INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATIONInternational Organizations Center,
5th Floor, Paciﬁco Yokohama,1-1-1, Minato-mirai,
Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-0012, Japan
Tel 81-45-223-1110
Fax 81-45-223-1111
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ITTO

ITTO Technical Series No 24© ITTO 2006

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

This report presents the most comprehensive analysis of natural forest managementin the tropics ever produced. It discusses the nature and assesses the reliability ofavailable data; determines, as far as these data allow, the extent of the permanent
forest estate in each ITTO producer member country; examines, for each country, thepolicy and institutional settings for the adoption of sustainable forest management;
estimates the area of forest that is actually managed sustainably for production andprotection; and discusses how the situation has changed since an initial survey in1988 and the signiﬁcance of these changes for the future. The report ﬁnds thatsigniﬁcant progress has been made towards the sustainable management of natural
tropical forests, although the proportion of the total permanent forest estate undersuch management is still very low.

STATUS OF TROPICALFOREST MANAGEMENT
2005

INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION

PIC
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STATUS OF TROPICALFOREST MANAGEMENT
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INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATIONSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

1

2006 Status of tropical forest management

This report and an associated summary are made available

ITTO Technical Series No 24

by ITTO as part of its policy of contributing in a timely

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is anintergovernmental organization promoting the conservationand sustainable management, use and trade of tropicalforest resources. Its 59 members represent about 80%of the world’s tropical forests and 90% of the global tropicaltimber trade. ITTO develops internationally agreed policy
documents to promote sustainable forest management andforest conservation and assists tropical member countries
to adapt such policies to local circumstances and to
implement them in the ﬁeld through projects. In addition,manner to public debate on issues related to the conservationand sustainable management, use and trade of tropicalforest resources.
Cover photos
Top: © Conservation International
Middle and bottom: © Tropical Forest Foundation
Drawings on inside cover page: © Soﬁa Hirakuri© International Tropical Timber Organization 2006

ITTO collects, analyses and disseminates data on theThis work is copyright. Except for the ITTO logo, graphicalproduction and trade of tropical timber and funds projects

and textual information in this publication may be reproduced

and other actions aimed at developing industries at bothin whole or in part provided that it is not sold or put tocommunity and industrial scales. All projects are funded

commercial use and its source is acknowledged.

by voluntary contributions, mostly from consumer member
countries. Since it became operational in 1987, ITTO has
funded more than 700 projects, pre-projects and activities
valued at more than US$280 million. The major donors
are the governments of Japan, Switzerland and the USA.
ITTO contact details can be found on the back cover.

ITTO welcomes comments on this report, which can bemade at the ITTO website (www.itto.or.jp). Updates of theinformation presented in this report, and other relevantmaterials, will also be posted as they become available.
ISBN 4 902045 24 9
Design and layout: Design ONE
www.design1.com.au

2

SFM TROPICSFOREWORD
Is forest management improving in the tropics?

It hasn’t always worked. Some countries haveThis report sets out to answer that question.

already lost a signiﬁcant part of their natural forest

The fate of the tropical forests has been on the
global agenda since at least the 1970s. ITTO itself
was created in the early 1980s partly out of adesire to assist tropical countries in their efforts
to improve the management of their timberproducing tropical forests. An early survey by ITTO
(in 1988) found that a miniscule amount of such

heritage and now have relatively little forest andlarge areas of degraded, unstable and unproductive
land. A key task of the forestry sectors in suchcountries is to restore forest cover where possible
and appropriate. But others still have vast naturalforests and are better placed to implement
sustainable forest management on a large scale.

forest was being managed in accordance with good

This report provides a comprehensive analysis offorest practice; the remainder was either being

the forest management situation in all 33 of ITTO’s‘mined’ for timber or had not yet been reachedproducer member countries. Using informationby the tractors and chainsaws. Some activists,

submitted by the countries themselves andparticularly in developed countries outside thesupplemented by data from a wide range of othertropics, called for bans on tropical timber imports.

sources, it addresses the policy and institutional

At the same time, many tropical countries were
undergoing profound political, economic, social andcultural changes, and restricting the tropical timber

settings in each country, the approaches taken to
the allocation and management of resources, andthe status of management of those resources.

trade was often neither possible nor desirable. Forest-

The data indicate that signiﬁcant progress has been

based industries supplied many tropical countries

made since 1988 towards the sustainable manage-with much-needed foreign exchange and local

ment of natural tropical forests, but the extent of

employment, and also assisted the development

such progress remains far from satisfactory. It isof agriculture by providing access to previously

clear that the security of the tropical forest estateinaccessible land. This process has arguably taken

is still in jeopardy in many countries. Processes

place in almost all now-developed countries, andthat allow the greater participation of local

tropical countries were thus pursuing a tried-and-communities and other legitimate stakeholders

true development model.

in the management of and beneﬁt-sharing from

ITTO’s approach has been to urge countries toforests are often still insufﬁciently developed.

undertake land-use planning, in which land is

We know that tropical forests are important at theassigned as ‘permanent forest estate’ for the

global level. Therefore, the international community

sustainable production of timber and other forest

must strengthen its assistance to countries in theirgoods and services. On this land, ITTO has encouraged

quest to establish sustainable forest management

countries to adopt sustainable forest management,

across their permanent forest estates. This report

whereby the inherent values of the forest areadds considerably to our understanding andmaintained (or at least not unduly reduced)

knowledge of the status of management in tropicalwhile revenues are earned, people employed

forests and provides a basis for informed debate

and communities sustained by the production of

on how best to encourage further progress.

timber and other forest products and services.

Manoel Sobral Filho
Executive Director
International Tropical Timber Organization

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The production of this report involved many people.

van Bueren, John Leigh, Alf Leslie, Carlos Linares,

The core team in its compilation and writing comprised

Ignacio Lombardi, Félix Magallon, Magdalene Maihua,

Jürgen Blaser and Duncan Poore from consumer

Hervé-Martial Maidou, Jorge Malleux, Maria Mbolo,

countries and Cherukat Chandrasekharan and

Soledad Mejía, Masaki Miyake, Moira Moeliono,

Soﬁa Hirakuri from producer countries. Alastair

Rubens Nambai, Jean-Claude Nguinguiri, Thierry

Sarre, Steven Johnson and Hana Rubin were

Niabastre, Obiora Dennis Nwokeabia, Manami

responsible for overall coordination and editing.

Oshima, Walter Palacios, Carlos Perez, Jean-Laurent

The following people also made substantial
contributions: Romeo Acosta, Michael Adams,
Collins Ahadome, Ahimin Adjé Olivier, Atayi Agbobly
Ayih, Fredua Agyeman, Victor Agyeman, Angela
Andrade, S. Appanah, Xavier Arce, Amha bin Buang,
Ivo Bockor, Gerard Buttoud, Alfredo Carrasco,
Jairo Cataño, Sergio Castillo, Paul Chai, Arturo
Cobián, Chheang Dany, Irving Díaz, Yves Dubois,

Pfund, Maria Pia Bevilacgua, Miguel Plonczak, Marco
Romero, Diana Quirola, Cesar Sabogal, Jean-Marie
Samyn, Jeff Sayer, Shaharuddin Mohamad Ismail,Hiras Sidabutar, Markku Simula, Manoel Sobral
Filho, Kayo Takahashi, Hans Thiel, Patricia Tobón,
Eric Tognetti, Ivan Tomaselli, Marco Trelles, Ricardo
Umali, Chhin Vannary, Paul Vantomme, Tania
Zambrano and Ambroise Zanga.

Osvaldo Encinas, Mario Escobedo, Roncs Esé

ITTO gratefully acknowledges all contributions toEtamé, Freezailah bin Che Yeom, James Gasana,

this report, including those in producer countries

Ruben Guevara, Petrus Gunarso, Rudy Guzman,

who provided primary data through the national-

Polycarpe Marsupa Kambale, Tetouffea Kofﬁ

level questionnaires and other sources but who

Hombati, Hour Lim Chhun, Peter van der Hout,

might not be named here. Responsibility for all

Didier Hubert, Alphonse Kambu, Gilbert Kaya,

material presented herein, and for any errors

Agogno Kofﬁ, Narine Lackhan, Erik Lammerts

or omissions, remains with ITTO.

4

SFM TROPICS

SUMMARY
Despite difﬁculties and some notable deﬁciencies,

hectares (3.1%) of protection PFE have management

there has been signiﬁcant progress towards

plans. An estimated 488,000 hectares of plantations

sustainable forest management (SFM) in the(59% of all plantations in the PFE) are covered bytropics since an initial survey by ITTO in 1988.

management plans; none is certiﬁed.

Countries have established and are starting to
implement new forest policies that contain thebasic elements of SFM. More forests have been
given some security by commitment as permanent
forest estate (PFE – or a similar concept) for
production or protection, and more are actually
being managed sustainably. Moreover, some of
the PFE is also certiﬁed – a new development since1988. All this is encouraging, but the proportionof natural production forest under SFM is still very
low, and SFM is distributed unevenly across thetropics and within countries.

In all ITTO producer member countries in the
Asia-Paciﬁc region combined, at least 14.4 million
hectares (15%) of the natural production PFE(97.4 million hectares) are estimated to be managed
sustainably. At least 5.15 million hectares (7.3%)of the protection PFE (70.9 million hectares) are
estimated to be so managed. Thus, a total of 19.5
million hectares (11.6%) of the overall natural PFE(168 million hectares) are considered to be under
SFM. An estimated 55.1 million hectares (56%) of
natural production PFE are covered by management
plans and 4.91 million hectares (5.0%) are certiﬁed;

In ITTO producer member countries of all threeabout 8.25 million hectares (12%) of protection PFE

regions combined, at least 25.2 million hectares ofhave management plans. An estimated 11.5 million

the natural production PFE (7.1% of the 353 million

hectares of plantations (30% of all plantations

hectares of total natural production PFE) arein the PFE) are covered by management plans;estimated to be managed sustainably. An estimated184,000 hectares (0.5%) are certiﬁed.

11.2 million hectares (2.4%) of the protection PFE(461 million hectares) are thought to be so managed.
Thus, a minimum of 36.4 million hectares (4.5%)of the total natural PFE (814 million hectares) areconsidered to be under SFM. An estimated 96.2
million hectares (27%) of natural production PFE
are covered by management plans and 10.5 million
hectares (3.0%) are certiﬁed; about 17.8 million
hectares (3.8%) of protection PFE have management
plans. An estimated 14.3 million hectares ofplantations (32% of all plantations in the PFE)
are covered by management plans; 1.77 million
hectares (3.9%) are certiﬁed.

In all ITTO producer member countries in Latin
America and the Caribbean combined, at least
6.47 million hectares (3.5%) of the natural
production PFE (185 million hectares) are estimatedto be managed sustainably. At least 4.34 million
hectares (1.2%) of the protection PFE (351 million
hectares) are estimated to be so managed. Thus,
at least 10.8 million hectares (2.0%) of the overall
natural PFE (536 million hectares) are considered
to be under SFM. An estimated 31.2 million hectares(17%) of natural production PFE are covered bymanagement plans and 4.15 million hectares (2.2%)
are certiﬁed; about 8.37 million hectares (2.4%)

In all ITTO African producer member countries

of protection PFE have management plans. An

combined, at least 4.30 million hectares (6.1%) of

estimated 2.37 million hectares of plantations (42%the natural production PFE (70.5 million hectares)of all plantations in the PFE) are covered by manage-

are estimated to be managed sustainably. At least

ment plans; 1.59 million hectares (28%) are certiﬁed.

1.73 million hectares (4.4%) of the protection
PFE (39.3 million hectares) are estimated to be so
managed. Thus, at least 6.03 million hectares (5.5%)of the overall natural PFE (110 million hectares) areconsidered to be under SFM. An estimated 10.0
million hectares (14%) of natural production PFE
are covered by management plans and 1.48 million
hectares (2.1%) are certiﬁed; about 1.22 million

Despite the progress made since 1988, signiﬁcantareas of tropical forest are still lost every year,
and unsustainable (and often illegal) extractionof tropical forest resources remains widespread.
However, with most countries now attempting
widespread implementation of SFM, it is hoped thatthe pace of progress will increase in coming years.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

5

6

SFM TROPICS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword

3

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4

Summary

5

Part 1 – Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10

Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

12

Status of forest management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22

Analysis, conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

Part 2 – Country proﬁles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

Asia & the Paciﬁc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

127

Latin America & the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

199
293

Acronyms
Annexes
Annex 1: UNEP-WCMC methodology for spatial analysis of forest representation withinprotected areas in ITTO countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

300

Annex 2: Timber species and their common names by country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

301

Box 1: ITTO’s revised C&I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10

Box 2: UNEP-WCMC tropical forest types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

14

Box 3: Assessment of the usefulness of country responses to the ITTO C&I reporting format . .

16

Box 4: Description of national C&I workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

Box 5: Main sources of information by country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

Box 6: IUCN protected-area categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

Box 7: Overview of illegal logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

Boxes

Summary Tables
Table 1: Global summary of management status in the tropical PFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

Table 2a: Total forest area and PFE in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

48

Table 2b: Management of the production PFE in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

Table 2c: Management of the protection PFE in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

Table 3a: Total forest area and PFE in Asia & the Paciﬁc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

Table 3b: Management of the production PFE in Asia & the Paciﬁc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

50

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

7

8

Table 3c: Management of the protection PFE in Asia & the Paciﬁc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

Table 4a: Total forest area and PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

Table 4b: Management of the production PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . .

52

Table 4c: Management of the protection PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean . . . . . . . . . .

52

Table 5: Roundwood production and forest area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

SFM TROPICS

PART I

PART 1 – OVERVIEWSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

9

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this report is to review the status

since the 1960s as a result of mechanization,of forest management in ITTO producer member

improved transport, and economic and population

countries. These countries account for nearly all

growth. While global forest area loss has declined

the world’s closed tropical forest resources andin recent years, almost all this decline is due to thetherefore this report presents a global perspective

expansion of natural forests in temperate countries

on tropical forests. It complements the forestand plantations in temperate and tropical countries;

resource assessments of the Food and Agriculture

natural tropical forest, meanwhile, was lost at an

Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ITTO’s

estimated rate of 17 million hectares per year in

Annual Review and Assessment of the World Timber

the 1990s (FAO 2001).

Situation: together they provide the principal
elements of a comprehensive picture of thechanging condition of the world’s forests.

When the International Tropical Timber Agreement(ITTA) entered into force in 1986 it had one very
unusual characteristic for a trade and commodity

Since the early 1970s there has been widespread

agreement: it was concerned not only with production

public concern about the rate at which tropicaland trade but also with the quality of management

forests are being degraded or destroyed. Theseof the resource on which that trade was based.

processes have been going on in certain localities

Accordingly, early in its life – 1987 – the International

for a long time, but they have accelerated greatly

Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the body createdBox 1 ITTO’s revised C&I
In 2005, ITTO published a third edition of its criteria and indicators for the sustainable managementof tropical forests (ITTO 2005a). The ﬁrst edition was published in 1992 (as Criteria for the sustainable
management of natural tropical forests) and the second (as Criteria and indicators for the sustainable
management of natural tropical forests) in 1998; for the present report, countries submitted
information following the ITTO (1998) format.
ITTO is aware of the potential impacts of revisions to its C&I, which will need to be incorporated into
any national sets based on them. The revised C&I therefore do not include wholesale or wide-ranging
changes but attempt to reduce duplication, improve conciseness and enhance clarity.
The new edition incorporates the latest information on C&I and takes into account recent developments
in forest policy. It follows a comprehensive review of the C&I undertaken by ITTO following expert
meetings convened by ITTO, FAO and others in 2002 and 2004. These expert meetings recommended,among other things, that countries should start reporting on forest management using a streamlined
set of indicators for which data were already available, and that a global set of common thematic
areas of SFM closely aligned with the existing seven criteria of ITTO (see Box 3) should be adopted.
The revised C&I take both recommendations into account. The new edition also takes into accountthe experiences of the many ITTO producer member countries that are implementing national C&I
based on the ITTO framework.
The revised C&I offer a simpler and more comprehensive tool for ITTO member countries to monitor
their forest resources and to report on progress towards SFM on a regular and ongoing basis. To
support these efforts, ITTO is continuing its training program on the use of its C&I at the national level,
as well as funding projects designed to institutionalize the use of the C&I in tropical forest management.
The revised ITTO C&I and reporting format can be downloaded from the ITTO website (www.itto.or.jp).

10

SFM TROPICS

in the ITTA to put it into effect, commissioned areports submitted by ITTO member countries using

survey of the management of tropical forests in its

a format prescribed by Council that “was not wellmember countries, speciﬁcally directed at forests

adapted to elicit the most appropriate replies” (ibid.).

managed for timber production. The results were
presented in a report to the ﬁfth session of theInternational Tropical Timber Council (ITTC), theOrganization’s governing body, in November 1988.
The scope was later extended by the publication
No Timber without Trees (Poore et al. 1989),
which set this study in the wider context of the
management of tropical forests for all purposes.

Accordingly, at its 30th session in 2001, the ITTC
decided to prepare a new and more comprehensive
report on SFM in the tropics and, in Decision 9(XXX),
it authorized the Executive Director “to prepare andpublish [a] Status of Forest Management Report,
based on available evidence, including (i) an
examination of country reports; (ii) meetings
with government ofﬁcials, professional foresters,

An alarming conclusion emerged from that survey:

industry, concessionaires, non-governmental

that an insigniﬁcant proportion of the world’sorganizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations;tropical forests was managed sustainably, althoughand (iii) ﬁeld visits to a random sample of forest

some – but not all – of the conditions for sustainable

management units”. This report is the result. It

management were present in a much larger area.

discusses the nature and assesses the reliability

Much of ITTO’s subsequent work has been aimed
at addressing this situation. Numerous projects
have been conducted in the ﬁeld, and a seriesof policy guidelines has been published, including
a pioneering set of criteria and indicators (C&I)
for the monitoring, assessment and reportingof sustainable forest management (SFM) in 1992
(subsequently revised in 1998 and again in 2005;
see Box 1).
It has been a central purpose of ITTO to encourage
SFM in all its producer countries. To this end,
the ITTC adopted in 1990 its Year 2000 Objective,
which set the goal of achieving exports of tropicaltimber from sustainably managed sources by 2000;
in 2000, the ITTC reviewed the progress of its
members towards this objective (Poore & Thang
2000). That study was able to provide general
information on policy changes and management
and showed that there had been some progresssince the late 1980s. However, the data still did
not allow a reliable estimate of the area of forest
sustainably managed for either production orprotection: they were derived primarily from countryof available data; attempts to determine, as far
as these data allow, the extent of the permanent
forest estate (PFE) in each ITTO producer member
country; examines, for each country, the policy
and institutional settings for the adoption of
SFM; estimates the area of forest that is actually
managed sustainably for production and protection;and discusses how the situation has changed since1988 and the signiﬁcance of these changes forthe future.
The main focus of the report is on forests
managed for timber, because this is central to the
ITTO mandate. Moreover, timber remains the mosteconomically important product derived from most
tropical forests and can be an important driver ofdevelopment. Improvement in the management oftimber production forests, therefore, would be an
important step towards sustainable development inmany tropical countries. Since production forests
should be complemented by a network of protectedareas, where logging and other extractive activities
are not permitted, an attempt is also made in thisreport to examine the management status ofprotection forests.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

11

METHODOLOGY
Coverage and structure
The report covers all 33 ITTO producer member
countries. Grouped into three regions, these are:Africa – Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR),

The information in the country proﬁles has beenused to prepare synoptic tables that are presented
in Part I:•

in the tropical PFE;

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic ofCongo (sometimes referred to as Congo Brazzavilleor simply, as in this report, Congo), Côte d’Ivoire,
Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo; Asia & the
Paciﬁc – Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,••

Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Part I summarizes the key data on the statusof tropical forest management, globally and byregion. Part II contains proﬁles of all ITTO producer
member countries, compiled from a wide rangeof sources (as described later), on which Part I isbased. Each proﬁle follows a standard format. The•

according to availability; where possible, the actual

tables 2c, 3c and 4c: management of theprotection PFE (by region).

These tables, and other information presented in
the country proﬁles, provide the main basis foranalysis and discussion of the following topics:•

what areas have been secured as PFE;•

what kinds of management are being applied;•

what is the enabling environment (institutionaland socioeconomic); andyear of reporting is nominally 2005 but the actual
year to which the data refer may vary considerably

tables 2b, 3b and 4b: management of the
production PFE (by region); andCaribbean – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama,

tables 2a, 3a and 4a: total forest area
and PFE (by region);

Myanmar, Philippines, Papua New Guinea (PNG),
Thailand and Vanuatu; and Latin America & the

Table 1: global summary of management status•

how much forest is now being managed
sustainably.

reference year is given. The countries and forests

Part I also analyzes the changes since 1988, considers

covered by this report supply more than 90% of

the future outlook, and makes recommendations

the global tropical timber trade and account for

to accelerate progress towards SFM.

about 80% of global tropical forests and nearly
all closed tropical forests1.

Deﬁnitions

The country proﬁles provide the basis for assessing
the performance of each country in the sustainable
management of its forests. Particularly important
are the data relating to the area of forest in eachcountry considered to be permanent – the PFE, what
proportion of this is under sustainable management,
the measures and standards adopted to ensuresustainability, and the conditions in each country

Sustainable forest management
It is now generally accepted that countries should
aim to manage their PFEs sustainably and one of
the main purposes of this study is to determine
the area of PFE so managed. The deﬁnition of SFM
is therefore critical. ITTO (2005) deﬁnes SFM as:that affect efforts to achieve SFM. The country

the process of managing permanent forest

proﬁles provide the most complete set of data

land to achieve one or more clearly speciﬁed

assembled so far to enable an assessment ofobjectives of management with regard to the

SFM in tropical forests.

production of a continuous ﬂow of desired
forest products and services without undue
reduction in its inherent values and future

1

The distinction between tropical and closed tropicalforests is clariﬁed later in ‘Classiﬁcation of forest types’

12

SFM TROPICS

productivity and without undue undesirable
effects on the physical and social environment

To elaborate the deﬁnition and assist the monitoring,countries – Brazil, India, Mexico and Myanmar –assessment and reporting of SFM, ITTO has

have signiﬁcant areas of forest outside the tropics.

developed a set of seven key criteria and associated

These countries do not usually distinguish between

indicators for the sustainable management of‘tropical’ and ‘non-tropical’ in their forest statistics;

tropical forests (ITTO 2005a). These comprise thetherefore it has not always been possible to maintainessential elements of SFM; along with the deﬁnition

the distinction. In such cases, the exact treatment

of SFM given above, they constitute the basis of

is explained in the account of the country concerned.

the assessment of SFM presented in this report.
The essential aim of SFM is to maintain the potential

Permanent forest estateof a nation’s forests to deliver the mix of goods and

ITTO policies stress the need for countries toservices that its people are expected to requireestablish a PFE; that is, certain categories of land,of them over time. This implies that the use ofwhether public or private, that are to be kept undera nation’s forests should be planned in such apermanent forest cover to secure their optimal

way that they retain their potential to deliver

contribution to national development. Sucha comprehensive range of goods and services

permanency is one of the necessary conditions for(land-use planning) and that each piece of forest

SFM. Included in the PFE are three categories of(forest management unit – FMU) should be managed

forest: protection forests on fragile lands, forests

sustainably for the purposes for which it is intended.

set aside for plant and animal and ecosystem

Finally, it is essential that management should beconservation, and production forests. In this report,

applied consistently and continuously. Management

the ﬁrst two are generally grouped together asthat is sustainable at any one time can easily become

protection PFE, the third as production PFE. The

unsustainable if the objectives or the implementation

production PFE includes both natural forest andare changed. It is only by maintaining its potential

planted forest (quantiﬁed separately) but excludes

that the forest will be able to respond adequately

trees outside forests.

to changing conditions. Indeed, perhaps all that

Countries vary in the way in which they deﬁne thecan be said about any management is that it isconsistent with the concept of sustainability andthe associated management objectives are inplace at a given time.

different categories of forest use and in the degreeof permanence accorded to each category. Many
have a PFE designated by the state and accorded
a considerable degree of protection under the law.

The deﬁnition of SFM given here was not formulated

Even in these, however, forest may be de-gazetted

for application in forests in totally protected areas,

and lose its legal protection; moreover, other forests

where forest goods are usually not extracted.

outside the legally deﬁned PFE might also be – inNevertheless, it can still be applied in such forests

effect – permanent. In other countries, PFE does notwith the understanding that the extraction of ‘desired

exist, at least formally. In Fiji, PNG and Vanuatu,

goods’ (both timber and non-wood forest products

for example, 80% or more of the forest is owned by– NWFPs) should be zero, or close to zero, for SFM

communal groups and there is no state-designatedto be achieved.

PFE. In such instances, and in other cases where thedegree of permanence is unclear, even for sizeable

Tropical forest
Consistent with the ITTA, this report deﬁnes
tropical forest as forest lying between the tropics
of Cancer and Capricorn, although it has proved
difﬁcult to apply in all cases. For example, many
ITTO producer countries have forests at higher
altitudes within the tropics that effectively aretemperate forest types. Moreover, several producer

tracts of state-owned forests, a judgement has tobe made about how much forest may be considered
permanent. Another difﬁculty arises in Brazil, India,
Mexico and Myanmar, where PFE may be deﬁned
but no distinction made between tropical and nontropical PFE. Where there is doubt about theinterpretation, the procedure followed to estimate
the PFE is noted in the country proﬁle. Additionally,
many ITTO producer countries have large areas of

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200513

low-density forest cover, such as savannas andprotected area managed mainly for landscape/open forests, which generally play a very minor

seascape conservation and recreation) has norole in industrial timber production (although they

direct ITTO equivalent. The situation is made evenmay be important as protection forest). Therefore,

more complicated by Category VI. This is deﬁned

ﬁgures given for production PFE in this report are

as “managed resource protected area: protected

mostly for forests with greater than 30% canopy

area managed mainly for the sustainable use

cover (ie closed forest), and usually much moreof natural ecosystems”. This is open to many

than that. In general, then, production PFE in thisinterpretations; indeed, an area of forest managed

report comprises those closed tropical forests andsustainably for the production of timber should

planted forests for industrial timber production

qualify as Category VI. In general, estimates

deemed to be accorded ‘permanent’ status eitherof protection PFE given in this report compriseby law or practice. As far as possible, anomalies

protected areas in IUCN categories I–IV and otherin the PFE, and the interpretation adopted here,

areas deﬁned by countries as protection forests.

are identiﬁed in the country proﬁles.
In the ITTO C&I and in most if not all other international sets of C&I, a distinction is made between
forests that are protected for the safeguarding ofsoil and water and those that are protected forthe conservation of biodiversity. This distinction is
maintained in the country proﬁles presented in thisreport; however, not all countries categorize theirprotection forests in this manner, and there isoften overlap between the two categories.

Classiﬁcation of forest types
The classiﬁcation of tropical forest types is notoriously
difﬁcult and contentious. It is, however, important
to distinguish different forest types, especially forthe conservation of biodiversity, because each ischaracterized by different species. Many countries
have developed their own classiﬁcation systems forthis purpose, but these often do not correspondwith each other. An attempt was made in thisThe IUCN categories of protected areas (see Boxreport to adopt the forest classiﬁcation used by

6) are used throughout. Categories I–IV have thethe United Nations Environment Programme-World

conservation of biological diversity as a principal

Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC – seeaim, with the strictness of protection decreasing

Box 2) in the descriptions of forests in all countries,

from Category I to Category IV. There is, however,

but this was not always possible. One forest type not

no IUCN category concerned primarily with thedeﬁned in Box 2, savanna, is important in some

protection of soil and water. Moreover, IUCN

member countries; UNEP-WCMC includes such

Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape:forest in its ‘sparse trees and parkland’ category

Box 2 UNEP-WCMC tropical forest types
Lowland evergreen broadleaf rainforest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below
1,200m altitude that display little or no seasonality, the canopy being >75% evergreen broadleaf.
Lower montane forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, 1,200–1,800 m altitude,with any seasonality regime and leaf type mixture.
Upper montane forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, above 1,800 m altitude,with any seasonality regime and leaf type mixture.
Freshwater swamp forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m altitude,
composed of trees with any mixture of leaf type and seasonality, but in which the predominantenvironmental characteristic is a waterlogged soil.

14

SFM TROPICS

Box 2 UNEP-WCMC tropical forest types (cont’d)Semi-evergreen moist broadleaf forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m
altitude, in which 50–75% of the canopy is evergreen, >75% are broadleaves and the trees display
seasonality of ﬂowering and fruiting.
Mixed broadleaf/needleleaf forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m
altitude, in which the canopy is composed of a more or less even mixture of needleleaf and broadleaf
crowns (between 50:50% and 25:75%).
Needleleaf forest: natural forest with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m altitude, in which the
canopy is >75% needleleaf.
Mangroves: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, composed of species of mangrove tree,
generally along coasts in or near brackish or salt water.
Disturbed natural forest: any forest type above that has in its interior signiﬁcant areas of disturbanceby people, including clearing, felling for wood extraction, anthropogenic ﬁres, road construction, etc.
Deciduous/semi-deciduous broadleaf forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1200 m
altitude, in which 50–100% of the canopy is deciduous and broadleaves predominate (>75% of
canopy cover).
Sclerophyllous dry forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m altitude,in which the canopy is mainly composed of sclerophyllous broadleaves and is >75% evergreen.
Thorn forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, below 1,200 m altitude, in which the canopy ismainly composed of deciduous trees with thorns and succulent phanerophytes with thorns may be frequent.
Sparse trees and parkland: natural forests in which the tree canopy cover is 10–30%, such as in
the savanna regions of the world. Trees of any type (eg needleleaf, broadleaf, palms).
Temperate forest types occurring in highlands and non-tropical parts of ITTO countries:
Broadleaf evergreen forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, the canopy being >75%
evergreen and broadleaf.
Evergreen needleleaf forest: natural forest with >30% canopy cover, in which the canopy is >75%
needleleaf and evergreen.
Deciduous broadleaf forest: natural forests with >30% canopy cover, in which >75% of the canopy
is deciduous and broadleaves predominate (>75% of canopy cover).
Exotic species plantation: intensively managed forests with >30% canopy cover, which have beenplanted by people with species not naturally occurring in that country.
Mixed broadleaf/needleleaf forest: natural forest with >30% canopy cover, in which the canopy iscomposed of a more or less even mixture of needleleaf and broadleaf crowns (between 50:50% and
25:75%).
Unclassiﬁed forest: occurrence within tropical and non-tropical parts of the countries is not
speciﬁed.
Unclassiﬁed forest data: forest locations, identiﬁed from the high-resolution MODIS (Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) datasets showing forest extent only with no further
information about their type available.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

15

(natural forests with 10–30% tree canopy cover).

format questionnaire developed for the ITTO C&I.

The estimates of production PFE made in thisOf ITTO’s 33 producer member countries, 23

report are generally for closed tropical forest,

submitted data at ITTO’s request. These responses

which has been taken to include natural tropicalprovided an important body of evidence, but one

forests with a tree canopy cover of greater thanthat rarely proved sufﬁcient; an assessment of the

30%. This is consistent with the approach adopted

usefulness of these data is given in Box 3. Other

by UNEP-WCMC (2004), which in its mapping ofinternational data sets, including some available onforest cover in protected areas used a thresholdthe internet, were used where judged reliable. The

of 30% canopy cover as a cut-off between forest

2000 forest resource assessment of FAO (FAO 2001)

types such as ‘broadleaved evergreen rainforest’

was a particularly important source; however, dataand ‘sparse trees and woodland’.

collected for FAO’s 2005 assessment – publishedin 2006 – were not available in time for use in thisSources of datareport. Diagnostic missions conducted by ITTO at

The country proﬁles presented in this report werevaluable data sources. In addition, a great deal ofcompiled from a wide range of sources. Member

information was derived from experience with ITTO

the request of some of its members were alsocountries were asked to complete the reportingBox 3 Assessment of usefulness of country responses to the ITTO C&I
reporting format
In 2001, ITTO producer member countries were ofﬁcially requested to submit data relevant to the
management of their forests according to a format developed by ITTO to facilitate reporting on its
C&I and agreed by the ITTC. By early 2005, a total of 23 ITTO producer member countries had
submitted country reports to ITTO; 21 reports were in the requested C&I format and two were not.
The table summarizes the results of a subjective evaluation of these reports by criterion and region.
Assessment of country responses to the ITTO C&I national-level reporting format
Average score*
Numberofindicators

Africa(7 countries)Asia(8 countries)

America(6 countries)

Overallaverage

1: Enabling conditions for SFM

22

1.6

2.1

2.3

2.0

2: Forest resource security

8

1.1

1.8

2.1

1.7

3: Forest ecosystem health and condition

6

1.0

1.9

1.8

1.6

4: Flow of forest produce

16

1.1

1.6

1.6

1.4

5: Biological diversity

12

1.2

1.6

1.8

1.5

6: Soil and water

8

0.9

1.4

0.9

1.1

7: Economic, social and cultural aspects

17

1.2

1.8

1.7

1.5

Average, all seven criteria

89

1.2

1.7

1.7

1.5

Criterion* 0 = no information submitted, 1 = information given was not of use for reporting;2 = information given was partly of use for reporting; 3 = information given was useful for reporting

16

SFM TROPICS

Box 4 Description of national C&I workshops
Since July 2002, ITTO has supported its producer member countries in the organization of national
workshops to train forest owners, forest managers, concessionaires and representatives of nongovernmental organizations in the use of ITTO’s C&I and the related reporting format. The overall
objective of these workshops is to test and use ITTO’s C&I as a tool to sustainably manage forests andto facilitate the ability of countries to report on progress towards SFM at the national and FMU levels.
By late 2005, 19 workshops had been conducted, eight in Latin America, seven in Africa and fourin Asia (see Box 5) with the participation of more than 800 people, providing a key constituency forpromoting the uptake of the C&I throughout the tropics. Thirty-nine per cent of workshop participants
were from national forestry administrations, 28% from the private sector, 19% from communities
and NGOs and 14% from other stakeholder groups including research, education and media. Up tofour additional workshops are planned for 2006.
Speciﬁcally, the workshops aim to:•

inform and train forest users on the objectives and use of the ITTO C&I;•

review the usefulness of the C&I at the FMU level and identify weaknesses and potential
improvements in the approach;•test the C&I as a tool for reporting on progress towards SFM and for improved monitoring andauditing, including evaluating indicator measurement techniques;•exchange experiences regarding best practices in SFM, in particular in forest management
planning and silviculture; and•render assistance to the development of national sets of C&I and national-level reports on
progress in SFM.

An important additional objective of these workshops is to take note of any observations from workshop
participants for the improvement of the C&I. The recommendations from the ﬁrst 14 workshops wereused as a major input for the 2005 revision of ITTO’s C&I (see Box 1).
The workshops have evolved into an excellent platform to initiate and deepen the dialogue between
all interested parties on SFM. In some countries, the event was the ﬁrst of its kind to bring stakeholders
with opposing opinions to the same table to share their experiences of SFM in a structured manner.
During the preparation of this report, the workshops were used by ITTO as an opportunity to discussdraft country reports with national stakeholders, to ﬁll information gaps, and to conﬁrm and amend
data sources and ITTO estimates. This report has therefore directly beneﬁted from ITTO’s programof C&I workshops.

ﬁeld projects, national-level training workshops on

information was already out of date at the time of

the application of the ITTO C&I (Box 4), ﬁeld visits,

printing. C&I reports were received from countries

and discussions with organizations and individuals

over the period 2002–2005; unfortunately, therefore,

with specialist knowledge. Box 5 shows which of

information is most likely to be out of date for thosethe main data sources were available by country.

countries that responded most quickly to the C&I

All data presented in this report are as up todate as possible. However, in some countries thesituation is changing rapidly and inevitably somequestionnaire. New information received fromvarious sources was incorporated in the country
proﬁles up to late 2005.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

17

Box 5 Main sources of information by country*
C&I workshop(date convened)Country

Diagnostic mission(date reported to ITTC)

C&I report(date received)

AfricaCameroon

January 2003–

July 2005

CAR

July 2005

November 2002

–

DRC

–

–

November 2003

Congo

July 2002

May 2002

March 2002

Côte d’Ivoire

August 2002–

May 2004

Gabon–

June 2005

October 2004

Ghana

October 2005–

March 2004

Liberia–

June 2005–

Nigeria

December 2005

–

–

Togo

July 2003–

February 2002

Cambodia

March 2005

December 2004

October 2003

Fiji

–

December 2004

–

India

–

–

–

Indonesia–

November 2001

March 2002

Malaysia––

October 2003

Myanmar––April 2002

PNG

April 2002–

September 2003

Philippines

September 2002

November 2003

March 2003

Asia & the PaciﬁcMarch 2005
Thailand––January 2002

Vanuatu

September 2002–

April 2002

Latin America & the Caribbean
Bolivia

September 2003–

February 2004

Brazil–November 2002–

Colombia

February 2003–

January 2002

EcuadorDecember 2003

July 2004–

GuatemalaApril 2005–

January 2004

Guyana–May 2003–

Honduras––

September 2003

MexicoApril 2005

November 2005–

PanamaApril 2004

December 2004

April 2002

Peru

November 2003

November 2003

March 2002

Suriname–

November 2003–

Trinidad and Tobago–

May 2003

May 2003

Venezuela

September 2004–

August 2004

* C&I workshops carried out and reports submitted under ITTC decisions 9(XXX) and 4(XXXIV); diagnostic missions
carried out under ITTC Decision 2(XXIX)18

SFM TROPICS

In many cases, estimates for the same parameter

made; (ii) have fully developed, long-term (tendiffered according to source. Where the sources

years or more) forest management plans with ﬁrm

were credible, such contradictory estimates are

information that these plans are being implemented

included in this report. This is particularly the caseeffectively; (iii) are considered as model forest units

for estimates of forest area and of the area ofin their country and information is available on theforested protected areas and is done partly toquality of management; and/or (iv) are community-

illustrate the uncertainty associated with thebased units with secure tenure for which the quality

data and partly to provide readers with realisticof management is known to be of a high standard.

bounds for estimates.

Determining the level of attainment of SFM is

Data on the distribution of forested protected areas

extremely difﬁcult. By the deﬁnition given earlier,provided by countries have been supplemented

the concept requires that management cause no

by UNEP-WCMC, which provided ITTO with data

undue reductions in a range of values, including

extracted from its database on protected areas.

ecological. Any judgements of the status of SFM

Maps showing forest cover (in three classes: >60%,

locally, regionally or globally must therefore be

30–60%, <30%) at both the country and regional

subjective. Moreover, actually measuring thelevels, also provided by UNEP-WCMC, are included

effects of management on such values is beyondin the report for illustrative purposes. The techniques

the resources of many, if not all, tropical forest

used in the derivation of these data are explained

managers. For the purposes of this report, there

in Annex 1. Wherever possible, local common

has been some, but generally little, ﬁeld-checking

names are used for species; Annex 2 provides

at the level of the FMU; the limited ﬁeld-checking

a list of timber species referred to in the proﬁlesthat did take place was primarily in conjunction

for which common names differ between countries.

with diagnostic missions, C&I workshops and

The sources of all data are given using the following
conventions: a = country report to ITTO using the
ITTO C&I questionnaire; b = ITTO diagnostic mission
report; c = ITTO C&I training workshop; d = ITTO
estimate. Details of these sources relevant to a given
proﬁle are included in the references for that proﬁle;all other sources are referenced in the usual way.
Abbreviations used in tables are: n.d. = no data;
n.a. = not applicable. Estimates are given to threesigniﬁcant digits except where they are the productof summing within tables. Estimates of closed tropicalforests are given exactly as published in FAO (2001),
except where ITTO has derived its own estimates.

Estimating the area under SFM

ITTO projects. Since trends are more useful than
one-off measurements in determining sustainability,
the assessment of SFM requires the long-termmonitoring of forest values, which is carried out invery few tropical production forests. The pragmatic
approach taken here, therefore, mirrors that usedby Higman et al. (2005), which deﬁnes SFM as“the best available practices, based on current
scientiﬁc and traditional knowledge, which allow
multiple objectives and needs to be met without
degrading the forest resource”. The estimates of
SFM given in this report give the area of forests
being managed in a way that, on a subjective
judgement, is unlikely to cause long-term, undue
reductions in the physical and social environments.
It is expected that this report will establish a baseline

In order to assess progress in the achievement of

to allow the assessment of trends in the future.

SFM since the survey conducted in 1988 (Poore et

For some forests, information on the quality ofal. 1989), this report estimates the area of forest

management is anecdotal or otherwise unpublished.

in each ITTO producer member country that can

Nevertheless, in most cases the estimates should

reasonably be thought to be under management

be considered conservative, since they include onlythat is largely consistent with SFM. These estimates

those forest areas where information about thehave been derived for production forests by adding

quality of forest management was available; it is

the FMUs that: (i) have been independently certiﬁed

possible that other forest areas are also being

or in which progress towards certiﬁcation is being

managed well, but information was not available for

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

19

Box 6 IUCN protected-area categories
IUCN has deﬁned a series of six protected area management categories, based on their primarymanagement objective. A summary of categories and their deﬁnitions is provided below. Deﬁnitionsof these categories, and examples of each, are provided in IUCN (1994). Notes relating to how
categories are deﬁned are also available.

CATEGORY Ia
Strict Nature Reserve: protected area managed mainly for scienceDeﬁnition
Area of land and/or sea possessing some outstanding or representative ecosystems, geologicalor physiological features and/or species, available primarily for scientiﬁc research and/or
environmental monitoring.

CATEGORY Ib
Wilderness Area: protected area managed mainly for wilderness protection

Deﬁnition
Large area of unmodiﬁed or slightly modiﬁed land and/or sea, retaining its natural character andinﬂuence, without permanent or signiﬁcant habitation, which is protected and managed so as topreserve its natural condition.

CATEGORY II
National Park: protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation

Deﬁnition
Natural area of land and/or sea, designated to (a) protect the ecological integrity of one or more
ecosystems for present and future generations, (b) exclude exploitation or occupation inimical to the
purposes of designation of the area and (c) provide a foundation for spiritual, scientiﬁc, educational,
recreational and visitor opportunities, all of which must be environmentally and culturally compatible.

CATEGORY III
Natural Monument: protected area managed mainly for conservation of speciﬁc natural features

Deﬁnition
Area containing one or more speciﬁc natural or natural/cultural feature which is of outstanding or
unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative or aesthetic qualities or cultural
signiﬁcance.

CATEGORY IV
Habitat/Species Management Area: protected area managed mainly for conservation throughmanagement intervention

Deﬁnition
Area of land and/or sea subject to active intervention for management purposes so as to ensure themaintenance of habitats and/or to meet the requirements of speciﬁc species.

20

SFM TROPICS

Box 6 IUCN protected-area categories (cont’d)
CATEGORY V
Protected Landscape/Seascape: protected area managed mainly for landscape/seascapeconservation and recreation

Deﬁnition
Area of land, with coast and sea as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature overtime has produced an area of distinct character with signiﬁcant aesthetic, ecological and/or culturalvalue, and often with high biological diversity. Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction
is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.

CATEGORY VI
Managed Resource Protected Area: protected area managed mainly for the sustainable use ofnatural ecosystems

Deﬁnition
Area containing predominantly unmodiﬁed natural systems, managed to ensure long-term protection
and maintenance of biological diversity, while providing at the same time a sustainable ﬂow of natural
products and services to meet community needs.

them. Some observers may question the inclusion

Where data allowed, estimates were also made ofin the category ‘sustainably managed’ of forests

the extent of protected forest under management

for which a strict forest management audit has

considered consistent with SFM. These estimates

not been conducted. However, since even such

were derived from information provided by countries

audits and certiﬁcation schemes have been subject

and from other (mostly unpublished) sources.

to controversies surrounding differing interpretations

Areas included are those with secure boundaries

of what passes for SFM, and since they have only

and a management plan (usually fully in place, but

been carried out on a small fraction of the managed

in some instances still under development), thattropical forest estate, the approach adopted here

are generally considered in the country and by otherprovides what is, in our opinion, the best available

observers to be well managed, and that are notmeans of attaining an estimate of the full extent ofunder signiﬁcant threat from destructive agents.

forests where the requirements for sustainability
have been put into place or are well advanced.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200521

STATUS OF FOREST
MANAGEMENT
This study covers forests in the tropical PFEs of all

the PFE); at the low end, 234 million hectares

ITTO producer member countries except India (for(47% of which is in the PFE). In the Asia-Paciﬁc

which the tropical and non-tropical PFEs could not

region, the ﬁgures are 316 million hectares (65%)

be differentiated and analysis therefore covers theand 283 million hectares (73%), respectively; intotal PFE). The issues of forest management and

Latin America and the Caribbean they are 931 million

forest conversion outside the PFE are beyond thehectares (58%) and 766 million hectares (71%).

scope of this report; it is possible that some suchareas currently under tropical forest are also wellmanaged or, conversely, will in the future be cleared
to accommodate the expansion of agriculture,settlements or infrastructure.

