•The potential concession area in the Brazilian Amazon is 35 Mha.•In the Brazilian Amazon timber production can be maintained for only one harvest cycle.•The most sustainable logging regime involves ...extraction of 10 m3 ha−1 every 60 years.•Sustainable timber production cannot not ensure the present annual production of 11 Mm3.•Additional sources of timber should be sought.
In 2006, the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) started an ambitious program to establish forest concessions so as to provide a legal framework for long-term sustainable timber production in Amazonian forests. Forest concessions in the Brazilian Amazon currently cover only 1.6 million ha (Mha) but we estimate the area of all potential concessions as 35 Mha. This paper assessed the conditions under which the present and potential concession system can ensure an annual production of 11 Mm3. yr−1 to meet the estimated present timber demand. For this we used the volume dynamics with differential equations model (VDDE) calibrated for the Amazon Basin with a Bayesian framework with data from 3500 ha of forest plots monitored for as long as 30 years after selective logging. Predictions of commercial volume recovery rates vary with location.
We tested 27 different scenarios by using combinations of initial proportion of commercial volume, logging intensity and cutting cycle length. These scenarios were then applied to the current area of concessions and to the area of all potential concessions (35 Mha). Under current logging regulations and the current concession area (mean logging intensity of 15–20 m3.ha−1, a harvest cycle of 35 years and an initial commercial timber volume proportion of 20%), timber production can be maintained only for a single cutting cycle (35 years). Only the scenario with a logging intensity of 10 m3ha−1 every 60 years with a 90% initial proportion of commercial timber species can be considered as sustainable. Under this scenario, the maximum annual production with the present concession areas is 159,000 m3 (157–159), or less than 2% of the present annual production of 11 Mm3. When considering all potential concession areas (35 Mha), under current rules, the total annual production is 10 Mm3yr−1 (2–17 Mm3yr−1, 95% credibility interval) but is not maintained after the first logging cycle. Under the most sustainable scenario (see above) and a concession area of 35 Mha, the long-term sustainable annual production of timber reaches only 3.4 Mm3yr−1. Based on these results we argue that the concession system will not be able to supply the timber demand without substantial reforms in natural forest management practices and in the wood industry sector. We argue that alternative sources of timber, including plantations linked with forest restoration initiatives, must be promoted.
Forest certification is a voluntary conservation tool that aims to promote sustainable forest management. While research on forest certification has increased recently, there remains a significant ...gap in understanding how and to what extent certification can promote forest conservation.
Mediterranean cork oak open woodlands are ecosystems of high conservation and socio-economic value. However, these ecosystems are threatened by increased adult oak mortality and regeneration failure, often due to inadequate management and the rise of pests and diseases, aggravated by climate change.
Forest certification prescribes management practices intended to enhance tree regeneration and maintain stand health conditions. Therefore, it is anticipated that forest certification could mitigate the observed decline of oak trees in Mediterranean regions. Here, we investigate whether forest certification contributes to the ecological sustainability of Mediterranean cork oak open woodlands in Portugal. We compare the stand biometrics of non-certified and certified cork oak stands before and after certification implementation, using both National Forest Inventory data and field sampling from 2005 and 2020.
Our findings indicate that the density of adult oak trees decreased by 16 % in certified estates and 28 % in non-certified estates between 2005 and 2020. Similarly, cork oak cover declined by 6 % tree cover in certified plots and 19 % in non-certified plots during the same period. Consequently, by 2020, tree density was 20 % higher in certified stands than in the non-certified ones, and tree cover was 36 % higher in certified stands. Tree diameter and height increased at similar rates in both certified and non-certified stands from 2005 to 2020.The age structure of the stands also remained consistent, showing a bell-shaped distribution of tree diameters in both years. However, results on oak regeneration were inconclusive.
Our results suggest that cork oak decline, measured by the changes in density and cover of adult trees from 2005 to 2020, is slower in certified cork oak woodlands. Nonetheless, the increase in tree diameter and the age structure shape indicate potential regeneration issues in both certified and non-certified stands, needing further measures to address the aging of cork oak open woodlands.
•Cork oak tree density decreased between 2005 and 2020 throughout the study area.•The decrease in cork oak density was greater in non-certified stands than in certified stands.•In 2020, certified cork oak stands had a higher tree density and cover.•Certification is contributing to mitigating the decline of cork oak woodlands.
