Not by timber alone: economics and ecology for sustaining tropical forests

This systematic study reviews the conditions of forests and within forests soil and water quality in order to broaden concepts and clarify fuzzy thinking about what is possible. Topics covered the extent of forest trade nontimber forest products and environmental services multiple use management and the need to change harvesting technology and plantation design. Discussion is not without attention to the problems of land tenure executive institutions government policies and international cooperation. The assumption is that there can be sustainable management of the environment as well as development. The study of tropical hardwood forests was undertaken at the behest of the International Tropical Timber Association with the aims of identifying and evaluating the possibilities for nontimber products and services of tropical forests to determine the feasibility of nontimber management within a multiple use framework and to identify gaps in knowledge. The current state of tropical forests in Latin America Africa and Asia Pacific and the timber trade are reviewed. Reforestation has not kept pace with the destruction and developing country governments have undervalued tropical hardwood timber and its resource base. Demand for tropical hardwoods will continue to grow. Current attempts to manage tropical hardwood forests for sustained harvests were described. The discussion of nontimber resources identified their undervaluation also and the reasons for their neglect by government and forest users. Estimates of the economic worth of nontimber resources and services are generated as well as a framework for economic analysis of multiple use forest management and the problem of lack of well defined markets to set prices. Silviculture and logging technology and the economics of single and mixed species plantations are reviewed. Recommendations were made for further research and development. Policies need to be reformed to reflect efficient harvesting and processing and to encourage investments in forest replacement and conservation; such policies might for example include reclassifying forest lands changing procedures for awarding concessions and changing state-owned production forests use criteria. Social value criteria should include for example total direct or indirect employment social implications of management options property rights and unsatisfactory institutional arrangements.