Global overview
The clearest measures of progress towards SFM
are the area effectively secured as PFE and thearea within the PFE that is sustainably managed.
Table 1 gives ﬁgures for the PFE in all three

The establishment of a PFE does not, in itself,
guarantee security. A number of other conditions
are necessary. The clear establishment andenforcement of tenure and tenurial rights within it(and adjacent to it) are essential. There must also
be: some assurance that the government or otherowner will not renege on the commitment and degazette areas already established as PFE; the clear
demarcation of the area on the ground (for example
by boundary marking); and effective protection fromencroachment, damage and other illegal activities.

regions, classiﬁed into production and protection

It is always possible for a country to de-gazetteforests, production being divided into natural andareas of PFE for purposes that it considers

planted. For the natural production forests andimportant, as the State Government of Sabah

for the protection forests, a ﬁgure is given for the(Malaysia) did when it changed the designation

area sustainably managed. Since the priority ofof much of the lower-altitude parts of the Kinabalu

this report is the management of natural forests,

National Park. Some countries have still not clearlyno comparable ﬁgure is given for planted forests;

identiﬁed a PFE (some have not even adopted thefor these, the area covered by management plans

term or a concept equivalent to it), and some haveand the area certiﬁed are shown. Tables 2a, 3a

undergone political changes that have acted toand 4a give the same data for countries in Africa,

obfuscate forest ownership. Also, there are still

Asia and the Paciﬁc, and Latin America and thefrequent conﬂicts over tenure that engage govern-

Caribbean, respectively, and this quantitativements, local communities and private owners –information is further reﬁned in tables 2b, 2c,

issues that must be resolved if the forest is to3b, 3c, 4b and 4c.

be rendered more secure. Taking the tropics as a

The present natural PFE in Africa, Asia and the
Paciﬁc, and Latin America and the Caribbean isestimated to cover 110, 168 and 536 million
hectares respectively. Of the PFE in Latin America
and the Caribbean, nearly half (271 million hectares)
is made up of protection PFE in Brazil. Estimatesof total forest area vary according to source. At
the high end of the range of estimates, Africa has
274 million hectares of forest (40% of which is in

22

SFM TROPICS

whole, however, there has been great improvement in
the legal security of both production and protection
forests in the last couple of decades, an improvement that may be attributed mainly to the factthat governments have become aware of theneed for greater clarity in tenure and purposesof management. In addition, security has now
been increased in many countries by thebetter delimitation of boundaries.

Many countries still have large areas of forest

improvement, the overall proportion of the PFE

outside the PFE. These are sometimes set aside

known to be sustainably managed remains very

deliberately for later planned conversion orlow, at less than 5% of the total.

reservation for other uses – as agricultural land,for example; this allows for the in-migration ofpeople and an increase in agricultural production.
By acting as a safety valve, these measures can also
protect the PFE from deforestation and degradation.
Sometimes, however, land-use plans – if formulated– are not followed and forest is parcelled up andconverted to other uses in an ad hoc fashion, withpotential repercussions for the PFE. Problems offorest security often occur where land has been
reserved for forestry production in circumstances
under which an alternative use would appear to be
more proﬁtable or otherwise more desirable. Landuse planning that leads to the clear identiﬁcationof appropriate land-uses and caters adequately tochanging demographic patterns can reduce this risk.
The area of natural production PFE in ITTO producer
member countries is estimated to be 353 million
hectares (29% of the total area of tropical closed
forest estimated by FAO 2001 to be 1.20 billion
hectares – see tables 2a, 3a and 4a). Of this, anestimated 96.3 million hectares (27% of the total
natural production PFE) are covered by management
plans, 10.5 million hectares (3.0%) are certiﬁed bya recognized independent certiﬁcation organization,
and at least 25.2 million hectares (7.1%) aremanaged sustainably. The area of protection PFE
in ITTO producer member countries is estimated to
be 461 million hectares (38% of the total tropicalclosed forest area estimated by FAO 2001), of
which an estimated 17.8 million hectares (3.9%)
are covered by management plans and at least

Wood from natural production forests is
supplemented in many countries by planted forests,
some of them covered by management plans andsome certiﬁed. In ITTO producer countries, planted
forests now cover 825,000 hectares in Africa(488,000 hectares with management plans, none
certiﬁed), 38.3 million hectares in Asia and the
Paciﬁc (11.5 million hectares with management
plans, 184,000 hectares certiﬁed) and 5.60 million
hectares in Latin America and the Caribbean (2.37
million hectares with management plans, 1.59 million
certiﬁed). In many cases, data for plantation areas
are from FAO (2001) and are therefore at least
ﬁve years old. The area of the plantation estatein ITTO producer countries has no doubt grown
substantially since then.
Illegal logging and the illegal movement of timber
have become pressing issues in many countries,
exacerbated by local warfare and by drug smuggling
and other criminal activities. These have not only
made forest management in the ﬁeld a hazardous
business and prejudiced the security of PFEs inmany places, but they have undermined legitimate
markets for timber and reduced the proﬁtability oflegitimate producers. Box 7 gives a brief overview
of the challenges to SFM posed by these problems;
this topic is also addressed where relevant in theregional summaries and country proﬁles.

Overview of Africa

11.2 million hectares (2.4%) are being managed

Forest resources

sustainably. A much larger but unestimated area

There are an estimated 209 million hectares ofof the forest estate is not under immediate threat

closed tropical forests in ITTO African producer

from anthropogenic destructive agents, being remotemember countries, including wet evergreen, moist

from large human settlements and projected roads.

semi-deciduous, moist deciduous, freshwater swamp

Thus, the proportion of the tropical production
PFE managed sustainably has grown substantiallysince 1988, from less than 1 million hectares tomore than 25 million hectares, and to more than
36 million hectares if the area of protection PFE
so managed is included. Despite this signiﬁcantand mangrove forests. These forests provide important local environmental beneﬁts, in particular soil
and water conservation, and make an important
contribution to African and global biodiversity. They
play a key role in rural livelihoods. Forest production
is signiﬁcant in ﬁnancial terms – the average

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

23

Box 7 Illegal logging and forest law enforcement
Illegal logging is a critical obstacle to SFM in both the production and protection forest estates ofmany ITTO producer member countries. Illegal logging in Indonesia, for example, has been reported
by some sources to exceed legal production. Indonesia was the ﬁrst country to enact a Presidential
Instruction (No 4/2005) on the eradication of illegal logging in forest areas within its borders. In
the Philippines, the control of illegal activities remains a major challenge and is considered a criticalobstacle to SFM. The government there has taken a number of forest law enforcement measures,such as the conﬁscation of illegally harvested timber. In India, a legislative assembly has demanded a
new law to seize the proceeds from all illegal logging activities. Côte d’Ivoire requires speciﬁc approval
for all new logging of community teak plantations to prevent uncontrolled and illegal logging. Honduras
carries out forest control in conjunction with other government agencies, including the public prosecutor’sofﬁce and the national police. Cambodia has issued a new forest policy with a commitment to tackle
illegal forest activities. A recent report by the NGO Forest Trends (2006) alleges that the majority oflogging in PNG between 2000 and 2005 was illegal because although ofﬁcially licensed it didn’t fullycomply with national laws and regulations. Thailand has banned logging in natural forests, but illegal
logging still remains a problem.
Efforts to combat illegal logging and (particularly) illegal trade through bilateral agreements are emerging
as well. For instance, the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia decided in December 2004 to carryout government-to-government timber trade where only logs received through government-designatedports would be considered legal. China, the European Union and Japan have also agreed to only buy
Indonesian timber from legitimate sources. The pace of implementation of such agreements has
been variable.

Multilateral initiatives
Illegal logging was ﬁrst addressed at the multilateral level by the G8 Foreign Minister’s Action
Programme on Forests in 1998. In 2001, a Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG)
initiative was launched in East Asia; this resulted in the Bali Ministerial Declaration, in which bothproducer and consumer countries agreed to take actions to suppress illegal logging. In responseto this call, a regional FLEG taskforce was created. The primary role of the taskforce is to draftan action plan to meet the commitments made within the Bali Declaration.
The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the European Union calls
for compliance with national laws covering a range of practices associated with logging and timbertrade. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) also asserted the importanceof taking immediate action on domestic forest law enforcement and illegal international trade in forest
products. The Asia Forest Partnership was launched at the WSSD to promote SFM in Asia, giving
the control of illegal logging top priority among ﬁve urgent issues, including good governance andforest law enforcement. The Sixth Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity called for effective forest laws at the national level and recognition of the needto develop C&I which take into account the existing work and processes towards SFM.
Since 2001, ITTO has carried out several activities to assist its members in combating illegal logging
and improving forest law enforcement. One important step was a decision (6(XXXI)) by the ITTC toencourage countries to submit projects that address forest law enforcement, unsustainable timber
harvesting and illegal trade in tropical timber, and to urge its member countries to cooperate witheach other to protect the tropical forest estate from illegal activities.

24

SFM TROPICS

Box 7 Illegal logging and forest law enforcement (cont’d)Several countries have submitted projects to take advantage of this decision. Three other ITTC
decisions address forest law enforcement and the control of illegal logging. ITTO has also ﬁnanced
case studies on illegal logging and illegal trade in timber and timber products in Peru, Honduras,
Brazil, Ecuador and Malaysia. Another major initiative has been cooperation between ITTO and theConvention on International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to ensurethat trade in mahogany and ramin (both listed in CITES Appendix II) is legal and sustainable. ITTO
reinforced its commitment to assist its members in forest law enforcement when related initiatives
totalling almost US$5 million were approved under the Organization’s 2006–2007 work program.

annual value of primary timber exports from

grading) and over-hunting. Timber production plays

ITTO producer countries in the region approacheda major role in the economies of all ﬁve countries,

US$1.6 billion between 1999 and 2003 (ITTO

with total 2003 exports of primary wood products

2005b) – but it also supports an estimated 200

worth US$995 million.

million people who use a wide range of forest products
to help sustain their livelihoods. With the exceptionof Gabon, ITTO producer members in Africa are
low-income countries with slow growth and muchrural poverty; DRC, Liberia and Togo are classiﬁedby the UN as least-developed countries (UNCTAD
2004). Only a third of the population in the region
lives in towns and cities, but urban expansion iscreating growing markets for forest products.

The ﬁve ITTO member countries of equatorial
West Africa contain about 13.7 million hectaresof natural tropical closed forest, although a largepart of this is secondary or heavily degraded; Côte
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo also have large
areas of savanna. Forests contribute to thelivelihoods of more than 100 million people. There
has been long-term, extensive deforestation in all
countries, caused recently by, among other things,

ITTO producer member countries in Africa occupy

agricultural expansion, ﬁre and the harvesting of

two broad biogeographical zones. The ﬁrst is thefuelwood and charcoal. The main timber-producing

Congo Basin in the central part of Africa, comprising

forests have been largely logged over; West Africa

Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Congo and Gabon. The second

was once an important supplier of tropical hardwoods

lies in equatorial West Africa and comprises Côte

to international markets, but its importance in thisd’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo.

regard has diminished considerably in recent decades,

The extent of natural tropical closed forests in theCongo Basin member countries is estimated to bewith 2003 exports of primary wood products worth
US$592 million.

about 195 million hectares. It contains the largest

Another way to group the countries of the region

remaining contiguous expanse of tropical forest inis according to their endowment and use of forest

Africa and the second largest in the world after the

resources. In Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Nigeria,

Amazon Basin. The Congo Basin is characterized

natural forests have been heavily logged and largely

by low population density (less than 20 people

converted to agriculture. There are still large areas2

per km ). However, cities such as Kinshasa (DRC),

of relatively undisturbed forest in the two Congos,

Brazzaville (Congo), and Yaoundé and Douala (bothGabon and the southern parts of CAR andin Cameroon) are growing rapidly and creating

Cameroon – the population is sparse, access toa high demand for timber, fuelwood and NWFPs,

the forest difﬁcult and ports remote. Liberia and,including wild meat. Deforestation is relatively low

increasingly, Cameroon are intermediate: forest

compared to other tropical regions, but there isconversion accelerated over the last decade andconcern about forest degradation through the

population pressure is increasing. But there areover-harvesting of valuable timber species (high-important differences between countries.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

25

Armed conﬂicts and their aftermath are causing

law divides forests into two distinct categories. One

signiﬁcant social and economic disruption in someincludes the production PFE managed by private

ITTO producer member countries in the region, mostconcessionaires and protected forests managed

notably CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC and Liberia; suchdirectly by the state. The other is composed of

conﬂicts make SFM very difﬁcult. Forests may bestate-owned rural forest – land and forest for which

unsafe to manage; they provide refuge for armed

usufruct rights are limited to local communities.

factions, for example, and landmines may have

Rural communities and forest dwellers are freebeen deployed.

to exercise their customary rights in these forests,
provided that they respect all conditions imposed

PFE

by the forestry administration. Production PFE is

Of the estimated 209 million hectares of closed

owned and administered exclusively by the state.

natural forest in the region, an estimated 70.5

In West Africa, forests are often held by the

million hectares are assigned as natural production

state, but there is wide encroachment into forest

PFE and 39.3 million hectares as protection PFE.

reserves and protection forest. In Ghana, forests

Adding the estimated 825,000 hectares of planted

are owned by the tribal chiefs but, in the early 1970s,

forest gives a total PFE of 111 million hectares

all rights for the management and development of(Table 2a).

natural resources, including those of commercial

Institutional arrangements in Africa
Forest tenure
In the Congo Basin, there is a general tendency tobring production forests under full state control
while opening up other forest areas to communities
and local forest users. In Cameroon, most forest
land belongs to the state. About 345,000 hectaresare ‘communal forests’ and are owned privately bycommunities. This area is increasing, in particularin the agroforestry zone outside the PFE. Generally,
people living in forest areas fully retain theirtraditional user rights in their communal areas.
In CAR, most forest is owned by the state. The
forest domain as a whole comprises stated-owned
forests; community forests, mainly found in thesavanna; and private forests – a limited area ofreforestation on private land. In DRC, the state is
the sole owner of the land. According to the 2002
forest law, consultation with the local populationis required before forest is classiﬁed: the local
community or municipality retains customary
usage rights over the forests. The state can also
allocate forests to local communities as community
forests. In Congo, the 2000 forest law deﬁnes two
types of forest ownership in state forest and private
forest; most is state-owned, but communal andcommunity forest is registered as the private domainof the relevant group. In Gabon, the 2001 forest

26

SFM TROPICS

trees, were vested in the President (as a ‘trust’).
In Côte d’Ivoire, there are two main categories
of natural-forest ownership: public forests ownedby the state divided into the domaine forestierpermanent, which includes reserved forests andprotected areas, and the domain rural, or ruralzone; and community forests, which are based on
traditional customary rights. In Liberia, all forest
resources belong to the government except forcommunal and privately owned forests; the lattercomprises a very small area of planted forests.
Communal land is designated for the exclusive
use of local communities for purposes other thanlogging. In Nigeria, most forests are in principle
owned by the people, but the management andcontrol of forest reserves, which cover aroundthree-quarters of the forest area, are vested in
the state governments. Moreover, dual ownershipof natural forests by local and state governments
still exists in some of the 17 northern states. Local
governments are responsible for communal forest
areas, state governments for forest reserves, gamereserves and sanctuaries, and the federal government
for national parks. In Togo, most remaining closed
forest is in forest reserves owned by the state. In
all forest reserves, local communities have user
rights according to the colonial forest law of 1938,
although a lack of clarity of the legal situation
reportedly contributes to forest loss within thereserves.

Forest policy and legislation
Nearly all African producer member countries haverevised or adapted their forest laws and policies
since the UN Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED) in 1992 and in the lightof the environmental conventions and ITTO policies
and guidelines; Côte d’Ivoire, the main exception, iscurrently in the process of doing so. Nevertheless,lack the funds and capacity to promote SFM
effectively. International NGOs are present in all
countries but tend – with some exceptions – to be
more interested in biodiversity conservation than
the sustainable management of forests for timber
production.

Status of management

the principle of state-owned production forests

Natural production forests

leased out in concessions and the parallel system

Forest management for the production of industrialof extraction permits for forest products remainunchanged. In nearly all countries, the institutions
responsible for forestry have changed, at least in
name and sometimes also in the nature of their
responsibilities. Forestry is now often part of aministry dealing with environment and forests(eg in Cameroon, CAR, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Congo,
Gabon, Nigeria and Togo). Ghana has a Ministryof Lands and Forests and has incorporated
environmental issues within it.

timber is economically important in the countriesof the Congo Basin. In 2003, the ﬁve ITTO member
countries in the Congo Basin accounted for thebulk of internationally traded tropical timber from3

ITTO African member countries (2.9 million m oflogs, 1 million m3 of sawnwood and 300,000 m3
of panels – around two-thirds of the total African
trade – ITTO 2005b). The production of industrial
timber is a smaller part of total forest productionin Africa than in other tropical regions: industrial

In their recent forest legislation, most countries

roundwood made up less than 10% of total

have committed themselves more deeply to policies

roundwood (including fuelwood) production in ITTO’s

of sustained yield. Nearly all countries have applied

African member countries in 2003 (Table 5).

C&I to describe and measure their efforts towards

In the West African countries, all or nearly all theSFM: both the ITTO C&I and the African Timber
Organization (ATO)/ITTO Principles, Criteria andIndicators for the Sustainable Management ofAfrican Tropical Forests (PCI) have been promoted
widely. However, a lack of resources, politicalinstability, poor government support and weak
enforcement have often hampered the applicationof forest policies and legislation. The educationof foresters and research into the practice ofsustainable forestry are often neglected.
Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and Ghana have recently
made enormous efforts to improve their forest
governance; they also permit independent monitoring
and the tracking of log transport and export.
The long-term effects of these measures remain
to be seen.

closed tropical forests have already been logged
at least once. In the Congo Basin, in contrast,
the easily accessible forests have been cut over
but there are still large areas of primary forest.
It may not be economically feasible to apply SFM
consistently in many remote forest areas. Congoand landlocked CAR have especially difﬁcult tasks
in developing economically viable timber exportindustries; their transport costs are very highcompared to other countries in Africa.
Table 3b summarizes the management status ofproduction PFE in ITTO producer member countries
in Africa. Of the estimated 70.4 million hectaresof natural-forest production PFE, an estimated44.0 million hectares have been allocated to
production, either through large-scale concession

The involvement of domestic civil society in forest

arrangements or smaller-scale licences and permits

management is generally low, except in Cameroon

for long- or short-term use.

and Ghana. In Cameroon, there is intensive dialogue

Generally, long-term and large-scale privately owned

between the forest administration and local NGOs;
in Ghana, NGOs play an important role in growing
trees outside forest reserves. Local NGOs generally

forest concessions dominate timber production in
the Congo Basin. Most of the active companies areforeign-owned.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

27

When No Timber without Trees was written in 1989,

there is little forest under rigorous forest manage-

hardly any tropical timber was supplied from managed

ment in its vast forest estate; a similar situation

natural forest in Africa. Timber came instead fromapplies in Liberia. In Côte d’Ivoire, the government

forests logged without a management plan or thatagency in charge of forests, SODEFOR, prepares

were being converted to other uses in either

and implements management plans in forest

a planned or unplanned manner. Since then,reserves, but timber harvesting in those reservesconsiderable progress has been made towards

has declined. In total, about 1.11 million hectares

systems of SFM, although the total area remainsof forest reserves are under management plans.

small and the experience dispersed. Certiﬁcation,

The new forest policy also requires that concession-

which has been an important inﬂuence in some

holders in the rural domain present management

countries in Asia and the Paciﬁc and Latin Americaplans, although few have done so to date. In Gabon,

and the Caribbean, has received signiﬁcant attention

more than 2 million hectares of production PFE

in Africa only in the last few years. On the otherare under management plans and the estimate

hand, forest management plans are now requiredof sustainably managed forest there (1.48 million

in concessions in Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Congo,

hectares) is probably conservative. Ghana has

Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon, and the entire production

many favourable conditions for achieving SFM,

PFE in Ghana, which does not have a concession

notably impressive human resources and a longsystem, is covered by management plans, as ishistory of forest management, and some forest

just under a third of the Nigerian production PFE.

reserves are well managed. Others, however, have

In total, about 10.0 million hectares of Africa’s

been over-harvested, and management of forests

production PFE are covered by management plans,

outside reserves is often poor or lacking. Nigeria

an extraordinary advance on the situation in 1988.

has a long history of forest management and theThis area should continue to increase as concession-formal goal of its forest policy is to achieve self-

holders come into line with new requirements.

sufﬁciency in all aspects of forest production;

Nevertheless, the extent to which such management

however, once a signiﬁcant exporter, the country isplans are fully implemented appears to be low at

now a net importer of primary forest products andpresent.

the management of its remaining, relatively small

Cameroon has made signiﬁcant efforts to regulate
its concession system, with the government
authority recently rejecting 17 management plans
prepared by concessionaires. Some 1.76 million

area of natural production PFE is problematic. Togo
has a tiny area of natural production PFE, of whichapproximately 5,500 hectares are managed
sustainably.

hectares of concessions there now have approved

In the past, two factors seem to have been decisive

management plans or are well advanced in preparing

in determining the character and intensity of timber

them, and at least 500,000 hectares are under SFM.

harvesting in the closed forests of Africa: theCAR has rationalized its approach to concessions,distance of the forest from a suitable seaport for

introducing a single permit type under which

export and the ability of local markets to absorb

concessionaires must prepare a management plan

the less valuable products (Poore et al. 1989). Thus,

within three years of being awarded a concession.

the forests of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where ports

About 186,000 hectares are considered to be under

are near and domestic markets are strong, have

SFM. In Congo, the 2000 forest law requires FMUs

been harvested much more intensively than otherto have management plans and concession-aires

forests in the region. In some countries, very

are now in the process of developing them. One

selective harvesting in remote forest areas was,large company with concessions covering about

in the past, combined with fuller forest utilization

1.3 million hectares has already developed andin more accessible regions. In Congo, forests havestarted to implement a comprehensive management

been logged less intensively in the northeastern

plan and is undergoing certiﬁcation. Forest manage-

frontier than in Mayombe and Chaillu, as have thement in DRC has been much disrupted by war, andclosed forests in Cameroon’s east compared to28

SFM TROPICS

those in the western coastal area, and, in Gabon,

signiﬁcant area of Tectona grandis (teak) plantations;forests in the centre and east compared with thoseteak is also important in Nigeria and Togo. Côteof the coastal zone. This is changing. The easternd’Ivoire’s teak plantations are a major contributor

forests in Cameroon, the northeastern forests into timber exports.

Congo and the central and eastern forests in Gabon
have been opened up over the last decade. Nevertheless, in many places SFM remains an economicallymarginal activity, and its ﬁnancial viability in CAR,
Congo and DRC – in which most forest is a
thousand kilometres or more from seaports –is tenuous at current market prices for timber.

Local hardwoods, including samba, okoumé, frake,
limba and other light hardwoods, have been widely
tested in experimental plots over the last 30 years
or so and are increasingly being used in plantationsin the region, particularly in Congo, Côte d’Ivoire,
Ghana and Togo, to increase the share of native
species in forest plantations. Large rubber plant-

Despite the long history of silviculture in some parts

ations, neglected for the last 20 years, are nowof tropical Africa, recent attempts at intensive

being used in timber production, notably in Ghana,silviculture have been conﬁned to pilot projects

following the successful examples provided byﬁnanced by ITTO, other international organizations

countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

or the private sector. These have not yet been
expanded to an operational level, except perhaps inProtection forests

Gabon’s okoumé forests, where there is abundant

DRC has by far the largest area of protection PFE

natural regeneration and simple silvicultural systems(an estimated 27.0 million hectares) of the ITTO

appear to work.

producer member countries in Africa. Next follow

The number of timber species harvested in production
forests has grown in recent years. This is especiallythe case near seaports or major local markets,
where prime species have been largely logged out.
Other species have become more popular, and,in countries such as Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire,some have been banned from export in log form.
Nevertheless, a handful of species still makes up
the bulk of production: in CAR, loggers harvest
15–18 timber species, and ﬁve species make up
90% of production; in northern Congo, 18–20
species are harvested, but ﬁve species account fornearly 80% of production. The diversity of species
and the low level of commercial interest in many ofthem are often major hindrances to the ﬁnancial
viability of SFM.

Planted forests
The total area of planted forests (825,000 hectares)
is small compared to that in Latin America and the
Caribbean and especially in Asia and the Paciﬁc.
More than half the plantation estate is covered bymanagement plans. Countries vary in the quality of
their plantations; unsurprisingly, those countries
with diminished natural forest resources have madethe most progress in developing their estates. Ghana,for example, is in the process of establishing a

Cameroon, Congo and Gabon, with much lower
areas in the remaining countries. Table 3csummarizes the management of the protection
PFE in the region; Map 1 shows the distributionof protected areas in IUCN categories I–VI against
a background of forest cover. Information on thestatus of management in the protection PFE isscarce, and even data on the extent of forests inprotected areas are often confusing or contradictory.
This can be seen in the large discrepancy between
the estimate of protection PFE made on the basisof country reports, C&I workshops and otherinformation (39.3 million hectares), and that given
by UNEP-WCMC (2004) (20.6 million hectares).
Considerable areas of lowland evergreen rainforest
are attributed to IUCN categories I–IV in Cameroon,
CAR, Congo and DRC. An estimated 1.22 million
hectares have management plans, and 1.73 million
hectares (including about 600,000 hectares in the
Minkebe National Park and Forest Reserve, for whichan ITTO-ﬁnanced management plan is in the ﬁnal
stages of preparation) are being managed sustainably.
Given the small amount of reliable data on which
the estimate of protection forest under SFM has
been made, it has a wide margin of error. Nevertheless, very large areas of forest not covered bymanagement plans or otherwise under management

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200529

are under little or no threat from deforestation or

Borneo and the upland pine forests in the Philippines,

other signiﬁcant human-induced disturbance due tothe main timber production forests of tropical Asia

their remoteness from major human settlements

are all dipterocarp forests with varying proportions

and the difﬁculty of access to them. This is particularlyof species of Shorea, Parashorea, Dipterocarpus,

the case in countries such as DRC, Congo and Gabon.

Dryobalanops and other less-abundant dipterocarp
genera. These forests also contain timber-producing

Overview of Asia & the Paciﬁc

species of the families Leguminosae, Burseraceae,

Forest resources

Sapotaceae, Sterculiaceae and many others. The

There are ten ITTO producer member countries
in the Asia-Paciﬁc region: Cambodia, Fiji, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, PNG, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vanuatu. These countries vary considerably in many respects, including forest endowment,
ownership, management systems and capability,
forest product processing and utilization, trade inforest products and institutional arrangements.
While Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar
and PNG are producers and exporters of tropicaltimber and timber products, India, the Philippines
and Thailand are now net importers. Fiji and
Vanuatu are small but still largely forested. In
all countries except Malaysia and the Philippines,
more than half the population lives in rural areas;in PNG, the ﬁgure is as high as 83%. Malaysia’s
GDP (total and per capita) is much higher thanthose of the others. Three of the ten ITTO producer
member countries (Cambodia, Myanmar andMeliaceae, Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Datiscaceae,
conifer genera Agathis and Araucaria occur locally.
In Borneo, large areas of peat swamp forests
produce two valuable non-dipterocarp timbers,
Gonystylus bancanus (ramin) and Dactylocladus
stenostachys (jongkong). To the east of theWallace line2, dipterocarps are generally poorly
represented, though species of Anisoptera andHopea occur in PNG. The forest there is much
more mixed and often of less commercial value,
though exceedingly rich forests may occur locally,such as the swamps of Terminalia brassii. In
Thailand and Myanmar, the moist tropical forests
grade into drier dipterocarp and teak forests inthe north and east.
Two of the ten ITTO producer member countries in
the region reportedly increased their forest cover
during the period 1990–2000 – namely India andVanuatu. Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia andMalaysia lost forest at an annual rate of greater

Vanuatu) are designated by the UN as least-

than 1%.

developed countries (UNCTAD 2004).

The production and consumption of industrial wood

Most of the countries of the region can be groupedhave grown enormously during the last half-

into three general categories according to theirendowment and use of forest resources:(i) high resource availability and low level of forest
industry development (eg Cambodia and PNG);

century, accompanied by a growing demand for thefull range of forest goods and services (wood andnon-wood, processed and unprocessed, and tradedand untraded). By 2003, the ten countries were
producing about 556 million m3 of roundwood,(ii) low resource availability and high level of forestof which just over 75 million m3 were industrial

industry development (eg India, the Philippines

roundwood (most of the rest being fuelwood).

and Thailand); and(iii) high resource availability and high level of forest

The region is by far the largest trader of tropicaltimber: more than 70% of all internationally tradedindustry development (eg Indonesia andtropical wood products originate within it. NWFPs

Malaysia).

make a substantial contribution to trade in someAsia’s closed tropical forests include wet evergreen,moist semi-deciduous, moist deciduous, freshwater

countries; for example, they constitute more than
75% of all forest-based exports from India.

swamp and mangrove forests; there are also submontane and montane forests. With some minor
exceptions, such as the peat swamp forests in

30

SFM TROPICS

2

The Wallace line is a hypothetical line that separates thezoogeographical regions of Asia and Australasia

While there have been few overt civil wars in the

In Cambodia, forests are mostly owned by the

ITTO member countries of Asia and the Paciﬁc in thestate, but local communities are allowed certain

last decade or so, civil unrest has probably affected

limited rights and privileges. In Fiji, communal

forest management in parts of several countries,groups called mataqali – of which there are more

including Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar. In Fiji,

than 6,000 – own 84% of the forests; most of thea contributing factor to a military coup in the 1990s

remaining 16% is owned privately. In India, all legally

was a dispute over the ownership of the country’s

constituted forests are owned and controlled byvaluable Swietenia macrophylla plantation resource.

the state. Now that farmers and households are

PFE
Of the estimated 204 million hectares of closed
natural tropical forest in ITTO member countries
in Asia and the Paciﬁc, an estimated 97.4 million
hectares (48%) are in production PFE and 71.0
million hectares (35%) in protection PFE (Table 3a).
In addition, there are about 38.3 million hectaresof plantations (more than 80% in India), giving a

engaged in growing trees, a new category of private
forest owners (of farm forests, home gardens andagro-industrial plantations) is becoming signiﬁcantthere. Nearly all natural forests in Indonesia are
owned by the state. However, many claims by
individuals and communities over traditional rights
and ancestral domains have been brought into theopen by recent political reform, and decentralizationand forest tenure is unclear in many places.

total PFE of 207 million hectares.

Traditional community rights (adat) are widely

By far the largest area of natural production PFE(provincial) matter, 90% of natural forest and 69%

is in Indonesia (46.0 million hectares), followed byIndia (13.5 million hectares), Malaysia (11.2 million
hectares), Myanmar (9.70 million hectares) andPNG (8.70 million hectares). Thailand has nonatural-forest production PFE, since it has banned
logging in natural forests. The production forestsof Fiji and Vanuatu could not be classed as PFE,
since there are no ﬁrm legal grounds for expectingthat they will be maintained as forests in the longer
term. India has the largest area of protection PFE(25.6 million hectares), followed by Indonesia (22.5
million hectares) and Thailand (8.26 million hectares).

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure
Forests in Asia are mostly owned by the state. On
the other hand, customary community ownership
applies to most forests in the Paciﬁc Island countries
of Fiji, PNG and Vanuatu, but even in these countries
the forests are mostly administered by the government. At present, few forests are owned by private
individuals or companies, but the proportion ofprivately owned planted forest is likely to increase.
In several countries, non-forest private sources
already meet many needs for wood; rubber
plantations, for example, are a major sourceof wood for downstream industries in several
countries, particularly Malaysia and Thailand.

recognized. In Malaysia, where forestry is a stateof planted forest are state-owned; the remainder
is owned privately. In Sarawak, forests cleared bynative communities for agriculture before 1958
are recognized as Native Customary Rights’ Land.
All forests in Myanmar are owned by the state;
they are designated as reserved forests and public
or unclassiﬁed forests. In PNG, customary landownership is guaranteed by the constitution andis the key factor inﬂuencing the use of the forest:
97% of the land is held as communal or clancommons. In the Philippines, the government holds
title to most forest land, but considerable portions(excluding protected areas) are held by the private
sector, communities, people’s organizations andindigenous people under various forms of agreement.
All natural forests in Thailand are owned by thestate, but trees established on private lands are
private property. Rural people have rights to thecollection of certain NWFPs, and some ‘disturbed’
state forests are available for long-term rent at
low cost for grazing, cropping and tree-planting.
In Vanuatu, all lands are customarily owned.

Forest policy and legislation
Most ITTO producer member countries in Asia andthe Paciﬁc have introduced new forest laws andpolicies – or revised the old – since 1990 to address
the changing forestry situation and to highlight therole of forests in conservation. Exceptions include

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200531

Fiji, which still follows a forest policy developed inchanging. Thailand closed its forest concessions

1950, and India, the national forest policy of whichin the early 1990s, some years after they weredates from 1988. The Philippines lacks a compre-

introduced, and banned the logging of natural

hensive forest policy; its forestry is still governed

forests. Cambodia cancelled licences for 24

by Presidential Decree 705 of 1975 (known asconcessions in 2002 and suspended those for thethe Revised Forestry Code). Policies are not always

remaining twelve concessions pending a fundamental

effective or supported by strong institutions; some,evaluation, and the Philippines is phasing out its

such as logging bans and the decentralization ofremaining concessions and expects to eliminate

forestry administration, have had mixed effects

them by 2006. Indonesia’s forest concession

at best and, at worst, unfortunate harmful

system has also been changing; for example,

consequences.

the period of licences in natural forests was

In all ITTO member countries in Asia and the
Paciﬁc, specialized government agencies haveadministrative jurisdiction over forests. Their
composition, competencies, component activities
and afﬁliations depend on the national importancerecently increased from 20 to 55 years. However,decentralization has caused confusion there, withsome small-scale operators being granted forest
concessions at the provincial or district level thatoverlap with the concessions designated by theof forestry and on other political factors, including

national government.

the degree of decentralization to state, provincial,

Forest concessions have been reasonably successful

district and village levels. In some places, including

in encouraging forest-based economic development

India (at the state level) and Sarawak (Malaysia),

in some forest-rich developing countries, but they

components of the forestry administration havebeen corporatized. In others, the central forest
authority is playing a much-reduced role in forestry
regulation; in Indonesia, for example, authority
over forest management is increasingly vested
in the provinces and particularly the districts.

have not always encouraged SFM. In the Philippines,
where the rise of the forest industry in the 1970s
coincided with the widespread loss and degradationof natural forests, many of the problems associatedwith forest destruction can be linked to a combinationof land and concession tenure issues and a lack ofWith the exception of Malaysia, no country inability or will to enforce regulations. In PNG, there

Asia and the Paciﬁc appears to have sufﬁcientare concerns about the manner in which timber

information for the thorough planning andconcessions are awarded and controlled.

implementation of forest management. Information
is often inadequate on: the condition of the resource
and changes in it; growth and yield; production andproductivity; harvesting and utilization; processing
and trade; conservation and protected areas; theachievements of plans and programs; and costs
and beneﬁts, and the means for their allocation.

Almost all concessions in the region are at least
nominally under some sort of management basedon selective silvicultural systems. Diameter limitsof 45–50 cm and cutting cycles of 25–35 years
are common. If applied strictly, these systems canprovide relatively constant volumes of timber forat least the ﬁrst two cutting cycles.

Status of forest management

Illegal logging is considered to be a signiﬁcantNatural production forests

problem in the region. In Cambodia, the government

The main systems for the allocation and regulation

although the suspension of legal logging activitiesof the production PFE vary considerably according
to responsibility (private, cooperative or public),
size of operation and length of contract. Except for
Fiji, India, Myanmar and Vanuatu, countries havetended to use concession systems3, but this is3

For many years India and Myanmar have used a system of
departmental ‘working circles’ with contract logging to manage
reserved forests under the provisions of approved working plans

32

SFM TROPICS

recently closed more than 1,000 illegal sawmills,(through the cancellation or suspension of all forest
concessions) appears to have stimulated a signiﬁcant illegal timber industry. In India, logging isbanned in many natural forests, but there areno adequate measures to enforce the ban. Illegal
logging is recognized as one of the most criticalproblems of forestry and the forest industry inIndonesia, with annual losses estimated in thebillions of dollars. In Myanmar, logging in remoteborder areas is largely uncontrolled and hasreportedly had serious environmental impacts
there. In Thailand, where logging in natural forests
is banned, forests remain under pressure fromillegal tree-cutting, encroachment, ﬁre and otheragents. Similar problems affect the Philippines,
where a logging ban has been in place in primary
forests since the early 1990s.

Planted forests
The total plantation estate in the region’s PFE
amounts to about 38.3 million hectares (Table 3b).
There is much variation between countries: India
has 32.6 million hectares (85% of the total andmore than twice the area of its natural production
PFE), but Indonesia, with the second-largest timber
plantation estate, has only 2.50 million hectares in
its PFE; Thailand is next with 1.87 million hectares.
Most other countries have much smaller areas of

The logging bans in the Philippines and Thailand

plantations. All countries have a further stock ofwere imposed after loggers and farmers had alreadytimber species planted in home gardens and as

depleted most commercial timber resources. Yettrees along roads, as well as in agricultural tree

forest clearing for agriculture continues in both

crops such as rubber and coconut and oil palm.

countries. In Indonesia, local logging bans havebeen imposed, particularly in East Kalimantan. But
experience over the past ten years has shown thatlogging bans have rarely served to conserve forest
resources: in some places legal logging has been
replaced by more destructive illegal logging.

Hardwoods are much more important than softwoodsin the region’s plantation estate. Teak and various
species of eucalypt are most commonly planted,
the vast majority of the latter being in India. Teakplantations cover more than 5 million hectares,
mostly in India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Table 3b summarizes the management status

Other important hardwood species include Dalbergiaof the production PFE in ITTO producer member

sissoo, Acacia mangium, Gmelina arborea andcountries in Asia and the Paciﬁc. The estimatedSwietenia macrophylla, between them covering

natural-forest production PFE is 97.4 million

nearly 24 million hectares. Rubber has recently

hectares. Some 69.1 million hectares of it arebecome a signiﬁcant timber species, particularly

under licence in concessions or other systems,

in Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, which exportof which an estimated 55.1 million hectares arelarge volumes of value-added rubberwood products.

covered by management plans – a much higher

Products made from coconut timber are also ofﬁgure than in either Africa or Latin America andimportance, particularly in the Philippines. Nearly

the Caribbean. At least 14.4 million hectares

a third (11.5 million hectares) of plantations have

(15% of the natural-forest production PFE) aremanagement plans but only 184,000 hectares

estimated to be managed sustainably.

have been certiﬁed.

The main advances in certiﬁcation have been

There has been an increase in the use of agroforestryin Malaysia, where the government started toand other trees outside forests over the pastdevelop a national timber certiﬁcation scheme

15 years to meet household requirements for(the Malaysian Timber Certiﬁcation Council) in

fuel, poles, timber and medicines, and to satisfy

1998; some 4.62 million hectares of natural-forest

local markets. Different combinations of agro-silvo-

production PFE are now certiﬁed. Indonesia also

pastoral systems are used. Many countries have

has its own scheme (the Indonesian Ecolabelling

encouraged forest restoration and land rehabilitation

Institute), although it has only just started to beon marginal private and public lands. In India, for

operationalized: a total of 275,000 hectares ofexample, 50% of plantations established sincenatural forest have been certiﬁed, some of which

1980 are in an agroforestry setting.

has also been endorsed by the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) scheme. The total area of natural

Protection forests

production forest certiﬁed as of late 2005 in Asia

Table 3c summarizes the management of theand the Paciﬁc was about 4.91 million hectares.

protection PFE in ITTO producer member countries
in Asia and the Paciﬁc; Map 2 shows the distribution

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200533

of protected areas in IUCN categories I–VI against

the expansion of capital-intensive agriculture, ina background of forest cover. Hardly any information

particular cattle ranching and, more recently, theis available on the degree of protection and quality

planting of soybeans, which are generally the mostof management in these forests. In the early 1990s,

immediately proﬁtable land-uses. Timber extraction

large areas of degraded and unproductive forestsfrom natural forests plays a relatively minor but

were declared as protected areas and logging wasincreasing economic role in most of the region.

banned by law in some countries. But illegal logging

Bolivia, Peru and some other countries haveand hunting continue to take place in many protected

introduced forest concession systems that areareas. Moreover, some of the parks and nature

expanding access to Amazonian timber resources;

sanctuaries are ‘islands’ without buffers or corridors.

others (eg Brazil and Colombia) are considering

The protection PFE amounts to an estimatedor are in the process of doing so.

71.0 million hectares. An estimated 8.25 million
hectares of these are covered by management
plans and 5.15 million hectares are estimatedto be sustainably managed, including 3.21 million
hectares in Malaysia and 1.36 million hectaresin Indonesia. No estimates could be made in thisregard for six of the ten ITTO producer member
countries in the region.

Latin America & the Caribbean
Forest resources
ITTO members in Latin America and the Caribbean
can be divided into those that contain part of the
Amazon Basin (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,

The closed tropical forests of the region include:
wet evergreen forests in the Amazon Basin and
the Atlantic regions of Central America (particularly
Panama and Guatemala); degraded moist semideciduous and moist deciduous forests around the
Amazon Basin and in Central America and Mexico;and freshwater swamp forest and mangroves in
Brazil, Central America, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana
and Venezuela. Wet evergreen montane forests areimportant in the upper Amazon in Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador and Colombia; in the upper Orinoco
watershed in Venezuela; and in Central America,
in particular in Panama. Natural tropical coniferous
forests play important ecological and livelihood rolesin the ITTO member countries of Central America,

Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela) and thoseparticularly Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

outside it (Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama

Outside the Amazon Basin, the status of forest

and Trinidad and Tobago). The Amazon Basinresources and the dynamics of forest resource

countries contain an estimated 744 million hectareschange vary. The Paciﬁc forest areas of Ecuadorof closed tropical forest, most of which is in theand Colombia have some of the highest deforestation

Amazon Basin itself, where only about 30 million

rates in the world (more than 5% annually). Mexico

people live. However, the most economically

had the second-highest annual loss of forests of allimportant forest activities often occur outside

ITTO member countries in Latin America and thethe Amazon – in subtropical Brazil, in the Andean

Caribbean in 1990–2000 (631,000 hectares);highlands of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia,

deforestation there, however, is not conﬁned toand on the Paciﬁc and Atlantic coasts of Ecuador,

tropical forests and in fact is more prevalent in

Colombia and Venezuela. Population pressure andsubtropical and temperate areas. Forest ﬁres are

economic activity are low, but annual deforestationa major contributing factor to forest decline in thein the Amazon is still 2–3 million hectares. Thisdrier zones. There is also signiﬁcant forest loss invaries from year to year: in Brazil, an estimatedPanama, Honduras and Guatemala. In Honduras

1.89 million hectares of the Amazon were deforested

and Guatemala, the lowest-income ITTO member

in a recent twelve-month period, down fromcountries in the region, deforestation is closely

2.70 million hectares in the previous twelve months.

linked to high population pressure.

Deforestation is also signiﬁcant in Ecuador, Peru
and Venezuela, but virtually non-existent in Guyana
and Suriname. Deforestation is due mainly to34

SFM TROPICS

The thirteen ITTO member countries in the region
can also be divided into three groups based on thestatus of their natural forests:

(i) those in which very large areas of relatively

an important shift towards the ownership of forest

undisturbed forest still remain – Brazil, Bolivia,

by local communities in several countries. Indigenous

Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Suriname andpeople now own large tracts of forest in Bolivia,

Venezuela;

Colombia, Panama and Peru, while more than(ii) those in which remaining large tracts of relatively
undisturbed forest are under imminent threatof depletion – Ecuador and Panama; and(iii) those in which remaining natural forests aremostly highly disturbed – Honduras, Guatemala,Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.

100 million hectares of forest in the Brazilian
Amazon are indigenous lands. In most countries,
however, the state retains some legal control
over forest trees, even on private land.
The situation in countries within the Amazon Basinis as follows. In Bolivia, about 28 million hectares(53%) of the forest are publicly owned andCivil war or insurgency is not widespread in theadministered by the state, nearly 17 million hectares

region today; the exception is Colombia, where it(31%) are under speciﬁc user rights or ownershipmakes SFM very difﬁcult to achieve. However, the(including nearly 12 million hectares of indigenous

illegal cultivation of crops in forested areas andcommunity lands), about 2.8 million hectares (5%)

other forest crimes are signiﬁcant issues in manyare privately owned by communities, and anothercountries.

5.4 million hectares (10%) are privately owned byPFE
Of the estimated 788 million hectares of closed
natural tropical forest in the ITTO producer member
countries of Latin America and the Caribbean,
an estimated 185 million hectares (23%) are in
production PFE and 351 million hectares (45%) in
protection PFE. In addition, there are about 5.60
million hectares of plantations, giving a total PFE
of 542 million hectares. By far the largest area of
PFE is in Brazil, which has an estimated 373 million
hectares of PFE, including 271 million hectaresof protection PFE. The next-largest PFE is in Peru
(41.1 million hectares), followed by Venezuela(34.5 million hectares) and Bolivia (31.8 million
hectares).