Sustainable forest management is a key component of modern forestry practices; however, an often-overlooked component is watershed health. To support forest management objectives, practitioners need ...information on the long-term health of riparian and stream ecosystems. Herein we present a framework to assess the condition of, and risks to, riparian and stream ecosystems within two forested fish-bearing watersheds, the Nahmint river and Artlish river, in British Columbia, Canada using airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. To do so, we first, compare the current British Columbia Tier 1 geographic information system (GIS)-based watershed condition evaluation protocol supplemented with a number of stream and watershed attributes derived from ALS data. Second, we use these ALS derived attributes to develop an enhanced Tier 2 watershed status evaluation framework that can be applied to stream reaches, which is a much finer spatial scale than is considered in current assessment approaches. We found that supplementing the existing watershed condition evaluation protocol with ALS-derived stream location, elevation, and canopy height information consistently increased the risk of a reduction in functioning condition being determined by the Tier 1 watershed assessment protocol. Further, we found that the Nahmint watershed had 28%, 65% and 7% of stream reaches with good, fair, and poor overall rankings of habitat condition, respectively. We conclude that ALS derived steam reach attributes can integrate into existing watershed evaluation protocols and provide detail that is critical to making informed management decisions and mitigating the cumulative effects on for example salmon bearing streams. As ALS data become increasingly available, value-added applications of these data, such as the integrated watershed assessment protocol demonstrated herein, can provide useful information to support forest management.
•ALS derived risk indicators consistently ranked in the higher risk category.•28%, 65%, and 7% of stream reaches ranked as “good”, “fair”, and “poor” for habitat condition.•ALS integrates into existing watershed management frameworks.
As of 2020, the world has an estimated 290 million ha of planted forests and this number is continuously increasing. Of these, 131 million ha are monospecific planted forests under intensive ...management. Although monospecific planted forests are important in providing timber, they harbor less biodiversity and are potentially more susceptible to disturbances than natural or diverse planted forests. Here, we point out the increasing scientific evidence for increased resilience and ecosystem service provision of functionally and species diverse planted forests (hereafter referred to as diverse planted forests) compared to monospecific ones. Furthermore, we propose five concrete steps to foster the adoption of diverse planted forests: (1) improve awareness of benefits and practical options of diverse planted forests among land‐owners, managers, and investors; (2) incentivize tree species diversity in public funding of afforestation and programs to diversify current maladapted planted forests of low diversity; (3) develop new wood‐based products that can be derived from many different tree species not yet in use; (4) invest in research to assess landscape benefits of diverse planted forests for functional connectivity and resilience to global‐change threats; and (5) improve the evidence base on diverse planted forests, in particular in currently under‐represented regions, where new options could be tested.
•Pressure on tropical forests is significant despite better global forest management.•More planted forests are necessary but insufficient for better forest management.•Novel forest landscapes are ...important but elusive of global forest inventories.•Planted-forest expansion significantly drives transitions to net forest gain.
The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 shows that deforestation has slowed and afforestation has increased globally during 1990–2015. Planted forests have increasingly provided goods and services hitherto derived from natural forests, and mosaic forests in agricultural landscapes are increasing. Forest gain is occurring at higher latitudes and in richer countries whilst forest loss continues in poor countries in the tropics. Some middle income tropical countries are now also transitioning to forest gain. These transition countries are characterised by reforms to forest management and improvements in agricultural practices but also by significant expansions of planted forest, which account for ∼25–100% of gains. Forest-area estimates of the FRA align with satellite-derived estimates, with deviations of ⩽±7% globally and ⩽±17% for the tropics. Mosaics comprised of trees outside forests, remnant forest patches, and young regenerating forests constitute a modest proportion of the tropical forest estate and are seemingly well inventoried by the FRA. Extensive areas of forest experienced partial canopy cover reduction since 2000, particularly in the tropics where their area is ∼6.5 times that deforested since 1990. The likelihood of the eventual loss of these forests and a decline in their capacity to provide goods and services is a matter of concern. Demand for industrial wood and fuelwood increased 35% in the tropics since 1990, principally in poorer countries, and growth in demand will accelerate into the future, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Notwithstanding significant increases in forests within protected areas since 1990 to 517Mha (16.3%) globally and 379Mha (26.6%) in the tropics, increasing demands for ecological services, forest products, and climate change mitigation is likely to be met from an expanding area of planted forests more than from the declining area of natural forests, particularly in Africa. The global rate of planted-forest expansion since 1990 is close to a target rate of 2.4% per annum necessary to replace wood supplied from natural forests in the medium term, though the expansion rate has declined to 1.5% since 2005. Multiple-use forests permitting both production and conservation account for 26% of the global forest area and 17% of the tropical forest area, and have increased by 81.8Mha or 8.5% globally since 1990, with most gains in the tropics. Sustainable forest management in low-income and tropical countries remains modest, with only 37% low-income country forests covered by forest inventories. International support has proven effective at increasing this coverage since 2010.
