, and utilisation on the basis of silvicultural, environmental, and socio-economic considerations. A new forest policy has to be established for promoting a balanced and sustainable development of both natural forests and plantations, and forest industries should be required to uphold these principles.
Gerardo Mery
Deforestation in the Chaqueña Region in Argentina
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to relate the degradation of the “Chaco Forest” to the Argentine socio-economic process using a systemic approach and to propose alternative measures to relieve its consequences. Three distinct periods in the degradation process were found: forest degradation from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1940s, deforestation and extra regional crops substitutions during the 1950s and the 1960s and erosion and desertification since the 1970s. The relationship between the socio-economic model of the “Pampeana region”, Argentina’s most developed one, and their cultural view of the forest taking into account the deforestation process, were analyzed. It was found that the Federal Government land use policy played an important role in forest land conversion to agricultural land. Sometimes it resembles a metropolis — periphery relationship.
Martin Aguerre, Gerardo Denegri

Tropical Africa

Frontmatter
Deforestation in Tropical Africa
Abstract
The history of deforestation in Africa dates back a few thousands of years, that is, to the time when man started to be engaged in agricultural activity, cattle herding, and metal production. Fire has also played a major role in the process of deforestation and in shaping African forests. During the 1980s the forests of Africa dwindled at the rate of 4.1 million hectares on the average annually, which is 0.7% of the total forest cover. Deforestation has resulted in land degradation, and this has led to agricultural stagnation and even a lowering of productivity, which in turn has promoted further deforestation and thus completes the vicious cycle. There are multiple direct agents of deforestation, like agricultural activity, grazing, fuelwood gathering, infrastructure building, urbanisation, and logging. Population pressure is a major indirect factor determining the pace of deforestation. Africa’s population growth is proceeding at the rate of 3% per annum, which is higher than any other continent. In addition to population pressure, inappropriate land tenure systems, poverty, political instability, and market failure are important indirect factors and they are interlinked. Therefore, in order to retard or halt accelerated deforestation, and utilise the forests of Africa on sustainable bases, a holistic approach and strong political will are needed.
Eshetu Yirdaw
Man and Forest in African History
Abstract
Man has extracted raw material and energy from woodlands and forests since the beginning of mankind, but the real manipulation of the environment began when man started to clear forests for cultivation and for cattle at least 4,000 years ago. Since then, man has spread to almost every ecotone, utilizing different methods of cultivation and grazing strategies. Population increases have forced societies to create new economical and technological innovations to increase production; migrations along different scales have also occurred. These activities have affected the environment through soil degradation, which in many marginal areas leads to desertification as a consequence. Deforestation has occurred especially in the restricted montane forest areas in East Africa, in the margins of the tropical forest zone, and in the sparse woodlands of south central Africa. In addition, the intensification of iron production contributed to the loss of trees. This development has been demonstrated by archaeological and palynogical investigations. In the article, a few case studies from various parts of tropical Africa are presented to show how natural long-term climatological and geological factors and human land use practices lead to a loss of trees and deforestation, soil erosion, and formation of wastelands.
Ari Siiriäinen
Deforestation and Forest Plantations in Ethiopia
Abstract
Long term human occupation of the highlands of Ethiopia, accompanied by sedentary agriculture and extensive cattle herding activities, in combination with population pressure have resulted in the heavy deforestation, and subsequent environmental degradation. According to historical estimates, nearly 90% of Ethiopian highland had forest cover. Presently only less than 6% have closed forest cover. If properly managed, plantations not only play a vital role in alleviating the wood shortages, but also assist in checking environmental degradation and in the rehabilitation of degraded sites. Presently, there are thousand of hectares of forest plantations with very simplified ecosystems containing only pure stands of eucalypts. Mixed forest plantations can also be found. Participation of the local people and the existence of clear and firm land tenure rights are crucial for the long-term sustainability and the expansion of forest plantations. In general, tree planting should be an integral part of the rural development programs and should provide the community with social, economic and environmental benefits. Mixed forest plantations and the inclusion of promising indigenous tree species in plantation forestry should be given serious consideration.
Eshetu Yirdaw
Deforestation and Sustainable Forestry Challenge in Ghana
Abstract
The West African state of Ghana has a forest cover of 9.6 million hectares or 42% of the land area. The latter is comparatively high in tropical Africa. The forests belong to the Guineo-Conglean phytogeographical region and contain numerous valuable timber species. Forest products rank third among commodity exports and are a prominent part of the Ghanaian economy. However, there has been a considerable loss of forests in the last 100 years and the rate of deforestation at present is among the highest in Africa. The rapid pace of clearance of forests is due to such direct agents as conversion to agriculture, shifting cultivation, and fuelwood cutting, while population pressure, unclear forest property rights, commercial logging, as well as market and government failures are the major indirect factors. In order to check deforestation, Ghana is expected to generate political will to implement forest policies which support the sustainable forest management. Intersectoral socio-economic factors have a strong bearing on deforestation and therefore addressing them is recommended in order to assure the long-term survival and utilization of Ghanaian forests.
Matti Palo, Eshetu Yirdaw
Kenya Forestry Master Plan
Abstract
The Master Plan proposes urgent studies on new patterns for forestry administration in Kenya which would put an end to deforestation and improve the management of government-controlled indigenous forests and forest plantations. A development program for farm forestry is based on biomass surveys that revealed an increasing trend in trees on farms. Somewhat unexpectedly, but largely because of the favorable development in farm forestry, there was an overall positive balance in woody biomass in the country as a whole. Drylands cover 88% of the land area in Kenya and contain more than twice as much wood as all closed-canopy forests combined. They have to be managed by taking into account their prominent role in forest product supplies and their regional variation. A reform of forest policy and legislation is the most crucial immediate step in the further development of forestry institutions in Kenya. The new policy will facilitate the separation between a government forest authority and various forest management organizations, if this becomes an accepted development goal.
Olavi Luukkanen
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Sustainable Forestry Challenges for Developing Countries
herausgegeben von
Matti Palo
Gerardo Mery, M.Sc.(For.)
Copyright-Jahr
1996
Verlag
Springer Netherlands
Electronic ISBN
978-94-009-1588-6
Print ISBN
978-94-010-7211-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1588-6