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure
The balance in land ownership between the stateand communities in ITTO member countries in
the region changed considerably when Guatemala
and Mexico joined the Organization; in these twocountries, large areas of forest are owned collectively.
Whereas the legal acknowledgement of indigenous
rights over forest use has a long history in theother tropical regions, in Latin America and the
Caribbean it is mostly a relatively recent phenomenon
that is only now starting to inﬂuence forest management. Over the past 10–15 years there has been

individuals and industries.
In Brazil, a signiﬁcant part of the PFE in the
Amazon is privately owned; legal reserves on
private lands cover 198 million hectares, andindigenous lands (Indian reserves) cover 103
million hectares. Parts of these forests have been
set aside as extractive reserves. Despite the factthat private ownership is signiﬁcant, the forests
are considered to be a common asset for all
inhabitants, and ownership and tenure disputes
are a major problem. Illegal occupation is also
common and adds to the difﬁculty of determining
clear tenure and ownership. Colombia’s constitution
recognizes the ancestral rights to land of indigenous
groups and of Afro-Colombian traditional communities.
Today, about 22.1 million hectares of forest, mostly
in the Amazon, are owned by indigenous communities
and 5 million hectares, mainly in the Paciﬁc region,
by Afro-Colombian communities. In addition, many
forest plots in the Andean region, particularly ofplanted forests, are owned privately. In Ecuador,
there are legal provisions to allocate forests toindigenous communities, colonists and otherinterested groups already in possession of forest
lands, on the condition that such groups guarantee
the sustainable management and conservation of
the forests allocated to them. About 4.5 million
hectares of potential production forests have been
allocated to indigenous communities and are now
considered to be owned privately. The remaining

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

35

PFE is mostly in farmers’ plots, but their tenure is

the authority to manage their lands according

unclear. In Guyana, ownership of the PFE is vested

to customary law. Nearly 75% of forest land inin the state; the remainder of the forest comprises

Trinidad and Tobago is owned and administeredother state land, Amerindian land and privateby the state and the remainder is owned privately.

property. Nine indigenous groups have legal title toabout 1.4 million hectares of land, including forest.

Forest policy and legislation

In Peru, forests are classiﬁed into public, private

The principle of using C&I to monitor SFM has been

and indigenous ownership categories. More thanfully accepted in all the ITTO producer members of

8 million hectares of forest are classiﬁed as public

Latin America and the Caribbean, except perhaps

forests reserved for communities and indigenous

in Trinidad and Tobago, which still lacks a systemgroups; of these, about 6.2 million hectares haveof C&I suited to its needs. Different sets of C&I

land titles. An additional 10 million hectares or moreare used as tools to monitor forest management,(one estimate puts the ﬁgure as high as 22.5 million

but these are sufﬁciently similar to provide thehectares) are owned privately by community andbasis for reasonably uniform standards.

indigenous groups. In Suriname, all forests (except

All eight countries of the Amazon Basin havethose on private land) belong to the state. The
constitution does not provide for collective rights
or use of land, but Amerindian and Maroon people
claim these rights, and there are conﬂicts overland tenure, particularly in the coastal zone andthe northern forest area. More than 90% of theforests of Venezuela are owned by the state. There
are private forest lots in both natural and planted
forest areas, but their extent is not known. The
constitution recognizes the right of indigenous people
to the collective ownership of forest territories andto use forest resources, but there is no demarcationor formal recognition process in place.

subscribed to the Tarapoto process for thedevelopment of C&I for the sustainability of the
Amazon forests, which is sponsored by the Amazon
Cooperation Treaty. There appears to be someoverlap in the Tarapoto and ITTO processes andthere have been recent moves at the regional andsome national levels to harmonize them. Bolivia
and Brazil recognize the Tarapoto C&I process
but use the ITTO C&I as an instrument to monitor
progress towards SFM. Colombia and Ecuador
have developed their own C&I based on those of
ITTO; Peru has adopted national C&I based on the
Tarapoto process but has also decided to use ITTO’s

In Guatemala, an estimated 38% (1.5 million

C&I at the FMU level (as has Panama). Guyana

hectares) of forests are owned privately, 34%reviewed both sets in the development of a new(1.4 million hectares) are national forests and about

national forest plan, Suriname plans to develop

28% (930,000 hectares) are owned municipally or

national-level C&I based on the Tarapoto model,

communally. Indigenous communal lands (ejidales)

and Venezuela plans to develop its own C&I based

have special legal status. The complicated systemon the latest version of ITTO’s C&I. Guatemala,of land tenure has led to many overlapping rights.

Honduras, Mexico and Panama participate in the

In Honduras, there are three main types of forest

Lepaterique C&I process of the Central American

ownership: public, ejidales, and private. There arecountries; Guatemala and Honduras have applied

many claims over the use of forests, particularly

the 1998 ITTO C&I to their tropical production

private lands, and signiﬁcant areas of closed forest

forests, and Mexico plans to develop C&I speciﬁcallyhave no clear ownership. An estimated 80% of

for its tropical forests based on the ITTO C&I.

Mexico’s forests, some of which are non-tropical, is

All ITTO member countries in the region have revised

owned by local communities (mostly ejidos). Around
15% is owned privately and 5% is classiﬁed asnational land. Most of the forests in Panama arestate-owned. However, the majority of the closed
forest is situated in collective landholding units
known as comarcas, or indigenous reserves,and the constitution gives these communities

36

SFM TROPICS

or adapted their forest laws and policies since
UNCED and in the light of the new environmental
conventions and ITTO policies and guidelines. They
generally have a comprehensive body of forest laws
aimed at the sustainable use of forest resources,
but the level of enforcement is less than adequate
in many countries.

Although the laws are generally similar between

Specialized agencies, partly organized as semi-

countries, there are a few important differences.

autonomous bodies, are responsible for forestry

Few countries have a clearly designated PFE, andplanning, the supervision of forest management

the estimates contained in this report are largely

and, in some cases, for the direct management ofmade on the basis of subjective judgements as tostate forests. Their responsibilities, however, havethe level of commitment of the forest owner tobeen greatly reduced over the years. Other agencies,

maintaining forest cover in particular tracts ofin particular those in charge of environment, haveland. The legal categories of forest vary greatly

assumed part of the responsibility for deﬁning, imple-

between countries. Another signiﬁcant difference

menting and/or enforcing forest management policies.

is the degree of responsibility held by forestry

In many countries of the region, the designatedservices for forest management and regeneration.

forest authorities appear to lack the resources to

For example, Colombia no longer has a national

adequately implement and enforce their forest laws.

forest service, and regional autonomous corporations
have incorporated the task of managing forests into
their broader mandates for resource management.
In several countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Peru andVenezuela), the holders of concessions (or, inthe case of Brazil, landowners wishing to harvest
their forest) are legally responsible for forest
management, but these duties are often evaded orelse fulﬁlled by paying a fee to the forestry service
to do the management for them. Partly because
smaller licensed companies are not expected to
manage the forests they harvest, and partly
because of land-tenure issues, small operations
have proliferated in some countries, notably in
Ecuador and to a lesser degree in Panama and
Venezuela.

Civil society is of great importance in forest
management in this region; it includes environmental
and social NGOs and industry associations. In fact,
in many ITTO member countries, it is civil-society
organizations that are shaping the course ofnational forest and environmental policies. Forest
management certiﬁcation has become a signiﬁcant
inﬂuence, particularly in Bolivia and Guatemala.
Grassroots organizations in Guatemala, Honduras
and Mexico are actively developing community
forestry in production forests. In Guyana andSuriname, NGOs are playing an important role inmonitoring logging and mining in natural forestsand in advocating the causes of indigenous peoples
and Maroons. International (mainly North American)
NGOs are also inﬂuential in forest conservation,

Seventeen years ago, forestry was normally part ofparticularly in the countries of the Amazon Basin.

a ministry of agriculture or dealt with by a ministry

Some NGOs have leased forest productionof forestry. This is no longer so: in most countries,

concessions in Guyana and Peru to transform

forestry is now part of wider ministries in charge

them into privately operated protected areas,of environment and remains part of the Ministry

although so far these cover a relatively smallof Agriculture only in Peru, Guyana and Honduras.

area (218,000 hectares).

At the federal level in Brazil, forestry is the
responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment,

Status of management

Water Resources and the Amazon; in Colombia,

Natural production forests

the Ministry for Environment, Housing andTerritorial Development; in Ecuador, the Ministryof the Environment; in Guatemala, Mexico andVenezuela the Ministry of the Environment andNatural Resources; in Trinidad and Tobago, theMinistry of Public Utilities and the Environment;
and in Panama, the National Environmental
Authority. In Bolivia, forestry is part of a wider
ministry in charge of rural development – theMinistry of Sustainable Development and Planning.

Forest use is allocated through long-term and largescale private forest concessions of up to 200,000
hectares in Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname; Peru,
Guatemala, Panama and Venezuela have systems
for medium-sized concessions. Timber harvestingis mostly done at a smaller scale in Colombia,
Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad
and Tobago. In the Brazilian Amazon, nearly all
production management is conducted by private
operators in privately owned forests.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

37

Table 4a summarizes the management status

As easily accessible sources of tropical hardwoodsof the production PFE in ITTO producer member

in Asia and Africa become scarcer, the global

countries in the region. Most of the area allocatedhardwood market is turning towards the vast,

to concessions or under licence (34.7 million hectares)

relatively unexploited timber resources of theis also covered by management plans (31.2 million

Amazon Basin. However, SFM is still quite rarehectares). Brazil’s forests currently available forthere. In 1989, silviculture and other aspects

timber production are mostly privately owned andof forest management were being practised intherefore there is no major concession or licensing

the Tapajós National Forest, Brazil, and the vonsystem; a new law on public forests which will

Humboldt National Forest, Peru. Tapajós still

introduce a concession system was approved byfunctions as a demonstration area and timber

Congress in February 2006 and is expected to

production is set to increase there, but management

have a major effect on commercial forestry inhas been abandoned in the von Humboldt National

coming years. Brazil’s privately owned forests

Forest. In neither country has this experience been

do not ﬁgure in the area of forests allocatedwidely extended to other forests. An exception is

to concessions or under licence in Table 4a but

the Antimary State Forest in Brazil’s Acre state,contribute 5.25 million hectares to the area of

which is being managed in accordance with aforests under management plans. The proportion

management plan prepared under an ITTO-ﬁnancedof the production PFE under management plans inproject and produced 16,700 m3 of timber in

Latin America and the Caribbean is set to grow as

2003 (and was certiﬁed by the FSC in late 2005).

several recently revised forest laws now require

The estimated 2.21 million hectares of Bolivia’s

the preparation of forest management plans priornatural forests considered to be under SFM are

to logging. At least 6.47 million hectares (3.5% oflocated in the Amazon, as are Peru’s 560,000

the natural-forest production PFE) are estimatedhectares. Nevertheless, a great deal more work

to be under SFM.

needs to be done if SFM is to become more

The certiﬁcation of forest management has

widespread there.

become a signiﬁcant factor in nearly all countries.

In the last 15 years, there have been many new

Unlike the situation in the African and Asia-Paciﬁctimber inventories. Doubts have been expressedregions, a single standard – that developed by theabout the accuracy of some of these. Accurate or

FSC – has so far been used as the main vehicle for

not, the ﬁndings have rarely been used, either by

the assessment of forests for certiﬁcation. A total

forest operators for the detailed planning of theirof 4.15 million hectares (2.2% of the natural-logging or by the forestry services for issuingforest production PFE and 60% of the estimatedlogging licences. Logging is still highly selective,

area under SFM) have been certiﬁed under thisbut the species taken have changed. Seventeen

scheme, including 2.21 million hectares in Bolivia,

years ago, mahogany was the principal species in

1.16 million hectares in Brazil, 520,000 hectares

many forests, but other species have now taken its

in Guatemala and 163,000 hectares in Mexico’splace. More species are marketable internationallytropical forests. Brazil has also developed its own– about 25–40 species compared with 5–15 in thenational scheme, CERFLOR, and certiﬁcations by

1980s. Average logging intensities have increased

this body are likely to begin shortly as a nationalfrom 2–5 m3 per hectare then to more than 20 m3

standard has just been completed with ITTO

per hectare today and even, in some well-organizedassistance. In Bolivia, and possibly elsewhere,

long-term concessions, to 35 m3 per hectare.

certiﬁcation has been promoted by international

Nevertheless, the economic viability of SFM based

donors, but access to markets for certiﬁed timberon these lesser-known species is itself unknown.

often remains problematic. The lack of a signiﬁcantprice premium in the markets where certiﬁed
timber is sold may make it difﬁcult to maintainhigh forest management standards.

38

SFM TROPICS

Planted forests

Protection forests

The total plantation estate in the tropical part ofTable 4c summarizes the management of the

ITTO producer member countries in Latin America

protection PFE in ITTO producer member countries

and the Caribbean amounts to about 5.60 million

in Latin America and the Caribbean; Map 3 shows

hectares, the majority (3.81 million hectares, orthe distribution of protected areas in IUCN categories

68%) in Brazil (Table 4b), where the main (although

I–IV against a background of forest cover.

not exclusive) use is for wood pulp. Venezuela boasts
863,000 hectares and Peru about 250,000
hectares. At least 2.37 million hectares (42%)
of the region’s plantation estate are coveredby management plans. A total of 1.59 million
hectares are certiﬁed, most of them in Brazil.

As in the other regions, there is little consistentand reliable information about the amount andmanagement of forested protected areas. According
to the estimate given in Table 4c, the protection PFEcovers 351 million hectares, considerably morethan the 66.8 million hectares estimated by UNEP-

Venezuela has extensive tropical pine plantations,

WCMC (2004) to be in protected areas compatible

and there is some new development of plantedwith IUCN protected-area categories I–IV. All ﬁguresforests in Central American countries, particularly

are heavily inﬂuenced by the estimate of protection

Panama, and in Peru. Major initiatives to promote

PFE in the Brazilian Amazon forest, which, in thisplanted forests at private, community and state

report, is taken to include indigenous lands in thelevels have recently been launched in Colombia,

Amazon and protected areas on private lands.

Mexico and Ecuador. Plantation forestry has beenrecognized in many countries of the region asa vehicle for economic development, given thecomparative advantages of fast growth and lower
extraction costs. However, the creation of planted
forests does not necessarily – and certainly does
not immediately – relieve harvesting pressure on
remaining primary forests.

Data on the management of protected areas areeven more questionable. An estimated 8.37 million
hectares of protected areas are covered bymanagement plans – of which more than 85%
was accounted for by one country (Venezuela) –but information was not available for Bolivia, Brazil,
Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru orSuriname. Of the estimated 4.34 million hectares

Eucalypts are mostly planted outside the moistof the protection PFE under SFM, 2.38 million

tropical forest area in mountainous and dry regions.

hectares are in Bolivia and 1.54 million hectares inTeak is typically planted in lowland tropical areas

Peru, where speciﬁc areas are known to be covered

with dry seasons, and it has recently been widely

by management plans and signiﬁcant resources areplanted on private land. Certiﬁcation for many of

being invested in their implementation. Estimatesthese teak plantations is being sought in orderof the area of protection PFE under SFM were notto gain access to international markets. Local

possible for Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala,hardwoods, including Cordia alliodora, Cedrela

Honduras, Mexico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,

spp, Jacaranda spp, Bombacopsis quinata andand Venezuela.

Schizolobium spp, and other light hardwoods
such as Gmelina arborea are also being grownin plantations. The region has an excellent baseof research into plantation development.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

39

ANALYSIS, CONCLUSIONSAND RECOMMENDATIONS
Comparing surveys
The basis of comparison for the management of
production forests is their condition as presented
in Poore et al. (1989). There is no comparable
baseline study on forests for protection, whether
for soil and water or for biological diversity. The
assessment in this report of the management ofQueensland qualiﬁed, but these were later
withdrawn from management for timber
production when they were included as partof a World Heritage area. Note, however, that
insufﬁcient information was received from India
in 1988 to reach any conclusions, even though
India was a member country at the time.

these protection forests – in so far as it has been

Any comparison of ﬁndings from the 1988 andpossible to assess them at all – will itself set a

present surveys faces some obvious difﬁculties.

baseline.

The ﬁrst is that comprehensive, reliable data

Because the present report uses Poore et al.
(1989) as the baseline from which to assess
subsequent changes, it is important to understandthe purpose and coverage of the earlier survey andthe procedures followed in it. The aim was to ﬁnd
out how much forest was being managed in asustainable manner for the production of timberwithin the then producer countries of ITTO andwhat were the local conditions that led to successor failure. Neither C&I nor standard country
reports existed at that time. Instead, accountsof the situation were drawn up by consultants,
one for each region, who visited all ITTO producer
member countries (which numbered 18 at thatwere scarce for both surveys, although more wasavailable for the second than the ﬁrst. Anotheris that the number of countries surveyed expanded
greatly in the second. The ITTO producer member
countries in 1988 were Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon,
Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana,
Honduras, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Malaysia, PNG,
Peru, Philippines, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago.
All remain members, but they have been joinedby 15 others: Cambodia, CAR, Colombia, DRC, Fiji,
Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria,
Panama, Suriname, Togo, Vanuatu and Venezuela.
Moreover, Australia was included in 1988 andIndia was excluded.

time compared to 33 today), collected relevant

Several of the 15 additional countries haveinformation, examined a sample of forests andsigniﬁcant tropical forest resources, including

consulted individuals with specialist knowledge.

Colombia, DRC and Venezuela. Combined, the 15

Finally, a roundtable discussion was held in eachcontribute 2.80 million hectares of the estimatedregion. The result was, therefore, the best judgement

area of SFM in 2005, and India contributes 4.80

based on information from all available sources.

million hectares. Thus, while the overall estimate

The ﬁrst question asked in the 1988 survey was
simple: how much natural forest was being managed
at an operational scale for the sustainableproduction of timber?
The answer was unequivocal: almost none. In
Latin America and the Caribbean, there were only
75,000 hectares in Trinidad and Tobago; in Africa,
none. In Asia, a number of “forests and operations
appeared to be reasonably successful as potential
sustained-yield units” in Malaysia, Indonesia andthe Philippines. About 160,000 hectares in40

SFM TROPICS

of SFM in the natural production PFE in 2005 is
25.2 million hectares, the increase in the countries
that were included in both surveys is about
17.5 million hectares.
Another obvious difference between this report
and the 1988 survey is that this report is basedon the ITTO deﬁnition of SFM and the ITTO C&I,
neither of which had been formulated in 1988.
However, this does not matter, as both are derived
and do not differ signiﬁcantly from the relevant
considerations developed in the 1988 survey.

In the 1988 survey, Trinidad and Tobago wascited as the only producer member country wheretimber came from sustainably managed naturalforest. In all other countries studied, timber camefrom primary and secondary forests often logged
without a management plan; the planned or
unplanned conversion of forests to other uses was
also a very important source of timber, particularly
in Brazil. In most countries, there has been at leastmodest improvement since then.

Production forests
Despite difﬁculties and some notable deﬁciencies,
there has been some signiﬁcant progress in thelast 17 years. Countries have established and arestarting to implement new forest policies that
contain the basic elements of SFM. More forests
have been given some security by commitment
as PFE (or a similar concept) for production orprotection, more are covered by management
plans and more are actually being managed

In addition to the gross increase in area consideredsustainably. Moreover, some of the PFE is also

to be under SFM, one of the most noticeable

certiﬁed – a new development since 1988. All of

improvements since 1988 is the almost universal

this is encouraging, but the proportion of natural

move towards the enactment of new forest laws

production forest under SFM is still very low, andand regulations, the reorganization of departments

SFM is distributed unevenly across the tropics andresponsible for forests and, in many countries,

within countries.

moves towards the devolution of responsibilities
to lower echelons of government. An increasing
interest in certiﬁcation within both government
and the private sector is also apparent. There seemto be several reasons for these developments. An
important part has undoubtedly been played by thehuge international interest in forest issues since
UNCED in 1992, although this has generally fallen
short of providing new funds at the scale neededto address such issues. Some of the signiﬁcanttimber-importing countries (and, particularly, buyers’
groups within them) have also become increasingly
insistent on evidence of the legality of imported
timber and the quality of the management of theforests from which the timber comes. However,they have shown less inclination to pay higher
prices or provide ﬁnancial assistance to meetthe cost of such improved management and thecertiﬁcation thereof.

The area now covered by formal forest management
plans is estimated to be to 96.3 million hectares(27% of the natural production PFE). The fact that
this is much more than the 7% that is sustainably
managed warrants further examination. Part ofthe discrepancy may be because more information
was available on the area covered by management
plans than on the extent to which such management
plans were being implemented. But almost certainly
there is also a problem in the actual implementationof management plans. Companies are able to comply
relatively easily with the requirement to develop
management plans for the forests they are licensed
to harvest, but without keen oversight by a regulatory
body may not feel compelled (and in some cases
may not have the capacity or the intention) to
implement them. With more international support,
coupled with greater enforcement of the requirements of forest management plans, SFM is likely

Some countries appear to have made less progress

to become more widespread in the naturalthan others. Since 1988, the area of closed tropical

production PFE. Countries such as Brazil, Congo,

forest for both production and protection has

Ghana, Malaysia and Peru might be expected to

declined signiﬁcantly in countries such as Côte

lead the way, and many others have establishedd’Ivoire, the Philippines and Togo. Countries suchat least some of the elements necessary for theas Liberia and DRC, which have endured major

greater adoption of SFM.

armed conﬂicts, have been unable to develop theadministrative and private-sector capacity to pursue
SFM. A lack of forest law enforcement remains amajor problem in many countries, and progress in
identifying, demarcating and securing a PFE has
perhaps been less than might have been hoped for.

Planted forests
Planted forests are coming to play a much moresigniﬁcant role in the supply of tropical timber. The
fact that this role was not even considered in the1988 survey shows how much things have changed;
the area of planted tropical forests has expanded

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

41

considerably in the past 15–20 years and continues

countries would already appear to have difﬁculty

to do so, and some countries are becoming increas-

supporting current production on a sustainable-

ingly reliant on planted forets for domestic woodyield basis from their natural PFEs. They must rely

supply. Unfortunately, there is a lack of compre-

on timber plantations, harvesting from non-PFE

hensive information across a range of countries

forests and/or imports (as well as production

as to the proportion of wood supply derived fromfrom their natural PFEs) to maintain their current

plantations and the implementation of SFM in them,timber consumption. Often, such countries also haveinformation deﬁcits that will need to be rectiﬁedlarge areas of degraded forest lands, exacerbating

to allow more meaningful assessments of overall

problems of timber supply. The data in Table 5 also

progress towards SFM in the tropics in the future.

indicate the dominance of the fuelwood harvest in
many countries (notwithstanding the generally poor

Sustainable yield

quality of fuelwood statistics); it is at least ten times

Sustainable yield – the amount of timber (and otherproducts and services) that can be harvested froma forest on a sustainable basis – is critical to SFM
in the production PFE, both nationally and at the FMU
level. However, few countries provided estimates ofsustainable timber yields or data on actual offtakes
in their PFEs and FMUs for this report.

higher than industrial roundwood production in tenof the 33 ITTO producer member countries, andﬁve to ten times higher in another eleven countries.
Several countries (eg Ghana, Guatemala, Nigeria,
Philippines and Togo) appear to be extracting
unsustainable levels of fuelwood based on theseestimates. A large proportion of fuelwood extraction
takes place outside the PFE and in most countries

The calculation of sustainable timber yield is complex

extraction is also often informal, making theand depends on, among other things, knowledge

collection of reliable data a signiﬁcant challenge.

of growth rates of timber species under speciﬁed
silvicultural prescriptions, adequate inventories ofgrowing stock, the quality of forest management
practice, the accessibility of production forest andthe marketability of different species. It is therefore
beyond the scope of this report to calculate potential
sustainable yields or their relationship with current
timber production; such an exercise would be
inherently unreliable given the paucity of informationon harvesting intencity, periods between re-entries
to previously harvested stands, productivities ofdifferent forest types for industrial roundwood andfuelwood, the role of plantations (which usually
have a much higher sustainable yield), etc.

Protection forests
Data are still sparse on the extent to which theprotection PFE represents the full diversity of forest
ecosystems found there. Indeed, the designation ofprotected areas has often been relegated – not justin the tropics – to those areas of land left over when
all other economic land-uses have been satisﬁedor that are too difﬁcult to harvest. But it is now
recognized that they should be selected according
to their intrinsic value for biodiversity conservation,
which usually means the inclusion of representative
samples of all forest ecosystems; any areas of
exceptional biological richness or where there are

Nevertheless, an examination of available data

concentrations of endemic species; and the breeding,is useful. Table 5 shows estimated ofﬁcial total

feeding and staging grounds of migratory species.

roundwood production (which includes fuelwood)

It is desirable, too, that protected areas should be

and total tropical industrial roundwood production

large and contain internal variation and, ideally,(which excludes fuelwood) in ITTO producer member

should constitute a network of connected habitats

countries in 2003, as well as total forest area andif they are to accommodate the larger animals andarea of production PFE. If the average sustainable

be buffered against environmental change. They

3

timber yield was about 1 m per hectare per year

also depend crucially on the cooperation andin natural production PFEs (a conservative but widely

support of local communities.

accepted estimate of tropical forest productivity),
many countries would have sufﬁcient forest
resources to sustain or increase current production
were they to introduce (or expand) a sustainable yield
regime in their PFEs. On the other hand, some42

SFM TROPICS

Data provided by UNEP-WCMC (2004) presented
in this report estimate the extent of forest types
included in protected areas conforming to IUCN
protected-area categories I–IV, by country.

According to this source, 156 million hectares

current report, is largely subjective. More thanof tropical forest out of a total area of protection

200 questionnaires have now been completed, of

PFE of 461 million hectares are within reserves

which more than one hundred canvass protectedconforming to IUCN categories I–IV. Moreover,areas in tropical forests. Biodiversity was consideredthese seem reasonably well distributed among theto be in ‘good condition’ in a third of this sample andvarious forest types in at least some countries.

‘largely intact’ in a further 50%. In the remaining

This information – classiﬁed in this way – represents

20%, some or all biodiversity values were deemeda great advance on any that has been available

to be ‘severely degraded’. The survey also assessed

hitherto, but much more detailed analysis would bemanagement strengths and weaknesses. Thoseneeded to determine its reliability, the adequacy of

considered to be strongest were: legal status,

the coverage, and how far the distribution of areas

protected area design, protected area objectives,

will ensure buffering against the possible effects ofprotected area demarcation, biodiversity condition

environmental change. Sparse though the informationis, any progress in the sustainable management ofprotected areas must be assessed against these
data; there is no earlier reliable baseline.

assessment, resource inventory, economic beneﬁt
assessment, management of budget, regular work
plan and resource management. The weakest were:
equipment, management plans, current budgets,

As noted earlier, the ITTO C&I make a distinction

the involvement of local communities, security of

between forests that are protected for the safe-

budgets, monitoring and evaluation, fees, indigenous

guarding of soil and water and those that arepeople, commercial tourism and visitor facilities.

protected for the conservation of biodiversity.

Overall effectiveness was, as might be expected,

However, in their responses to the reportingstrongly correlated with staff numbers and budget

questionnaire very few – if any – countries appeared(N. Dudley, M. Hockings & A. Lisle pers. comm.,

to recognize this distinction. Thus, data on protection

November 2004).

forests appeared to often be double-counted, andthis led to a certain amount of confusion. Nevertheless, as for forests set aside for the conservationof biological diversity, the total area of forest
committed for soil and water protection is important,
as is its location; more clarity of indicators related

Summary of change
To summarize the present status of SFM
compared to that in 1988:•

identiﬁcation, demarcation and protection

to this component of forest use is needed.

of PFEs. In many countries there still exists

There have also been other efforts to assess

considerable uncertainty about the concept;

the situation in protected areas. Since 2000,
IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas•

there is greater government commitment toSFM, as demonstrated by improved legislation,

has been promoting a framework for assessing theadministrative arrangements and consultative

effectiveness of management, to provide guidance

processes;

to managers and to help harmonize assessment
worldwide. This initiative has recently been included

uneven progress has been made in the•forest tenure is still in a state of ﬂux in manyin the Programme of Work on Protected Areas ofcountries but is increasingly directed towards

the Convention of Biological Diversity, which requires

communities;

that governments should undertake assessments
in at least 30% of their protected areas by 2006.

•

managed sustainably, but progress is uneven

This means that many governments have, in theory,
started carrying out assessments.
A survey of a sample of protected areas has
recently been examined using a management

there is an increase in the area of PFE that iswithin and across countries and regions;•forest law enforcement is often weak due
to the inadequate stafﬁng and support ofenforcement agencies, the remoteness of theeffectiveness tracking tool developed by the World

resource, and confusion created by sometimes-

Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Bank

conﬂicting legislation and by decentralization

which, like the estimate of SFM provided in theand other political processes;

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200543

•the resources allocated by governments andmanagement if it is eventually to be converted

development assistance agencies to forest

to some other non-forest form of land-use.

management are often seriously inadequate,
reﬂected in chronic shortages of vehicles,
equipment and trained and motivated staff; and•Illegal logging and the illegal trade of timber
are signiﬁcant problems that have increasingly
exercised the international forest-policy community

there is more and better information about

in recent years. Discussing the problems is certainly

SFM than in the past, but it is still far froman important ﬁrst step in dealing with them but

adequate for the comprehensive monitoring,cannot, in itself, be sufﬁcient. Ultimately they willassessment and reporting of SFM in either

be best addressed by improved laws and rigorous

production or protection PFEs.

forest law enforcement, which in many cases will
require increased support from governments inConstraints to SFM
Putting aside the difﬁculties caused by wars andarmed conﬂicts, several constraints frequently
recur in the country proﬁles. These vary in intensity
and importance from country to country – and in
the order in which they need to be tackled. Probably
the most important, and the most generally
applicable, is that sustainable management for the
production of timber is less proﬁtable to the various
parties involved (government, concessionaires andlocal communities) than other possible ways ofusing the land. Many of the FMUs in which SFM(and particularly, in some countries, certiﬁcation)
has been established have beneﬁted from externalﬁnancial and technical support from development
assistance agencies and NGOs. The economic viabilityof SFM within these FMUs will be properly tested

both producer and consumer countries. In many
places, control in the ﬁeld remains a central concern.
There is an almost universal lack of the resources
needed to manage tropical forest properly. Thereare chronic shortages of staff, equipment, vehicles,
facilities for research and training and all the othernecessities for running an efﬁcient enterprise –often accompanied by low staff morale. Pay andconditions of service are rarely sufﬁciently
favourable to attract (and keep) enough able,
dedicated and qualiﬁed staff to work in the ﬁeld.
These shortages are a reﬂection of the low socialand economic status of ﬁeld-based forestry andthe relatively low priority accorded to forest
management in many countries, both of which arepartly attributable to the low economic returns
provided by SFM.

once such support is withdrawn. Those governments
and companies that have been striving to improveforest management, even when they have not yet
been wholly successful, merit the long-term supportof markets, development assistance agencies,
NGOs and the general public.

The nature of the evidence
In the preparation of this report it became clear
that, in most countries, information on the extent
of forests and the status of management in the
PFE is still very poor. For example, estimates of

Other constraints are related to land. There havetotal forest area – arguably the most basic ﬁgure

been advances in many countries in committingof all – vary by as much as 230% between sources.

forest for either production or protection and

There also appears to be great uncertainty about

in establishing a PFE, but without the security

the area of forest allocated to the PFE and aboutprovided by long-term government resolve andthe extent of forests in protected areas and theby credible arrangements for tenure, SFM islevel of protection afforded them. The extent of

unlikely to succeed. The best results will usually beillegal activities in forests, one of the biggest

achieved where countries (or relevant sub-national

hindrances to SFM, is rarely known or reported

political units) decide the future uses to which theyby governments, and estimates made by NGOs arewish to allocate their forest resources and set up

often little more than guesses. As shown in Box 5,mechanisms to ensure that this allocation happens.

nearly one-third of ITTO producer member countries

There is little point in devoting scarce resources

failed to submit a response to the ITTO C&I reporting

to bring an area of forest to a high standard offormat and, of those that did, many responses

44

SFM TROPICS

were at least partially unusable due to missing or

growth might also increase deforestation, at least

obviously inaccurate data (Box 3). The publication

temporarily. Eventually, countries that continueof this report should encourage ITTO member

to develop economically will attain the capacity

countries, and forest-related institutions andnecessary to safeguard their PFEs and manageorganizations, to continue to improve their data

them sustainably. Conversely, continued poverty

collection systems, since reliable information is theposes a signiﬁcant threat to tropical forests,

cornerstone for both practising and assessing SFM.

perhaps the greatest of all. Civil war and otherviolent conﬂicts are similarly problematic, andFuture directions

those countries in which such conﬂicts have been

The global setting for the management of tropicalprogress towards SFM.

moist forests is changing. Populations and aspirations
are growing and communications improving. The
agricultural frontier is continuing to advance, while
previously inaccessible forests are becoming

prevalent since 1988 have generally made little

A number of possible developments may affect thedirection of future change:•

the expansion of planted forests and the use

accessible and others have already been loggedof agricultural tree crops for timber may reduce

more than once, often becoming degraded in thetimber-demand pressure on the natural forest

process. The global market economy is extendingby supplying an increasing proportion of woodits reach, with profound implications for land-use.

production;

For timber, the demand for certiﬁcation is starting
to inﬂuence management in FMUs in export-•

for agricultural products would undermineoriented countries. Conversely, a ready availability

efforts towards SFM;

of relatively cheap commodity timbers from nontropical forests, tropical plantations and illegal

declining timber prices and/or increased prices•

a greater focus on the management of high-value

operations impose strict limits on the pricetimber species, an expanded range of species,

increases that are possible for timber from

and/or increased value-added production could

sustainably managed natural tropical forests.

help increase the proﬁtability of natural forest
management;

There is little doubt that standards of forest
management improve as countries become richer•

climate change could affect forest growth,and better able to allocate resources to enforce

yield and even survival. A general drying in theforest laws and implement SFM. If people in tropicaltropics could lead to an increased incidence

forest countries ﬁnd their living standards rising,of forest ﬁre and drought-related changes tothey are likely to pay more attention to broader

forest structure. Conversely, increased rainfall

environmental issues and remaining forests will

could lead to higher rates of forest growth andbecome much more appreciated. One may foresee

could also cause more erosion, landslides anda forest landscape that includes protected areas

ﬂooding;for dedicated protection, plantations for dedicatedmass timber production, and a matrix of naturalforests managed sustainably and proﬁtably for thefull range or subset of forest goods and services•

sustainable management;•

the situation of those peoples who live in ornear the forest is unlikely to remain static. If

and serving as living space for indigenous and local

living standards improve and migration to urban

people. If, on the other hand, living standards do

centres continues, local pressures on forest

not improve, it seems inevitable that the present

may decrease;pressures to destroy and degrade forest will buildup even further. It follows, therefore, that SFM

greater security of tenure may help to increase•

decentralization may align forest management

can be expected to become more widespread in

more closely with local interests, but there is

the tropics with economic growth, although suchno guarantee that this will favour SFM;STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

45

•

•

as afﬂuence increases, public pressure could

remain urgent tasks in many countries. If subsequent

induce governments to improve management

reports are to properly detect changes in the status

and pay more attention to environmentalof tropical forest management against the baseline

values; andof this report, the question of how to collectthe global community could increase its
payments for the global environmental services
provided by natural tropical forests, thereby
improving the economic viability of SFM.

comparable information in the future must be
considered. In this respect, the C&I have fulﬁlled
a useful purpose in clarifying the parameters of SFM;
in training forest managers in the identiﬁcation,
recording and measurement of these; and in providing

Given the number of variables at play, and thethe data for assessing progress towards SFM.

likelihood that entirely new ones will arise, it is

Yet they have not drawn out all the information

difﬁcult to predict how the status of tropical forest

required for a fully accurate report on the statusmanagement will change in the future. There is noof tropical forest management. The revised ITTO

golden recipe for success: the means to accomplish

C&I (ITTO 2005a) should be easier to use and will

SFM must remain ﬂexible. It seems fairly certain,

help countries to provide improved data in the future.

however, that the global area of natural tropical

However, many countries still lack the capacity toforests will continue to decline in the medium termcollect, analyse and make available comprehensive

and that management in the remaining areas,

data on the status of forest management. It would

responding to a combination of market pressures

be in the interest of the international community to

and growing domestic concerns for forests as

make resources available to improve this capacity,

countries grow economically, will continue to improve.

and it is recommended that it does so.

ITTO and others seeking to promote SFM in thetropics will continue to face a challenging agenda
in the years to come.

Recommendations

There has been an appreciable degree of progress
towards SFM in tropical forests over the last 17
years. The foundations for SFM have been laid inmost ITTO producer member countries but there
is still a long way to go in building the practice ofThis report should prove helpful in illuminating theSFM on these enabling foundations. The progressstatus of tropical forest management; however,has also been patchy both geographically and inits usefulness will be limited if it is not repeated at

terms of the components of SFM. However, thereasonably regular (and frequent) intervals, because

most debilitating weakness is the failure to develop

trends are essential in assessing progress towards

an adequate and reliable system on a global scale

SFM. The ecological, economic or social sustainabilityof a forest management regime can never be known
for sure, because the term implies no undue reduction
in a forest’s values in perpetuity. Moreover, themanagement regime that makes a forest ‘sustainable’
could change, literally overnight. Thus, continuous
monitoring of a forest’s values and continuous
improvement of management systems are essential.
It is therefore recommended that regular reportingon the status of tropical forest management beinstituted at the international level.
It is apparent that data on the status of tropicalforest management are still highly ﬂawed and, inmany cases, inadequate for reliable assessment.
This fact sends a powerful signal that a great dealof work must still be done to achieve SFM acrossthe majority of the tropical PFE. Indeed, even theclear identiﬁcation and demarcation of the PFE

46

SFM TROPICS

for funding the additional costs involved in putting
SFM into practice in the forest. A generalprogression towards SFM in the tropics will
be faster and more robust if SFM is seen as aﬁnancially competitive land-use. This in turn will
be best achieved if prices for timber from natural
tropical forests are strong and/or the important
services provided by such forests, such as waterproduction, biodiversity conservation and carbon
storage, are paid for. The lack of markets for these
services is a considerable obstacle to tropicalforest conservation, because alternative land-uses,
which usually involve a much more intensive useof the land, are more proﬁtable or provide quicker
returns. A ﬁnal recommendation is that the international forest-related community makes its numberone priority the development of a system for ensuringthat SFM is a ﬁnancially remunerative land-use.

REFERENCES
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAOSTAT 2005. FAO Statistical Databases.
Available from: http://faostat.fao.org/.
Forest Trends 2006. Logging, Legality and Livelihoods
in Papua New Guinea: Synthesis of Ofﬁcial
Asssesments of the Large-Scale Logging Industry.
Volume I. Forest Trends, Washington, DC, USA.
Higman, S., Mayers, J., Bass, S. Judd, N. &Nussbaum, R. 2005. The Sustainable Forestry
Handbook. Second edition. Earthscan, London, UK.
ITTO 2005a. Revised ITTO Criteria and Indicators
for the Sustainable Management of Tropical
Forests including Reporting Format. ITTO Policy
Development Series No 15. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005b. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2004. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.

ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 1994. Guidelines for Protected Area
Management Categories. IUCN, Gland,
Switzerland, and the World Conservation
Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK.
Poore, D., Burgess, P., Palmer, J., Rietbergen, S.
& Synnott, T. 1989. No Timber Without Trees:
Sustainability in the Tropical Forest. Earthscan,
London, UK.
Poore, D. & Thang, H. 2000. Review of Progress
towards the Year 2000 Objective. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan. Available from: http://www.
itto.or.jp/live/PageDisplayHandler?pageId=205
UNCTAD 2004. The Least Developed Countries
Report 2004. United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development, New York, USA andGeneva, Switzerland.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

47

SUMMARY TABLES
Table 1 Global summary of management status in the tropical PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Production
Protection

With management
plans

Sustainably
managedTotal area

Sustainably
managedTotal area

Total area

Sustainably
managedCertiﬁed

Certiﬁed

With management
plans

With management
plans

Africa70,461

10,016

1,480

4,303

825

Asia &
the Paciﬁc

97,37755,060

4,914

Latin America
184,727 31,174& theCaribbean

4,150

Total

All

PlantedTotal area

Natural488

039,271

1,216

1,728

110,557

6,031

14,397 38,349 11,456

184

70,979

8,247

5,147

206,705 19,544

6,468

1,589 351,249

8,374

4,343

541,580 10,811

5,604

2,371

352,565 96,250 10,544 25,168 44,778 14,315 1,773 461,499 17,837 11,218 858,842 36,386

Table 2a Total forest area and PFE in Africa
PFE (’000 hectares)

Country

Total forest
area (range)(millionhectares)Total closed
natural forest(FAO 2001)(’000 hectares)

NaturalPlanted

Total

Protection

Total

Cameroon

13.3–23.8

19,985

8,840

17

8,857

3,900

12,757CAR

22.9–29.3

4,826

3,500

3

3,503

300

3,803

DRC

128–135

126,236

20,50055

20,55527,00047,555Congo

20.3–22.1

22,00018,40072

18,4722,860

21,332

Côte d’Ivoire

7.12–11.7

3,248

3,400

167

3,567

734

4,301

Gabon

25.8

21,80010,60025

10,6252,700

13,325Ghana

2.72–6.34

1,634

1,150

97

1,247

353

1,600

Liberia

3.48–5.66

4,124

1,310

n.d.

1,310

101

1,411

Nigeria

9.7–13.5

4,456

2,720

375

3,095

1,010

4,105

Togo

0.51–1.09

272

41

14

55

313

368

208,581

70,461

825

71,28639,271

110,557

Total
n.d. = no data

48

SFM TROPICS

Production

Table 2b Management of the production PFE in Africa (’000 hectares)
NaturalCountry

Total
area

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

Cameroon

8,840

4,950

CAR

3,500

DRC

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

Total
area

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

1,760

0

500

17

n.d.

0

2,920

650

0

186

3

n.d.

0

20,50015,500

1,080

0

284

55

40

0

Congo

18,400

8,440

1,300

0

1,300

72

45

0

Côte
d’Ivoire

3,400

1,870

1,110

0

277

167

120

0

Gabon

10,600

6,923

2,310

1,480

1,480

25

10

0

Ghana

1,150

1,035

1,150

0

270

97

97

0

Liberia

1,310

1,310

0

0

0

n.d.

0

0

Nigeria

2,720

1,060

650

0

n.d.

375

175

0

Togo

41

41

5.5

0

5.5

14

1.2

0

Total

70,46144,04910,016

1,480

4,303

825

488

0

Table 2c Management of the protection PFE in Africa (’000 hectares)

Country

Total area

Attributed
to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated forsoil and water
protection

Withmanagement
plans

Sustainably
managedCameroon

3,900

2,650

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

CAR

300

3,090

5.7

n.d.

n.d.

DRC

27,000

9,320

n.d.

n.d.

0

Congo

2,860

2,860

3,660

380

380

Côte d’Ivoire

734

734

195

345

150

Gabon

2,700

570

0

491

1,090*

Ghana

353

174

n.d.

n.d.

108

Liberia

101

101

0

0

0

Nigeria

1,010

1,010

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Togo

313

60.9

200

n.d.

n.d.

Total

39,271

20,570

4,061

1,216

1,728

* Includes 599,000 hectares in the Minkebe National Park and Forest Reserve, for which a management plan is in the ﬁnal
stages of preparation

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200549

Table 3a Total forest area and PFE in Asia & the PaciﬁcCountry

Total
forest area
(range)(millionhectares)Total closed
natural forest(FAO 2001)(’000 hectares)

NaturalPlanted

Total

Protection

Total

Cambodia

9.33–11.1

5,500

3,460

17

3,477

4,620

8,097

Fiji

0.82–0.93

747

0

113

113

241

354

India

64.1–76.8

22,500*13,50032,60046,10025,60071,700Indonesia

105–120

100,382

46,0002,500

48,50022,50071,000

Malaysia

19.3–19.5

19,148

11,200183

11,383

3,210

14,593Myanmar34.4

32,7009,700

710

10,4103,300

13,710PNG

30.6

30,150

8,700

80

8,780

1,700

10,480Philippines

5.4–7.2

5,288

4,700

274

4,974

1,540

6,514

Thailand

13.0–14.8

10,127

0

1,870

1,870

8,260

10,130

Vanuatu

0.902

442

117

2.10

119

8.37

127

204,484

97,37738,349135,726

70,979206,705Total

PFE (’000 hectares)
Production* Tropical only

Table 3b Management of the production PFE in Asia & the Paciﬁc (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated to

With

Country

Total
area

concessions/
under licencemanagement
plans

Cambodia

3,460

3,370*

Fiji

0

India

PlantedWith
Certiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

Total
area

management
plans

Certiﬁed

150

0

0

17

7

0

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

113

90

0

13,50013,500

9,720

0

4,800

32,6008,150

0Indonesia

46,00043,20018,400

275

2,940

2,500

2,500

0.152

Malaysia

11,2006,790

11,200

4,620

4,790

183

183

183

Myanmar

9,700

n.a.