The concept of sustainable forest management was developed in the 1990s and puts ecological, economic and socio-economic ecosystem functions on the same level. However, society is now making new and ...complex, not necessarily mutually compatible, demands on forests, for instance in the fields of climate change, renewable energy and biodiversity conservation. Policy instruments that address these societal demands and translate them into legally binding regulations have far-reaching consequences for forest management and put pressure on the traditional, non-legally binding framework for international forest policy. Faced with these radical changes, we conclude there is a need for an in-depth review of the concept of sustainable forest management.
•Societal demands on forests are diverse, sometimes contradictory and change over time.•The understanding of SFM needs to be revised to meet current societal demands.•A variety of policies enact regulations that represent different views of SFM.•We propose a possible way forward to launch a participatory revision process.•The approach to monitor and assess SFM will be very different at national and forest management unit level.
Where are Europe's last primary forests? Sabatini, Francesco Maria; Burrascano, Sabina; Keeton, William S. ...
Diversity & distributions,
October 2018, Letnik:
24, Številka:
9/10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Aim: Primary forests have high conservation value but are rare in Europe due to historic land use. Yet many primary forest patches remain unmapped, and it is unclear to what extent they are ...effectively protected. Our aim was to (1) compile the most comprehensive European-scale map of currently known primary forests, (2) analyse the spatial determinants characterizing their location and (3) locate areas where so far unmapped primary forests likely occur. Location: Europe. Methods: We aggregated data from a literature review, online questionnaires and 32 datasets of primary forests. We used boosted regression trees to explore which biophysical, socio-economic and forest-related variables explain the current distribution of primary forests. Finally, we predicted and mapped the relative likelihood of primary forest occurrence at a 1-km resolution across Europe. Results: Data on primary forests were frequently incomplete or inconsistent among countries. Known primary forests covered 1.4 Mha in 32 countries (0.7% of Europe's forest area). Most of these forests were protected (89%), but only 46% of them strictly. Primary forests mostly occurred in mountain and boreal areas and were unevenly distributed across countries, biogeographical regions and forest types. Unmapped primary forests likely occur in the least accessible and populated areas, where forests cover a greater share of land, but wood demand historically has been low. Main conclusions: Despite their outstanding conservation value, primary forests are rare and their current distribution is the result of centuries of land use and forest management. The conservation outlook for primary forests is uncertain as many are not strictly protected and most are small and fragmented, making them prone to extinction debt and human disturbance. Predicting where unmapped primary forests likely occur could guide conservation efforts, especially in Eastern Europe where large areas of primary forest still exist but are being lost at an alarming pace.
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•Viable populations of typical species indicate state of mire-forest landscapes.•Three species of declining forest grouse were mapped in seven Estonian landscapes.•The species were ...segregated by preferred Histosol sites.•All grouse species avoided recently thinned forests but did not avoid predators.•Grouse require large reserves and buffer habitats in drained peatland landscapes.
Natural peatland forest landscapes have been transformed and fragmented by forestry and agriculture worldwide, which undermines their ecological functioning and resilience. In Northern Europe, such transformations are apparently linked with observed long-term declines of forest dwelling grouse; those declines have not been effectively addressed by conservation. We asked how site factors, in combination with forest management and predation risk, shape grouse distributions in such landscapes in the breeding season. The data were collected by single-visit snapshot mapping of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia), and the signs of their potential predators across seven peatland forest areas (156 km2 in total) around large bogs in Estonia. We modelled the presence of grouse species in relation to landscape gradients, forest stand characteristics, and predator occurrence. The species were partly segregated along the bog-fen forest gradient (on different types of peat soils) and by stand composition; most capercaillie hens dispersed up to 2.5 km from lekking sites. All species avoided recently thinned forests, except breeding capercaillie in transitional mire sites (their preferred habitat). When the other factors were accounted for, the grouse neither avoided densely ditched areas nor predator vicinity at a forest scale (ca. 20-ha), which may expose the birds to unperceived risks. Our results indicate that conserving all three grouse species in peatland forest landscapes requires maintaining the edaphic and stand-structural diversity of the forests. Frequent thinning and dense predator populations are detrimental, and may require large refuge habitats to buffer their influence. Sustaining viable grouse populations serves as a clear target for ecosystem management in drained peatland landscapes.