9,700

0

291

710

0

0

PNG

8,700

5,600

4,980

19

1,500

80

n.d.

0

Philippines

4,700

n.d.

910

0

76

274

274

0

Thailand

0

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

1,870

250

1

Vanuatu

117

n.d.

0

0

0

2.1

2.1

0

97,377

69,09055,0604,914

14,39738,34911,456184

Total* Suspended
n.a. = not applicable

50

SFM TROPICS

Table 3c Management of the protection PFE in Asia & the Paciﬁc (’000 hectares)

Country

Total area

Attributed
to IUCN
categories I–IV

Cambodia

4,620

3,360

4,200

n.d.

n.d.

Fiji

241

3

18

37

55

India

25,600

3,060

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Indonesia

22,50014,40016,000

5,000

1,360

Malaysia

3,210

1,400

3,210

3,210

3,210

Myanmar

3,300

195

6,560

n.d.

n.d.

PNG

1,700

362

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Philippines

1,540

1,540

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Thailand

8,260

5,450

9,320

n.d.

522

Vanuatu

8.37

0

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

70,97929,77039,308

8,247

5,147

Total

Allocated forsoil and water
protection

Withmanagement
plans

Sustainably
managedTable 4a Total forest area and PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean
PFE (’000 hectares)

Country

Total forest
area (range)(millionhectares)Total closed
natural forest(FAO 2001)(’000 hectares)

NaturalPlanted

Total

Protection

Total

Bolivia52.2–59.5

47,99917,00060

17,06014,70031,760Brazil444–544489,515

98,1003,810

101,910271,000

372,910

Colombia

49.6–65.6

51,437

5,500

148

5,648

8,860

14,508Ecuador

8.40–11.4

10,854

3,100

164

3,264

4,300

7,564

Guatemala2.85–4.29

2,824

1,140

71

1,211

1,240

2,451

Guyana16.9

16,916

5,450

12

5,462

980

6,442

Honduras

5.38

3,811

1,590

48

1,638

1,600

3,238

Mexico55.2–64.0

33,120

7,880

100

7,980

5,600

13,580Panama2.88–3.48

3,052

350

56

406

1,580

1,986

Peru

65.2–86.4

64,20424,600250

24,85016,30041,150Suriname

13.6–14.8

14,100

6,890

7

6,897

4,430

11,327

Trinidad& Tobago

0.248–0.259

250

127

15.4

142.4

59.1

201.5

Venezuela

49.9–55.0

49,926

13,000863

13,863

20,60034,463

788,008

184,7275,604

190,331351,249

541,581

Total

Production

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

51

Table 4b Management of the production PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean (’000 hectares)
NaturalCountry

Total
area

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

Bolivia

17,0005,470Brazil98,100Colombia

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

Total
area

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

5,470

2,210

2,210

60

n.d.

0

n.a.

5,250

1,160

1,360

3,810

1,350

1,350

5,500

2,150

n.d.

0

200

148

80

58

Ecuador

3,100

n.d.

65

0

101

164

65

21.3

Guatemala

1,140

540

697

520

672

71

25

7.57

Guyana

5,450

3,800

3,730

0

520

12

0

0

Honduras

1,590

1,070

671

37

187

48

28

0

Mexico

7,880

8,600

8,600

163

163

100

34

0

Panama

350

86

63

0

0

56

32

12.2

Peru

24,600

8,000

5,000

59.5

560

200–300

80

Suriname

6,890

1,740

73

0

0

7

7

0

Trinidad& Tobago

127

75

75

0

15

15.4

15.4

0

Venezuela

13,000

3,120

1,480

0

480

863

727

140

Total

184,727

34,651

31,174

4,150

6,468

5,604

2,371

1,589

Table 4c Management of the protection PFE in Latin America & the Caribbean (’000 hectares)

Country

Total area

Attributed
to IUCN
categories I–IV

Bolivia

14,700

7,660

6,790

n.d.

2,380

Brazil

271,000

19,000

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Colombia

8,860

8,860

312

n.d.

n.d.

Ecuador

4,300

1,790

2,450

513

n.d.

Guatemala

1,240

836

184

n.d.

n.d.

Guyana

980

980

n.d.

243

243

Honduras

1,600

434

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Mexico

5,600

1,040

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Panama

1,580

1,040

326

396

180

Peru

16,300

3,130

390

n.d.

1,540

Suriname

4,430

1,390

1,160

n.d.

n.d.

Trinidad&Tobago

59.1

29.2

n.d.

12

n.d.

Venezuela

20,60020,600

1,740

7,210

n.d.

Total

351,249

66,78913,352

8,374

4,343

52

SFM TROPICS

Allocated forsoil and water
protection

Withmanagement
plans

Sustainably
managedTable 5 Roundwood production and forest area

Total forest area
(low estimate;million hectares)

Naturalproduction PFE(’000 hectares)

Plantation
production PFE(’000 hectares)

Total roundwood
production,
2003 (’000 m³)*

Tropical industrial
roundwood
production,
2003 (’000 m³)

Cameroon

13

8,840

17

11,000

1,650

CAR

23

3,500

3

2,780

516

DRC

128

20,50055

72,200

90

Congo

20

18,400

72

2,130

1,350

AfricaCôte d’Ivoire

7

3,400

167

10,200

1,900

Gabon

26

10,600

25

4,630

3,560

Ghana

3

1,150

97

22,1001,400

Liberia

4

1,310

n.d.

5,690

800

Nigeria

10

2,720

375

69,900

7,100

Togo

1

41

14

5,890

208

234

70,461

825

206,520

18,574

Cambodia

9

3,460

17

9,680

125

Fiji

1

0

113

383

120

India

64

13,50032,600321,000

13,500Indonesia

105

46,0002,500

112,000

25,000

Malaysia

19

11,200183

24,70021,500

Myanmar

34

9,700

710

42,200

4,240

PNG

31

8,700

80

7,240

2,300

Philippines

6

4,700

274

16,000503

Thailand

13

0

1,870

28,8007,800

Subtotal
Asia & the Paciﬁc

Vanuatu

1

117

2

119

30

Subtotal

283

97,37738,349562,12275,118Latin America & the Caribbean
Bolivia52

17,000

60

2,860

650

Brazil444

98,1003,810

242,000

29,700Colombia

50

5,500

148

12,0002,050

Ecuador

8

3,100

164

6,260

1,240

Guatemala

3

1,140

71

15,90090

Guyana

17

5,450

12

1,210

251

Honduras

5

1,590

48

9,500

21

Mexico

55

7,880

100

44,400606

Panama

3

350

56

1,330

100

Peru

65

24,600

250

8,440

1,280

Suriname

14

6,890

7

199

155

Trinidad& Tobago

0

127

15

95

65

Venezuela

50

13,000

863

4,800

538

Subtotal

766

184,727

5,604

348,994

36,746

Total, all regions

1,284

352,565

44,7791,117,637

130,438* Total roundwood from FAOSTAT (2005); tropical industrial roundwood from ITTO (2006)

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

53

54

SFM TROPICS

PART I

PART 2 – COUNTRYPROFILESSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

55

56

SFM TROPICS

AFRICAAFRICASTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

57

CAMEROON
the entire coastal lowland has been largely cleared
and, where it still exists, consists of secondary forestsand degraded primary forests. Inland, semi-evergreen

Legend: Tree cover %lowland forest gives way to a mosaic of degraded< 30
30 – 60

rainforest and secondary grassland. North of this is> 60

Sudanian woodland with Acacia wooded grassland.
The closed evergreen forests can be divided into two
broad categories: the Biafran forest, forming an
arc around the Gulf of Guinea, and the Congolese
forest farther inland. The Biafran forest in lowaltitude coastal areas is characterized by species
like Lophira alata (azobé) and Sacaglottis gabonensis.
There is a long-standing trade in timber from thisforest, especially in azobé and Pycnanthus angolensis(ilomba). The Congolese forest includes closed
evergreen rainforest and semi-deciduous forests.

*Same legend applies to all country maps

The closed evergreen rainforest differs from the
Biafran forest in the absence of species of Caesal-

Forest resources

piniaceae – with the exception of Gilbertiodendron

Cameroon has a land area of 47.5 million hectares

by Baillonella toxisperma (moabi). The medium-and a population of 15.7 million people. It stretches
between latitudes 2° and 13° north from the Gulf
of Guinea to Lake Chad. The coastal plain is about
600 km long and 100–200 km wide, its inland limit
marked by slopes and steep scarps. The southernplateau, the site of Cameroon’s major closed-forest
area, is 500–800 m in altitude and the central
Adamaoua high plateau is generally 1,000 m or more
above sea level. Mt Cameroon (4,095 m) in the southwest is the highest mountain in western Africa and is
still an active volcano. Estimates of forest area includea13.3 million hectares (GFW 2005) and 23.8 million

dewevrei; another feature is the importance assumed
altitude closed semi-deciduous forests are marked
by an abundance of Sterculiaceae such as Cola spp,
Eribroma oblonga (eyong), Mansonia altissima (bété)
and Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous). They areparticularly rich in commercial species, including
various Meliaceae such as Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli) and Entandrophragma utile (sipo).
Dynamics of forest resource change. Annual
deforestation in Cameroon in the period 1990–2000
was an estimated 222,000 hectares (FAO 2005a),
the main cause being land conversion for small-scale

hectares (50% of total land area) (FAO 2005a).

agriculture and agro-industry.

Forest types. Cameroon’s forests are mainly closed

Forest ﬁres occur regularly in the drier northern

tropical broadleaved rainforests of two predominant
types: lowland evergreen and lowland semi-deciduous.
The closed evergreen forest that formerly covered

part of the country. There is some anecdotal
evidence of a lengthening of the dry season overthe past decade or soc.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted13.3–23.8

19,9858,840

17* Source: GFW (2005)

58

SFM TROPICS

Production

Protection

Total

3,900*

12,757

Permanent forest estate. The forest law ofdevelopment of the convergence plan for forest

1994 divides the forest area into permanent andmanagement in the Congo Basin, which was

non-permanent forest areas (domaine forestierendorsed by a conference of African heads ofpermanent et non permanent). The permanent forest

state in March 1999; this plan aims to increase

includes the categories forest reserves, protected

coordination and cooperation among countries ofareas and council forests; non-permanent forest

the Congo Basin in all activities relating to forests.

includes communal forest, community forest andprivate forest. Cameroon has an estimated 12.8
million hectares of natural-forest PFE, comprising
8.84 million hectares of production forest (including
council forests, the objectives of which may vary
between councils) and 3.90 million hectares ofprotection forest (Table 1). Article 22 of the 1994
forest law requires that the PFE covers at least
30% of the national territory (ibid.).
Planted forests. Planted forests cover about
17,000 hectares in Cameroon. Most have been
established by the state; no information is available

Forest policy and legislation. A new forest policy
prepared by a coalition involving the ministry incharge of forests and the World Bank was adopted
in 1995 after a ﬁve-year process. The main underlying principle is that of ensuring the sustainability
and development of the economic, ecological andsocial functions of the nation’s forests throughintegrated management that leads to the sustained
and lasting conservation and utilization of resources
and forest ecosystems. The policy has ﬁve goals:(i) to ensure the protection of forests, safeguard
the environment and conserve biological diversity;

about private planted forests. There are extensiveagro-industrial plantations, including an estimated(ii) to improve the integration of forest resourcesin overall rural development and to increase

42,000 hectares of rubber (FAO 2001).

the participation of rural populations in forest
conservation and management in order to raise

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Most forest land in Cameroon
belongs to the state. The permanent forest in thetheir living standards;(iii) to sustainably develop forest resources witha view to increasing the contribution of forest

main forest zone in the south is nearly all state-production to GDP;

owned under the categories of timber production,
protected and protection forests. About 345,000(iv) to ensure forest renewal through regeneration
and reforestation; andhectares of closed forests are communal forests.
According to the 1994 forest law, forests outside
the PFE exist in three ownership categories:(v) to set up an efﬁcient institutional system
involving all concerned parties in thecommunity forests, communal forests and private
forest. Generally, people living in forest areas fully
retain their traditional user rights in their communal
areas within both non-permanent and permanent
forests. Stakeholder disputes over forest ownershipand the demarcation of boundaries are common

management of the sector.
A new law on forests, wildlife and ﬁsheries (Law94/01) was approved in 1994 and supporting
decrees on wildlife (95/466) and forests (95/531)
issued in 1995. In addition, a new environmental law(GFW 2005).

was approved in August 1996 (Law 96/12). Law

SFM policy framework. Various C&I systems havein particular, it stresses good forest management

been prepared for or tested in Cameroon’s forests,
including ITTO’s C&I, the C&I toolkit of the Center
for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), and94/01 provides a good basis for introducing SFM;
practices through the following provisions:•system by a forest concession system;

more recently the ATO/ITTO PCI. A national multistakeholder working group developed the basis forthe replacement of the former forest licence•the compulsory preparation and implementation

national C&I that are compatible with FSC standards.

of long-term forest management plans in

However, none of these processes has so far been

concessions and simple forest management

implemented beyond experimental ﬁeld-testing andplans (plan de gestion) in forests attributed

capacity-building. Cameroon participated in theto communes and communities;

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

59

•
•

the introduction of provisions in respect totimber harvesting; they are limited to a maximum

concession allocation; andsize of 200,000 hectares and allocated by public

the creation of forest brigades and an inspection
panel at national and provincial levels for forest
control.

tender. A forest concession consists of one orseveral FMUs. The preparation of the management
and business plans and arrangements for implementation are the responsibility of the concession-holder

Institutions involved in forests. The Ministry

under state supervision; to assist this, in 1998

of Forests and Fauna (Ministère des Forêts et

ONADEF produced a guide to the preparation ofde la Faune – MINFOF), formerly the Ministry

forest management plans in production forests. Bidsof Environment and Forests (MINEF), is primarily

can be submitted by national or foreign investors

responsible for forest policy and the supervision

to MINFOF, which awards the FMU on the adviceof the legislative framework. Within MINFOF, theof a technical committee. After paying a security

Directorate of Forests (Direction des Forêts) is

deposit within 45 days of notiﬁcation, the winningresponsible for forestry implementation. It contains

party receives a three-year provisional concession

several major sub-directorates, including the forest

licence. During this period the concessionaire must

management and inventory unit (Sous-Direction

prepare a fully-ﬂedged forest management plan anddes Inventaires et Aménagements Forestiers) andmake arrangements with all stakeholders involved,

the unit for community forests (Sous-Direction desin particular any local forest users. The contractForêts Communautaires). The National Forestry

for the full concession is valid for 15 years andDevelopment Agency (Ofﬁce National de Dével-is renewable. A second type of management

oppement des Forêts – ONADEF) – a parastatalarrangement has also been developed (also underagency – was, until recently, responsible for technicalLaw 94/01) in which communities can obtain

forestry, including inventories, forest management,

forest user rights for 15 years for forest plots

reforestation, wood promotion and desertiﬁcationof up to 5,000 hectares.

control, but was dissolved in 2003 and replacedby the National Agency for Forestry Development(Agence Nationale de Développement des Forêts –ANAFOR). The government employs a total of
282 staff with university degrees in forest-relatedapositions . However, despite considerable efforts toreorganize the forest administration and to improveforest law enforcement, the implementation capacityof MINFOF remains weak due to a lack of funding,training and internal controlc. More than 100

In 2004, nine foreign companies (a few with somelocal ownership) held 3.15 million hectares of theconcession area in 45 FMUs (GFW 2005). Of all
72 FMUs, 32 had approved management plans,
the management plans of 17 had been rejected by
MINFOF, the status of 14 was unknown and 19 werein process (ibid.). Poor logging practice, illegal logging
and encroachment are reportedly commonc, but noofﬁcial data on their extent are availablea.

national and international NGOs, including major

In addition to the allocation of larger tracts

conservation NGOs such as IUCN, WWF, Conser-

of production forests to industrial investors,

vation International, The Nature Conservancy andcommunities can manage communal forests for

the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), are active

timber and non-timber production based on simpliﬁed

in Cameroon. Global Forest Watch (GFW), a US-based

forest management plans. In March 2001, eleven

NGO afﬁliated with the World Resources Institutecommunal forests had established such plans, and(WRI), is working with MINFOF to improve forest

52 other proposals were being prepared.

statistics.

There are two other logging permit systems in force,
reserved for Cameroonian citizens. The harvesting

Status of forest management

permit (permis d’exploitation) is directly allocatedby the minister in charge of forests and is applicable

Forest for production
As provided by Law 94/01, commercial forestry ismainly implemented in the PFE through concessions
and timber-licence contracts between the state andprivate entrepreneurs. FMUs are the basic unit of60

SFM TROPICS

in the non-permanent forest estate; each permit isrestricted to 500 m3 in volume. The autorisationde récupération, a type of logging right allocatedby the provincial representative of MINFOF, allows
the cutting of up to 30 m3 per permit.

cTable 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous)

Nearly 30% of production (2000–2003)

Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli)

Nearly 20% of production

Lophira alata (azobé)

Locally important, more than 10% of production

Terminalia superba (fraké)

About 40,000 m3 per year, 5% of production

Chlorophora excelsa (iroko)

Nearly 38,000 m3 per year harvested on average
between 2000–2003

Silviculture and species selection. A 1998 decree

The Swiss-based auditing ﬁrm Société Générale

of Law 94/01 stipulates silvicultural standards

de Surveillance (SGS) is responsible for checking

for forest management. The felling cycle is set atexports of timber and ensuring that the government

30 years and minimum harvesting diameters arecollects the correct level of levies, and has developed

indicated for each species. The standards further

a computerized log-tracking system with bar codes

describe the designation of future crop trees, thefor this purpose. Cameroon is also participating intending of natural regeneration, thinning,an ITTO project that is helping to build capacity forenrichment planting and reﬁnementc.

the implementation of the ATO/ITTO PCI at the

Cameroon has over 600 tree species, of whichsome 300 are fairly common in the tropical moist
forests. Of those, fewer than 30 are currently usedin signiﬁcant quantities for timber and fewer thana dozen species make up the bulk (80%) of the trade.
Table 2 lists some commonly harvested species.
Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
The ﬁrst planted forest was established with ayous
in 1937. Several thousand hectares of plantations
have been established since, but most of them wereabandoned before maturity. Plantations were
established during the 1950s, with a variety of
species such as Terminalia ivorensis, Aucoumea
klaineana, Tectona grandis, Pinus spp, various

national level in the African ITTO member countries.
It aims to train at least 60 forestry staff in eachcountry in the implementation of the PCI, develop an
auditing framework for African forests, and train atleast 60 trainers in the procedures for conducting
audits based on the PCI at the FMU level.
Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. At least 500,000 hectares ofnatural-forest PFE are estimated to be under SFM.
This area comprises the forests allocated to longterm concessions leased out to timber companies
which have been present in the area for several
years, have approved forest management plans, andare presently engaged in a process of certiﬁcation.

Meliaceae and eucalypts. In addition, Gmelina

Timber production and trade. The total roundwood

arborea was planted to produce matches.

production in 2002 was estimated to be about

Firewood plantations, and plantations to protect

10.9 million m3, of which 9.33 million m3 weresoil and farmland and for other purposes, wereused as fuelwood (FAO 2005b). Total industrial

started about 30 years ago with good resultsroundwood production in 2003 was 1.65 million m3,

and were promoted on agroforestry land; species

down from the 2.65 million m3 produced in 1999

used include Cassia siamea and Dalbergia sissoo.

(ITTO 2004, 2006 in prep.). Sawnwood production

Forest certiﬁcation. No forest has yet been certiﬁed
in Cameroon. The government is actively involved in
the development of the African Timber Certiﬁcation
Scheme, and some companies – including the Dutch
Wijima Douala SARL – have undergone preliminary
auditing as part of the FSC certiﬁcation process.

in 2003 was an estimated 658,000 m3 and plywood
production in 2003 was about 39,000 m3, signiﬁcantly lower than the 92,000 m3 produced in 1999
(ibid.). Veneer production in 2003 was 50,000 m3(ITTO 2006 in prep.). Cameroon is the seventhlargest exporter of tropical timber and the second-

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

61

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total
8,840

Allocated toconcessions/
under licence
4,950*

With
management
plans

PlantedCertiﬁed

1,760**

0

Sustainably
managed
d

500

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

17

n.d.

0

* Source: GFW 2005** Includes concession areas that already have a management plan or have completed forest inventories for the preparation of a forest
management planlargest in Africa. The export of logs is banned except

Biological diversity. Cameroon is rich in biodiversity,

for lesser-known species for market promotion andaccommodating more than 8,300 plant species,in the ﬁrst phase of establishment of a new forest

about 297 mammal species and 848 bird species;

concession (up to 30% of the logs may be exported

nearly half of all the bird and mammal species offor the ﬁrst ﬁve years after establishment); in 2003,

Africa are present in Cameroon’s forests. Twenty-one

Cameroon exported an estimated 70,000 m3 of logs

mammals, 14 birds, three reptiles, one amphibian(ITTO 2006 in prep.).

and 74 plants are listed as critically endangered,

Non-wood forest products. The bark and fruits ofGarcinia cola and G. lucida (onie and essok) and thenuts of Gnetum are used as medicines and stimulants. The nut of Elaeis guineensis (Eton palm) isused to make palm wine, Irvingia spp (andok or wild
mango) and Ricinodendron heudelotii (ezezang) as

endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list of
threatened species; of these, 30 mammals, 13 birds,
47 amphibians and 249 plants are found in forests(IUCN 2004). In addition, 43 plant species are listed
in CITES Appendix II, including Prunus africana andPericopsis elata (afrormosia) (CITES 2005).

condiments, and Dacryodes edulis (plum or assa)

Protective measures in production forests. The

as food. The bark of Prunus africana is sold toforest management prescriptions devised in 1998

pharmaceutical companies for use in the treatment

include measures to protect soil, biodiversity andof prostate gland problems. The powdered bark

the ﬂow of water in concession areas. They alsoof Pygeum africanum is used worldwide to control

include a series of stand treatments to encourage

urinary disorders in men and as a herbal supplement

the regeneration of commercial tree species infor benign prostatic hyperplasia. Baillonella

natural stands. Provisions specify zones where

toxisperma (moabi), a highly priced hardwood

hunting is permitted or banned and the length

member of the Sapotaceae family, is traditionallyand dates of the hunting season depending on

used by forest-dwellers for the oil from its seeds.

location and species.

Wild meat and other animal products are of major
signiﬁcance in rural and urban areas; the trade inwild meat has been blamed in some forests for
declines in the abundance of certain mammals.
NWFPs are traded regionally, in particular with
Nigeria. Products of Dacryodes, Gnetum, Ricinodendron and Irvingia species are frequently foundin specialized shops in European cities.

Forest for protection

Extent of protected areas. An estimated
3.90 million hectares of forests are in someform of protected area, comprising national parks(2.91 million hectares), wildlife reserves (739,000
hectares), wildlife sanctuaries (24,600 hectares)
and zoological gardens (6,700 hectares); a further
867,000 hectares of FMUs have been set aside
for conservation purposes (GFW 2005). According
to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 2.65 million hectares offorest are in protected areas conforming to IUCN

Soil and water. There are no clear ﬁgures on theprotected-area categories I–IV, of which 2.26 million

extent of natural forest and planted forest set

hectares are lowland evergreen broadleaved

aside primarily for water and soil protection.

rainforest. The ﬁrst six national parks in Cameroon
were set up primarily to attract tourists to Sudaniansavanna and woodland vegetation types in the north62

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

3,900

2,650

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

of the country. The major forest zone in the southern

including governmental agencies, the private sector,

part of the country was, until recently, less wellcommunities and people living in and around the PFE.

represented in the protected-area system. The

Arrangements are made between concession-holders

Korup area was upgraded from faunal reserve toand local people on a case-by-case basis according

national park by presidential decree in 1986 andto rules established in the forest law. Local people

the forest reserves of Dja and Pangar Djerem areshould receive 10% of the forest fees and taxes

also being proposed as national parks.

from commercial forest concessions. From such

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Insufﬁcient data wereavailable to estimate the area of protection PFE
sustainably managed (Table 4). Threats to protectedareas include poaching for the commercial wild-meatfees collected, 40% are to be invested into local
and district development. Forest concessions
situated within the jurisdiction of a community
also need to be accessible for NWFP harvestingby local populations.

trade and encroachment by shifting cultivation. A
tri-national treaty (Convention de la Trinationale dela Sangha) was signed in early 2000 to allow thesustainable management of three adjacent protectedareas in the transboundary zone of Cameroon,
CAR and Congo. The Mengame Gorilla Reserve,a transboundary protected area connected to the
Minkebe Protected Area, Gabon, is the subject ofan ITTO project to strengthen management there,
but while it is making good progress it is not yet
possible to categorize its management assustainable.

Summary
Cameroon possesses signiﬁcant forest resources
with good potential for SFM. The policy environment
is sound and governmental responsibility for forests
is vested in a single ministry, the Ministry of Forests
and Fauna (MINFOF). However, the capacity of theministry to fully enforce the forest law and implement
the forest policy is low. Cameroon is yet to translate
many of its ambitious forest management goals
into practice and effectively protect its PFE fromdeforestation and degradation.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Timber is Cameroon’s second
most important export after petroleum; wood-based

Key points•

hectares of PFE, comprising 8.84 million

exports generated revenue of US$210 million in

hectares of natural production forest,

2001. According to their licence contracts, forest

3.90 million hectares of protection forest

concession-holders need to link the forest concession

and 17,000 hectares of industrial timberwith industrial processing units, thus providing

plantations.

stable employment in remote rural communities.
An estimated 45,000 people are employed in the•asustainably. Insufﬁcient data were available toLivelihood values. Forests provide many local

estimate the area of protection PFE so managed.

communities with foods, medicines and locallyvalue for the various ethnic groups in the country.
Social relations. Law 94/01 stipulates public
participation in the design and implementation offorest management policies, enlisting all partners,

At least 500,000 hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are estimated to be managed

forestry sector .

traded goods. Forests also have a major spiritual

Cameroon has an estimated 12.8 million•

In 2004, nine foreign companies held 3.15 million
hectares of the concession area in 45 FMUs.
Of 72 FMUs, 32 had approved management
plans, the management plans of 17 had been
rejected by MINFOF, the status of 14 was
unknown and 19 were in process.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200563

•Of the 4.95 million hectares of PFE under

Amsallem, I., Koné, P. & Wilkie, M. (eds) 2002.

licence or allocated to concessions, about

Status and Trends in Forest Management in

1.76 million hectares had a management plan

Central Africa. Forest Management Working

or had completed forest inventories for the

Paper 3. FAO, Rome, Italy.

preparation of a management plan.
•

Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/

encroachment, poaching and poor logging

resources/species.html (accessed September

practices, including illegal logging, but no ofﬁcial

2005).

data on the extent of these are available.
••l’Objectif An 2000 Decisions 10 (XXVI) et 5

legislation but its implementation is limited.

(XXVII). Submitted to ITTO, February 2000.

Despite considerable efforts to reorganize theenforcement, the implementation capacity of
MINFOF remains weak due to a lack of funding,training and internal control.
Cameroon is rich in biodiversity, accommodating
more than 8,300 plant species, about 297
mammal species and 848 bird species; nearly
half of all the bird and mammal species ofAfrica are present in Cameroon’s forests.

•

MINEF 2000. Progrès Réalises sur la Voie deThere is a good framework of policy andforest administration and improve forest law•

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.

The integrity of the PFE is threatened by

Hunting for wild meat, including for commercial

Ministère de l’Environnement et des Forêts,Yaounde, Cameroon. Unpublished.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
GFW 2005. Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon.
WRI, Washington, DC, USA.

sale, is believed to have signiﬁcantly reduced the

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theabundance of certain mammals in some areas.

World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

References and other sourcesa

MINFOF 2005. Premier Rapport National surles Critères et Indicateurs de l’Aménagement
Durable des Forêts au Cameroun. Submitted

cof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatenedto ITTO, July 2005. Ministère des Forêts etSpecies. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

de la Faune, Yaounde, Cameroon. Unpublished.

(accessed September 2005).

Information derived from the report of, andPoore, D. & Thang, H. 2002. Review of Progress

discussions with participants at, a training

towards the Year 2000 Objective. Report

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators,presented at the twenty-eighth session of theheld 15–18 January 2003, Kribi, Cameroon,

International Tropical Timber Council, May

attended by 32 people from government,

2000. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

civil society and the private sector.
d

ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessment

ITTO estimate

UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries.
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data preparedfor ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).
WRI 2000. An Overview of Logging in Cameroon.
WRI, Washington, DC, USA.

64

SFM TROPICSCENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC
700 m and two separate basins, the Chad Basinin the north and the Congo Basin in the south.
The forest area, including the large expanse of open
dry forests and savanna, was estimated to be
22.9 million hectares in 2000 (FAO 2001).
Forest types. The major closed forest type is thesemi-deciduous rainforest located in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the country(Forêt de Bangassou). North of the closed forest
there is a transition zone between forest and savanna
which stretches in an east-west direction. Beyond
this, gallery forests border the large rivers. But by
far the largest forest area is the open savanna,covering an area of about 17 million hectaresb.
The semi-deciduous rainforests are some of therichest in Africa, containing a high density of highvalue timber species such as Terminalia superba*For legend see page 58(limba), Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli) andForest resources

Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous), as well as charis-

The Central African Republic (CAR) has a landand bongo. The total standing volume of timberarea of 62.3 million hectares and a population of
3.7 million people. Situated in the northern Congo
Basin, this landlocked country comprises ﬁvebiogeographical zones. These are, from south tonorth: the humid Guinean zone, with annual precipitation between 1,500 and 1,800 mm per year andcovered by dense, moist forest; the Sudano-Guineanzone, with annual precipitation between 1,000 andmatic mammals such as gorillas, forest elephantsin the southwestern forests was estimated to be
more than 127 million3 in a 1993 survey by the
Natural Resource Management Projectb.
Dynamics of forest resource change. The estimatedannual deforestation rate in 1990–2000 was about
30,000 hectares per year (FAO 2005a). Bushﬁres
are widespread, particularly in the savanna and in

1,500 mm; the drier Sudano-Guinean zone, containing

the transition zone from forest to savanna.

scattered semi-moist forests and open dry forests andPermanent forest estate. About 5 million hectares

savanna; and the Sahel zone, characterized by dryof semi-deciduous closed forests are considered tosavanna with annual precipitation of less than 800 mm.

be productive, including the inventoried forests in

The general relief of the country is formed by athe southwest (3.8 million hectares) and the less

peneplain with altitudes varying between 500 andknown, largely unexploited forest of Bangassou in

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)c,d
Estimated total

Total closed naturalforest area, range(million hectares)

forest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted22.9–29.3

4,826

3,500

3

Production

Protection

Total

300

3,803

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200565

cthe southeast (1.5 million hectares) . Nearly•a new forest code which takes into account thethe whole forest area in the southwest has

needs of local populations and the principles ofbeen allocated, either to forest concessions or

SFM in forest concessions;b

as conservation areas . In total, about 2.7 million
hectares are classiﬁed as harvestable. Over the•provide incentives for local processing andwhole country, 46 classiﬁed forests (forêts classées),the utilization of secondary species;

ranging in size from 20 to 120,000 hectares andcovering a total area of 633,000 hectares, were•of these classiﬁed forests are still forested. Table 1
shows the estimated PFE derived by ITTO from various

the promotion of local processing and a
restriction on log exports;

set aside between 1948 and 1955 for conservationand production purposes; it is not clear how mucha review of forest taxation to simplify it and•a cooperative endeavour to conserve andrestore forest cover;sources; it includes only state-administered closed•

an inventory of closed forests in 1996–1998;

forest. The estimate of protection PFE includes•

land-use planning, in consultation with rural

250,000 hectares of reserves and parks in the

populations, for the better allocation of forest

southwest and 50,000 hectares of classiﬁed

lands; andforests; the production PFE is taken here to be
the area available for (and currently allocated to)concessions. Outside this PFE, a signiﬁcant area ofdegraded primary and secondary forest – as much•

improved distribution of forest revenues
between the treasury, communities andthe Forest and Tourism Development Fundb.

as 1 million hectares in the southwestern forest

In recent years, signiﬁcant progress has been madearea, in particular in the zone of Lobaye – has thein all of these except land-use planning, as no national

potential to be productive under SFMc.
Planted forests. Planted forests cover an estimated1,800–3,000 hectaresc. In addition, the country’s
one rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation covers
an estimated 1,000 hectares.

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Most of CAR’s forest land isowned by the state, including the state foreststhat constitute the PFE. There are also community
forests, found mainly in savanna areas, which
include natural forests and reforestation areas
created by communities, and private forests

zoning plan to deﬁne the PFE has yet been createdb.
The forest code (Law 90-003), which was promulgated in 1990, was developed with wide interministry and interdisciplinary consultation but little
participation by rural populationsc. The forest code
describes, among other things: the different forest
types and their legal status, the conservation offorest resources in production forests, and the
involvement of local populations in decisions on the
granting of forest licences. Forest harvestingremains fully the responsibility of the industrial
concession-holders. The country has endorsed the
ATO/ITTO PCI and is actively involved in various
regional initiatives to promote SFM in the Congo(a small area of reforestation on private land).

Basin, in particular through the Commission in

Forest policy and legislation. The forestry policy

Charge des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale – COMIFAC).

adopted in 1989 has three main goals: (i) preservation of the stability of forest ecosystems bymanagement and development, (ii) the rationaluse of forest resources, and (iii) protection of theforest heritage for future generations. A numberof measures have been introduced in an effort toCharge of Forests in Central Africa (Commission en
Institutions involved in forests. Forestry
administration is the responsibility of the Ministryof Environment, Water, Forests, Hunting and Fishing(Ministère des Eaux, Forêts, Chasses, Pêches,
Environnement et du Tourisme – MEFCPET).

implement this policy:

MEFCPET is responsible for gathering taxes and•to forests, wildlife and the development of tourism.

a new administrative structure that involves
stakeholders, including the rural population,
more closely in forest management;

66

SFM TROPICS

fees and for providing funds for programs relating
Other ministries involved in forest development
include the Ministry of Commerce and Industry;

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood*
Timber species

Remarks

Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous)

21 million m3 growing stock, 31% of log exports in 2004

Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli)Aningeria spp (aniegré)
Entandrophragma utile (sipo)

6% of log exports in 2004

Chlorophora excelsa (iroko)

12% of log exports in 2004

* Source: MEFCPET 2005

the Ministry of Economic Reform, Planning andet d’aménagement); the system of special cutting

International Cooperation; and the Ministry ofarea permits (permis spécial de coupe) that co-existed

Finance and Budget.

with PEAs was abandoned. Small-scale logging

Staff training and forestry research are undertakenby the University of Bangui and its Agronomic
Research Institute. However, both are constrainedby a lack of funds and capacity and most professional
and technical training is provided on the job by forestbcompanies .

outside the PFE is still permitted under artisanal
permits (permis artisanal). PEAs are valid for the
lifetime of the company. Once a PEA is awarded, theconcessionaire must prepare a forest management
plan within three years, during which time theconcessionaire may start harvesting according
to speciﬁc prescriptions of the Ministry. In mid

The private-sector Chamber of Agriculture, Animal

2005, ten timber companies, all foreign-owned,

Breeding, Waters, Forests, Hunting, Fishing andwere operational in the southwest over an area of

Tourism acts in an advisory role to MEFCPET on

3.3 million hectares (MEFCPET 2005); the size ofissues relating to forest management. A number

forest concessions varied between 200,000 andof local NGOs, such as Amis de la Nature, the562,000 hectaresc. The PEA stipulates that local

Mouvement Femmes-Environnement and thepeople living in or adjacent to the concession must

Organisation Centrafricaine de Défense de la

be involved in the process of establishing permitsb.

Nature, are also active in the forestry sector,
although due to a lack of capacity they play
only a marginal role in forestry matters.

Status of forest management

There is little awareness in the private sector of theneed for SFM. Moreover, the forestry administration
lacks the capacity to oversee management of the
PFE and to enforce the law, including by imposing
sanctions when rules and regulations are infringedb.

Forest for production

Forest harvesting is taxed in various ways. There

Large-scale industrial harvesting started in 1968

addition to three speciﬁc forestry taxes: an annual,in the southwestern forests, following an intensive

area-based forest fee (in 2005 this was US$1 perinventory. A second forest inventory carried out in

hectarec); a felling tax of 7% of the taxable value

1991–1993 estimated the standing volume of theof the felled volume of timber; and a replanting

18 most important species at 93 million m3; based

is a general company tax and a value-added tax, intax paid at the rate of 11% of the taxable value,

on a 30-year rotation, the commercial volume

which is determined by the Finance Law in relation

harvestable per hectare was estimated at

to FOB value at the seaport of Douala, Cameroon.

15–20 m3/yearc.
After a national consultation on forestry in
September 2004, harvesting in the PFE is now
carried out in large-scale concessions using only
one kind of permit called a PEA (permis d’exploitation

There is also an export tax of 10.5% on roundwood
and 4.05% on sawnwood. In late 2004, an environmental tax was introduced for those companies that
do not start the preparation of forest management
plans as required under the PEAs; this doubles the

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

67

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
3,500

2,920

With
management
plans

PlantedCertiﬁed

c,

650 *

0

Sustainably
managed

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

3

n.d.

0

c,d

186

* Concessions covering a further 1.5 million hectares are in the process of developing forest management plansarea-based tax to US$2 per hectarec. A study was

but these have not been scaled up. Small community-

carried out in 2004 on ways to replace the area-

based ﬁrewood plantations of eucalypts, Acacia

based fee by a rental fee which takes into consider-mangium and Cassia siamea are important ination the timber value of the forest covered by thenon-forested areas. In drier areas, trees planted

permit, but no decision has been taken yet on thisoutside forests are of some importance, including

matter.

neem, Butyrospermum parkii (karité), Anacardium

Silviculture and species selection. The 1990

excelsum and Acacia albida.

forest code makes speciﬁc reference to silvicultural

Forest certiﬁcation. Some timber companies aremanagement criteria, including: quantitative limits

involved in International Technical Tropical Timberon logging to avoid creaming and favour natural

Association (Association Technique Internationale

regeneration; the determination of minimum

des Bois Tropicaux – ATIBT) and ATO initiatives on

diameters for felling (80 cm for redwood species in

the certiﬁcation of African timber (see below). One

the Congo Basin and 60 cm for whitewood species

forest concession, Industrie Forestière de Batalimosuch as ayousc); the protection of young trees during(IFB), which is 186,000 hectares in size, is in an

logging operations; and the involvement of both ruraladvanced process of certiﬁcation under the

populations and foresters in conservation and the

Keurhout systemc.

management of tree-planting. As PEAs are ofunlimited duration, long-term management andharvest planning should be possible.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. In mid 2005, two companies(IFB and SESAM) with concessions totalling about

There are about 300 potential timber species in

650,000 hectares were working under compre-

the closed forest area, 79 of which are consideredhensive forest management plans, and ﬁve moremarketable today. Around 30 timber species werecovering 1.5 million hectares had made goodcharvested in 2004 ; however, loggers tend to focus

progress in developing such plansc. The IFB

on 15–18 high-value species. Table 2 lists ﬁve species

concession (186,000 hectares) is pursuing certiﬁ-that made up 90% of production in 2004 (MEFCPET

cation and is thought to be sustainably managedc.

2005). This selective logging is a possible constraint
on SFM because the high-value species will almost
certainly become rarer, changing forest dynamics
and, in the long term, reducing the ﬁnancial viabilityof SFMb.

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
production in 2003 was an estimated 2.82 million m3,
of which at least 2 million m3 was fuelwood (FAO
2005b). CAR produces relatively small volumes ofmostly high-value timbers. In 2003, total industrial

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

roundwood production amounted to an estimated

Most of CAR’s planted forests are not maintained

516,000 m3, down from 553,000 m3 in 1999cand are regularly affected by forest ﬁre . Plantations(ITTO 2004, 2005). At least 60% of log productionof fast-growing limba, Terminalia ivorensis (fraké),

must be processed locally into sawnwood, plywood

Cedrela odorata and Cordia alliodora have generally

or other value-added products. Some 223,000 m3

been abandoned. Various tropical hardwoods,of logs and about 58,000 m3 of sawnwood were

including Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea,

exported in 2003 (ITTO 2005). CAR’s exports facehave performed quite well in experimental trials,

numerous constraints: train transport through68

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

300

3,090

5.7

n.d.

n.d.

neighbouring Congo is slow and highly insecure

including 112,000 hectares of lowland evergreen

and costs are very high through Cameroon to thebroadleaved rainforest and 2.01 million hectares

port of Douala.

of deciduous/semi-deciduous broadleaved forest.

Non-wood forest products. Wild meat and other

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

animal products are important NWFPs in CAR’s

managed for protection. Few data are available onforests. Many foodstuffs, medicinal plants andthe status of forest management in CAR’s protection

condiments – including Piper guineense (forest

PFE. Considerable efforts have been made to protect

pepper), Xylopia aethiopica and Afromomum spp –the 120,000-hectare Dzanga-N’doki National Park,are collected in closed and savanna forests andwhich is CAR’s part of a tri-national protected area

sold locally or exported. No quantitative data were

between CAR, Congo and Cameroon; however,available for this report.

insufﬁcient information was available to determine

Forest for protection
Soil and water. A number of small areas totallingthe current status of management there.

Socioeconomic aspects

about 5,700 hectares have been set aside for

Economic aspects. Forest taxes account for about

catchment protection purposes (mise en défens).

14% of state revenues and its contribution to GNP

Biological diversity. CAR contains more than 3,600
plant species, 209 mammals and 668 birds. Twelve
mammals, three birds, one reptile and 15 plants arelisted as critically endangered, endangered orvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened
species; of these, nine mammals and eight plantsrose from 2.6% in 1997 to 5.3% in 2001 (MEFCPET
2005). Tax incomes from forests represent 14%
of total tax revenues (ibid.). The forest sector isimportant for employment and in socioeconomic
development; about 4,000 people are directly
employed in the formal forestry sectorb.

are found in forests (IUCN 2004). One plant species

Rents and felling taxes on forest harvesting are

is listed in CITES Appendix I and seven in Appendix II

required to be distributed among the beneﬁciaries(CITES 2005). Several other mammals are locallyas follows: 30% to the Treasury, 40% to the Forest

threatened; the population of elephants, for example,

and Tourism Development Fund, and 30% to commu-

has reportably decreased to a critical levelc.

nities. Of the revenue generated by the replanting

Extent of protected areas. The ﬁrst forest
conservation areas to protect the now locallytax, 25% goes to communities and 75% to theForest and Tourism Development Fund.

extinct white rhinoceros were created in 1925

Livelihood values. Wild meat and the gathering of(Réserve de Zimongo, and the parks of Baminigui,

edible fruits, nuts, insects and roots are of great

Bangoran and Manovo-Gonda-Saint Floris); theseimportance for local communities dependent on the

covered more than 1 million hectares of open

forest, in particular Pygmies in the closed forest. Yams

savanna. Today, protected areas have been greatly(Dioscorea spp) are a staple food of the Pygmies.

extended and cover almost 6.76 million hectares(about 11% of the national territory); they comprisemainly savanna and dry shrub landc. The main partof the protected area estate is found in the driernortheast; only about 300,000 hectares are closed
forestb. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 3.09
million hectares of forest are in protected areas
conforming to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV,

Social relations. The 1990 forest code stipulates theinvolvement of local people in forest management.
According to the law, local people are to have a sayin the allocation of concessions and logging permits,
and a signiﬁcant share of revenues generated byforest taxes is to be redistributed to local communities. However, such revenues are unevenly
distributed between and within forest communitiesb.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

69

Summary•nuts, insects and roots are of great importance

CAR possesses a substantial forest resource basefor local communities.

in the south with a sizeable growing stock of highvalue hardwood timber. Forest production provides

Wild meat and the gathering of edible fruits,•

According to the forest law, a signiﬁcant shareimportant export revenues and contributes 5% orof revenues generated by forest taxes is to be

more to GDP. Two forest inventories have beenredistributed to local communities. However,carried out, the results of which can support forest

such revenues are unevenly distributed between

management planning and economic analysis. In

and within such communities.

1990, the country introduced a forest code thatsets out social, environmental and silvicultural•

costs of exported timber are relatively highnorms. However, there is a gap between the law

compared to those of other countries in theand its implementation in the ﬁeld.

Key points•

CAR has an estimated 3.80 million hectaresof PFE, comprising 3.50 million hectares ofCongo Basin, limiting the proﬁtability of SFM.

References and other sourcesbtowards the ITTO 2000 Objective and Sustainableof protection forest and 3,000 hectares ofForest Management. Report of the Diagnostic

industrial timber plantations.

Mission. Presented at the thirty-third session

At least 186,000 hectares (about 5%) of theof the International Tropical Timber Council,

natural-forest production PFE are under SFM.
Insufﬁcient data were available to estimate thearea of protection PFE so managed.
•

November 2002. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
cworkshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
25–29 July 2005, Bangui, CAR, attended by(Permis d’exploitation et d’aménagement),

48 people from government, civil society andwhich are valid for the lifetime of the company.
In mid 2005, ten timber companies, all foreignowned, were operating in the southwest of thecountry in an area of 3.3 million hectares.
•

A relatively small area of closed forest is
contained in protected areas.

•

There is little awareness in the private sectorof the need for sustainable management,
although such awareness may be growing
as companies are obliged to develop forest
management plans.

•

The ministry in charge of forests, MEFCPET,
generally lacks the capacity to oversee
management of the PFE and to enforce the law,
including sanctions when rules and regulations
are infringed.

•

The forest sector generates about 14% ofstate revenues.

70

SFM TROPICS

Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training

Commercial harvesting is carried out mostly by
private entrepreneurs under management permits•

ITTO 2002. ITTO Mission in support of theGovernment of the Central African Republic

natural production forest, 300,000 hectares•

CAR is a landlocked country and the transport

the private sector.
d

ITTO estimate

Amsallem, I., Koné, P. & Wilkie, M. (eds) 2002.
Status and Trends in Forest Management inCentral Africa. Forest Management Working
Paper 3. FAO, Rome, Italy.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa –Subregional Report for Central Africa. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).

MEFCPET 2005. Statistiques forestières.
Projet d’appui institutionnel à l’Administration
Forestières. March 2005. MEFCPET, Bangui, CAR.
Tchatat, M., Ndoye, O. & Nasi, R. 1999. Produits
Forestiers Autres que les Bois d’œuvre (PFAB):
Place dans l’Aménagement Durable des Forêts
Denses Humides d’Afrique Centrale. Projet
FORAFRI. CIRAD-Forêt, Montpellier, France.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

71

DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGOForest types. Moist evergreen and semi-deciduous
forests occupy much of the central and westernregions, with moist evergreen forests accounting
for about a third of the country’s forests (35–40
million hectares). Submontane and montane closed
forests include montane rainforests with conifers,montane sclerophyllous forests between 1,500 and
3,200 m, and submontane sclerophyllous forestsof Grewia spp, Carissa edulis and Euphorbia spp.
Swamp forests are extensive in DRC, covering about
20 million hectares, primarily in the central basin.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Forests
were lost at an estimated annual rate of 532,000
hectares (0.4%) in the period 1990–2000 (FAO
2005). Uncontrolled forest ﬁres occur regularly
at the end of the drier seasons and cause local
damage to forest stands that have already been

*For legend see page 58

opened up, especially in the less-forested areas.

Forest resources

Permanent forest estate. There is so far no formal

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has a land

land-use planning in DRC, but pilot zoning is being

area of 234 million hectares and a population of
57 million people. It lies entirely within the Congo
Basin, with only 42 km of coastline on the Atlantic
Ocean. The north comprises plateaux of 600–800
m in height and, in the south, of 1,000–2,000 m
in height. The highest peaks reach 4,500 m in the
Virunga volcanic massif on the border with Rwanda
and exceed 5,000 m in the Ruwenzori Mountains on
the border with Uganda. Some 77% of the country
is at an altitude of over 1,000 m. Estimates of totalaforest cover range from 128 million hectares to
135 million hectares (FAO 2005).

applied in the Province de l’Equateur over an areaof 1.8 million hectaresa. The state forest area(domaine forestier de l’Etat) comprises three
forest-use types: classiﬁed forests, protected
forests and permanent production forests. The
government plans to establish a forest survey thatwould formally recognize the PFEa. The closed forest
area suitable for industrial harvesting has beenvariously estimated at about 81 million hectaresa
and 60 million hectares (Sebastien & N’Yanga-Nzo2001). Table 1 shows a possible eventual PFE basedon an ITTO estimate.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d,*
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted128–135

126,236

20,50055

Production

Protection

Total

27,00047,555* The country is in a transitional period in respect to land-use planning. The ﬁgures given here are indicative only

72

SFM TROPICS

Planted forests. Planted forests have been estab-national forest inventory, still need to be ﬁnalized

lished to produce both timber and fuelwood andand approved by government. Other relevant new

to protect land from erosion, but the total area islaws are Law 007/03 on mining and Law 015/2002

unknown. FAO (2001) estimated the total plantationon labour relations.

estate at 96,700 hectares, but this most likely
included agro-industrial plantations, particularlyof oil palm and rubber; the government of DRC
estimated an area of 55,500 hectaresa.

Institutions involved in forests. DRC has been
devastated by about ten years of civil war, which
ended ofﬁcially in late 2002. This left the country
with severely damaged infrastructure, an impoverished population and weak or non-existing institutions.

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. According to Law 73/021 of 1973,
the state is the sole owner of the land and this is
conﬁrmed by the new forest code of 2002 (seebelow). According to this, the local population must
be consulted before any area is classiﬁed in theplanned PFE. Communities or municipalities havecustomary rights over the forests within theirjurisdiction and are able to become long-term
concession-holders of such forests. The state
can also allocate forests to local communities
as community forests.

The ministry in charge of forests is the Ministryof the Environment, Nature Conservation, Water
Resources and Forests (Ministère de l’Environnement,
Conservation de la Nature, Eaux et Forêts). Within
this, the Directorate of Forest Management (Direction
de la Gestion Forestière – DGF) is responsible formonitoring forest management and harvesting, theDirectorate for Water Resources (Direction des
Ressources en Eau – DRE) for the management ofwater-related ecosystems, and the Directorate of
Fauna and Hunting (Direction de la Faune et Chasse– DFC) for game and hunting. A number of governmental services are in place, including: the Permanent

SFM policy framework. DRC has adopted the ATO/

Service for Inventories and Forest Management

ITTO PCI for natural tropical forests in Africa as an

Planning (Service Permanent d’Inventaire et

instrument for monitoring progress towards SFM.

d’Aménagement Forestiers – SPIAF); the Congolese

Forest policy and legislation. Forest management
was formerly implemented under the colonial Forest
Law of 1949 and applied through the Guide to Forest
Exploitation, which came into force in 1975. A newand comprehensive forest code (Law 11/2002)
promulgated in 2002 describes the institutions andresponsibilities in regard to forest management andlays down prescriptions for national forest planning

Institute for the Conservation of Nature (Institut
Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature – ICCN),
responsible for the management of protected areas;
and the National Reforestation Service (Service
National de Reboisement – SNR). The lack of trained
and motivated staff to manage and control theforests is a crucial bottleneck in building up aneffective institutional framework for SFMa.

and forest management; for example, it devotes

In the present reorganization of state institutions

an entire chapter to forest management (Title V,

it is intended that the different provinces andChapter II, articles 71–76) and another to local

districts will be given greater political and economic

community rights (Title VIII, Chapter III, articles

autonomy. The new forest code includes the concept

111–113). A number of ministerial decrees toof community forests, but as yet there are no

implement the code were promulgated in Marchprocedures to put this into effect.

2003; these deal with methods for the preparationof forest management plans (Arrêté ministériel(AM) 46/03), law enforcement (AM 45/03),
reforestation (AM 49/03), forest survey (AM43/03) and protected forest species (AM 42/03).
A number of other decrees dealing with, for example,
concession management, community forests, thecreation of the PFE and the establishment of aIn the 1980s, there were fewer than 100 registered
NGOs dealing with natural resource management.
Today, more than 1,000 NGOs and associations
are involved in forest-related activities. Some multinational NGOs, including Conservation International,
WCS and WWF, have recently engaged in forest
conservation in DRC.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

73

Status of forest management

particularly in setting up a wood-processing

Forest for production

certain circumstances, begin to harvest timber;

The forests near the coast, being relatively accessible,

unit. In this period, a concessionaire can, under•a supply guarantee (garantie d’approvisionnement)

have been logged heavily since colonial times; moremust be obtained. This is valid for 25 years andrecent harvesting has moved into the central basin,

is renewable. It establishes the forest concession

where subsistence agriculture is now also affecting

and authorizes timber harvesting; andsome of the swamp forests. Farther inland, outside
concession areas, forest harvesting mainly consistsof the removal of trees of the most proﬁtablespecies. The existing legal framework on forest
management laid out in Law 11/2002 has notbeen implemented effectively so fara.

•

cutting permits (permis de coupe) are required.
These determine the yearly cutting area, limited
to 1,000 hectares; a concessionaire may haveseveral cutting permits, depending on the sizeof the concession. The cutting permit includes adetailed harvesting map and contains information

Inventories have been carried out over about

on the timber stand, any protection measures

21 million hectares, and 16.5 million hectares

that apply and the social conditions in the area.

were mapped before 1992 (ITTO 2003). About
20 million hectares had been allocated to commercial
forest operations by mid 2003, but according to DRC
forestry ofﬁcials (pers. comm., June 2005) thisarea may soon be extended to 50 million hectares.
No large-scale concessionaire has been in operation
since the end of the war, most of the logging being
done on a small scale by forest users who havefelling permits but no management obligations(eg for inventory or silviculture). Several interested
parties – including mining operators and the military– have been logging without ofﬁcial harvesting
contracts. Some large logging companies – mostly
foreign-owned – that were active in the past still
have legally valid forest concession rights; some ofthese are interested in re-engaging in the country
in the near future should the political situation provestable. In addition, new foreign-based companies
are also prospecting for large-scale forest concessions. According to Law 11/2002, concessions
can be allocated for 25 years and are renewable.
The maximum area of a forest concession is

In practice, none of these steps are administeredin a transparent way. Moreover, the forest service
is unable to effectively control illegal logging andother irregular forestry activities (DRC forestryofﬁcials, pers. comm., June 2005). Only one zone
(Bolobo-Mushie) has a regional forest management
plan; this dates from 1986 and covers 1 million
hectares (Sebastien & N’Yanga-Nzo 2001).
As of August 2003, two authorizations (347,000
hectares), 27 letters of intent over an area of morethan 4.7 million hectares and 112 supply guarantees(granted concessions) over an area of more than
15.5 million hectares were approved, but a further
45 supply guarantees over 9.1 million hectares had
not become operative. Even though the numberof licences is high, forest harvesting activities arevery much less than what would be possible under
SFM (see below). Nearly all of the exported timber
comes from only six companies, out of which one
is producing half. None of the concessions has amanagement plan (DRC forestry ofﬁcials, pers.

500,000 hectares. There are several steps

comm., June 2005).

to obtaining forest harvesting rights:

Silviculture and species selection. The only•

silvicultural prescriptions contained in Law

an authorization for ‘forest prospecting’(autorisation de prospection forestière) must
be obtained to conduct a forest inventory in•harvesting diameter by species and some speciﬁc

a given area. This is valid for one year andrequirements for certain timber species.

no harvesting is permitted;

The country has an enormous diversity of tree

a letter of intention (lettre d’intention) mustspecies. The total number of commercial tree

be secured. This is valid for three years, during
which time the concessionaire must invest aminimum of 50% of his planned investment,

74

11/2002 are the determination of a minimum

SFM TROPICS

species is more than 200, of which about 25 aresold internationally. Some important commercial
timbers are shown in Table 2; others include Gambeya
africana (longhi), Guarea cedrata (bossé), Guibourtia

aTable 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum (tola)

16% of the export value in 2002

Millettia laurentii (wengé)

45% of the export value, mainly from Bandundu region

Chlorophora excelsa (kambala/iroko)

11% of the export value

Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli)

6% of the export value

Terminalia superba (limba)

3% of the export value

spp (benge), Lovoa trichilioides (dibetou), Entandro-in 1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005); however, illegal timberphragma angolense (tiama), Entandrophragma utile

production is likely to have been much higher than(sipo or lifaki), Entandrophragma candollei (kosipo),

that. The country exported an estimated 58,000 m3

Pericopsis elata (afrormosia) and Nauclea diderrichii

of logs in 2003 (ITTO 2005). Timber-processing(bilinga).

capacity has been greatly reduced and needs tobe rebuilt.

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Terminalia superba (limba) is the main species used

Non-wood forest products. The NWFPs derived

in plantations, the ﬁrst of which were establishedfrom the closed forests are very important all overin 1905. Agroforestry plantations (taungya) were

DRC but particularly in those regions where theintroduced in the 1940s and are still widespread.

prevailing economic hardship is exacerbated by

Other species planted for industrial production

armed conﬂict. For many people, forests are

before the 1960s included Ceiba pentandra,

likely to be the main source of food, medicine andBombax ﬂammeum, Entandrophragma spp, Lovoa

stimulants like cola and palm wine. Wild meat hastrichilioides, Eucalyptus spp, Grevillea robusta,

become scarce in regions where there is armed

Casuarina equisetifolia and Cupressus spp. Species

conﬂict, thus contributing to malnutrition andof Eucalyptus, Acacia, Pinus and Gmelina arborea

famine. No information on the trade of NWFPs

have been used for fuelwood and soil protection.

was available for this report.

Forest certiﬁcation. So far no forests have been

Forest for protection

certiﬁed in DRC, but some foreign companies areundertaking some baseline studies for certiﬁcation.

Soil and water. No speciﬁc measures to promote

DRC participates in the ATO working group on an

soil and water conservation in areas of closed forest

African certiﬁcation scheme.

are in place, although Law 11/2002 cites the need

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. In 2003, no area of production PFE
was known to be managed sustainably. However,three forest sites dedicated to forest research andeducation totalling 284,000 hectares are thought

to conserve soils. Soil and water conservation isregulated by a 1958 decree. Some small plantations
have been established for erosion control in the last
30 years.
Biological diversity. Of the 11,000 known species

to be so managed (Table 3).
Timber production and trade. It is estimated thatthe closed forest area could sustainably produceof plant in DRC, about 3,200 are considered endemic.
Forest inventories suggest that tree species number
more than 700, and there are an estimated 415

about 35 million m3 per year of industrial wood

mammal species and 1,086 bird species. Thirty-two(Sebastien & N’Yanga-Nzo 2001), but the actual

mammals, 30 birds, three reptiles, 13 amphibians

production is far from reaching this ﬁgure. Totalofﬁcial production of all roundwood was an estimated77.2 million m3 in 2003, but industrial roundwood
3

to protect, among others, springs and streams and3

was only 90,000 m in 2003, down from 170,000 m

and 66 plants are listed as critically endangered,endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list of
threatened species; of these, 23 mammals, 21

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

75

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
20,50015,500*

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁedc,1,080 **

0

Sustainably
managed

Total

d

284

With
management
plans

55

Certiﬁedd400* Includes concessions with valid permits (garanties d’approvisionnement); not all of them were operational at the time of writing** Regional forest management plan, Bologo-Mushie

birds, 13 amphibians and 15 plants are found

DRC’s forests are currently under no threat fromin forests (IUCN 2004). Although the country is

deforestation or other signiﬁcant human-induced

large, there is enormous pressure on wildlife throughdisturbance due to their remoteness from major

poaching. Wild meat is in demand in rural and urban

human settlements.

markets. The elephant population in the forest zone
(about 300,000 before 1980) had been reduced
to less than 50,000 in 2000 (Sebastien & N’YangaNzo 2001). DRC has listed eight plant species in
CITES Appendix I and 53 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. There is no recent information
about the contribution of the forest sector to GDP
or employment. The forest sector could become aProtective measures in production forests.

pillar of economic development in DRC in a stable

Article 48 of Law 11/2002 prohibits logging along

political and macroeconomic environment. Therestreams and within 50 m of riverbanks and 100 m

is an important informal sector dealing with woodof springs. Poaching is thought to be widespreadextraction and wood-processing that generally meets(DRC forestry ofﬁcials, pers. comm., June 2005).

local needs for timber, fuelwood and charcoal.

Extent of protected areas. In general, the major

Livelihood values. Natural forests play an important

ecosystems remain relatively intact. In 1999, therole in the livelihoods of many people, in particulargovernment approved a strategy and a plan ofas an important source of food. An estimatedaction for the sustainable use of biodiversity. The

12 million people gain much of their living fromcountry has ten national parks, four of which arelisted as UNESCO World Heritage sites, totalling
about 9.3 million hectares of forest. In addition,
there are three biosphere reserves totalling
300,000 hectares and 21 maintained hunting
reserves covering more than 10 million hectares.
According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 9.32 million
hectares of forest are in protected areas conforming
to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, including
5.84 million hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest and 861,000 hectares of uppermontane forest.

forest resourcesa.
Social relations. Law 11/2002 (Title VII, Chapter III,
articles 111–113) requires that the local population
be consulted before any area is awarded to a concession or given protected status. However, it does
not address local rights governing the use of forest
resources, although it does allow communities tomanage a forest concession within their traditionallyrecognized ancestral lands. There is widespread
frustration among rural communities because
forest concessions generally only beneﬁt local
leaders, who often do not share the beneﬁts with

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

the wider population (Sebastien & N’Yanga-Nzo

managed for protection. Protected areas are2001). In remote areas in particular, forest

generally without effective control. Encroachment

concessions are sometimes the only providers of

is widespread and trophy hunting, wild-meat hunting

primary education and health care, and forest roads

and timber theft are widespread (Sebastien &have improved access to many remote villages.

N’Yanga-Nzo 2001). However, large areas of76

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed27,000

9,320

n.d.

n.d.

0

Summary•

up to 500,000 hectares can be allocated

The civil war took a heavy toll on DRC’s infrastructurefor 25-year periods (renewable).

and development. Despite vast forest resources,
the forestry sector failed to attract international

Under the 2002 forest law, concessions of•Forestry administration is the responsibility

investors or donors and remains undeveloped. Thereof three directorates within the Ministry ofhas been some improvement since 2002 (whenEnvironment, Nature Conservation, Water

the war ended) and the government has developed

Resources and Forests. A severe lack ofa policy aimed at encouraging the sustainable use

capacity hinders efforts to supervise theof forest resources. The arrangements for forest

forestry sector.

and concession management and the enforcementof rules are currently in a state of ﬂux; capacity for•a tiny fraction of the potential sustainable yield,

SFM remains minimal and its widespread adoption

even accounting for likely signiﬁcant levels of

seems a long way off. Nevertheless, the forest sector
has the potential (with appropriate planning andregulation) to play a crucial role in the country’s

The volume of timber harvested in DRC is only

illegal logging.
•

Four of the country’s ten national parks arerecovery and subsequent development.

listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites; an

Key points

contained in protected areas conforming to•

IUCN categories I–IV.

DRC has vast closed tropical forests anda relatively low level of conversion to other•estimated 9.32 million hectares of forest are

uses, but the forest sector is in disarray as

References and other sources

the country emerges from a long civil war.

ade la Nature, Eaux et Forêts 2003. Rapport

DRC has an estimated 47.6 million hectares

National sur l’Avancée vers l’Objectif 2000 deof PFE, comprising 20.5 million hectares ofl’Organisation Internationale des Bois Tropicaux.

production forest, 27.0 million hectares ofSubmitted to ITTO, November 2003. Ministère

protection forest and 55,000 hectares ofde l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature,industrial timber plantations.
•

At least 284,000 hectares of the natural-forest
production PFE are being managed sustainably,comprising three research and education forests.
No areas of protection PFE are deemed to be
so managed.

•

Although not under formal management, large
areas of DRC’s forests are currently under nothreat from deforestation or other signiﬁcant
human-induced disturbance due to theirremoteness.

•

Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation

Eaux et Forêts, Kinshasa, DRC. Unpublished.
d

ITTO estimate

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

Only one area of production forest, of about
1.1 million hectares, is covered by amanagement plan.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

77

ITTO 2003. Bilan et analyse des expériences de

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatenedpartenariats en gestion forestière dans le Bassin

Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

du Congo. Rapport National de la République(accessed September 2005).

Démocratique du Congo. Prepared by Batunyi,
F. & Malele Mabala, S. ITTO, CEFDHAC and IUCN.

Sebastien, L. & N’Yanga-Nzo, J. 2001. Integrationof biodiversity into the forestry sector in the

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of the

Democratic Republic of Congo. Case study

World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,prepared for the International Workshop of

Japan.

Biodiversity in National Forestry Planning

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

Programme, CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia,
13–16 August 2001.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries.
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data preparedfor ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).

78

SFM TROPICS

REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Estimates of total forest cover include 20.3 million
hectaresa and 22.1 million hectares (FAO 2005).
Forest types. The Mayombe forest, originally richin Aucoumea klaineana (okoumé), has been heavily
cleared due to the high population density along
the road between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noireand repeated logging. It covers less than 1 million
hectares, including extensive secondary forestsc. The
Chaillu forest area, covering 3.4 million hectares,
is rich in okoumé‚ Terminalia superba (limba),
Pycnanthus angolensis (ilomba) and Entandrophragma
utile (sipo); it has been locally over-harvested and isincreasingly encroached upon by farmers. Together,
these two forest areas form the southern sector.
The northern forests contain redwoods, especiallysipo, Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli),
and Millettia laurentii (wengé), as well as light*For legend see page 58

hardwoods (eg Triplochiton scleroxylon – ayous);

Forest resources

they cover 16.5 million hectares, about 40% of

Congo has a land area of 34.2 million hectares andlarge part of the year.

a population of 3.7 million people. Stretching from
3° north to 5° south, it can be divided into threebroad biogeographical zones: the southern zone,
which covers the forested Mayombe and Chaillu
mountains and extensive grassland and savanna; thecentral zone, which consists of the Bateke Plateau
highlands, wholly covered by grass or shrub savannaapart from gallery forests and scattered forest
islands; and the northern zone, located mostly
north of the equator, which consists of threesubregions: the Cuvette, Likouala and Sangha, allwhich is situated on soils that are ﬂooded for a
Dynamics of forest resource change. The deforestation rate between 1990 and 2000 was about
17,000 hectares per year, or 0.1% of the total forest
area (FAO 2005). For a long time, the northern
forests remained almost untouched because of alack of infrastructure and low population density.
Over the past ten years, however, logging has started
in these forests and there is now more in-migrationfrom southern Congo and neighbouring countries.
Uncontrolled forest ﬁres occur regularly in themostly covered by intact closed forests. About halfsouth at the end of the dry seasons.

of the population lives in the two major cities in the

Permanent forest estate. Virtually all the closed

south (Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire), whereas thenatural forest is contained within Congo’s PFE

rural population is concentrated in the southern(Table 1).

and central parts of the country. The main forest
zone, in northern Congo, is sparsely populated.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)a,c,d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted20.3–22.1

22,00018,40072

Production

Protection

Total

2,860

21,332STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

79

Planted forests. The area of industrial forest plantab

tions is variously estimated at 55,000 hectares ,a(le domaine forestier de l’état), which is forest
belonging to the state, local communities and

72,000 hectares and 83,000 hectares (FAO 2005).

public bodies. The non-permanent forest estate

About 10,000 hectares of timber plantations havecomprises the public forest estate (le domaine

been set up in the Mayombe region. Most of thesepublic de l’état), which is forest that has not yet

have been established in order to develop low-fertility

been classiﬁed.

savannas by introducing eucalypts (mainly highperformance clones and hybrids). There are also someoil-palm and rubber plantations in southern Congo.

A fauna and protected-areas code and a land-use
code are being drawn up to replace the Land Use
and National Estate Code (Law 52/83), which has
never been applied by decree.

Institutional arrangements

Institutions involved in forests. The main institution

Forest tenure. According to the current (2000)

in charge of forests is the Ministry of Forestry

forest law (see below), there are two types of

Economy and Environment (Ministère de l’Economie

forest ownership: state forest and private forest.

Forestière et de l’Environnement – MEFE). The 2000

State forest can belong to government, local councils

forest code provides for the setting up of a forestry(collectivités locales) and public bodies. Once declared,

fund into which will be paid a proportion of the taxes

any community and communal forest is registeredlevied in the sector. These will accrue to MEFE inas the private domain of the relevant group.

order to facilitate its activities and consolidate its

According to Law 32/82 of 1982, access is free

investments. New bodies and centres set up by

and user rights are granted to local people in non-the forest code include the General Forest Economy

classiﬁed forests. Local people are also allowed toInspectorate, responsible for internal auditing,harvest palm trees, rattan, leaves of Gnetum, etc,

inspection and control; the National Timber Tradeas well as single trees for lumber and ﬁrewood –Information and Statistics Centre; and the National

including for commercial use.

Inventory and Forest Management Centre (Centre

SFM policy framework. The broad policies for
SFM are set out in the Program of Social andEconomic Development (2000–2003) and the
National Forestry Action Plan. The objectives
include: the adoption of a master plan forforest management in Congo, the creation andmanagement of forest by appropriate silvicultural

National d’Inventaire et d’Aménagements des
Ressources Forestières et Fauniques – CNIAF),
responsible as an independent body for all aspects
related to forest management plans. There appears
to be considerable political will to put in place an
SFM regimeb, but the institutional capacity tofollow through on this is still very weaka.

techniques, the adoption of agroforestry systems

The present governmental structure has evolvedthat provide sound soil and vegetation management,

as a result of a military coup in 1997 followed byand the adding of value to wood and non-wood forest

civil war until early 2000 and elections in 2002.

products. In 2001, Congo developed its own set of

The country’s socioeconomic development isC&I based on those of ITTO and ATO; these werebased on central planning and a strong public

ﬁrst tested with the private sector in 2002 and areservice including parastatal companies. The

expected to be used for monitoring SFM in FMUs.

country is now moving towards privatization,

Forest policy and legislation. Congo has importantbut not yet the devolution of state functions.

forest resources that have been relatively little used

Several international NGOs operate in Congo,

in the past. Nevertheless, the country has had a set

including WCS and WRI.

of related laws and regulations for 30 years. A newforest code (Law 16/00) was adopted in November
2000 and new regulations and taxation systems
are being prepared. Together, these will provide alegal framework that integrates all the principles

Status of forest management
Forest for productionof SFM. According to the new law, state forest is

The production PFE is divided into 34 FMUs. All

divided into permanent and non-permanent forest

management, production, conservation, silviculture

estates, the PFE comprising the state forest estateand infrastructure development is conducted80

SFM TROPICS

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapelli)

30–60% of the total volume harvested, 100% for export

Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous)

Light-colored timber, used in Europe to replace birch insauna construction

Entandrophragma utile (sipo)

Decorative species, important for veneer

Chlorophora excelsa (iroko)

Traditionally one of the most popular dark hardwoods

Millettia laurentii (wengé)

Fine dark wood for multiple high-quality uses

at the level of these FMUs. In 2002, an area of

undertake most of the work. Some management

about 8.5 million hectares was allocated to timberplans were expected to be completed by mid 2004

harvesting and required management plans. At theand provide the basis for the ﬁrst SFM units in the

beginning of 2003, there were 50 forest concessions

country. Inventories for commercial timber and(of differing legal status) and 31 mostly smaller units

regeneration have been carried out on at least(unités d’exploitation and ‘lots’) in the south and6.4 million hectares of forests of the PFE . A

19 forest concessions for production and protection

new approach, recently applied in three FMUs inccin the north . Expatriate enterprises, mainly from

northern Congo, has integrated NWFPs as part

Europe but also from Malaysia, Hong Kong and theof the resource inventory. On the basis of forest

Middle East, are of great importance and accountinventories carried out over the past 30 years, thefor more than 80% of national timber production.

annual potential sustainable timber yield from theForest management is very different between

on a 40-year rotationc.

the southern Mayombe and Chaillu regions andthe northern part of Congo. Southern forests
have been harvested for more than 50 years. Mostof these forests are degraded, and current timber
harvesting is often the third or forth re-entry intoclogged-over forests . In addition, the former larger
FMUs have been subdivided into smaller logging
units, allowing mainly national extractors accessto the timber resources. In the last ten years,
more than 1 million hectares of forest have been
allocated in lots of about 50,000 hectares each.
Many of these have been subcontracted to logging
operators without knowledge of, interest in orforest is estimated to be about 2 million m3, based
The allocation of concessions in the FMUs is
attributed either through an industrial processing
agreement (convention de transformation industrielle), a management and processing agreement(convention d’aménagement et de transformation –CAT) or a special permit (permis special). In addition
to these, Article 65 of the 2000 forest code speciﬁes
another type (les permis de coupe des bois deplantations) for the harvesting of plantations.
Enterprises that are candidates for the developmentof an FMU are selected by tender. Harvesting iscarried out in designated areas according to anannual allowable cut (AAC), which corresponds

capital for forest management, and damage iscwidespread . The approach to forest management
in northern Congo is different. The integrity oflarge FMUs has been maintained and concessions
allocated to large industrial companies with an3annual production capacity of over 100,000 m ,large enough to invest in wood-processing units.

to the maximum annual volume authorized by theforest administration. The AAC can only coverareas that have been subject to a full enumerationof all harvestable trees and the most sought-after
species. Every year, concession-holders must submit
a request for approval of the AAC, together witha map of tree enumeration (scale 1:20,000) and

The 2000 forest code requires that FMUs havea map (1:50,000) indicating existing log yards,

forest management plans. In theory, these plansroads and skidding trails. Every three months theare to be prepared by the forest administration

operator must submit to the forestry administrationin close collaboration with the forest concession-a summary account indicating the volume ofholders, but, in practice, the concession-holders

production by species and destination.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

81

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
18,4008,440

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁedc,1,300 *

0

Sustainably
managed
c,d

1,300

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

72

45

0

* Forest management plans are being prepared in most of the concessions in northern Congo; at the time of compilation one company,
CIB, had submitted its plan for further consideration by the forest administration and two others were about to do so

Silviculture and species selection. Congo has a

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

long tradition of forestry research and education,

managed for production. At least 1.3 million

and there is broad scientiﬁc knowledge of silviculture

hectares of the natural-forest production PFE

and forest dynamics in natural and planted forestsb.

are thought to be under SFM (Table 3). This area

Under the 2000 forest code, management planscomprises three FMUs located in northern Congo

must specify the species selected for felling and for

managed by Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB).

preservation, any silvicultural treatments including

CIB, which has been in the region since 1959,

enrichment planting, and the silvicultural planningapplies – with the assistance of an ITTO projectschedule for each harvesting plot. Felling cycles canand WCS – high forest-management and social

vary between 25 and 50 years and harvestable

standards and is well advanced in a process ofdiameters between 60 and 80 cm according to

independent certiﬁcation under the FSC scheme.

species. Harvesting in FMUs for which a management plan has not yet been approved should be
preceded by a felling inventory for the speciﬁed area.

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
production was an estimated 2.45 million m3
in 2003 (FAO 2005b), including an estimatedIn northern Congo, 18 to 20 timber species are

1.35 million m3 of industrial roundwood (ITTO

harvested, mainly for the export market. The ﬁve

2006 in prep.). Sawnwood production in thatmajor timber species listed in Table 2 make up

year was 168,000 m3, an increase over 1999

nearly 80% of total production. More species are(74,000 m3) (ITTO 2004, ITTO 2006 in prep.). In

used in southern Congo; the major species there

2003, Congo exported an estimated 738,000 m3

are okoumé and Gambeya africana (longhi).

of logs, 127,000 m3 of sawnwood and 14,000 m3

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The
most important industrial plantation species areclonal eucalypts, followed by various tropical pines.
Limba has been planted extensively since 1949
with some success. There are some small-scale(almost all production) of veneer (ITTO 2006
in prep.). Production and transport costs forexporting timber are relatively high compared toother countries in the Congo Basin; labour costs
are the second-highest in the region after Gabonc.

enrichment plantings using local species such as

Non-wood forest products. Many foods, medicinal

ayous, Nauclea diderrichii (bilinga) and Entandro-

plants and condiments are collected in the closed

phragma angolense (tiama). Okoumé has been

forest area and savanna forests; these are mainly

planted or regenerated in southern Congo withsold domestically. Fibres such as raphia and rônier

limited success.

leaves (Borassus aethiopum) are important products

Forest certiﬁcation. Congo is actively involved in
the development of the Pan-African Certiﬁcation
Scheme based on the ATO/ITTO PCI. Foreigncompanies operating in northern Congo areshowing some interest in forest management
certiﬁcation and at least one large operation
is pursuing FSC certiﬁcation.

82

SFM TROPICS

that are traded with neighbouring countries.
Mammals (particularly antelopes), invertebrates,snails and ﬁsh are important sources of protein
for forest-dwelling communities. The trade in wild
meat now involves many species, including protected
species such as apes and elephants in northern
Congo; it has become a major problem since theopening-up of the forests to forest managementc.

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

2,860

2,860

3,660a380a,d380a,dForest for protection
Soil and water. According to MEFE, 3.66 million
hectares of forests are managed primarily for soil
and water protectiona.
Biological diversity. Congo is host to more than
6,500 plant species, 200 mammal species and500 bird species (government of Congo 2000).
Fourteen mammals, four birds, two reptiles and
36 plants are listed as critically endangered,further protect the integrity of the park. The park istherefore considered to be under SFMa,d (Table 4).

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. In 2002, the forest industry
contributed about 2% of GDPb. It is estimated that
more than 8,000 people are employed in the forestry
sectorc; forestry is a particularly important
employer in northern Congo.

endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list

Livelihood values. Wild meat and the gathering ofof threatened species; of these, ten mammals,

edible fruits, nuts and roots are of great importanceone bird and six plants are found in forests (IUCN

for forest-dependent local communities, particularly2004). Fifteen plant species are listed in CITES

Pygmies in the closed forest. Leaves of Gnetum spp

Appendix II, including one hardwood timber species,

are widely used as vegetables. Fruits of Irvingia

Pericopsis elata (CITES 2005).

gabonensis, Gambeya africana and others are

Protective measures in production forests.
Forest management plans are now compulsory
for concession-holders. They prescribe measurescollected and eaten. The government’s newprocedures for forest management plans
contain provisions for the local use of NWFPs.

to protect water ﬂows, biodiversity and soils.

Social relations. Communities living in orSpeciﬁc provision is to be made to preservenear primary forests rely heavily on hunting for

wildlife in production forestsa.

subsistence, but this is often affected by logging

Extent of protected areas. The ﬁrst nationalpark (Odzala) dates from 1935, and the second,
Nouabale-Ndoki, was created in 1993. According
to the government of Congo, three national parks
have protected-area status equivalent to IUCN
categories I and II covering a total area of nearly
2.3 million hectares, and eleven protected areas
covering 1.4 million hectares are classiﬁed in
IUCN categories III to VIa. Of the 14 protectedareas, twelve (86%) are linked by forest corridors.
According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 2.86 million
hectares of forest are in protected areas conforming
to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, including
2.07 million hectares of lowland evergreen broad-and particularly the presence of logging camps.
Over-hunting occurs in areas with rapid population
growth caused by the opening-up of the forest
frontier. Indeed, the wild-meat question and social
relations between indigenous forest dwellers andmigrants are possibly the biggest constraints to
SFM in northern Congob. Local populations often
beneﬁt from the long-term presence of forest
industries, which construct roads that can beused for the transport of goods. Forest industries
also establish medical services and schools and,to some extent, provide services that normally
are the responsibility of governmentb.

leaved rainforest.

Summary

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

The Republic of Congo has a large forest resource,

managed for protection. The Nouabale-Ndoki

supportive government policies, little population

National Park (380,000 hectares) is covered

pressure, and at least one large concessionaire wellby a fully-ﬂedged management plan that is being

advanced along the path to SFM. The stage therefore

implemented effectively; CIB is harvesting timber

seems set for the forestry sector – particularly

in its buffer zone and implementing measures toin northern Congo – to expand the area of forest

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200583

under SFM, provided that issues related to local

Management. Report of the Diagnostic Mission.

communities and the over-hunting of certain

Presented at the thirty-second session of the

mammal species can be addressed.

International Tropical Timber Council, May

Key points••

discussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators,

and a relatively low level of conversion to other

held 1–5 July 2002, Pokola, Northern Congo,

uses, although there is signiﬁcant encroachment

attended by 38 people from government, civilin the southern forests.

society and the private sector.

The PFE is an estimated 21.3 million hectares,

and 72,000 hectares of industrial timber
plantations.
At least 1.30 million hectares of the naturalforest production PFE, comprising the concession
areas of CIB in northern Congo, are thought
to be under SFM. Some 380,000 hectares ofprotection PFE are deemed to be so managed.

•

The over-hunting of wild meat within concessions,

Central Africa. Forest Management Working
Paper 3. FAO, Rome, Italy.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

constraints to SFM in northern Congo.

Rome, Italy.

Forestry administration is the responsibility

In the south, more than 1 million hectares ofof about 50,000 hectares to operators largely
unskilled in forest management.
In the north, concession-holders are expected
to collaborate with MEFE in the developmentof forest management plans; inventories havebeen carried out on at least 6.4 million hectares.

References and other sources
MEFE 2002. Rapport National sur les Critèreset Indicateurs de l’Aménagement Durable desForets Tropicales Naturelles. Submitted to
ITTO, March 2002. Ministère de l’Economie
Forestière et de l’Environnement, Brazzaville,
Republic of Congo. Unpublished.
ITTO 2002. Mission in Support of theGovernment of the Congo for the Realizationof ITTO Objective 2000 and Sustainable Forest

84

Status and Trends in Forest Management in

Subregional Report for Central Africa. FAO,

forest have been allocated for harvesting in lotsb

Amsallem, I., Koné, P. & Wilkie, M. (eds) 2002.

dwellers and migrants, are possibly the biggest

remains relatively weak.

a

ITTO estimate

FAO 2003. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa –Environment (MEFE). Institutional capacity•dand social relations between indigenous forestof the Ministry of Forest Economy and the•Information derived from the report of, andclosed tropical forests, particularly in the north,forest, 2.86 million hectares of protection forest•c

The Republic of Congo has a large resource ofcomprising 18.4 million hectares of production•

2002. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

SFM TROPICS

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Tchatat, M., Ndoye, O. & Nasi, R. 1999. Produits
Forestiers Autres que les Bois d’œuvre (PFAB):
Place dans l’Aménagement Durable des Forêts
Denses Humides d’Afrique Centrale. Projet
FORAFRI. CIRAD-Forêt, Montpellier, France.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

CÔTE D’IVOIRE
spp, Guarea cedrata (bossé), Tieghemella heckelii(makoré), Tarrietia utilis (niangon) and Triplochiton
scleroxylon (samba). The latter, occurring in thecentral and northern parts of the forested zone,
was once rich in valuable timber species, including
samba, Mansonia altissima (beté), Nesogordonia
papaverifera (kotibé) and Khaya ivorensis (acajou).
Dynamics of forest resource change. FAO (2005)
estimated the deforestation rate at 265,000
hectares per year in the period 1990–2000,
which as a percentage of remaining forest cover
was higher than in most other sub-Saharan tropical
African countries. Deforestation is mainly caused byincreased rural poverty and the need for subsistence
agriculture. Timber theft and illegal logging arewidespread and are the primary reasons for the
degradation of natural forestsc. Forests of both

*For legend see page 58

wet evergreen and semi-deciduous forest types

Forest resources

outside protected areas are heavily degraded or in

Côte d’Ivoire, which is situated on the Gulf of Guinea,

in the savanna and the transitional forest-savanna,

has a total land area of 32.2 million hectares anda population of about 17 million people. The tropicalmoist forest belt extends inland from the coast in thesouthwest and southeast for more than 250 km;
beyond the tropical forest belt lies extensive savanna.
The western part of the country is in the Guinea
highlands, in which the highest summits rise to morethan 1,500 m above sea level. Estimates of forest
cover vary from 7.12 million hectares (22% of thean early secondary stagec. Bushﬁres are widespread
especially in the north at the end of the dry season.
Permanent forest estate. The ofﬁcial PFE
comprises the 230 classiﬁed forests (forêts
classées) zoned for production and protection –which ofﬁcially covered 4.24 million hectares in
2003a – as well as harvesting zones (périmètres
d’exploitation forestière – PEFs; see below) in therural zone (domaine rural)a. However, some ofland area; FAO 2005a) to 11.7 million hectaresa.

these areas have almost certainly been converted

Forest types. Two main forest types can be

628,000 hectares of classiﬁed forest were cleared

distinguished in the rainforests of the south: wetevergreen and semi-deciduous. The former is poorly
stocked in commercial species but contains Uapaca

to non-forest uses; for example, an estimatedfor subsistence and industrial agriculture between
1992 and 1997a. Table 1 shows an ITTO estimateof the actual PFE.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)c,d,*
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted7.12–11.7

3,248

3,400**

167

Production

Protection

Total

734***

4,301* Only forests in the southwest and southeast are counted here; savanna forests are omitted** Production PFE comprises forested areas in forest reserves and the PEF of the domaine rural*** Based on UNEP-WCMC (2004)

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

85

Planted forests. According to FAO (2001), Côte

In 2000, an inter-ministerial working groupd’Ivoire had an estimated 116,000 hectares ofdeveloped a new policy under the Programme

planted forest in 2000. On the other hand, theCadre de Gestion des Forêts.

government of Côte d’Ivoire estimated that theplantation estate in 2002 amounted to 167,000
hectares, including 65,000 hectares of Tectona
grandis (teak)a. The most important non-forest tree
plantations are oil palm (about 159,000 hectares),rubber (68,000 hectares) and coconut (32,000
hectares).

Institutions involved in forests. The ministry incharge of forests has changed ﬁve times overthe past nine years; since 2003, it has been the
Ministry for Water and Forests (Ministère desEaux et Forêts – MINEF). Ten regional ofﬁces(directions régionales) are in charge of forest
protection and law enforcement. Field services areplaced under the Society for Forest Development

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. There are two main categories ofnatural-forest ownership: (i) public forests, ownedby the state, which are divided into two kinds ofland-use: the domaine forestier permanent, which
includes the reserved forest area and protectedareas, and the domaine rural, which includes forest
harvesting areas (PEFs) and forests reserved for
agriculture purposes; and (ii) community forests,
which are based on traditional customary rights
recognized in all forest areas in the country.
SFM policy framework. In 1994, CIFOR conducteda case study on the introduction of C&I in Côte
d’Ivoire. Since then, national criteria have been
elaborated. In 2002 and 2003, regional workshops
were held to introduce ITTO’s C&I as an instrument
to assess progress towards SFM. A new generalforest policy framework was announced in 1999
that emphasizes the contribution of SFM to the(Société de Développement des Forêts – SODEFOR),a government corporation created in 1966 andentrusted today with the management of the forest
reserves and with technical advisory functions forplanted forests and social forestry. Nearly 2,000
people are employed by MINEF and SODEFOR.
By Decree 02/359, a national ofﬁce for nationalparks and nature reserves (Ofﬁce Ivoirien desParcs Nationaux et Réserves Naturelles) was
created in 2002 under the Ministry of Environment.
Forest management in the domaine rural is
exclusively conducted by the private sector. Forest
industry is organized in syndicates and is quite
effective in defending its interests in the forest
sector. A number of national and internationalNGOs are engaged in forest conservation andvillage development, including reforestation andagroforestry. Civil society is not actively involvedin forest management per se.

sustainable development of the country.
Forest policy and legislation. The forest code
dates from 1965 (Law 65-425). Since then, allmajor decisions on land-use, forest management,

Status of forest management
Forest for production

forest service organization and the commercial-

Two forest management systems are employed: in

ization of products have been taken by decrees

forest reserves, management is carried out by theor ministerial orders (arrêtés), including Decree

state enterprise SODEFOR while in the permanent

78-231 of 1978, which deﬁned the management

forest of the domaine rural it is carried out byof the PFE and Decree 94-385 of 1994, which

private concession-holders. Until ﬁve years ago,

reformed forest harvesting. The basic law on wildlife

forest harvesting in the domaine rural was based

protection and hunting also dates from 1965 (Lawon a licence system called the PTE (permis de65-255). A process supported by FAO commenced

transformation et d’exploitation) system, whichin 2003 to revise the forest code.

allocated areas of up to 2,500 hectares to a large

A forestry master plan (Plan Directeur Forestier)
was formulated in 1988; when it was evaluatedin 1998, a number of corrective measures were
proposed to be included in the new forest policy.

86

SFM TROPICS

number of concessionaires. With the new forest
policy, the PTE system was abolished and replaced
by a system based on PEFs. By law, a PEF is at least
25,000 hectares and is allocated for 15–20 years;
it can be renewed if management by the concession-

Table 2 Some commonly harvested speciescfor industrial roundwood

3

2001, 232,180 m of timber were harvested inforest reserves – far less than the AAC (approxi3 cmately 1.2 million m ) . At the beginning of 2004,
Timber species

nine forest reserves covering 1.11 million hectares

Tectona grandis (teak) – planted
Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous)
Ceiba pentandra (fromager)
Lophira alata (azobé)
Terminalia superba (fraké)

were being managed by SODEFOR using the ITTO
C&I for monitoringa. Forest management and law
enforcement have been hindered by ongoing civil
unrest, and illegal logging and deforestation arethought to be widespread.
Silviculture and species selection. Prescriptions
for the silvicultural management of both naturalforests and plantations were developed in the
1990s through a forest-sector project supported

holder is satisfactory. Concession-holders are
obliged to present a forest management plan that
includes a reforestation scheme and social investments for the rural population living in or adjacentto the PEF. Management plans for PEFs must also
include prescriptions for sustained-yield harvesting,by the World Bank. They have been fully appliedin some forest reserves (Irobo, Tene, Mopri andothers), but not yet to the management of thewhole PFE. So far, no silvicultural directives havebeen applied in the permanent forest of thedomaine rural.

the silvicultural treatment of harvested forests andThere are more than 700 hardwood species in themeasures against wildﬁres.

country, about ﬁfty of which are utilized and traded.