Animal logging is one of the most ancient wood extraction methods and it is still applied in different parts of the world, including industrialised countries. Animal logging is often imagined as a ...low-impact method and sometimes, or rather often, it is recommended as a best-management practice. However, the literature findings depict a more complex scenario, and the goal of the present review is to shed light on the topic of environmental sustainability of logging operations performed by animals. Usually, animal logging causes less pollutant emissions and less damage to the residual stand in comparison to ground-based mechanised extraction methods. However, when applied in commercial forestry interventions such as coppicing, animal logging showed levels of soil compaction in line with those of ground-based machinery like tractors, skidders and forwarders. Specifically developed trials revealed that in the animal skid trails a strong disturbance to the soil microarthropod community occurred. Furthermore, the soil features in the animal trails seemed to get worse over time after logging, thus suggesting the possible presence of strong localised erosion along these trails. Despite the strong need to further investigate this topic, concerning the ecological aspects of forest soil which were generally neglected by the literature, the use of animal logging can be recommended in the case of small-scale forestry with wooden material sparsely located throughout the logging site. In the case of commercial logging on steep slopes instead it is recommended to replace animal logging with cable-based extraction systems.
•Logging operations by the use of animals are still very common.•Animal logging causes lower emission and less damage to the residual trees than machinery.•Animal logging can cause disturbance to soil physicochemical and biological features.•Animal logging is recommended for isolated pockets of timber to be harvested.•Cable systems should be preferred to animal logging on steep slopes.
•Current global warming and biodiversity policies favor the increase of forests.•Due to rural abandonment, since 1861 Italian forests doubled their surface.•Human influence affected forest extension, ...density,structure, and species composition.•The decrease of traditional management leads to the loss of cultural values.•A definiton of cultural forests as a category for conservation is proposed.
In the context of the worldwide increasing interest on the role of forests for global warming and biodiversity targets, there is a growing tendency to consider the need to increase not only the extension of forests, but also their degree of naturalness. These indications have been recently included also in important political documents such as the European Green Deal enacted by the European Union, affecting 28 member states of the European continent, also with the aim of fighting deforestation and desertification. In Italy national and regional forest inventories, as well as planning documents, classify more and more forests as natural or seminatural. These indications often result in the limitation of traditional silvicultural methods, by environmental and landscape restrictions, orienting forest management towards favoring more natural forests structures. These policies are often threatening the conservation of the cultural features of the Italian forests. The paper provides an analysis of the evolution of forests in Italy during the last 150 years through official forest inventories and various investigations. This study shows that from 4.215.000 ha of forest in 1888 we have today about 11.778.000 ha, with an increase of 7.563.000 ha and an annual growth rate of 59.551 ha. The present Italian forests can be described partly as derived from those already mapped in 1936 and entirely managed, although not regularly, and secondary forests developed on abandoned land, extending for 5.279.895 ha.
The results show that human influence has affected extension, density, structure and species composition of Italian forests in all the geographical areas of the country, independently from altitude, latitude or climate conditions. There are no dangers of deforestation, but rather an uncontrolled increase of forests and there is no need of further afforestation but rather to better manage the existing ones. Moreover, “cultural forests”, meaning forest shaped and managed by human activities through times, are more and more reducing their extensions together with the material and immaterial heritage associated to them. Considering the third pillar of Sustainable Forest Management in Europe, the one on “social and cultural values”, defined by MCPFE in 2003, the paper proposes the definition of “cultural forests” as a new category in forest conservation and an important part of the biocultural heritage associated to the rural territory. Furthermore, the paper stresses the need of historical investigations, for the better understanding of the features of the forest ecosystems and for the identification of the values to be considered in forest restoration.
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