In the past, timber was mainly harvested in reserved
forest areas, but excessive extraction over the past
30 years has led to their depletion. Today, nearly
90% of timber is extracted from the forests of thedomaine ruralc. By mid 2002, 2.9 million hectaresof forests in the domaine rural had been allocatedas PEF, including 960,000 hectares of productive
forests. Thirty-two concessions had so far been
allocated, varying between 70,400 and 216,000chectares in size . The potential AAC is about
3960,000 m , but the amount extracted is far less.
Management plans are required for PEFs, but few

Besides those listed in Table 2, the most valuablespecies are Terminalia ivorensis (framiré), Entandrophragma candollei (kosipo), Milicia excelsa (iroko),
beté, Entandrophragma angolense (tiama), Lovoa
trichilioides (dibetou), bossé, kotibé, Pterygota
macrocarpa (koto), acajou, Canarium schweinfurthii(aiélé), makoré, Pycnanthus kombo (ilomba), Afzelia
africana (lingué) and niangon. Côte d’Ivoire has madegreat efforts to market lesser-known species andthese have boosted the sales and exports of previously rarely traded species such as Copaifera salikounda (etimoé) and Chrysophyllum spp (aniégré).

have been prepared and harvesting is still mainly

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The

based on high-grading the remaining high-value

development of planted forests goes back to 1927

timberc.
In forest reserves, SODEFOR prepares andimplements forest management plans; changes
in the law being contemplated would allow forest
reserves to be opened to private concession-holders.
Forest management plans have been or are being
prepared for 88 of the 230 existing forest reserves.
In 2002, 25 forest reserves had an approved
management plan and 1.5 million hectares werebeing managed. The size of the units varies, thesmallest (Semien) being 3,381 hectares and thelargest (Rapids-Grah) 315,000 hectares. Forest
reserves are to be managed in perpetuity. In

when the ﬁrst teak plantations were established,although most of the current plantation estate
has been established since 1966. By far the mostimportant species is teak, with 65,500 hectares
planted in forest reserves. Today, teak is also themain exported timber. More than 35 species havebeen planted in forest reserves. The most important,
after teak, are: fraké, 25,800 hectares; framiré,
11,500 hectares; Cedrela odorata, 10,100
hectares; Gmelina arborea, 6,500 hectares;
samba, 3,600 hectares; acajou, 2,900 hectares;
sipo, over 2,200 hectares; and niangon, 2,100
hectaresc. Twenty-seven thousand hectares are

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

87

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
3,400

1,870*

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁedc,

1,110 **

0

Sustainably
managed
c,d

277

Total
167

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

c

120

0

* The sum of PFE areas allocated in 2000 and active in 2002 (960,000 hectares) in the public domain, plus forest reserves intended
for production (913,000 hectares)** Area of forest reserves in 2002 with clear management objectives and multipurpose management plans implemented by SODEFOR since 1997

registered as mixed hardwood plantations. Of theof sawnwood (ibid.), down from 479,000 m3

estimated 60,000 hectares or more of planted

in 1999 (ITTO 2004). The country has banned theforest in the domaine rural, about 15,000 hectares

export of logs of all valuable timber species fromhave been recently created as community forests,

natural forests: only teak from planted forests

often to produce ﬁrewood.

can be exported as logs.

Forest certiﬁcation. There is no forest certiﬁ-

Non-wood forest products. Many NWFPs arecation scheme nor any certiﬁed forests in Côte

traded locally, as well as used for subsistence.

d’Ivoire. A national certiﬁcation working group

Among the most important are bamboo, Lacco-started in 2002 but little progress has beensperma spp (rattan) and Raphia spp (raphia palm)

reported so far.

for basketry, furniture and housing. More generally,

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. It is difﬁcult to ascertain
the status of forest management in Côte d’Ivoire.
Even in the forests where the necessary elementsof good forest management appear to be present,

NWFPs directly contribute to the livelihoods of thelocal population; NWFP extraction is probably
increasing due to poor economic conditions.

Forest for protection

law enforcement is poor and illegal logging andSoil and water. A total area of 195,000 hectares

deforestation widespreadc. Nine forest reserves

is set aside in the nine forest reserves cited aboveof 1.11 million hectares have been managed sincefor the protection of soil and water .

1997 according to fully-ﬂedged forest management
plans for production and protection (Rapides Grah,Scio, Haut Sassandra, Niegre, Haute Dodo, Goin
Debe, Cavally, Niouniourou and Okromodou)a;about one-third of these forest reserves are
considered to be managed sustainablyc.

aBiological diversity. An inventory of biologicaldiversity completed in 1999 found over 12,000
forest-dependent species, including 232 mammals,
712 birds, 134 reptiles, 76 amphibians and3,517 treesa. Sixteen mammals, eleven birds,
four reptiles, one amphibian and 66 plant species

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood

are listed as critically endangered, endangered or

production in 2003 was an estimated 11.6 million m3

vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;(FAO 2005b). Industrial log production in Côte d’Ivoireof these, 30 mammals, nine birds, 13 reptiles and3fell from 5.3 million m in 1977 (FOSA 2002) to
3nine plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004).

1.90 million m in 2003 (ITTO 2006 in prep.).

Fourteen plant species are listed in CITES Appendix

Sawnwoods like acajou, bété, niangon, makoré,II, including one hardwood timber species

aboudikro, sipo and iroko have become scarce in(Pericopsis elata) (CITES 2005).

the past ten years, and plantation production isincreasing in importance. Sawnwood production in2003 was about 503,000 m3, veneer production
amounted to 206,000 m3 and plywood to 62,000 m3(ibid.). In 2003, the country exported 216,000 m3

88

SFM TROPICS

Protective measures in production forests.
Timber harvesting is limited in swampy areas,
on steep slopes and along river tributaries; onthese, a strip of 100 m to 1 km in width (according
to their relative importance) is excluded from

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

734

734

195

345

150c

harvesting. Detailed prescriptions for biodiversity

rural areas, even though hunting regulations areconservation are applied in the nine forestvery restrictive. The volume of wild meat harvested

reserves that are managed by SODEFOR.

is estimated to be more than 120 tonnes per yeara.

Extent of protected areas. Côte d’Ivoire’s nine
national parks, two nature reserves, one wildlife

The consumption of fuelwood, including charcoal,is estimated to be more than 8 million m3 per year.

reserve, 17 botanic reserves and those parts

Social relations. The forest code of 1965,of the nine forest reserves that are managed forwhich is still in force, does not specify any direct

water and soil conservation cover a total area

involvement of local people in forest management,of 2.02 million hectares (6% of the country’s

although articles 16 and 20 set forth rights forland area); of this, two national parks (Comoé,

riverine populations within the classiﬁed forest

1.15 million hectares, and Taï, 344,000 hectares)

area. Social considerations have been taken into

account for more than 60%. According to UNEP-

account in various more recent governmental

WCMC (2004), 734,000 hectares of forest are

decrees concerning forests. Relationships between

in protected areas conforming to IUCN categories

concession-holders and local people are difﬁcult

I–IV, including 490,300 hectares of lowland

in many forest areas; causes include disputes

evergreen broadleaved rainforest.

on harvesting, areas for reforestation and money

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Poaching and otherillegal activities are thought to be a signiﬁcantcproblem in many forested reserves , due largely toa lack of sufﬁcient ﬁnancial resources for ﬁeld-levelaenforcement . About 345,000 hectares of protection
PFE are covered by management plans, comprising
the forest managed for soil and water conservation

matters. There are 6,705 registered sacred
forests (forêts sacrées), covering an area of about
37,000 hectaresa. Many more forests may havecultural and spiritual value but are not registered.
In some areas, local communities support theprotection of forest reserves from encroachment
and bushﬁres. Moreover, local cooperatives andvillages engage in reforestation.

in the nine forest reserves managed by SODEFOR(195,000 hectares) and the Taï national park
(150,000 hectares). In the latter, the management
plan is being implemented effectively and this areac

is considered to be under SFM .

Socioeconomic aspects

SummaryCôte d’Ivoire’s 230 state-owned classiﬁed forests(forêts classées) have been over-harvested andhave become depleted of timber; natural forests in
the rural zone (domain rural) and planted forests
are providing an increasing part of the timber supply.

Economic aspects. Until 20 years ago, timber was

Institutional responsibility for forestry administration

Côte d’Ivoire’s third most important export by value,

has changed several times in recent years, with

but the industry has declined as the forests havethe likely result of reducing administrative effec-

been logged over and cleared. The formal contribution

tiveness. The level of enforcement of existing lawsof the forest sector to GDP was estimated to be

and decrees appears to be low in much of the PFE.

1% in 2002a.
Livelihood values. Forests are important insustaining the livelihoods of many people. Edible andmedicinal plants are collected in great quantities.
Wild meat remains the main source of protein in

Forest management plans are under preparationor have been prepared for the forest reserves,
but few have been prepared for the domain rural.
Illegal logging and deforestation are thought to be
widespread, exacerbated by civil unrest.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

89

Key points

References and other sources•aCôte d’Ivoire has a relatively low forest coverwhich continues to diminish.

•

sur les Progrès Réalisés en Vue de la Gestion
Durable des Ressources Forestières en Côte

The country has an estimated 4.30 million

d’Ivoire. Submitted to ITTO, May 2004. Société

hectares of PFE, comprising 3.40 million hectaresde Développement des Forêts, Abijan, Côte

of natural production forest, 167,000 hectaresd’Ivoire. Unpublished.

of industrial timber plantations and 734,000
hectares of protection forest.
•cworkshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
27–30 August 2002, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire,

one-quarter of the forest reserves covered byattended by 35 people from government, civil

management plans. About 150,000 hectares

society and the private sector.

of protection PFE are considered to be so
managed.

dForestry administration is currently the respon-

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

sibility of the Ministry for Water and Forests

from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/(MINEF), which operates under a 1965 forest

species.html (accessed September 2005).

code and subsequent decrees. A process torevise the code is under way.
•

Ten regional ofﬁces are responsible for forest
protection and law enforcement. SODEFOR,
a government corporation, manages the forest
reserves and provides advisory services.

•

MINEF and SODEFOR employ 2,000 people
combined.

•

Concession-holders are obliged to present aforest management plan that includes a refor-•

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessment

rural population living in or adjacent to the forest.

of the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).

There is a discrepancy between the standards
the domaine rural.
There is conﬂict between communities andharvesting operators over the use of forests.

•

ITTO estimate

estation scheme and social investments for theapplied in the forest reserves of the PFE and in•Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training

The estimated area of production PFE under
SFM is 277,000 hectares, which is about•

SODEFOR 2004. Rapport National 2002

Poaching is believed to be a signiﬁcant problem.

ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
MINEF 2003. L’étude prospective du secteur forestieren Afrique - Côte d’Ivoire. FAO, Rome, Italy.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries.
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data preparedfor ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).

90

SFM TROPICSGABONhas been heavily harvested, degraded and in someareas reduced to secondary forest characterized
by the abundance of Aucoumea klaineana (okoumé)
and Dacryodes buettneri (ozigo); (ii) the central
Gabonese forest, covering most of the country,
which is very similar to the closed moist forest
found from Liberia to the Congo Basin, with manyof the same tree species found throughout (egCanarium schweinfurthii – aiélé, Lophira elata –azobé, Entandrophragma spp, Khaya spp andTriplochiton scleroxylon – ayous); and (iii) a semideciduous forest type occurring in the northeast,
characterized by a predominance of Maranthaceae(rattan) in the sub-layer and by a dominance oftrees such as Terminalia superba (limba), Millettia
laurentii (wengé) and ayous. Okoumé is absent inthis forest type.

*For legend see page 58

Dynamics of forest resource change. With a low

Forest resources

overall population density and 60% of the population

Gabon has a land area of 26.8 million hectares

pressure on forest resources. FAO (2005)

and a population of about 1.3 million people. It issituated in the western part of the Congo Basin on
the South Atlantic Ocean and is characterized bythree biogeographic regions: a sedimentary basinin the west, containing forest and savanna; amedium-altitude Precambrian plateau (around
600 m above sea level), largely forested except
for the Bateke Plateau in the east, which is naturalsavanna; and the scattered granite massifs in thenorth and south – Cristal Mountains, Mayombe
and Chaillu – with altitudes ranging between 800
and 1,000 m, which are almost entirely forested.
FAO (2005) estimated Gabon’s total forest area
to be 25.8 million hectares in 2000, which is moreliving in urban areas, there is little anthropogenic
estimated the deforestation rate at less than
0.1% (about 10,000 hectares per year).
Permanent forest estate. The area of potential
production forest is about 20 million hectares, ofwhich 2.6 million hectares are in forest reserves.
The government strategy envisages, in the longterm, that 12 million hectares in the PFE will be
managed – 8 million hectares of production forestand 4 million hectares under protected-area status(Amsallem et al. 2002); Table 1 shows an ITTO
estimate of the current PFE. The Direction Générale
des Eaux et Forêts is responsible for identifying thepermanent forest area and areas suitable for otherthan 80% of the land area.

uses. A land-use plan has been completed forForest types. There are three major forest types:

production’ below), ﬁnanced by ITTO; the Second(i) evergreen rainforest occurring in the west, which

the First Forest Zone of Gabon (see ‘forests for
Forest Zone plan, ﬁnanced by the World Bank, isTable 1 PFE
PFE (‘000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area
(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (‘000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted25.8

21,80010,60025

Production

Protection

Total

2,700

13,325STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200591

under preparation. Almost all of the national

categories of permanent and rural forest estates

production forest area within the PFE is allocated(see ‘forest tenure’ above).

to concession-holders.

Gabon’s current forest policy was adopted in

Planted forests. Planted forests cover about

May 1996. It aims to increase and optimize the

25,000 hectares. The government plans to raise thecontribution of the forestry sector to economic andarea of planted state forest to 100,000 hectaressocial development and to promote a more diversiﬁed

and to promote the establishment of an additionaland efﬁcient wood industry through a signiﬁcant

100,000 hectares of private plantations, but planting

reduction in the export of logs and an increase inrates are currently minimal. Agro-industrial planta-

the local processing of wood products. The policy

tions include about 11,000 hectares of rubber andmakes speciﬁc reference to the application of SFM,

some small plots of oil palm and coconut.

including: the establishment of a forest management
policy, the development of new forest harvesting

Institutional arrangements

rules, the introduction of means to monitor forest

Forest tenure. The forest law of 2001 (see below)

wood supplies to local industries, the imposition ofdivides forests into two distinct categories. The ﬁrst

a progressive transformation tax on local forest

includes the production PFE managed by private

production, and, ﬁnally, the progressive reduction

concessionaires and the protection PFE managedof log exports from 75% of production in 1996

directly by the state. The second is composed of

to 50% by the year 2005.

state-owned rural forest – land and forest for whichusage rights are limited to local communities. Rural
communities and forest dwellers are free to exercise
their customary rights in the rural forest provided
they respect all conditions imposed by the forestry
administration. The production PFE is exclusively
owned and administered by the state.

harvesting, the reform of timber licences to ensure

Institutions involved in forests. The Ministryof Forest Economy, Inland Waters and Fishingin Charge of the Environment and Nature Conservation (Ministère de l’Économie Forestière, desEaux, de la Pêche, Chargé de l’Environnement etde la Protection de la Nature – MEFEPEPN) deals
with the demarcation, conservation, management,

SFM policy framework. Since the timber sector

reforestation and harvesting of forests. The Direc-

is almost entirely oriented towards export markets,

torate for Forests and Water (Direction Générale

with particular exposure to environmentally sensitive

des Eaux et Forêts – DGEF) promotes the practice

European markets, the existence of a policy onof SFM, and the Directorate of Forest Inventory,

SFM is of great interest. Several recent initiatives

Management and Regeneration (Direction deshave been launched to develop Gabon-speciﬁc C&I

Inventaires, des Aménagements et de la Régénérationfor SFM. They include work with ITTO, CIFOR, ATO

des Forêts – DIARF) is responsible for monitoringand FSC. Gabon has also been actively involved in

SFM. There is also a planning, monitoring andthe development of the ATO/ITTO PCI.

evaluation unit in the Ministry to supervise opera-

Forest policy and legislation. An environmentallaw (No 16/93) was adopted in 1993. It aims
to preserve natural resources and to use themsustainably, to improve and protect living conditions,to generate revenues from environmental services,and to harmonize development with safeguarding
the natural environment. A decree stipulating when
and where environmental impact assessments are
required also exists. A national environmental action
plan has been funded by the Global Environmenttional activities. In 1975, the government createda privately managed timber enterprise (Société
Nationale des Bois du Gabon – SNBG), which, until
recently, had a monopoly over the export of logs ofthe two main species, okoumé and ozigo. SNBG
supported the regulation of markets for these
species by structuring supply, preventing overproduction, setting quotas and acting to stabilize
export prices. SNBG’s monopoly was ended by thegovernment in early 2005.

Facility (GEF). After extensive consultation at the

There are ﬁve research institutions dealing withnational level, a new forest law was adopted inforest-related issues and one forestry training

December 2001, replacing Law 1/82 of 1982;

institute, ENEF (Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forêts).

among other things, it deﬁnes the two main usage

Since 2004, the management of 13 national parks

92

SFM TROPICS

has been carried out by the National Council fordeveloped with support from the DGEF. Up to 2004,

National Parks (Conseil National des Parcs Nationaux

few community forests had been established .

– CNPN). Some local NGOs are involved in thedevelopment of certiﬁcation, but in general there islittle civil advocacy and few participatory processes
in the forestry sectorb. Some international NGOs,
including WWF and WCS, are active in protectedarea management.

b

The forest area open to timber harvesting has been
divided into three zones. The ﬁrst, reserved fornational enterprises, comprises the coastal plains
and is rich in okoumé and characterized by relatively
easy transport. Most of this zone has been harvested
one to three times since the end of the 19th century(Drouineau & Nasi 1999). The second zone is less

Status of forest managementrich in okoumé and access is more difﬁcult. This
zone has now been almost completely harvested

Forest for production

for the ﬁrst time (ibid.), facilitated by the estab-All production forests must have an SFM plan
prepared by the concessionaires, approved by
MEFEPEPN, covering one rotation and basedon forest inventories and ecological and socioeconomic studies. Licences for harvesting productionbforests are granted in two ways :•granted access to a large part of the centre andeast of the country. Still less okoumé is found in
the forests of the third zone, where the species
reaches the limits of its distribution. The Transgabonais provides limited access to this zone but
extraction becomes increasingly difﬁcult farther

forest concessions under sustainablefrom the railroad. As a consequence, there has

management (concessions forestières

been little harvesting so far (ibid.).

sous aménagement durable – CFADs): theseconcessions, of 50,000 to 200,000 hectares
according to the 2001 forest law, consist of
one or several FMUs. Each FMU, of between
15,000 and 200,000 hectares, is regulated
by a licence. According to the 2001 law, each
FMU requires the preparation and implementation of a forest management plan as well asa timber-processing plan. CFADs are granted atleast for the rotation period established in the
management plan(s), generally between 20 and
40 years. The granting of any such concession
is conditional on the establishment of a local
timber-processing unit; and•lishment of the Transgabonais, the railway that has

At the end of 2002, there were 401 timber permitsof all categories in force covering a total production
area of 10.62 million hectares. Forty-three percent of the area (4.55 million hectares) was being
harvested on an industrial scale. This was divided
into 63 FMUs, 45 (3.3 million hectares) of whichwere being harvested by foreign timber concession
companies – eight European holdings, seven Asian
holdings and one Libyan enterprise. All concessions
equal to or larger than 50,000 hectares require
a forest management plan. By the end of 2002,
about 1.46 million hectares of forest had alreadybeen covered by forest management plans, andforest inventories were under way in an additional

associated forest licences (permis forestiers

1.1 million hectares. In 2003, sixteen concession-associés – PFAs), with an area of less thanaires were preparing forest management plans. It

15,000 hectares, are granted for a ten-year

is expected that 6.7 million hectares allocated underperiod. They are reserved for Gabonese

CFADs will be managed according to approved forest

nationals and must be linked to a CFAD.

management plans by the end of 2005 (Gabonese

In addition, occasional cutting permits (permis

forestry ofﬁcials, pers. comm., June 2005).

gré-à-gré), linked with the local processing of theSilviculture and species selection. Timber

harvested timber, may be granted to Gabonese

harvesting is selective and focuses on high-value

nationals. These permits are granted in reserved

species; at present, only 4–5 m3 per hectare isforests outside CFAD and PFA areas.

extracted. In the ﬁrst and second forest zones, thisCommunity forests may be created in rural forests.

is due to previous overcutting of okoumé; in the east,

These should be managed for timber and NWFPs
according to a simpliﬁed forest management planhigh transport costs mean it is only economically
viable to harvest the most valuable tree species.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

93

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Aucoumea klaineana (okoumé)

About 1.7 million m3 of logs exported in 2001

Pterocarpus soyauxii (padouk, red wood)

Important species for log export

Guibourtia tessmanii (kévazingo)

Decorative species, important for veneer, parquet,
small handicrafts

Dacryodes buettneri (ozigo)

Traditionally the second most important timber
species, now losing signiﬁcanceHallea ciliata (bahia)

Dominant in swamp forests

The gross standing volume of trees with diameter3

EU and the Dutch government, has been actively

above 10 cm is estimated to be 250 m per hectare

involved in setting standards and establishing thein unexploited forest and 220 m3 per hectare

base conditions for forest certiﬁcation. Most of

in logged-over forest. The commercial standing

the major European concessions apply the Dutch

volumes are respectively 55 m3 per hectare andKeurhout certiﬁcation scheme, with almost

3

42 m per hectare. Generally, forest resources can

1.5 million hectares certiﬁed under this scheme

be divided into two main categories: forests withas of 2004. It is expected that the biggest forest

okoumé and ozigo, which regenerate well, and forests

concessions will also seek certiﬁcation under either

without large amounts of these two species. Okoumé

the FSC or the Pan-African Forest Certiﬁcation

3is the predominant species, with about 10 m per(PAFC) system, which was established in Gabon

hectare in about 80% of all forests. A speciﬁc

in late 2004 based on the ATO/ITTO PCI. PAFC-

silvicultural system is applied, the so-called Méthode

Gabon is the ﬁrst African member of the Program

Okoumé, based on favouring natural regeneration

for the Endorsement of Forest Certiﬁcation Schemes

and continuous thinning until there are 80 stems per(PEFC) Council; in order to be PEFC-endorsed andhectare with a diameter of over 70 cm. Gabonese

to use the PEFC logo, PAFC-Gabon needs to complete

forests regenerate well and, if management

development of the national scheme and submit itprescriptions are followed, they will maintainto PEFC assessment procedures (including an

their productive value (Drouineau & Nasi 1999).

independent review and public consultation).

Over the past decade, a growing number of theEstimate of the area of forest sustainably

approximately 400 hardwood tree species in Gabon’s

managed for production. At least 1.48 million

closed forests have been harvested, mostly for

hectares of natural-forest production PFE aredomestic or Asian markets. It is expected thatthought to be under SFM. This corresponds tothe number of species acceptable to international

the long-term concession area leased out to timbermarkets will continue to increase from the current

companies that have achieved certiﬁcation under

15 or so to 30–40, including azobé, ayous andthe Keurhout scheme.

Gambeya africana (longhi).

Timber production and trade. The total standing

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

timber volume (diameter >10 cm) is estimated to

Reforestation and enrichment planting are generally

be 2.60 billion m3. The possible sustainable annual

not undertaken in logged-over forests due to theyield of potentially marketable timber species is anrelative ease of natural regeneration. Existing

estimated 12–15 million m3 (government of Gabon

plantations are mainly on former natural-forest2001). In 2003, 3.56 million m3 of industrial logs

sites and consist primarily of okoumé and, towere produced (ITTO 2005), not much changed

a limited extent, limba. There are also somefrom the 3.64 million m3 harvested in 1999 (ITTO

plantations of pines and clonal eucalypts.

2004). The government plans to raise the level ofForest certiﬁcation. Since 2001, a national working
group on SFM and certiﬁcation, ﬁnanced by the94

SFM TROPICS

harvest to 6.5 million m3 (government of Gabon
2001). Local industrial processing is promoted byTable 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

10,6006,923

2,310*

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

1,480

1,480

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

25

10

0

* All 401 cutting permits in force in 2002–03 are counted here

the government, including by the imposition of a

populated, some fauna species are under pressure

20% tax on log exports, and has increased during

in some areas due to an increasing demand forthe last ﬁve years; for example, veneer production

wild meat (Amsallem et al. 2001).

grew by about 50% in the three years to 2003,
when it reached 140,000 m3. Nevertheless,Gabon remains one of the largest exporters oftropical hardwood logs. China and Taiwan Provinceof China absorbed more than half (988,000 m3)
of Gabon’s log exports in 2003, with most of therest going to Europe (ITTO 2005).

Protective measures in production forests. Law
16/01 includes measures to protect soil, biodiversity
and water ﬂow in concession areas. It also includes
a series of stand treatments to encourage theregeneration of commercial tree species in natural
stands. Provisions designed to protect wildlife specify
the zones where hunting is permitted and the length

Non-wood forest products. As in the other countries

and dates of the hunting season. These rules need toof the Congo Basin, many foodstuffs, including wild

be enforced in forest concessions, as concessionaires

meat, roots, fruits, leaves and nuts, as well as

and their personnel have so far done little to control

medicinal plants and condiments, are collected inpoachers (Amsallem et al. 2001).

the forest. They are an integral part of the subsistence of local people, but some are also marketedat the national level, such as the fruits of Irvingia,
lianas of Gnetum, and plants and nuts of Garcinia
species. Bamboo and ﬁbres such as Marantaceae(rattan), raphia, and the leaves of Borassus aethiopum(rônier) are important products that are also tradedinternationally. Charcoal is of some importance,
supplying a small but efﬁcient informal market.

Extent of protected areas. Gabon has 13 nationalparks – most of them forested – covering about
3.01 million hectaresa, although none appear to be
managed effectively except for the Lopé National
Park and the Minkebe National Parkd. The CNPN
focuses on ecotourism as well as nature conservationin park management but its main activities areconcentrated on ﬁghting poaching. Parks outside
the Lopé National Park require more protection,
particularly the Mounts of Cristal, the Clump ofForest for protection

Chaillu, the Mayombe, the whole northeast of

Soil and water. As of 2004, no forests werethe country, the Belinga Zone and the Mounts

reported to be managed primarily for theof Boka-Boka. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004),aprotection of soil and water .
Biological diversity. Gabon contains more than
6,500 plant species, 320 mammals and 617 birds.
Thirteen mammals, ﬁve birds, three reptiles, twoamphibians and 108 plants are listed as criticallyendangered, endangered or vulnerable on the
IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,ten mammals, two birds, two amphibians and
44 plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004).
Gabon has listed eleven plant species in CITES
Appendix II, none of which is a hardwood timber
species (CITES 2005). Although Gabon is sparsely

570,000 hectares of forest are in protected areasthat conform to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV.
A National Biodiversity Observation Board wascreated in 2000 to support the implementationof the GEF-assisted National Strategy and Action
Plan for Biodiversity. ITTO and WWF are working
with the government to develop a project thatwould prepare a management plan for the Minkebe
Forest Reserve, which together with the Minkebe
National Park makes up an ITTO-supported transboundary conservation area linked to the Mengame
protected area in Cameroon.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

95

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

2,700*

570

0

491**

1,090

* National parks only** A management plan for the Minkebe National Park and the Minkebe Forest Reserve is in the ﬁnal stages of preparation

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

local communities, in particular Pygmies. Wild-meat

managed for protection. The total protection PFE

availability may be threatened locally because ofunder SFM is an estimated 1.09 million hectares

overhunting.

(Table 4), comprising the ITTO-supported Minkebe
National Park (600,000 hectares) and the Lopé
National Park (491,000 hectares). These areas
are considered to be managed and protected effectively, although poachers continue to be a threat tothese and other protected areas.

Socioeconomic aspects

Social relations. The community forests allowed
under the 2001 forest law replace the former‘family logging’ rights. The forest law speciﬁes
that there should be a zone around each production
forest to accommodate the customary rights ofsurrounding communities. One of the objectives ofa memorandum (lettre de politique) of forest policy
published by the government in May 2004 is to

Economic aspects. Timber and wood industries

increase the future role of local users in community

play an important role in the economy of Gabon.

forest management.

Before the petroleum industry was establishedin the 1950s, timber provided 90% of export
earnings but by 1985 this had diminished toSummary

6%. Timber remains the second-largest source

Over the past ten years, Gabon has gone throughof export earnings after petroleum, earning abouta profound process of reform affecting the forest

US$250 million per year, now around 9% of export

and environment. A new forest law has come into

revenue. It is estimated that the timber industry’s

force that emphasizes SFM as the overall approachcontribution to GDP is 5% (government of Gabon

in the PFE. Forestry is, and will remain, one of the2001). Forest taxes are primarily (>90%) derived

pillars of Gabon’s economic and social development.

from export levies. The country has engaged in ﬁscal

The private sector has become a major driver ofreforms to increase and diversify income fromindustrial forest development and the export oftaxes and to provide incentives for SFM and woodforest products. The government has introduced

processing. Forestry and wood industries employ

a system to institutionalize community forestry as

about 29,000 people (government of Gabon 2001).

a way of meeting local needs for timber and otherIn order to implement its SFM policy, the government

forest products. Gabon has a low deforestation

has created a National Forest Fund and an invest-

rate, forests rich in valuable timber species andment program with the World Bank (Programme

among the best prospects for a healthy and

Sectoriel Forêt-Environnement) that aims to pursue

sustainable forest industry. There are still problems

institutional and statutory reforms.

– mainly in governance. For example, there is little

Livelihood values. Forests are the main sourceof subsistence for many villages. Local populations
have free access to all forests as long as they
possess appropriate customary rights and do notjeopardize the sustainability of the forest products
they collect. Wild meat and edible fruits such as
aiéle, leaves of Gnetum species, and nuts and roots(igname) are of great importance for forest-dependent

civil advocacy and few participatory processes in
the forestry sector. Protected-area managementin Gabon is still in its infancy and requires greaterplanning and effective enforcement.

Key points•

Gabon has timber-rich and extensive forest
resources with a relatively low risk of
conversion to other uses.

96

SFM TROPICS•The PFE is an estimated 13.3 million hectares,

Status and Trends in Forest Management inproduction forest, 2.70 million hectares ofCentral Africa. Forest Management Working

protection forest and 25,000 hectares ofPaper 3. FAO, Rome, Italy.

plantations.
•from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/

production PFE are thought to be managed

species.html (accessed September 2005).

the protection PFE are considered to be so
managed.
The ﬁnancial viability of SFM is greatly
enhanced by the high quantity and quality of aprime species (okoumé) in a large part of theforest estate, particularly on the coastal plains.
•

However, because of its high value, okoumé
tends to be over-harvested.

•

Community forests may be created in ruralforests, but few had been as of 2004.

•

High standards for concession management
have been developed on paper, but still need
to be fully introduced and enforced. Thereis interest in the application of C&I as amonitoring tool and forest certiﬁcation has
been encouraged.

•

Many protected areas do not appear to be
managed effectively.

•

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

At least 1.48 million hectares of natural-forest
sustainably; at least 1.09 million hectares of•Amsallem, I., Koné, P. & Wilkie, M (eds) 2002.

comprising 10.6 million hectares of natural

Management for wild meat and other NWFPs
is still largely uncontrolled in forest concessions.

Drouineau, S. & Nasi, R. 1999. L’Aménagement
Forestier au Gabon – Historique, Bilan,
Perspectives. CIRAD-Forêt, Montpellier, France.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
Government of Gabon 2001. Progrès Réalisés
en Vue de la Gestion Durable des Ressources
Forestières du Gabon. Submitted to ITTO,
December 2001. Unpublished.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Poore, D. & Thang, H. 2002. Review of Progress

References and other sourcesapresented at the twenty-eighth session of the

DGEF 2004. Rapport National sur les CritèresInternational Tropical Timber Council, May

et Indicateurs de l’Aménagement Durable des2000. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

Forêts Tropicales Naturelles. Submitted to
ITTO, October 2004. Direction Générale desEaux et Forêts, Libreville, Gabon. Unpublished.
b

towards the Year 2000 Objective. Report

ITTO 2005. ITTO Mission in support of theEfforts by the Government of the Gabonese
Republic to Achieve the ITTO 2000 Objective
and Sustainable Forest Management. Reportof the Diagnostic Mission. Presented at thethirty-eighth session of the International

PEFC 2004. PEFC Council Newsletter Issue 23,
December 2004. Available from: http://www.
pefc.org/internet/html/news/4_1154_67.htm(accessed November 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

Tropical Timber Council, June 2005. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.
d

ITTO estimate

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

97

GHANAgrass savanna, savanna woodland, wet and moist
deciduous forest, evergreen forest, coastal savanna
and mangrove swamp. The main timber-producing
areas are the deciduous and evergreen forests inthe southwest. The main species in the deciduous
forests are Triplochiton scleroxylon (wawa), Mansonia
altissima (mansonia), Nesogordonia papaverifera(danta) and Khaya ivorensis (mahogany); and in
the evergreen forests Guarea cedrata (guarea),
Tieghemella heckelii (makore), Tarrietia utilis(niangon) and Uapaca spp (assam).
Dynamics of forest resource change. Deforestationin Ghana usually commences with the degradationof well-stocked forests by excessive (often illegal)
logging, slash-and-burn agriculture, mining andquarrying, and fuelwood collection. Degraded forests
are then often completely deforested by wildﬁre,*For legend see page 58

illegal occupation and/or land-use changes. These

Forest resources

destructive forces are inﬂuenced by population

Ghana has a land area of 23.9 million hectares andeconomic development programs. Road construction

a population of about 20.5 million people. It is locatedon the west coast of Africa, bordered by Togo in
the east, Côte d’Ivoire in the west, Burkina Faso
in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
Ecologically the country is divided into a high-forest
zone in the south, accounting for about a third of
the land area (8 million hectares), a savanna zone
(14.7 million hectares) mostly in the north, and atransition zone (1.1 million hectares). Estimates of
the total area of forests in the country range froma2.72 million hectares to 6.34 million hectares(FAO 2005), the former estimate excluding non-pressure and poverty and also by infrastructure andnear or within forest reserves facilitates encroachment. Internal migration to the western forests for
cash-crop cultivation accounts for the high rate offorest degradation in those areas. Almost all forests
have suffered depletion, creating eroded hillsides incsome cases and destroying genetic diversity in others .
The average estimated annual rate of deforestation
between 1990 and 2000 was 120,000 hectares;
the average growing stock in the remaining forest
area is only 49 m3 per hectare (FAO 2005).
Forest ﬁres occur regularly and cause severe

PFE savanna.

damage; the annual ﬁnancial loss due to wildﬁres

Forest types. The broad forest types are rainforest

logging can make the forests more vulnerable to(47%), moist tropical forest (32%) and dry tropicalforest (21%); speciﬁc vegetation types include low

is estimated to be about US$24 milliona. Excessiveﬁre by causing the accumulation of residues, whichbecome readily ﬂammable when dry.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total forest
area, range (million
hectares)Total closed natural
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted2.72–6.34

1,634

1,150c97a

98

SFM TROPICS

forest (’000 hectares)

Production

Protection

Total

353

1,600

Permanent forest estate. There are 204 forest

viable and efﬁcient forest-based industries; public

reserves in the high-forest zone covering an areaawareness and the involvement of rural people inof 1.62 million hectares and 62 forest reserves

forestry and wildlife conservation; research-basedain the savanna zone covering 600,000 hectares .

and technology-led forestry and wildlife management;

The forests in the high-forest zone are functionallyand the development of capacity in SFM. To dateclassiﬁed as: timber production, 762,400 hectares

this policy has been implemented most effectively(47%); permanent protection, 352,500 hectares

within the forest reserves, with off-reserve forests(22%); rehabilitation, 122,000 hectares (7%);

often unregulated and over- or illegally harvestedc.

conversion, 127,000 hectares (8%); and notForests are owned by communities through tradi-

inventoried, 270,000 hectares (16%)a. The area

tional authorities, managed by government, andof natural-forest PFE is estimated to be the sum

logged/utilized by private contractors. Theseof all these except conversion forests. Since thearrangements, speciﬁed in the 1992 constitution,

reserves in the savanna zone are not closed forest,

are reﬂected in the 1997 Timber Resource

they are not included in the PFE area estimate.

Management Act and the 1999 Forestry Commission

Planted forests. The estimated area of planted
forest in 2003 was about 97,000 hectares (PFEaonly) . Ghana began planting Tectona grandis (teak)Act. In general, Ghana’s forest-related laws, policies
and regulations are somewhat confusing and ﬁnes
for breaches are lowa.

in the Volta region in 1875, and teak is the most

A Forestry Development Master Plan (1996–2020)

dominant species in today’s plantation estate. Morewas launched to guide the implementation of thethan 50,000 hectares of new planted forest was

Forest and Wildlife Policy. The master plan is being

established between 2000 and 2004, 60% of

implemented through a multi-donor-assisted ten-year

it teakc. Additionally, there are agro-industrial

program called the National Resources Management

plantations of rubber (19,000 hectares), coconut

Programme (NRMP), which has four components:(40,000 hectares) and oil palm (37,000 hectares).

high forest, savanna, wildlife resource management
and biodiversity conservation in the high-forest zone.

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Traditionally owned forest lands,
known variously as ‘stool land’ or ‘skin land’, were,in the past, under the full control of tribal chiefs orkings. Until 1970, usufruct rights over forest
resources were totally under their authority basedon customary laws. In the early 1970s, all rights
for the management and development of natural
resources (but not land ownership itself) weretransferred to the President of Ghana (as atrust for the ‘stools’ or ‘skins’ and their people)
to harmonize the various traditional land-tenuresystems and reduce political conﬂicts. The transfer
of forests to the national government facilitatedInstitutions involved in forests. The main institution
in charge of forests is the Ministry of Lands andForestry (MLF) supported by the Forestry
Commission (FC), which was established in 1980,
and the FC divisions of Forestry, Wildlife, and Timber
Industry Development. The FC was restructured asa semi-autonomous corporate body in 1999 underAct 571 as a semi-autonomous corporate body to
improve its effectiveness. In addition, the publicforest-sector agencies responsible for the protection,
development, management and regulation of forest
and wildlife resources were brought under its purview.
Some 580 professional and technical forestry
personnel are employed by the governmenta.

central planning and allowed the harmonization

The main institutions involved in forestry researchof forest management systems and investment

are the MLF’s Forest Plantation Development Centre;

procedures. However, members of landholding

the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG)

groups were still allowed full usufruct rights.

under the Ministry of Environment, Science andForest policy and legislation. The ﬁrst forest policy
was established in 1947; this was revised in line

Technology; the Renewable Natural Resources
Institute of Ghana; and the University of Ghanaa.

with Ghana’s 1992 constitution and approved inCommunity participation in forestry is being

1994 as the Forest and Wildlife Policy. The policy

facilitated through community forest committees

contains ﬁve speciﬁc objectives related to: the(CFCs) and a collaborative forest management unit

management of the PFE for the conservation ofof the FCc; in 2003, there were some 100 CFCs.

soil, water and biodiversity; the development ofLocal NGOs such as the Green Earth Organisation

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 200599

and the Ghana Association for the Conservation of‘Scarlet’ species were being over-cut at a rate

Nature and international NGOs such as Friends ofgreater than 200% the estimated sustainable yieldthe Earth (Ghana), Conservation International andand were thought to be under threat of economic

World Vision are active in forestry. The Timber andextinction, ‘red’ species were being cut at a rate

Wood Workers Union of the Trade Union Congressof 50–200% the sustainable yield, and ‘pink’of Ghana is also an important stakeholder. However,species were being harvested at less than 50%

there are often problems of coordination between

the sustained yielda.

the trade union, NGOs and government forestry
agenciesc.

The Forests and Wildlife Policy of 1994 abolishedthe concession system and replaced it with a new

Status of forest management
Forest for production

timber utilization contract (TUC) system (LI 1721),
which was intended to promote efﬁciency,transparency and accountability.
The FC uses manuals for production, management

The ITTO C&I and ATO/ITTO PCI are incorporated

and planning such as the 1998 Manual of Proce-in the FC’s various forest-management manuals anddures for Forest Resource Management Planningguidelines, providing a cornerstone for natural forest

in the High-forest Zone, the Manual of Procedures

management. Holders of timber utilization contracts

for Stock Survey and Yield Allocation (1995), and(see below) and other forest operators are required

the 1998 timber resources management regulations.

to follow the Ghana Manual of Procedures for

According to the 1998 manual for the high-forest

Forest Management and Procedures Relating tozone, logging plans are prepared by the contractor,

Timber Operations in Ghana, prepared under the

logging contract licences range from one to 40 years,

1997 Timber Resources Management Act and theand the forest reserves are divided into compart-1998 Timber Resources Management Regulations,ments of 128 hectares each (1,600 m x 800 m).

which together seek to ensure that timber rights

The 2002 Law on Timber Resource Auctioning

are granted in a manner conducive to SFM. The

establishes that timber rights will be awarded by

Timber Resources Management (Amendment)

tender. The FC allocates the volumes to be harvested

Act of 2002 (No 617), which does not encompass

annually based on an ‘interim yield formula’, which

private forest plantations, establishes maximum

depends on the size of the TUC area; a national AAC

durations and area limits for timber rights andhas been set at 500,000 m3 based on the adoption

provides incentives for investors; these incentivesof a rotation of 40 years. The entire production PFE

promote strategic investments in the forest sector(1.15 million hectares) is covered by management(Section 14 C).

plans and 100% of the forest boundaries have been

Until 1991, the conventional forest concession was

demarcateda,c. The management of many forest

the common arrangement for timber harvesting. Thissystem followed basic forest-management requirements such as harvest planning, standards for roadbuilding and tree marking, pre-harvest operations,environmental conservation and enrichment planting.
It was based on selection felling using an AAC
calculated for a 40-year cycle. However, implementation in the ﬁeld was not satisfactory and did notalways follow the legal requirements for forest
management. The maximum area granted to aconcession-holder was 50,000 hectares, with theaverage size of an FMU being 20,000 hectares.
AACs were often exceeded. Over-harvesting led
to the downward revision of the national AAC inforest reserves from 1.2 million m3 in 1990 to3a683,000 m in 1995 . Commercial species weregrouped into ‘scarlet’, ‘red’ and pink’ groupings.

100

SFM TROPICS

reserves is thought to be quite good. In others,
however, inadequate control of TUCs has allowed
over-harvesting. Repeated re-entries take place
depending on demand for logs, often facilitatedthrough salvage permits. There is inadequate
surveillance to safeguard the integrity and ensure
the security of the PFE. There are also inadequacies
in survey records, maps and boundary maintenancec.
Landowners often do not show any interest in forest
protection and management. Timber royalties havetraditionally been poorly collected and inequitably
distributed; as a result, forest revenues often
do not cover the cost of forest managementc.
Moreover, illegal logging is reportedly widespreadc.
Illegal chainsaw operators, for example, feed athriving domestic timber market, often selling
their wood from roadside stalls with little

cTable 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Tectona grandis (teak)

Plantation species

Triplochiton scleroxylon (wawa)

All-purpose wood

Ceiba pentandra (fromager)

Off-reserve tree, used by industry for export veneer

Aningeria robusta (asanﬁna)

Sawnwood, veneer

Terminalia superba (offam)

Good for sawmilling and veneer production

or no government oversight. The formal wood

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

industry has traditionally concentrated on exports.

Plantations are managed by clearfelling andDue partly to over-capacity in export-oriented mills

replanting. The major planted species is teak,(see below), the volume of timber available forwith the remaining area under other broadleaved

domestic use is much lower than the demand;

species such as Cedrela odorata, Gmelina arborea,

supplies, therefore, are supplemented by illegal

Terminalia superba, T. ivorensis, Triplochiton scler-

logging. Moreover, farmers who plant in forest

oxylon and Khaya spp. Teak has become the mostopenings are generally not adequately compensatedattractive species for afforestation over the lastfor crop damage caused by timber harvesting, leading

15 years. Yields average 8–10 m per hectare persome of them to destroy trees and/or collaborateyear on a 25-year cycle. There is a ready demand forwith the chainsaw operators to process them,teak timber, both in domestic and export markets.
cthereby receiving a share of the illegal proceeds .
Silviculture and species selection. The silvicultural
system used in natural forests is a polycyclic selection
felling system using a cutting cycle of 40 years.
The AAC in the natural forests is decided on thebasis of stock surveys and size limits prescribed
for the different commercial species by the Forest
Services Division of the FC. Only 20% of the trees
above the diameter limit are to be harvested(around three trees per hectare), with the rest3

The 2000 Forest Plantation Development Fund Act(and its amendment in 2002) provides ﬁnancial
assistance for the development of private commercial
forest plantations. In 2002, the government embarked
on a large reforestation program to be implemented
by farmers. The FC provides improved planting
material and monitors the program. Tree plantations under agroforestry/taungya systems are ofgreat importance in Ghana, and off-reserve trees
contribute considerably to timber production.

retained for the next entry in 40 years. Post-logging

Forest certiﬁcation. Ghana has been in the processsilvicultural operations are also prescribed toof establishing a forest-management certiﬁcation

promote growth and sustainability.

system since 1996, when a National Committee

There are many hardwood timber species, but themore commercially valuable are becoming scarce.
Table 2 lists some of these commonly harvested
timber species. In addition to the species listed
in the table, some 30 lesser-used species areclassiﬁed as ‘pink’, including Celtis spp (esa),
Piptadeniastrum africanum (dahoma), Entandrophragma candollei (kosipo), Milicia excelsa (iroko),
Entandrophragma angolense (edinam), Pterygota
macrocarpa (koto), makore, Pycnanthus angolensis(otie), Pouteria robusta, Chrysophyllum spp (alcasa),
Khaya anthotheca, Entandrophragma cylindricum(sapele) and Antiaris africana (kyenkyen).

on Forest Certiﬁcation (NCFC) was established.
The Ghana Forest Management Certiﬁcation System
Project was initiated in 1997 with the assistanceof the EU and the Netherlands to develop draft
standards for certiﬁcation. Field tests on the
resulting chain-of-custody and log-tracking systems
have been carried out since 2002, as has thedevelopment of standards for sustainably managed
forests. The concessions of one company, Samartex
Timber and Plywood Ltd, amounting to 110,000
hectares in the natural forest production PFE,
were certiﬁed in 2003 by SGS for compliance with
Ghanaian logging and chain-of-custody standards.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

101

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
1,150

With
management
plans

1,035

PlantedCertiﬁed

1,150

0*

Sustainably
managed
c

270

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

97

97

0

* The certiﬁcation of Samartex Timber and Plywood Ltd by SGS is not counted here since it is not under the umbrella of a formal certiﬁcation
scheme. The company has committed itself to achieving FSC certiﬁcation by 2007

In February 2005, Samartex signed an agreement

Non-wood forest products. Wild meat, wild fruits

with WWF and Friends of the Earth to become

and tubers, honey, oils, construction materials andthe ﬁrst participant of the Ghana Forest and Trade

medicinal plants are some common NWFPs. The

Network and commit to achieving FSC certiﬁcation

wild-meat sector includes 300,000 hunters at theby 2007 (WWF 2005).

local community level who produce between 220,000

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. The area under concessions/TUCs
within the PFE is about 1.035 million hectares,
divided into 52 FMUs consisting of 719,300 hectaresof forest reserves and 315,200 hectares outsidereserves. The estimated area of forest under SFM
cis considered to cover at least 270,000 hectares ,including the Samartex operation.

to 380,000 tonnes of wild meat annually, mainly
from forests, valued at between US$210 million
and US$350 million, for domestic consumptionc.
International marketing efforts are being directed
to at least two Ghanaian NWFPs: thaumatin, asweetener from seeds of Thaumatococus danielli,and novella, an oil/margarine from seeds of Allanblackia parviﬂora. The contribution of the forestry
sector to tourism promotion has not been quantiﬁed,

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
production in 2003 was 22.1 million m3, of which
93% was fuelwood (FAO 2005b). Ofﬁcial productionof industrial roundwood in 2003 was 1.4 million

although it is believed to be quite signiﬁcant.

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The area of forests managed

m3, 27% more than in 1999 (1.10 million m3)

primarily for the protection of soil and water(ITTO 2004, 2005). Wood-processing consistsof sawmilling and the manufacture of wood-based

was not reporteda or otherwise available.

panels (plywood and veneer), with a small secondary-

Biological diversity. Of Ghana’s estimatedprocessing industry. Sawnwood production was

1,844 forest-dependent trees, mammals, birds
3and amphibians, 69 are considered endangereda.

in 1999 (ibid.); 405,000 m of wood-based panel

Seventeen mammals, nine birds, four reptiles, ten

products were produced in 2003 compared toamphibians and 117 plants are listed as critically

225,000 m3 in 1999. The timber industry is Ghana’s

endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN

fourth-largest foreign-exchange earner: the export

red list of threatened species; of these, 13 mammals,

value of primary wood products amounted to ansix birds, ten amphibians and nine plants are foundestimated US$169 million in 2003, comprisingin forests (IUCN 2004). One plant species is listed

sawnwood (US$84.9 million), veneer (US$59.5

in CITES Appendix I and 29 in Appendix II (CITES

million) and plywood (US$24.5 million) (ITTO 2005).

2005). Ghana has recently formulated a national

The export of round logs has been effectively banned

biodiversity strategy which seeks to ensure thesince 1997 and levies imposed on exports of air-dried

development and implementation of a well-3

496,000 m in 2003, compared to 454,000 m
3

timber of nine important species. Half of all teakproduction is exported in sawn form, mainly to
India, although Ghana’s main export market
remains Europe.

coordinated biodiversity conservation policya.
Protective measures in production forests.
Environmental provisions in the TUCs and guidelines
have been set to maintain representative or specialparts of each production forest as undisturbed.

102

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

353

174

n.d.

n.d.

108c

An area of about 465,000 hectares of production

to the state in reserve forests and 60% to stools

forest has been demarcated for catchment values,and 40% to the government in off-reserve forests.

of which over 100,000 hectares are considered

Social-responsibility agreements are reachedabetween TUC-holders and the communities whereenvironmentally sensitive .
Extent of protected areas. The estimated area ofprotection PFE is 353,000 hectares. The FC reports
31 protected areas of IUCN categories I–II coveringa total area of 1.11 million hectares, of which
1.06 million hectares are grass savanna. According
to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 174,000 hectares offorest are in protected areas conforming to IUCN
protected-area categories I–IV; the majority ofthis area (135,000 hectares) is unclassiﬁed as

timber extraction takes place for the provision ofagreed social services and amenities. Donor-assisted
projects are also supporting community participation in forestry; for example, an ITTO project onparticipatory tropical forest development by womenin indigenous communities has been ongoing since1999. The FC will gradually divest itself of responsibility for the forest resources in the North Savanna
Zone and hand it over to the local communities.

to forest type.

Eight forest sites covering 21,500 hectares have

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

sites covering 1.12 million hectares for recreationa.

managed for protection. Table 4 shows theestimated area of protection PFE managed
sustainably based on information provided

been set apart for research and education and 21

Summary

at a recent workshop on the ITTO C&I .

Ghana has favourable conditions for theSocioeconomic aspects

resources – including a strong Forestry Commission

Economic aspects. Forests accounted for 2.3% oftheless, many challenges must be met. For example,

GDP in 1999a and about 10% of export earnings.
The formal sector employed about 104,000 people in
1999a. Many more people (including illegal chainsaw
operators, NWFP harvesters, etc) make at least
some of their income from forests (see below).
Livelihood values. An estimated 2 million people
depend on forests for subsistence uses and tradi-achievement of SFM, such as impressive human– and a long history of forest management. Neverﬁre plays an inﬂuential and – in some forests –destructive ecological role and is difﬁcult tocontrol. Some forest reserves are well-managed,
but others may have been over-harvested and offreserve forests are often unregulated. Moreover,illegal activities such as chainsaw lumber production
and poaching are thought to be widespread.

ational and customary lifestyles . Major activities
in which forest-adjacent communities are involved

Key points

include wild-meat production, fuelwood and charcoal•

The area of PFE is an estimated 1.60 million

production, wood-carving and canoe-carving, rattan

hectares, comprising 1.15 million hectares

production, chewstick-gathering, chainsaw lumberof natural-forest production PFE, 353,000

production (an illegal activity), and hunting (often

hectares of protection PFE and 97,000

also illegal)a. Alternative livelihood strategies arebeing tested as part of Ghana’s poverty reduction
strategya.

hectares of plantations.
•

At least 270,000 hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are considered to be managed

Social relations. The constitution provides for thesustainably; an estimated 108,000 hectares

sharing of royalties between government and tradi-of protection PFE are so managed.

tional owners as follows: 40% to stools and 60%

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

103

•

•

The silvicultural system used in natural forests
is a polycyclic selection felling system using a
cutting cycle of 40 years; a national AAC has
been set at 500,000 m3.

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

There are manuals for production, management
and planning, which set out the obligations oflogging contractors.

2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

•

Ghana is establishing a sizeable plantation
estate of teak.

•Community participation in forestry is being
facilitated through community forest committees(CFCs) and a collaborative forest management
unit of the Forestry Commission; in 2003 there
were some 100 CFCs.

•

•

•

An estimated 2 million people depend on forests
for subsistence uses and traditional andcustomary lifestyles.

from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
MLF 2001. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa.
Country Report – Ghana. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa.
Subregional Report for West Africa. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

Ghana has introduced a new timber utilization
contract system to improve efﬁciency,transparency and accountability in forestry,
particularly in forest production activities.

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of the

There is limited information about the conditionof protected areas.

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of ThreatenedWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).

References and other sourcesac

MLF 2004. Criteria and Indicators for
Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical
Forests. Reporting Questionnaire for Indicators
at the National Level – Report for Ghana.
Submitted to ITTO, March 2004. Ghana
Forestry Commission, Ministry of Lands andForestry, Accra, Ghana. Unpublished.
Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
15–19 October 2005, Accra, Ghana, attended
by 44 people from government, civil society andthe private sector.

Brede, A. 2004. Samartex Timber and Plywood Ltd.
Ghana’s ﬁrst company going for certiﬁcation.
In: Freezailah, B., Basri, H., Shaharuddin, M.,
Chandrasekharan, C., Wilson, S. & Tomaselli, I.
(eds) Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests:
Private Sector Experiences. Conference
proceedings of the Malaysia/ITTO International
Conference on Sustainable Management of
Tropical Forests – Private Sector Experiences,
13–15 April 2004, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

104

SFM TROPICS

Oteng-Amoako, A. and Sarfo, D. 2003. Development of teak plantations in Ghana: propagation, processing, utilisation and marketing.
In: Bhat, K.M., Nair, K., Bhat, K.V., Muralidharan, E., & Sharma, J. (eds) Quality Timber
Products of Teak from Sustainable Forest
Management. Conference proceedings of theInternational Conference on Quality Timber
Products of Teak from Sustainable Forest
Management, December 2003, Peechi,
Kerala, India. Kerala Forest Research Institute,
Peechi, Kerala, India/ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries.
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data preparedfor ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).
WWF 2005. Samartex, WWF, and Friends of the
Earth initiate program to save primary forests
and wildlife habitat in Ghana. Press release,
10 February 2005. Available from: http://
www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/
news/successes/index.cfm?uNewsID=19013(accessed November 2005).

LIBERIA
estimated that there were about 3.4 million
hectares of relatively intact forest and about
2.26 million hectares of poorer forest cover,comprising 1 million hectares of forest landthat had been subject to agricultural pressure
and another 1.3 million hectares that had been
seriously affected by agricultural pressure andbcontained only islands and patches of forest . The
intact forest comprised two main blocks: a southeastern block of very wet evergreen forest and adrier, Upper-Guinean moist evergreen and semib

deciduous forest in the northwest .
Forest types. Characteristic species of the moist
evergreen forests are Lophira alata, Heritiera utilis
and Sacoglottis gabonensis, while Meliaceae (one of
the most important timber families in West Africa)
is represented by only two species: Lovoa trichilioides*For legend see page 58

and Guarea cedrata (bossé). The semi-deciduous

Forest resources

forests cover the northern half of the country and

Liberia has a land area of 11.1 million hectares andcharacteristic species being Nesogordonia papav-

contain a higher representation of Meliaceae, thea population of 3.3 million people. It is bounded byerifera (danta) and Aningeria robusta. Common

Sierra Leone to the west, Côte d’Ivoire to the east,shade-intolerant species are Albizia spp, Fagara

Guinea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean tospp, Terminalia spp and Pycnanthus angolensis.

the south. The country can be divided into threephysiographic regions: (i) the hilly coastal region;(ii) a central plateau ranging from 200 to 250 m
with table mountains up to 600 m; and (iii)highlands reaching 1,380 m in the north andnortheast. According to a report issued by the
Forest Resource Mapping Survey of Liberia (1985),
about 50% of the land area, or some 5.5 million
hectares, was forest in the mid 1980s, of which
about 3.88 million hectares were productive. FAO(2005a) estimated the total forest area at 3.48
million hectares; a recent ITTO diagnostic mission
to Liberia reported data compiled by a World Bankfunded study (Bayol & Chevalier 2004), which

Dynamics of forest resource change. The rapid
destruction of Liberia’s forest resources has beencaused by over-harvesting and uncontrolled logging,
accelerated by civil war. In addition, shifting cultivators
have accessed logged forests using the many logging
roads built since the early 1960s. There has been
widespread shifting cultivation, mainly for growing
upland rice. Between 1990 and 2000, Liberia lost
about 760,000 hectares of forest, a deforestation
rate of about 2% annually (FAO 2005a). As noted
above, about 2.3 million hectares of the forest estateis affected by agriculture, including 1 million hectares
that has been greatly fragmented.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted3.48-5.66

4,124

1,310

n.d.

Production

Protection

Total

101

1,411

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

105

Permanent forest estate. Liberia’s forests area range of stakeholders for community-based

categorized as: natural forests, for granting onforest management and greater beneﬁt-sharing

lease to concession-holders through forest productwith rural people .

utilization contracts; optional forests, which havespecial arrangements to allow for the removal oftimber before diverting them to other non-forest
uses; and parks and protected areas for environmental conservation. Based on the limited information available on areas allocated to concessions,the area designated as PFE is estimated at
1.41 million hectares (Table 1); this is likelyb

SFM policy framework. The 2000 National Forest
Law has provisions on sustainable management
and the utilization of forest resources (Section
8.2). The Forestry Development Authority (FDA)
has produced a document entitled Forest Policy
Review: Towards Vision 2024. This incorporates,
among other things, the ITTO Objective 2000.

to be expanded in the near future. In general,

Forest policy and legislation. The forest code ofsurveys to demarcate the PFE are inadequate,

1953 was amended in 2000 and has been in force

as is surveillance to safeguard its integrity.

since 2002. The amended National Forest Law isPlanted forests. According to FAO (2001), there
were 9,000 hectares of timber plantations in
Liberia in 2000, with an annual planting rateof 100 hectares per year. They comprised about
2,000 hectares of teak, 2,000 hectares of pinesand 5,000 hectares of other broadleaved species.
However, these plantations are likely to have beenheavily degraded or destroyed; the ITTO diagnostic
mission reported an insigniﬁcant plantation estateapart from some important rubber estates “which
are generally in a poor condition”b. There are somecoconut plantations and small areas of oil palm.

intended to promote SFM as a basis for national
reconstruction. Legislation was also planned toencourage the active involvement of NGOs inreforestation with the direct participation of forest
dwellers, and to increase incentives for concessionholders. The Commission on Environment was set
up in 2000 with powers to prepare guidelines andformulate policies for agencies concerned withnature conservation and the environment, but thesepowers could not be effectively exercised due tothe civil crisis. The stability and sustainability of thelogging sector has been threatened by proceduralﬂaws such as exception/exemption procedures forinappropriate forestry activities, the granting ofInstitutional arrangements
Forest tenure. According to the 2000 National
Forest Law, all forest resources belong to thegovernment except for communal and privately
owned forests. Communal land is designated forthe exclusive use of local communities for purposes
other than logging. Customary rights over suchland are not automatically recognized; they musthave been previously documented. The only private
forest resources are those that have been developed
through artiﬁcial regeneration on privately owned

special favours, and forest crimes including timbertheft, corruption and illegal loggingb. Indeed, log
exports were known to be used as a source offunding for private militias, thereby prolonging
the civil war. As a result of international concern
over this issue, the UN Security Council passed its
resolution 1478 calling on all member states to ban
imports of round logs and timber products from
Liberia for ten months from July 2003. The importban was subsequently extended and remained inplace as of December 2005.

land. The ITTO diagnostic mission reported that theInstitutions involved in forests. An Act oftraditional land and resource rights of the majority

Parliament of 1976 established the FDA as therural population have been systematically ignored

body responsible for forestry in Liberia and also

and undermined by a small elite throughout Liberia’s

recognized the importance of forests as a key

150-year history. Nevertheless, the Liberian

renewable natural resource. Amendments to thisconstitution and speciﬁc laws, such as the National

act in 1988, 2000 and 2003 sought to strengthen

Environmental Protection Act of 2002, note thethe FDA’s ability to manage and protect forests.

rights of rural people. There is mention of “tribal

The FDA is the agent through which policy isforests”, “community forests” and similar terms.

implemented, including forest management plans.

The mission also reported strong support across

However, the FDA is seriously under-resourced;

106

SFM TROPICS

it lost many staff to the civil war and, for those

30 companies held logging concessions covering

remaining, salaries are extremely low and often

40% of the national territory; the OTC (Oriental

paid several months late . The weakness of theb

Timber Corporation) alone was logging some 1.6

FDA has greatly limited progress in initiatives tomillion hectares both within the PFE and outside

rebuild the forest sector.

it. Some concessions were known to be illegal. The

A workshop on reforming the forest sector
was organized in Monrovia by the US Embassyin December 2003 involving forestry ofﬁcials,
logging companies, donors and NGOs. The workshop
suggested that the Security Council should only lift
its sanctions once: (i) UN peacekeepers had deployed
forces in forest areas to ensure they were safely
under control; (ii) the government had ensured
that timber taxes could be accounted for; and(iii) the FDA had been reformed and strengthened(Blundell 2003). A donors’ meeting took place in
mid 2004, with substantial amounts of money
pledged to revive the forest sector and reshape

FDA has recently attempted to review these anddecide which were legitimate, a difﬁcult task since
many ﬁles were lost or destroyed during the warb.
Bayol and Chevalier (2004) reported that there
were 42 existing forest concessions covering a
total of 5.95 million hectares (probably including
non-forested areas); there was signiﬁcant overlap
between concessions and proposed protectedareas. It was recommended that 18 of theseconcessions covering 1.82 million hectares becancelled, 13 (2.43 million hectares) be further
assessed, and eleven (1.7 million hectares)
be allowed to resume loggingb.

the forest administration after the civil war; however,The 2000 National Forest Law requires individuals

to date, few of these projects have commenced.

or companies holding FRUAs to conduct surveys

An informal alliance called the Liberia Forestand submit comprehensive work plans to the FDA.

Initiative has been formed by a number of actors

FRUA holders also have to ﬁle a performance bondincluding the US government, the World Bank, IUCN,

with the government issued by a reputable local

Conservation International and several local NGOs

commercial bank or ﬁnancial institution. FRUAssuch as Green Advocate.

have been divided into three categories basedon forest size: Class A, with a minimum size of

Status of forest management

809,000 hectares; Class B, with a minimum size

Forest for production

size of 121,000 hectares. All agreements are valid

Because of increasing demand and in order tois required to develop a large-scale integrated

promote lesser-used species in the international

wood-processing mill, for Class B a medium-sizedmarket, the government has promulgated aprocessing mill, and for Class C a small-scale

regulation which re-categorized eleven ‘future

processing unit. All holders of these rights must

obligatory species’ as ‘current obligatory species’.

undertake periodic environmental impact assess-

There are also regulations to ensure the effective

ments of their operations and engage in community

monitoring and supervision of the extraction,

development projects. As of September 2001, 28

processing and export of timber and timber

registered timber concessions (of which 17 were

products. Salvage permits to concessionaires areheld by expatriate companies) were active in theto be abolished. The growing stock of commercial

production and export of roundwood. Global Witness

timber is estimated to be about 81.4 million m3.

of 405,000 hectares; and Class C, with a minimumfor 25 years. A holder of a Class A agreement(2003) reported that, by early 2003, the number

The timber harvest is supposed to be based onof active companies had been consolidated into

AAC calculations and guided by the ATO/ITTO PCI,

14 concessions. As in Liberia as a whole, there

but these principles are not adequately applied in

is a serious shortage of skilled labour in thepractice.

forest sectorb.

Timber is harvested entirely by private companies

Silviculture and species selection. The Liberian

through forest resources utilization agreements

Selective Logging System involves selective(FRUAs) entered into with the government, or throughharvesting with no silvicultural treatments apartoperation permits. In the late 1990s, more thanfrom assuring good natural regeneration of the

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

107

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Lophira alata (ekki)

Largest quantity harvested, regenerates well in forests

Ceiba pentandra (ghe)From open areas, for veneer and plywood

Hallea ciliata (abura)Syn. Mitragyna ledermanni; general-purpose timber,from swampy areas

Entandrophragma candollei (kosipo)

Used for ﬂooring and furniture making, difﬁcult toregenerate

Gilbertiodendron preussii (limbali)

Used for heavy carpentry and shipbuilding, etc, difﬁcult
to regenerate

stand. The lack of any silvicultural treatments isof 337,000 m3 in 2001, ITTO (2005) estimateddue both to their cost and the lack of silvicultural

the volume of log exports that year based on

research and know-how (Liberia has no forest

trading-partner reports to be 940,000 m3.

research institute). FRUAs and harvest regulations

No international statistical reports have beenprescribe operations before, during and after

forthcoming from Liberia for several years due toharvesting. The main harvest controls are girth

the civil war and subsequent sanctions. During thelimits and a 25-year felling cycle; the latter is shortcivil war, some concessionaires took advantage ofcompared to those in other tropical forest regions

the armed conﬂicts to illegally increase production,and has been imposed mainly due to economic

while others curtailed their activities considerably.

considerations. It is uncertain how effective harvest

According to FAO (2005b), total roundwood

controls have been and how the present logging

production in 2003 was close to 5.9 million m3,

regime affects the forest. The percentage ofalmost 95% of which was fuelwood.

commercial timber species varies throughout thecountry. Fifteen years ago, sipo and Tarrietia utilis(niangon) were the species with the largest export
volume, but the species listed in Table 2 and others
like Tetraberlinia tubmaniana (tetra) are more
important today, both in volume and value.

With the UN sanctions on timber trade in force,
forest production has declined; total industrial
roundwood production was an estimated800,000 m3 in 2003 compared to 1.36 million m3
in 2002 (ITTO 2005). Foreign direct investment in
the timber sector, which stood at US$27 million in

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

1999, fell to an estimated US$2.8 million by the end

Planted forests currently play an insigniﬁcantof 2002. Prior to the war, wood processing wasrole in Liberia.

conﬁned to sawmilling and very limited manufacture

Forest certiﬁcation. No Liberian forests are
currently certiﬁed and there has been no move
to develop policies in this direction.

of wood-based panels, but most mills have been
destroyed or seriously damaged. A small volume
of sawnwood was exported prior to the sanctions.
The estimated earnings from the export of wood

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

and wood products in 2002 were US$325 million,

managed for production. None of the production

falling to almost nil in recent years.

PFE is currently under management plans, and noforest can therefore be considered to be managed
sustainably (see Table 3).

Non-wood forest products. Fruits, roots,
mushrooms, leaves, honey, snails and wild meat
are all harvested from forests and used as food byTimber production and trade. Liberian statistical

local communities. Wild meat is probably the main

information on timber production and trade issource of protein for rural people; some also

highly unreliable. For example, while FAO (2003)

enters the domestic market. Ntiamoa-Baidu (1997)

estimated a total industrial roundwood production

estimated that wild meat contributed up to 90% of108

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

1,310

1,310

0

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

0

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

n.d.

0

0

total protein consumption in the country. The most

& Fauna International and Conservation Interna-

commonly hunted species are antelopes and monkeys.

tionalb. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 100,500

Gums, resins, medicinal plants and cola nuts (Colahectares of forest are in protected areas conformingspp) are also marketed locally and serve as sources

to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, includingof income.

87,000 hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest.

Forests for protection

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

Soil and water. No areas have been designatedmanaged for protection. No protection PFE is

as primarily for soil and water conservation.

considered to be under SFM at present (Table 4).

Biological diversity. Liberia’s forests are of greatsigniﬁcance for biodiversity. In 1999, the West

Socioeconomic aspects

African Conservation Priority-setting Exercise

Economic aspects. In the past, forestry ranked ﬁrst

funded by the GEF identiﬁed the Upper Guinean

in foreign exchange earnings and in its contribution

Ecosystem, of which the most intact remaining

to GDP; in 2002, the reported contributions of

examples are found in Liberia, as the top conser-

forestry and logging to GDP and foreign exchangebbvation priority in West Africa . The forests are

were 26% and 65% respectively . The inconsistency

home to at least 2,900 ﬂowering plants, 240

of information on almost all aspects of forestry istimber species, 150 mammals (including thea particular problem in Liberia. In 2000, for example,

western chimpanzee, the pygmy hippopotamus andthe FDA reported the value of logs exported asforest elephant), 620 birds and 125 reptiles andUS$79.9 million, the Central Bank of the Governmentb

amphibians . Twenty-one mammals, eleven birds,of Liberia as US$60.3 million, and the Global Tradethree reptiles, ﬁve amphibians and 46 plants are

Atlas as US$103.7 million, while the UN estimatedlisted as critically endangered, endangered or

it to be US$146 million. ITTO (2003), basing its

vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened

estimate on imports reported by trading partners,

species; of these, 17 mammals, ten birds, four

reported a ﬁgure of over US$200 million, more

amphibians and three plants are found in forests

than triple the Central Bank ﬁgure. There are(IUCN 2004). Two plants are listed in CITES

similar discrepancies in reports of the number

Appendix II (CITES 2005).

employed by the forestry sector, which, for 2000,

Protective measures in production forests.
Limited protective prescriptions are includedin the FRUAs and forestry regulations, but theextent of their implementation is uncertain.
Extent of protected areas. There are two biologicalreserves in Liberia: Sapo National Park (162,000
hectares) in the southeast and the Nimba Nature
Reserve (13,600 hectares); neither is under effective
managementb. Several new protected areas havebeen proposed based on recommendations by Floraranged from 5,000 to 20,000, and was reported
to be 7,000 in 2002b. What is not in doubt is that
all of these numbers are now signiﬁcantly smaller.
Livelihood values. With around half of Liberia’s
3.3 million people living in or near forested areas,
livelihood and cultural values of forests are significant. Rural communities have become increasingly
dependent on forests for subsistence during therecent turmoil. In many rural areas, forests are
the only source of food and are crucial to the

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

109

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

101

101

0

0

0

survival of many. Thousands of people make theirhectares of protection PFE. More forest could

living from the provision of charcoal and fuelwood

be committed to the PFE from the presently

to urban centresb.

uncommitted area of about 2 million hectares.

Social relations. The civil war disrupted the tradi-•tional livelihoods of forest-dwelling communities. It
contributed to deplorable and dangerous working
conditions for timber workers, with serious humanunder SFM.
••

The UN Security Council imposed an embargoon the export of timber from Liberia in 2003

widespread.

and it remains in force. The embargo was

The sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council

designed to minimize the extent to whichin 2003 have resulted in severe restrictions onrevenues from timber exports contributed

the timber industry and the primary and secondary

to private militias.

employment provided by logging and wood processing
has subsequently dwindled. The support provided

The existing protection PFE comprises lessthan 3% of the country’s forests.

rights abuses reported in logging camps (Global
Witness 2003). Illegal commercial hunting isNone of the PFE is currently thought to be•

In the past, the Liberian forestry sector has

by logging companies for the running of schools,

generated up to a quarter or more of GDP,

medical health posts, community facilities and thebut this has declined due to the embargo

provision of infrastructure has likewise declined.

and the general disarray of the sector.

According to an ITTO mission, forest policy and even•available to facilitate forest management.

post-war reform efforts have over-emphasized thecommercial timber sector and given little attention
to resource tenure and issues of high relevance to•

The Forest Development Authority (FDA) is
responsible for overseeing the forestry sector,

the poor, such as wild-meat and fuelwood productionb.

Summary

There are few or no reliable inventory data

but it is seriously under-resourced.
•

The FDA has recently attempted to review
concession agreements and decide which

Liberia is blessed with a rich forest resource, a

are legitimate, a difﬁcult task since many ﬁlessubstantial part of which, however, has been lost

were lost or destroyed during the civil war.

or degraded in recent years during civil war. Oncethe country emerges from its political problems, a•

stakeholders for community-based forest

newly reconstituted and restructured forest sector,

management and greater beneﬁt-sharing

built on the pillars of accountability and transparency,
could play a major role in economic growth andsustainable development. But its success will depend

with rural people.
•

regime. The prescribed felling cycle of 25 years

support.

•

Liberia’s PFE covers an estimated 1.41 million
hectares, comprising 1.31 million hectares ofnatural-forest production PFE and 101,000

110

SFM TROPICS

No silvicultural system has been devised for
Liberian forests other than a selective logging

very much on strong political will and international

Key points

There is strong support across a range ofis relatively short.
•

Much of the timber-processing capacity andother infrastructure was destroyed during
the civil war and is yet to be rebuilt.

References and other sourcesb

ITTO 2005. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000
and Sustainable Forest Management in Liberia.
Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented at
the thirty-eighth session of the International
Tropical Timber Council, June 2005. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.

d

ITTO estimate

Bayol, N. & Chevalier, J-F. 2004. Current State of
the Forest Cover in Liberia: Forest Information
Critical to Decision Making. Final report to theWorld Bank. World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.
Blundell, A. 2003. A new environment for Liberia –a roadmap for the forestry sector. Outcome of
US Embassy Workshop on Forest Sector Reform,
Monrovia, Liberia, 15–16 December 2003.
Prepared for USAID, Washington, DC, USA.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.
Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/
resources/species.html (accessed September2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome,
Italy.

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
Global Witness 2003. The Usual Suspects: Liberia’s
Weapons and Mercenaries in Côte d’Ivoire andSierra Leone. Global Witness, London, UK.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y. 1997. Wildlife and Food Security
in Africa. FAO Conservation Guide 33. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries.
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data preparedfor ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).
UN Security Council 2003. Report of theSecretary-General in pursuance of paragraph
19 of resolution 1478 (2003) concerning
Liberia, 5 August 2003.

FAO 2003. Yearbook of Forest Products 2001.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

111

NIGERIA
a belt 50 to 250 km wide adjacent to the Atlantic
coast; and the savanna zone to the north, which
can be divided into the wetter Guinea zone and thedrier Sudan zone. Estimates of forest cover rangecfrom 9.7 million hectares to 13.5 million hectares
1(FAO 2005a) .
Forest types. About 70% of the natural forest is
open tree savanna, with the remaining 30% closed
forest. The closed forest includes mangrove andcoastal forest (22%), fresh water swamp (38%)
and lowland wet forest (40%). The latter type (alsocalled ‘high forest’) is divided into lowland rainforest
in the south and mixed deciduous forest to the north.
These forest types, although heavily degraded, arethe main remaining sources of hardwood timber butcover only about 2% of the total land area. Meliaceae
and Leguminosae species such as Khaya ivorensis*For legend see page 58(Lagos mahogany), Entandrophragma spp, Lovoa

Forest resourcestrichilioides (cedar) and Gosweilerodendron balsam-

Nigeria has a land area of 92.4 million hectares

area, whereas Sterculiaceae, Ulmaceae andand a population of about 134 million people, making
it Africa’s most populous country. It is bordered by
Benin to the west, Niger to the north, Cameroon
to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.
The climate is humid in the south and hotter anddrier towards the north. A large proportion of
the country sits on a plateau, which is divided into
several parts by the Niger River and its tributaries.
Mountains reaching more than 2,000 m occur inthe border area with Cameroon. There are two major
vegetation zones: the forest zone, which occurs in

iferum (agba) are characteristic of the rainforest
Moraceae species such as Nesogordonia papaverifera(otutu), Triplochiton scleroxylon (obeche), Celtis
spp and Chlorophora excelsa (iroko) characterizesemi-deciduous forests. Riparian forests are theonly closed forest in the savanna zone, characterized by species such as Mitragyna ciliata andUapaca spp. Most of Nigeria’s forests are soheavily degraded that in some areas secondary
forest succession is impeded. Elaeis guineensis(oil palm) regenerates naturally in many degradedareas of the high-forest zone. Important secondary

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)*
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted9.7–13.5

4,456

2,720d375

forest (’000 hectares)

Production

Protection

Total

1,010

4,105

* An estimated 2.7 million hectares of heavily degraded forest outside the forest reserves (so-called free areas) are also used for timber
production (Okonofua 2005) but are not included here in the PFE

1Much of the information contained in this proﬁle has been obtained from secondary sources (most notably FAO’s 2003 country
report for its African Forest Sector Outlook Study), supplemented by discussions with participants at an ITTO C&I workshop heldin December 2005.

112

SFM TROPICS

forest species in degraded forest and in unmanaged

Terminalia ivorensis, Nauclea diderrichii, Triplochiton

rubber and Gmelina plantations are Trema

sceroxylon, acacias and eucalypts, and about 10,000

guineensis, Pentaclethra macrophylla,

hectares of various pines (Okonofua 2005). There

Musanga cecropioides and Anthocleista spp.

were also about 318,000 hectares of Hevea (rubber)

Dynamics of forest resource change. Forest area
declined during the 1990s at an estimated annual
rate of 2.6% (or 398,000 hectares per year)(FAO 2005a), caused by agricultural expansion,
encroachment, over-harvesting, bush burning,illegal harvesting and de-reservations. The Federal
Department of Forestry (FDF 2001) suggested thatthe annual depletion rate to be as high as 3.5%.
A detailed analysis of the land-use dynamics ofplantations (FAO 2001), managed as an agricultural
crop but used for both rubber and timber production.
The annual planting rate in the recent past has been
about 23,000 hectares, but there is a generalbelief that most of the planted area remains
low in stockc; a National Forestry Development
Program designed to encourage community
plantation development was extended to 2007
after failing to meet its four-year target in 2003.

Nigeria shows that even forests contributing to
ﬂood-plain agriculture (fadama) and water resources
development will eventually be depleted, with potentially catastrophic consequences. The FDF (ibid.)
noted that the forest estate of Nigeria is highly
depleted and that the Sahara Desert is encroachingsouthward at a rate of about one kilometre per year.
Forest ﬁres are common and caused by deliberateburning. It was estimated that only about 975,000
hectares of forest reserves are productive, while
another 2.34 million hectares of free (non-reserve)areas are only partially productive.

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. In principle, local people own
the forests; the management and control of forest
reserves, which cover around three-quarters of theforest area, is vested in the state governmentsc.
However, dual ownership of natural forests by local
and state governments still exists in some of the
17 northern statesc. Local governments are
responsible for communal forest areas; state
governments for forest reserves, game reserves
and sanctuaries; and the federal government for

Permanent forest estate. In the 1960s, thenational parks. A total of 16 states (Abia, Akwa

government set aside an area of 9.7 million

Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Enugu,

hectares, about 10% of the country, as forest

Ebonyi, Imo, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, River

reserves. These are distributed over some 445

and Bayelsa) contain high forests and have special

sites, 75% of which are in the savanna and 25%

forest laws to administer their tenurec.

in the high forest. Since many of these forest
reserves have been badly depleted of commercial
and other timber species, not all can be includedin the estimate of production PFE given in Table 1,
which includes all FMUs allocated primarily fortimber production. More than 60% of the initial

SFM policy framework. Nigeria is a member of the
ATO and, since 2001, ITTO. The C&I frameworksof these two organizations are therefore available
for uptake in Nigeria and initial discussions were heldin December 2005 to develop such a frameworkc.

forest reserve area had been lost by 2000, due toForest policy and legislation. Nigeria has had

agricultural encroachment, illegal logging, planned

forestry and natural-resource conservation lawscagricultural development and urbanization . The

since the ﬁrst half of the 20th century. The ﬁrst

estimate of protection PFE in Table 1 is taken

Forestry Act was enacted in 1937, which estab-from UNEP-WCMC (2004).

lished a forest reserve system under the state

Planted forests. The estimated planted forest
area of 375,000 hectares in 2000 (FAO 2001)
was thought to comprise at least 110,000
hectares of Gmelina arborea and an area of about
160,000 hectares of different hardwood species,
including 74,000 hectares of teak in forest
reserves and in private plantations, an unknown
area of other planted hardwood species such as

governments. The government established a morecomprehensive forest law in 1956, the Law for the
Preservation and Control of Forests in Eastern
Nigeria. It gives the designated minister responsibility
for the protection, control and management offorest reserves and protected areas; at the sametime it gives the minister the power to de-reserve
forests (ie re-classify them for other uses). SomeSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

113

states have enacted speciﬁc regulations to monitor

Forest Resources Utilization, Agroforestry, Support

and control the reserves, but the continuing highServices and Extension and Environmental

rate of deforestation suggests that overall control

Conservation. At the federal level, the Forestry

has not been effective.

Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) has the
mandate for research and education on forestry

Nigeria’s National Agricultural Policy, adopted

and the utilization of forest products. Forest-sector

in 1988, sets forth the national policy on forest

development has been hindered by a lack of funds

management and the sustainable use of forest
resources. The goal is to achieve self-sufﬁciency inall aspects of forest production. Major goals are theexpansion of the forest estate and its management

and frequent policy changes, despite (or perhaps
partly because of) the extensive bureaucracy involvedin overseeing the sector.

for sustained yield, the promotion of forest regen-

Several NGOs provide inputs to the management

eration at rates higher than harvesting, the protectionof forestry resources. Notable among these areof forest resources from ﬁre and grazing, and thethe Nigerian Conservation Foundation, the Nigeriandevelopment of forest industry. To achieve these

Environmental Study and Action Team, Savannah

objectives, it aims to expand the forest estate from

Conservation Nigeria, the Forestry Association

10% to 20%. Nevertheless, de-reservation andof Nigeria and local initiatives such as the Ekuricdeforestation have expanded over the past 15 years .

Initiative in Cross River State. However, their

As of the end of 2005, Nigeria has started ainﬂuence on forest management, particularly inprocess of national hearings for a new national

forest reserves, remains smallc.

forest policy and a new national forest actc. The
draft policy includes provisions to increase the total
area under SFM to 25% of the nation’s land area;
to develop principles, criteria and indicators for thesustainable management of forest resources; andto improve environmental services of forests forc

Status of forest management
Forest for production
While many forest reserves were intensively
managed in the past for timber production, asocial and economic beneﬁts .
Institutions involved in forests. The forestry
sector is administered at the federal, state andlocal government levels; responsibilities, authority
and resources are shared among these according

signiﬁcant number have also been almost completely
deforested while retaining the designation, leading
to the apparent contradiction of non-forested
forest reserves.

to the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, which gives

Timber concessions are awarded by state govern-

shared control over the development of natural

ments, which receive all timber royalties. In theory,

resources to the local governments and the states.

a proportion of forest revenues should go to the local

However, there is a lack of clarity in the respective

communal landowners and traditional institutions;mandates of these bodies (there are 36 statein practice, however, the funds often get divertedc.

forestry departments – some of the states

For this reason, local communities have little incentive

even have ministries of forestsc – and 774 local

to prevent illegal logging and often collude withcouncils), which leads to inefﬁciencies. The FDF,

illegal loggers because they derive greater beneﬁts

created in 1970, is currently under the Ministrythat way. According to Sanwo (2005), 70% ofof Environment; it has no authority over forest

the total timber extracted in high-forest states inmanagement and is mainly responsible for interna-

Nigeria is stolen, with no records kept. The statetional treaties and for providing policy guidelines toforestry departments have been unable to protectcthe forestry authorities of the states . The National

the forest estate adequately from extensive

Forestry Development Committee (NFDC) is the body

encroachment. Harvesting of industrial wood is

responsible for formulating national forest policy anddone by mill operators, by independent registered

technical guidelines on forest management . In orderloggers and, in many cases, by poachersc. In theto facilitate ﬁeld operations the FDF fosters forestry

past, some operators were awarded ﬁve- to 20-yearand environmental development through six divisions:concessions by states, but this has recently been

Forestry Management, Forest Resource Survey,

reduced to one to three years in most states toc114

SFM TROPICS

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Mansonia altissima (ofun)

Used in sawmilling and veneer production

Tectona grandis (teak)

Valuable plantation species

Terminalia superba (afara)

Commercial species used as sawnwood

Entandrophragma candollei (omu)All-purpose commercial species

Triplochiton scleroxylon (obeche)

Now the major harvested species for all purposes

improve control . As of December 2005 NigeriacPlanted forest and trees outside the forest.

has deﬁned a total of 1,160 FMUs (both within

Despite its long forestry history, the large-scaleand outside the reserve system), of which 154

development of planted forests has been recent inccurrently are producing timber . The total area

Nigeria. By the end of the 1960s, the management

under forest production is estimated to beof forest reserves in the high-forest zone was

1.06 million hectares (Okonofua 2005).

assessed by the government and the World Bank

Silviculture and species selection. Initially, theforest resources in the high-forest zone weremanaged for timber production on a felling cycleof 100 years, with a speciﬁed minimum diameter
limit for the different species of between 60 and
90 cm (FDF 1996). Forests in the southern andsouth-central regions were sub-divided into
numbered mile-square compartments managed on
the basis of working plans prepared by the FDF. In
response to harvesting pressures, the felling cycle
for natural forests was reduced to 50 years andhas since been further lowered. Natural regener-

to be economically unviable, and many natural
stands have been converted to plantation projects,
in particular with Gmelina arboreac. Many otherforest reserves, particularly in the Guinea savanna,
have also been converted to planted forests of exotic(acacias and eucalypts) and indigenous species.
Many of the planted forest areas are harvested
today; nevertheless, few of them are adequately
managed for long-term productionc. Trees outside
the forest are mainly relics of the pre-existing
forest cover, sacred forests, forest patchesestablished by local villagers and home gardens.

ation of the harvested forests was stimulated byForest certiﬁcation. The creation of a national

the Tropical Shelterwood System (TSS). By theworking group on forest and timber certiﬁcation

mid 1960s, a total area of 200,000 hectares in

has been proposed and discussed for a few years

the western region of Nigeria was managed underwithout resultc. No Nigerian forest has so far been

the TSS system (Okonofua 2005). Owing to thecertiﬁed.

low growth rates of the natural forest, the TSS
was abandoned in the early 1970s in favour of
artiﬁcial regeneration under the taungya system.
The early taungya plantations led to subsequentmajor plantation schemes in the high-forest zone.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. The lack of detailed
information makes it difﬁcult to assess the quality offorest management. Around 1.06 million hectaresof forest reserves were allocated in mid 2005 toMore than 300 tree species have been identiﬁed

concessions and licences (Okonofua 2005). Aboutas possible timber species; about 40 species are

650,000 hectares of forest reserves are reported

harvested today. In addition to the ﬁve species

to be covered by management plans, including

listed in Table 2 and Gmelina arborea from planted

planted forestsc. No estimate of the area under

forests, Entandrophragma cylindricum (sapele),

SFM was possible (Table 3)c.

Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum (agba),
Chlorophora excelsa (iroko), Terminalia ivorensis(edo), Brachystegia spp and Lophira alata (ekki)
are the main species harvested for timber.

Timber production and trade. The estimated totalroundwood production in 2003 was 69.9 million m3,
of which 60.4 million m3 (86%) was for fuelwood

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

115

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
2,720

1,060

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁed

650

0(FAO 2005b). Nigeria’s total production of industrial
roundwood was an estimated 7.10 million m3 in
2003. It produced 2.0 million m3 of sawnwood
and 55,000 m3 of plywood and exported about3

3

100,000 m of logs and 41,000 m of sawnwood(ITTO 2005). The wood-processing sector is rundown; most mills are fully depreciated, obsolete
and not properly maintained. The sector runs at
30–40% of installed capacity and recovery rates
are generally low. There is also a critical shortageof raw material for the timber industry, which isunable to process small-dimension plantationmaterials. Once a signiﬁcant exporter, Nigeria is

Sustainably
managed
c

n.d.

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

375

175

0

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Programs dealing with environmental management have been in constant ﬂux,
with negative consequences. For example, theFederal Ministry of Environment (2001) statedthat efforts to combat desertiﬁcation “have been
adversely affected by frequent shifts in policy bygovernment. Such policy shifts have been observed
to be dictated by the country’s economic fortune or
misfortune.” No information on effective measures
to conserve soil and water was available for thisreport.

now a net importer of primary forest products: in

Biological diversity. Thirty mammals, ten birds,

2002 imports of forest products were valued at anfour reptiles, 13 amphibians and 172 plants are

estimated US$123 million, compared to exports

listed as critically endangered, endangered orof US$18.5 million (of which US$14 million wasvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened

accounted for by sawnwood) (FAO 2005b).

species; of these, 17 mammals, six birds, twelve

Non-wood forest products. Marketed NWFPs
include Acacia senegal (gum arabic), rattan andﬁbres such as Raphia spp, Garcinia afzelii (chewsticks), and sheabutter from nuts of Vitellaria
paradoxa (syn. Butyrospermum parkii). Many
NWFPs are locally traded and consumed by ruralcommunities, including leaves (eg Abura spp), fruit,amphibians and 69 plants are found in forests(IUCN 2004). Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum,a tree species that is endemic to the region andharvested in Nigeria, is listed as endangered on
the IUCN red list due to over-harvesting and habitat
loss (ibid.). Two plant species are listed in CITES
Appendix I and 44 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

bark, nuts, honey, mushrooms, resins, canes andProtective measures in production forests.

medicinal plants such as Garcinia spp. Wild meat

The principal constraints on conservation in theis perhaps the most important NWFP, providing a

production PFE include poaching, over-harvesting,source of protein for the rural population in isolated

illegal burning, grazing and deforestationc. Fewchigh-forest areas and in the savanna zone . Some

protective measures are undertaken in many

important plants providing edible products include:

forest reservesc.

Irvingia gabonensis, the most important fruit tree
in the forest zone; Spondias mombin and Dacryodes
edulis; Gnetum africanum leaves as vegetables; theseeds of Parkia biglobosa (dawa-dawa); and the nutsof Cola spp. Fruits of oil palm and Raphia spp areused widely for palm wine. In 2005, Alamblackia
seeds in degraded forest stands were collected forthe ﬁrst time in Cross River State for margarine
productionc.

116

SFM TROPICS

Extent of protected areas. According to UNEPWCMC (2004), 1.01 million hectares of forest are
in protected areas conforming to IUCN protected-area
categories I–IV, including about 418,000 hectaresof lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest and
512,000 hectares of unclassiﬁed forest. The federal
government controls the eight national parks throughthe National Parks Service. Nature conservation
laws include the 1916 Wild Animals Preservation

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

1,010

1,010

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Act (consequently modiﬁed and adopted by thefor Mansonia altissima varies from 1,000 Nigerianstatesc), the 1985 Endangered Species Decree

naira in the state of Ekiti to 225 naira in Kogi. Thisand the 1976 Land Use Act. The ﬁrst National

ad hoc administrative setting of royalties causes

Park, Kainji Lake, was established in 1973; themany problems in the Nigerian forest sector.

Chad Basin, Cross River, Gashaka-Gumti, Old Oyo
and Yankari national parks in 1993; and the Kamuku
and Okomu national parks in 1999. Five of thesenational parks are located close to borders withneighbouring countries, suggesting potential fortransboundary conservation. Some national parks
have been degraded due to illegal hunting andlogging, the smuggling of primates, grazing andillegal burning.

Livelihood values. Forest products, particularly
NWFPs, support the subsistence of local communities. An estimated 25 million people are greatly
dependent on forest resources for their livelihoodsc.
Hunting and ﬁshing are important activities. No
information was available on the extent of sustainable
rural-based programs to stabilize ecosystems anddiversify products in order to meet the continuing
needs and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. According to stateand federal ofﬁcialsc, about 500,000 hectaresof protection PFE could potentially be managed
sustainably. However, due to a lack of clear
information on what is happening in the ﬁeld, thegenerally widespread problems of degradation,illegal logging, poaching and encroachment, andthe lack of data on management plans and theirimplementation, the area of protection PFE
currently being managed sustainably is not
estimated here (Table 4).

Socioeconomic aspects

Social relations. The sharing of beneﬁts fromforestry activities between state governments andlocal communities varies from state to state. State
governments are supposed to share a percentage
of any revenues collected from forestry activities
outside forest reserves (on average 25–40% in thecsavanna and 30–35% in the closed forest ) withlocal communities, but this is often not done inpractice. The continuing decline and degradationof forest resources in Nigeria suggest that therelationship between local communities and forest
administrations is not conducive to forest conservation and SFM in most of the high-forest statescof Nigeria .

Economic aspects. The forest sector contributed
only 0.5% to Nigeria’s GDP in 2001 (FAO 2003).
Although forests do provide a major part ofSummary

domestic energy, food and medical supplies, these

There are several obstacles to SFM in Nigeria.

are not fully reﬂected in formal national accounts.

These include the discretionary power of government

A major problem facing Nigerian forestry is inade-to de-reserve or harvest the forests; the lack ofquate funding. In 1993, the federal government

a coherent forest policy; the prevalence of illegal

urged state governments to pay 10% of forestry

logging and harvesting of NWFPs in most of therevenues into a trust fund for forest management.

high-forest states; chronic under-resourcing of

However, only a few state governments have imple-

forestry programs and forest management;cmented this proposal . The setting and collection

overlapping responsibilities among federal, stateof forest revenues is at the discretion of stateand local governments and excessive bureaucracy;

governments and sometimes local communitiesc,

the lack of inter-sectoral coordination; and theso there are large variations in the fees charged inoverall absence of reliable data on which to basedifferent regions; for instance, the stumpage rate

forestry planning and development. Nigeria has a

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

117

long history of forest management and the formal•

A National Forestry Development Program

goal is to achieve self-sufﬁciency in all aspects ofdesigned to encourage community plantation

forest production; however, the country, once a

development is in place.

signiﬁcant exporter, is now a net importer ofprimary forest products and considerable work•

to local communal landowners but, in practice,must be done to achieve this goal.

funds are often diverted, reducing the incentive
for local people to protect forests.

Key points•

Nigeria has an estimated PFE of 4.11 million
hectares, comprising 2.72 million hectares ofnatural production forest, 1.01 million hectares••

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, heldof Nigeria’s total land area.

12–16 December 2005, Abeokuta, Nigeria,d

A forest reserve system was created in 1937

Central Bank of Nigeria 2002. Annual Report andcovering 9.7 million hectares (10% of the landStatement of Accounts for the Year Ended 31

area), but much of this is no longer forested.

December 2001. Central Bank of Nigeria,

The goal of the 1988 forest policy is to expand

Insufﬁcient information was available to
The forestry sector is administered at theaccording to the Nigerian constitution.
However, there is a lack of clarity in the
mandates of the three levels.
The main concerns of the federal government
are to provide an adequate policy framework
for the states and to support afforestationand conservation programs.
State governments are solely responsible forthe management of forest resources and thecoordination of forest development activities
with local communities.

•

Forest production has fallen, creating an
imbalance between supply and demand. From
its previous status as a signiﬁcant exporter offorest products, Nigeria has become a net
importer.

•society and the private sector.

of the data presented hereinc.

federal, state and local government levels•

attended by 49 people from government, civil

Data are generally weak and the federal

estimate the area of PFE under SFM.

•

Information derived from a background paper

planted forest. The PFE covers less than 5%

has not occurred.

•cand discussions with participants at a training

the forest estate from 10% to 20%, but this•References and other sourcesof protection forest and 375,000 hectares ofgovernment cannot conﬁrm the accuracy•

A proportion of revenues from timber should go

The wood-processing industry is characterizedby outdated technology, poor recovery andinefﬁciency.

118

SFM TROPICS

ITTO estimate

Abuja, Nigeria.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.
Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/
resources/species.html (accessed September2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome,
Italy.
FAO 2003. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa.
Subregional Report for West Africa. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FDF 1996. Nigerian Forestry Action Programme.
FDF, Abuja, Nigeria.
FDF 1998. Assessment of Vegetation and Land
Use Changes in Nigeria between 1976/78 and1993/95. Prepared by Geomatics International,
Canada. FDF, Abuja, Nigeria.
FDF 2001. Forestry Outlook Study for Africa.
Country Report – Nigeria. Prepared by Aruofor,
R., Federal Department of Forestry, July 2001.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

Federal Ministry of Environment 2001. National

Okonofua, S. 2005. Silvicultural management of

Action Programme to Combat Desertiﬁcation.

natural and planted forests in Nigeria – anSubmitted to the UN Convention to Combat

overview. Presented at the ITTO national

Desertiﬁcation. Federal Ministry ofworkshop on criteria and indicators forEnvironment, Abuja, Nigeria.

sustainable management of tropical rain

Gregersen, H., Contreras-Hermosilla, A., White,
A. & Phillips, L. 2004. Forest Governance andforests in Nigeria, 12–16 December 2005,
Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Federal Systems. Paper presented at the Inter-

Osmeobo, G. 2001. Wild plants in everyday use:laken Workshop on Decentralization in Forestry,

conservation towards sustainable livelihoods inInterlaken, Switzerland, 27–30 April 2004.

Nigeria. International Journal of Sustainable

CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia, and Intercooperation,

Development and World Ecology 8(4).

Bern, Switzerland.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened

Sanwo, K. 2005. Effects of pilferage and biopiracy
on the development and harnessing of renewable

Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

resources in Nigeria. National Research Network(accessed September 2005).

on Pilferage in Agriculture, College of Agricultural

Marguba, L. 2002. National Parks and their
Beneﬁts to Local Communities in Nigeria.
National Parks Service, Abuja, Nigeria.
Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y. 1997. Wildlife and Food
Security in Africa. FAO Conservation Guide 33.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

Sciences, Yewa Campus, Ayetoro, Ogun State,
Nigeria.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for
ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

119

TOGO
Forest types. The scarcity of forest is due to both
low precipitation and deforestation. Apart froma few fragments of closed semi-deciduous forestsin the southwest, covering around 400 hectares,
there are only a few small islands of moist and dry
forests in the south and centre and gallery forests
along watercourses. The majority of the forest area
is savanna, which extends from the Guinean into
the Sudanian vegetation zone. On the plateau,dense savanna forests are characterized by Ceiba
pentandra, Daniellia oliveri and Butyrospermum
paradoxum. Farther north, Khaya senegalensis andProsopis africana predominate, along with the palm
Borassus aethiopum. There are stands of semideciduous closed forest in the mountains, with
Antiaris africana and Chlorophora excelsa among
the most typical species. Areas of the main forest*For legend see page 58

types are estimated as follows for 2003c:•

Forest resources

semi-deciduous forests(forêts denses semi-décidues)

Togo has a land area of 5.68 million hectares anda population of about 4.6 million people. It lies northof the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa between Ghana

106,400 hectares•

montane forests (forêts de montagne)
46,500 hectaresin the west and Benin in the east. There is a narrowcoastal belt and an extensive inland plateau, rising•closed dry forests (forêts denses sèches)from 60 m to 450 m towards the north. The
Atakorian Mountains stretch from southwest tonortheast and cover much of western Togo. The

25,500 hectares•

tree savanna (savanes arborées)
594,000 hectares

highest peak (Mt Agou) reaches an altitude of
986 m. There is little forest in Togo. FAO (2005a)•

secondary forests and agroforestry land

estimated the forest area at 510,000 hectares in
2000; the government of Togo estimated 1.09 million
hectares of forest areaa, a large part of which iscovered by bush and tree savanna. A third estimate(631,000 hectares) can be derived from the data
for forest types given below (excluding savanna but
including ‘secondary forest and agricultural land’).

453,000 hectares
Dynamics of forest resource change. Deforestation
is high relative to the total area of forest and isestimated to have been an average 21,000 hectares
per year over the past 12 yearsa. The highest
deforestation rates have been observed in the morehumid area, where forests are important in water-

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural

0.51–1.09

272

120

SFM TROPICS

Production

forest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted41

14

Protection

Total

313

368

shed protection. The major threats to the scarcecommunities and private citizens, with no strictremaining dense forests include uncontrolled bush-control from the state, although such off-reserveﬁres (the main cause of deforestation in non-PFE

forests provide most of the forest products soldforested land), excessive fuelwood extraction, shifting

locally.

cultivation for annual crops, and illegal cutting of the
few remaining commercial tree species. Uncotrolledforest ﬁres occur regularly at the end of the drierseasons and cause damage to already degraded
forest areas. Over the past 30 years, the frontierof cotton plantations (in particular in the southernzone around the forest of Abdoulaye and in the

SFM policy framework. Although Togo participatedin the C&I processes of ITTO, Dry-zone Africa and
ATO/ITTO, no adequate framework for SFM has
yet been developed. No strategic plan or actions
are foreseen beyond securing forest reserves
from conversion and encroachment.

western Tchilla-Monota forest area) has expanded

Forest policy and legislation. Forest use is regulated

at the expense of forest. Another reason for larger-

by the 1938 forest code and the environmental

scale conversion of forests is the introduction ofcode of 1988. The 1938 code has been amended

new varieties of coffee adapted to local conditions.

by subsequent regulations, such as Decree 84/86

Permanent forest estate. According to thegovernment of Togo, there are 502,000 hectaresof PFE, comprising 488,000 hectares of degradedclosed natural forests and 14,000 hectares ofaof April 1984. A new forest code was submitted to
the Legislative Assembly but as of the end of 2005
no decision had been taken on its implementation.
A new forest policy was elaborated at the beginningplanted forests . This PFE is mainly located withinof 2000 and is based on the following principles:

83 forest reserves (forêts classés et forêts sacrées)

the involvement and empowerment of the people,

with a total area of 773,811 hectares; these are

the integration of forestry into rural development,

encroached upon by local people to a varied degreea.

and the rationalization and decentralization of

The forest reserves, mostly created in the colonial

forestry planning. There is a National Forestry

era (before 1960), now consist of heavily degraded

Action Program (Plan d’Action Forestier National –primary forests, open secondary forests, planted

PAFN) and a National Environmental Action Plan (Planforests and human-induced savanna dominated by

National d’Action pour l’Environnement – PNAE),

Ceiba pentandra. The estimate in Table 1 is somewhat

the latter adopted in 2000. In addition, an environ-lower than the ofﬁcial estimate to allow for themental management plan derived from the latter

additional deforestation that is believed to haveincludes rules for the management of forest

taken placec.

ecosystems and guidelines for the conservation

Planted forests. There are about 38,000 hectaresof planted forests, 24,000 hectares being outsideaand use of biological diversity.
A law approved in 1998 (Law 98-006) and modiﬁed

the PFE . Plantations are often located inside thein 2001 stipulates the political commitment offorest reserves, but privately owned planted forest

Togo to decentralized management in rural areas.

areas are now being developed.

Communes, prefectures and regions have become
territorial authorities (collectivités territoriales),Institutional arrangementswith legal status and ﬁnancial independence. Theseauthorities have responsibilities for the management

Forest tenure. There are two types of forestof the state domain and on environmental issues.

tenure: public forest and private forest. Closed

Communes and prefectures have an important stake

forests and dense tree savanna are generally partin the management of forest reserves. Villagesof public forest reserves owned by the state. In all

adjacent to forest reserves generally have a forest

forest reserves, user rights for local communities

committee (Comité villageois de Développement –exist according to the colonial forest code of 1938

CVD), which takes cares of local interests in the(articles 12–18). The legal situation, however,use of the forest reserves and is responsible forremains unclear; because of this, perhaps, mostthe management of committed forests. So far,forest reserves are increasingly threatened by

however, overall responsibility for natural resource

conversion under shifting cultivation. Outside themanagement has mostly remained with the central

reserves, all trees and plantations belong to local

Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

121

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Tectona grandis (teak)

From planted forests, production about 40,000 m3 per year

Khaya grandifoliola (acajou)

From natural forests, less than 1,000 m3 per year

Chlorophora excelsa (iroko)

From natural forests, less than 1,000 m3 per year

Antiaris africana (ako)From natural forests, less than 1,000 m3 per year

Triplochiton scleroxylon (ayous)

And 12–15 other species, totalling under 40,000 m3 per year

(Ministère de l’Environnement et des Ressources(brigades de feux de brousse). There has also been

Forestières – MERF).

some recent investment by the private sector in

Institutions involved in forests. MERF is in charge

teak plantations.

of forests. Responsibilities were reorganized in
1996 and new institutional reforms proposed in

Status of forest management

2001. According to the new scheme, there are
ﬁve departments to administer the environment
and forests: the Directorate for Administration,
Finance and Planning (Direction de l’Administration,
des Finances et de la Planiﬁcation); the Directorate
for the Environment (Direction de l’Environnement),
responsible for overall environmental policies; theDirectorate for Forests and Water (Direction desEaux et Forêts), responsible for forest policy andlaw enforcement; the Directorate for Green Space

Forest for production
The rural population traditionally depends onforests and trees for fuelwood, fodder, timberand other forest products; this heavy dependence
generates great pressure on forests. Most of the
83 remaining forest reserves are now threatened.
They can be divided into ﬁve classes, as follows:(i) Class I: comprises 18 converted forest(Direction des Espaces Verts), responsible for urban

reserves that have been cleared and this land-

forestry; and the Directorate for Fauna and Hunting

use conversion is irreversible. The land will

(Direction de la Faune et de la Chasse). A parastatal

support agriculture or has become degraded;organization, the Ofﬁce for Forest Development
and Harvesting (Ofﬁce de Développement etd’Exploitation des Forêts – ODEF), is responsible
for the management of forest reserves, forestry
extension, harvesting and reforestation activitiesa.
The only forestry training institute in the country(INFA in Tové), which has been closed since 1990
because of a shortage of funds, was expected tostart forestry classes again in 2004. There is noforest research institute.
In 2002, 937 people were engaged in the forest
administration, only eight of them with higher
education in forestry and environmental managementa.
Some small national NGOs are concerned withlocal forestry development, but their resources aremeagre. There has been a general trend towards
wider public participation in the management offorests. Communities and NGOs are often involvedin forest protection measures such as ﬁre protection

122

SFM TROPICS(ii) Class II: comprises six heavily degradedreserves that contain secondary forest or
urbanized forest reserves;(iii) Class III: comprises eight forest reserveswith planted areas that are either intact ordegraded and heavily degraded natural forests;(iv) Class IV: comprises 48 reserves in which theforest is degraded and/or transformed into
secondary forest and may also contain plantedareas and natural forest; and(v) Class V: comprises three sacred forests with
more-or-less intact forestsa.
A number of forest management plans have been
prepared to secure the sustainable use of the main
forest reserves, mainly through projects supported
by international organizations including ITTO. There
are no large-scale timber harvesting or forest
concession areas. Cutting permits (permis deTable 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total
41

Allocated toconcessions/
under licence
41

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁed

a

5.5

0

Sustainably
managed
5.5

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

a

14

1.2

0

coupe) are the only legal basis for small-scale

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

timber harvesting and the cutting of single trees.

managed for production. An estimated 17,500

Silviculture and species selection. The mostimportant commercial tree species is Tectona
grandis (teak). Teak plantations were introduced
in 1910 from Burma by the Germans and havebecome well adapted to the country. The species
regenerates naturally and is widely used in agroforestry plantations, as street trees and in commercial
planted forests. A silvicultural system to induce
natural regeneration has been developed by ODEF

hectares of production forest are covered bymanagement plans, including 10,900 hectares ofsavanna, 5,500 hectares of dense natural forestand 1,200 hectares of plantationsa. A total of
4,600 hectares of teak and eucalypt plantations
are harvested according to harvesting plans, but
only 1,200 hectares of these have full management
plansa. The area of natural PFE managed sustainably
is estimated to be at least 5,500 hectares, comprisingand is practised in some of the older teak stands.

the core areas of three forest reserves – Eto, Haho-

Timber harvesting takes place in some forest

enriched and managed with effective support fromreserves, in savanna, in planted forests and among
off-forest trees. Apart from teak, no species is usedin large quantities. Besides those listed in Table 2,
species harvested include: Afzelia africana, Lophiraalata, Terminalia spp, Isoberlinia doka, Daniellia oliveri,

Baloé and Missahoe – that have been especiallythe local populationc and from ITTO projects (Table 3).
Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
3

production was an estimated 5.85 million m in
3

2003, of which 5.65 million m was fuelwood

Dichostachys glomerata, Parkia biglobosa, Bauhinia(FAO 2005b). Traded fuelwood recently averaged

spp, Pterocarpus erinaceus and Anogeissus

2 million m per year , to which should be added

leiocarpus. In the future there may be an increased

an estimated informal production of more thancommercial use of trees outside reserves, in

6 million m . Industrial roundwood production

particular of Ceiba pentandra (fromager), Colaamounted to an estimated 208,000 m in 2003,

gigantea and Albizia ferruginea.

down from 314,000 m in 1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005);

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The
main planted species is teak (18,000 hectares).
The planned planting rate of teak is 300 hectares
per year, mainly on agricultural land using thetaungya systemc. This planting rate is generally

3

a

c

3

3

3

most of this wood comes from planted forests.
Timber products from neighbouring countries(mainly Ghana) are exported from the free port ofLomé. Private investors have recently developed
small-dimension timber-processing units for teakc.

considered inadequate to meet the timber needs

Non-wood forest products. Wild meat is the mostof the country; a rate of 2,000 hectares per year

important NWFP from forest reserves. Anotherof industrial plantations would be needed to meet

considerable source of income, though illegal, hasdomestic requirements for construction timber alonec.

been the collection of reptiles for export. Fruits,

Off-forest trees in the savanna, including teak,roots and medicinal plants are also collected. The

limba, ayous, ceiba and cola, are providing moreremaining forests are heavily degraded and manyand more of the raw material for local sawmills.

NWFPs are no longer available in the required

Forest certiﬁcation. No forest has been certiﬁed.

quantities or qualities.

Teak plantations established by the private sector

At least 18 reptile species are produced in animalmight have the potential and market prospects tofarms for export, in particular Python regius (royaljustify certiﬁcation, but no initiative has been taken yet.

python), but also chameleons (Chamaeleo gracilis

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

123

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
And waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

313

60.9

200

n.d.

n.d.

and C. senegalensis), big lizards (Varanus niloticus

most of this area is unclassiﬁed. No information

and V. exanthematicus), and turtles such as Kinixys

is available on the area of protection PFE covered

belliana, K. erosa and K. homeana.

by management plans or the existence of effective

Forest for protection

protective measures to secure the areas fromencroachment and degradation.

Soil and water. An estimated 200,000 hectares

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

of forest are managed primarily for the protection

managed for protection. Insufﬁcient data wereof soil and watera. An estimated 5,713 hectaresof protection plantations had been established byavailable for an estimate to be made on the areaof protection PFE under SFM.

the end of 2002 in forest reserves – Kara, 362
hectares; Namon, 413 hectares; Asrama, 338
hectares; and Avétnou, 1,100 hectaresa.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Some socioeconomic measures

Biological diversity. Togo is home to more thanhave had negative side-effects on forest management.

1,450 forest-dependent plant species, more thanThe devaluation of the regional currency (FCFA)

600 birds, 146 mammals, 138 reptiles andin 1994 has tended to encourage the misuse of

42 amphibiansa. A national strategy for biologicalresources, while the privatization of proﬁtablediversity was prepared in the late 1990s. It contains

enterprises has limited the expansion of foresta catalogue of rare, endangered and endemic species;

areas because of the reluctance of private operators

tree species listed include Entandrophragma cylin-

to make long-term investments. It is not yet clear

dricum, Terminalia superba, Terminalia ivorensis,

what the effects of decentralization and the hoped-

Piptadeniastrum africanum, Khaya grandifoliola

for greater transparency will be. Since 2000, thereaand Khaya ivorensis . Eleven mammals, two birds,

has been some modest private investment in teakthree reptiles, three amphibians and ten plants

plantations on private land. The contribution of theare listed as critically endangered, endangered

forest sector to national GDP is very small, althoughor vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened

the importance of informal activities (especially

species; of these, eight mammals and three

related to wood energy) is considerable. Private

amphibians are found in forests (IUCN 2004).

enterprises employ about 1,000 salaried full- andOne plant species is listed in CITES Appendix I

part-time workers. It is estimated that forestry

and seven in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

provides about 90,000 jobs in the informal sector,

Protective measures in production forests.
Provisions are made in the 1938 forest code

77% of them for women and children, many incommercial fuelwood collection and charcoal-making.

and Decree 84/86 to prohibit logging on slopes

Livelihood values. The few existing forests are often

susceptible to erosion as well as for the protection

considered by rural people to be under-utilizedof streams, springs and watersheds.

reserves of land; thus they are heavily encroached

Extent of protected areas. The government of Togoestimated that the area of forest in IUCN protectedarea categories I–IV was 255,640 hectares,
192,000 hectares being semi-deciduous mountainupon and claimed for subsistence production. Forest
reserves provide an important source of protein
for people living in rural areas. Forests also are aplace of ritual and spiritual signiﬁcance for many

forests and 63,640 hectares savannaa. According

ethnic groups.

to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 60,900 hectares ofSocial relations. The participation of local stake-forest are in protected areas conforming to IUCN

holders in forestry decisions and management is

protected-area categories I–IV; the forest type for

not well developed.

124

SFM TROPICS

Summary•developed and will complement the teak and

The main difﬁculty in protecting and managing

other plantations in the PFE.

forests in Togo is the heavy pressure on them froman impoverished rural population. Indeed, pressure

Privately owned, planted forests are now being•

However, planted forests in the PFE are small

on the existing forest reserves is already high andand generally lack proper planning, monitoring

the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources,

and silvicultural follow-up.

which is in charge of forests, is unable to secure
their integrity. Capacity for forest management•

forest committees to manage local interests in

is low, and improvement is inhibited by a lack of

the use of forest reserves.

means. This affects many forestry operations:for example, management plans are conﬁned toMany villages adjacent to forest reserves havea few teak plantations, scarcely 300 hectares

References and other sourcesof new plantations are established annually, anda

ODEF 2002. Rapport National – Objectif An 2000

protection against ﬁre is mostly ineffective. A

OIBT : Progrès Réalisés. Submitted to ITTO,

process of decentralization has been initiated,

February 2002. Ministry for Environment andwhereby communes, prefectures and regions
have responsibilities for the management of thestate domain and on environmental issues, but

Natural Resources, Lomé, Togo. Unpublished.
cdiscussions with participants at, a training

the effects of this process on forest management

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held

are yet to be seen.

21–24 July 2003, Kpalimé, Togo, attended by
35 people from government, civil society andKey points•

Togo has an estimated PFE of 368,000 hectares,
comprising 41,000 hectares of natural production
forest, 313,000 hectares of protection forest•

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).

At least 5,500 hectares of natural-forest

for an estimate to be made of the area ofprotection PFE so managed.
Forest reserves and protected areas are noteffectively protected or managed, and many areheavily degraded and subject to uncontrolled
encroachment, the illegal gathering of NWFPs,
poaching and timber theft.
Forestry training capacity is very limited, andfewer than ten personnel in the forestry admin-•

ITTO estimate

additional private plantations outside the PFE).

sustainably. Insufﬁcient information was available•

the private sector.
dand 14,000 hectares of plantations (andproduction PFE are considered to be managed•

Information derived from the report of, and

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened

istration have higher education in forestry orSpecies. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

environmental management.

(accessed September 2005).

There is a lack of a national SFM framework

UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forestsand of forest management standards forwithin protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

natural forests.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

125

126

SFM TROPICSASIA & THE PACIFICSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

127

CAMBODIA
bordering Laos and Thailand. This forest type isdominated by Dipterocarpaceae, with ﬁve species –Shorea hypochra, Anisoptera costata, A. glabra,
Dipterocarpus costatus and Hopea odorata – almost
always present; Parkia streptocarpa, Heritiera
javanica and Syzygium cinereum are other common
species. Medium-altitude closed forest is found in the
hilly country around the Gulf of Thailand and eastof the Mekong River. The dominant trees, which canreach a height of 20 m, include oaks such as Lithocarpus spp, Quercus cambodiensis and Castanopsis
cambodiana. Closed deciduous forests and open
forests are mixed and found in the northwesternpart of the country; common species include
Lagerstroemia spp, Xylia dolabriformis, Vitex spp,
Anogeissus pierrei, Grewia paniculata, Terminalia
spp, Ceiba pentandra, Pterocarpus pedatus and*For legend see page 58

Irvingia oliveri. Closed semi-deciduous forests occur

Forest resources

where the dry season lasts three to ﬁve months
and vary considerably in appearance and ﬂoristic

Cambodia has a land area of 18.1 million hectares

composition. Secondary forest formations include

and a population of 12.6 million people. The country

bamboos and trees such as species of Diospyros,is dominated by a large alluvial central plain, throughLagerstroemia and Cratoxylon, as well as Grewia

which courses the Mekong River and in the centre

paniculata, Combretum quadrangulare and Diptero-of which lies Tonle Sap Lake. Mountains and plateaux

carpus intricatus.

surround the central plain except in the southeast.
Only a few points exceed 1,000 m in elevation;these are located primarily in the extreme northeastof the country, the highest peak being Phnom Kchual(1,843 m). The climate is typically tropical andsubject to monsoons. Cambodia has a relatively
large forest resource: FAO (2005a) estimatedforest cover at 9.33 million hectares; the estimateof the Forestry Administration (FA) of the Ministryof Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is11.1 million hectaresb.

Dynamics of forest resource change. The rateof deforestation in Cambodia between 1990 and2000 was an estimated 56,000 hectares per year
(FAO 2005a). A signiﬁcant but unestimated areaof forest has been degraded by shifting cultivation,
encroachment, development of agro-industries,
illegal logging, over-harvesting and forest ﬁre,as well as by the use of chemicals during periodsof war. Deforestation is expanding rapidly in the
country’s closed forest area and will have a major
impact on efforts towards SFMc. Fires during theForest types. Cambodia’s lowland tropical moist

drier months of the year have reportedly become

forest covers the northeastern part of the country

more common in the past ten yearsc.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted9.33–11.1

5,500

3,460

17

128

SFM TROPICS

Production

Protection

Total

4,620

8,097

Permanent forest estate. Cambodia’s 2003

these build on a long tradition of local forest

forest law (see below) establishes a comprehensive

management by rural people. Other programs

formal system for the designation of the PFE, buttarget communities who were displaced or whose

this is yet to be fully implemented, nor have thetraditional practices were disrupted during periods

forests been clearly demarcated. Table 1 presentsof armed conﬂict.

an ITTO estimate of the extent of the PFE. Thisvaries from that provided by the FA, which puts
the total PFE at 11.1 million hectaresb (the sameas the estimated total forest area). The estimateof natural production PFE comprises the current
attributed concession area.
Planted forests. Estimates of the area ofplanted forests vary. FAO (2005a) estimated
90,000 hectares and the Department of Forestry
and Wildlife (DFW 2003) 82,000 hectaresa, while

SFM policy framework. Cambodia’s 2003 Law
on Forestry incorporates a framework for SFM in
its articles 8 and 9, which state that SFM will be
conducted in a manner consistent with the National
Forest Sector Policy and this 2003 law.
Forest policy and legislation. In October 1998,
the National Assembly adopted the government’s’policy platform’, which provided for speciﬁc actions
to establish SFM, including the re-drafting of forest
laws and guidelines. In January 1999, the National

the government of Cambodia (2004) reported that

Assembly decided to crack down on illegal logging,

13,000 hectares of plantations had been establishedbanned the conversion of forest land for otherbetween 1985 and 2004 on bare and degraded land.

purposes, and decided to retain 10–20% of the

The higher estimates may include rubber plantations,

AAC from concession forests to meet the domestic

some of which are harvested for timber; these coverdemand for timber. In July 2002, the government

an estimated 29,000 hectaresb. In this report

adopted a national forest policy with the following

the area of planted forest is estimated to be

objectives: (i) to conserve and sustainably managec17,000 hectares .

the country’s forest resources; (ii) to establish theremaining forest reserves as PFE; (iii) to promote

Institutional arrangements

the maximum involvement of the private sector andthe participation of local people; (iv) to establish a

Forest tenure. According to Article 10 of the 2003

coordinated multi-stakeholder process for forestry

Law on Forestry, the PFE consists of permanentdevelopment; and (v) to promote programs offorest reserves (owned by the state) and private

forestation on arable lands and farms.

forests. Permanent forest reserves comprise three
categories: production forests, protection forestsand conversion forest lands; the latter are classiﬁed
as permanent forest reserves until the government
decides to use the land for other purposes. Private
forests are to be maintained by their owners, whohave the right to harvest and sell the products
derived from such forests. Any individuals who plant
trees on private land or on state forest land where
they have been granted user rights have the right tomaintain, develop, harvest and sell forest products(Article 46). For local communities, the state recognizes and ensures their user rights for the purposeof traditional customs, beliefs, religion and living(Article 40). In recent years, Cambodia has followed
the global trend of favouring various forms ofdecentralized forest management. Numerous pilot
projects are under way to strengthen the abilityof local communities to manage forests. Many of

The 2003 Law on Forestry replaced Decree No 35
of 1988; it deﬁnes the framework for management,
harvesting, use, development, conservation andprotection of the forest. The major objective is toensure SFM and customary user rights of forest
products for local communities. A number of guidelines and codes serve to regulate forest management,such as: the Cambodian code of practice for forest
harvesting (1999), the construction code for forest
engineering works, guidelines for SFM, and a planning
manual for the management of forest concessions.
Uncertainty over the best approaches to solving
forest problems led to the undertaking of a major
independent forest-sector review, which wascompleted in 2004. It made numerous recommendations, which the government is now considering.
An ITTO diagnostic mission in 2004, which examined
obstacles to the attainment of SFM in the countryb,
also made a wide range of recommendations.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

129

Meanwhile, the forest sector lingers in a stateof uncertainty as the government continues tocontemplate the future of industrial concessions
and other issues relevant to the forest sector. A
model forest concession agreement, prepared withthe technical assistance of the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB), is being used in therenegotiation of contracts between the government
and forest concessionaires. The forest-sector
reforms, however, are very new and have notyet become effective; the enforcement of existingb

policies, laws and regulations is weak .

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Before 1970, the forests of Cambodia were managed
in a very conservative manner. Forests were classiﬁed
into forest reserves managed for speciﬁc objectives
such as production, wildlife conservation, researchand preservation. Subsequent political developments
caused this system to disappear; in the early 1990s,
a system of forest concessions was introduced.
In Cambodia, harvesting intensity is expressed interms of the volume of merchantable timber or theInstitutions involved in forests. The FA waspercentage of the standing merchantable volume

established in 2003 within MAFF, replacing theto be removed. The rate of extraction in evergreen

DFW. The FA is the sole agency responsible forand mixed evergreen forest was set at 30% of the

managing the forest estate; however, national

total volume available for harvest. Before 1993,

parks and equivalent reserves, including thosefelling was mainly done manually using axes andcontaining forest, are under the jurisdiction of theextraction by buffalo or elephant, but harvesting

Ministry of the Environment and there appears

has been mechanized since the advent of logging

to be some overlap in responsibility. The system

concessions.

of provincial and district forest ofﬁces under the
direct authority of provincial and district ofﬁcials
was abandoned in 2000. With the new structure
operational in 2005, the government decentralized
ministerial functions to lower authorities throughfour regional forest inspectoratesc. In addition, theForest Research Institute has been re-establishedunder the responsibility of the FA. Global Witness,an international NGO, was contracted to act as anindependent monitor of the Forest Crime Monitoring
Project; in 2003 this function was transferred to
the Swiss-based company SGS and Global Witness
ofﬁcials were allegedly denied further entry to
Cambodia (Global Witness 2005). A GIS unit within
the FA has completed the Year 2000 Forest Resource
Interpretation project. There are awareness programsfor biodiversity conservation, reduced impact logging(RIL) and certiﬁcation. A forestry training centre
was inaugurated in 2003 and serves as the FA’s
vocational training centre.
The present reforms stipulate greater participationof grassroots organizations and of civil society
generally in the forest sector. Wildlife and biodiversity
conservation is being promoted by international
conservation NGOs and community forestry programs
by NGOs such as Concern and Oxfam. In 2003, theCambodian Timber Industry Association was created
to respond to these reforms and to assist member
companies to attain the capacity to meet thestringent technical and regulatory requirements.

130

SFM TROPICS

The hasty introduction of the concession system
in 1994 caused widespread damage to the forest.
Field inspections and observations indicated that “thestate of the current concession forest management
is alarmingly at odds with the goal of sustainability”(World Bank 2000). There was no reliable assessment of resources and the processing facilities set
up had signiﬁcant over-capacity. The period 1994–
1998 was also one of uncontrolled illegal logging,
and wood extraction soon reached unsustainablelevelsb. Attempts to get the concessionaires tomanage their forests sustainably and pay moretaxes did not meet with success. Most companies
continued to log high-value species as quickly as
possible, without following the prescribed 25-year
harvesting cycle (the nominal duration of theconcession). The recommended level of harvest
was an average of 10 m3 per hectare, but thiswould scarcely have been economically viable andconcessionaires typically harvested four to ﬁvetimes that amountc.
Between 1994 and 1997, the government granted
36 commercial forest concessions covering about
7 million hectares or around 70% of Cambodia’s
forests. In this way, the government sought to raisemuch-needed revenue for national development.
Foreign timber companies started investing fromlate 1994, peaked in 1996, and the last concession
was granted in 1997. In 1998, the government

b,cTable 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2002–2004)
Timber species

Remarks

Dipterocarpus alatus (chhoeuteal tan)

Sawnwood, veneer, plywood

Anisoptera glabra (mersawa, phdiek)

Sawnwood, veneer, plywood

Hopea odorata (koki)

Sawmilling, construction (bridges, boats)

Shorea vulgaris (choë(r) chông)

Sawmilling, construction (housing)

Tarrietia javanica

Sawnwood (decorative, furniture)began to restructure the sector through theSilviculture and species selection. The model

Forestry Reform Program supported by the World

forest concession agreement and the SFM guidelines

Bank. In 2000, the forest administration stipulated

require that the forests be managed under a selectivethat no cutting permits would be issued until 100%

cutting system based on AAC and size speciﬁcations.

inventories of current annual coupes had been

The guidelines have elaborate provisions for thecompleted, 5% inventories had been carried out

demarcation of area, inventory, tree-marking,for the next four annual coupes, and the companies

stream buffers and conservation measures, roading

had made the required minimum royalty payments.

standards, skid-trail alignment, directional felling,

However, the stipulations were not adequately met.

the location of log landings, post-logging operations,

The total ofﬁcial harvest of industrial roundwood

etc. However, little silvicultural effort is currently

was reduced substantially to 123,000 m3 in 2001

applied to regenerate previously logged forests

3compared to about 700,000 m in 1997 (ITTO(FAO 2005b). A full list of species extracted from1999, 2005), although it is likely that much morenatural forests and their respective share in thethan this was actually harvested.

total is not available; this also varies depending on

In 2001, the government introduced additional legal
requirements for concessions such as the preparation of long-term strategic forest management
plans consistent with international standards,
and the renegotiation of model forest concession

locality. An indicative list of important timber species
is given in Table 2; others include Pterocarpus
pedatus, Shorea spp, Terminalia spp, Eugenia spp,
Lagerstroemia spp, Irvingia spp, Xylia dolabriformis
and Pentacme spp.

investment agreements. In December 2001, thePlanted forest and trees outside the forest. Teakgovernment issued a Declaration on the Suspension

is the single most important planted species, coveringof Forest Concession Logging Activities, which

7,000 hectares, followed by 9,000 hectares of othersuspended all logging activities in concessions

broadleaved species (Acacia auriculiformis, Hopea

starting from January 2002 until new forest

odorata, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Dipterocarpus

concession management plans could be preparedalatus) and 1,000 hectares of Pinus merkusiic.

and approved. The licences of 17 companies covering
3.50 million hectares in 24 concessions werecancelled and twelve concessions covering a total
area of 3.37 million hectares were suspended. In
addition the FA closed, and sometimes destroyed,
1,351 illegal sawmills and 653 small wood-processingb

Forest certiﬁcation. No forests have yet beencertiﬁed in Cambodia. As a ﬁrst step, the government
is considering certiﬁcation as part of its package ofmeasures to achieve SFM.
Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

plants . Some concessionaires have prepared new

managed for production. No forests in Cambodia’s

management plans according to the model. However,natural-forest production PFE can be considered toas of October 2005, all the concessions remained

be sustainably managed (Table 3). Since all logging

suspended because they were yet to conduct

is suspended, there is effectively no legal forest

environmental and social impact assessments,

management in the production PFE, althoughwhich must be incorporated into the plans.

there may be signiﬁcant illegal loggingb.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

131

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

3,460

3,370 (suspended)

150

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed00Timber production and trade. Estimated totalroundwood production in 2003 was 9.68 million m3,
of which fuelwood accounted for 9.56 million m3(FAO 2005b). In 1990, Cambodia’s forest policyemphasized exports. Royalties and taxes on timber
were reduced to encourage local processing forexport. The legal export of logs was discontinued
in 1996; at the same time, processing technology
improved, the conversion factor reaching 0.6.
Recorded wood production fell when forest
concessions were cancelled or suspended; in
2003, industrial log production was an estimated

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

17

70Forest for protection
Soil and water. There are laws, rules and regulations(eg the 2003 forest law, Royal decrees 1993 and1999 and sub-decrees nos 75, 76 and 77 (2002))
addressing the role of forests in the protection ofsoil and water. The ﬁve-year National Environmental
Action Plan (1998–2002) also had provisions inthis regard. Nearly 40% (4.2 million hectares)of the designated PFE is intended to be managed
primarily for the protection of soil and watera.
Biological diversity. The government of Cambodia

125,000 m compared to 291,000 m in 1999

estimates that 125 species are endangereda.

(ITTO 2004, 2005). Some timber is still legally

Twenty-eight mammals, 26 birds, 15 reptiles, threeavailable from government-approved land conversion

amphibians and 32 plants are listed as critically

activities. However, an ITTO diagnostic mission inendangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN

2004 reported allegations that the granting of land-

red list of threatened species; of these, 21 mammals,conversion permits, for example for rubber estates,

20 birds and three amphibians are found in forests

had not followed legal procedures and had sometimes(IUCN 2004). Three plants are listed in CITES

been motivated by the access it gave to the timber

Appendix I and 40 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

3

3

b

resources on the land to be cleared . The mission
was informed that timber was still available inmajor towns and prices were reported to haveremained stable. It was apparent, then, that theeffect of the logging ban had been to stimulate asigniﬁcant illegal timber industryb. The decline inProtective measures in production forests. Detailed
guidelines have been developed for commercial forestry
operations in order to protect watersheds and toprevent or minimize soil erosion and stream siltation.
Regulations also provide for wildlife protection.

legal production is reﬂected in apparent trade: theExtent of protected areas. According to UNEP-

export of sawnwood fell from 10,000 m3 in 1999

WCMC (2004), 3.36 million hectares of forest are3

to 2,000 m in 2003, and that of plywood andin protected areas that conform to IUCN protected-

3

veneer from 83,000 m to 20,000 m in thearea categories I–IV, including 1.20 million hectares

same period (ITTO 2004, 2005).

of deciduous/semi-deciduous broadleaved forest and3

Non-wood forest products. Although many rural
people depend on NWFPs to supplement subsistenceneeds and generate income, no data are available
to quantify their economic importance. Potentiallymarketable products include Aquilaria crassna,
the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica, the fruits of

897,000 hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved
rainforest. There are 23 protected areas in IUCN
categories I and II and 71 in categories III and IVa.
Protected areas are of four main types: nationalparks, wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapesand multiple-use areas.

Cinnamomum and Diospyros, resin and rattan.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

Bamboo shoots are eaten and wildlife is importantmanaged for protection. No information was

as a protein source.

available for this report on the management
status of the protection PFE (Table 4).

132

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

4,620

3,360

4,200

n.d.

n.d.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Badly shaken by decades ofinternal conﬂict, Cambodia’s economy is gradually

production apparently continues. The implementationof recent reforms, and increased law enforcement,
are urgently required.

improving. The recorded contribution of forestry

Key points

to GDP fell from 5.4% in 1998 to 2.1% in 2001;•

Cambodia’s signiﬁcant reserves of high-value
production forests present an importanteconomic resource, the sustainable use of which
would be of considerable beneﬁt to the country.

•

Cambodia has an estimated 8.10 million hectaresof PFE, comprising 3.46 million hectares ofnatural production forest, 4.62 million hectaresof protection forest and 17,000 hectares ofindustrial timber plantations. However, dataon Cambodian forests are often inconsistentand unreliable.

•

No part of the production PFE is considered to
be under sustainable management; insufﬁcient
information was available to estimate the areaof protection PFE so managed.

•

A signiﬁcant but unestimated area of forest
has been degraded by shifting cultivation,
encroachment, the development of agro-industries,
illegal logging, over-harvesting and forest ﬁre,as well as by the use of chemicals during war.

•

The Forestry Administration was created in
2003, replacing the Department of Forestry
and Wildlife; it has responsibility for managing
the forest estate, although there may be someoverlap in roles with the Ministry of Environment
for forests in national parks and related reserves.

•

Forest-sector reforms have been developed
but are yet to be implemented effectively;
the enforcement of existing policies, laws
and regulations is weak.

•

The management of forest concessions has beenpoor; the government cancelled some licences
and, in 2002, suspended all remaining forest
concessions until they fully complied withrequirements. One apparent effect of thisban has been to stimulate a signiﬁcant illegal
timber industry.

after the logging ban in 2002 it fell effectively
to zero. These ﬁgures are misleading, however,
because there is no accounting for illegal activities
or subsistence and traditional uses. No recent
information is available on employment, income,recreational facilities and other beneﬁts.
Livelihood values. The recorded production of
fuelwood is close to 10 million m3, but considerable
quantities probably remain unrecorded. This applies
to all forest products in subsistence use. No quantitative data are available on the role of NWFPs
in maintaining livelihoods, although this role isconsiderable.
Social relations. The participation of indigenous
people and local communities in forest management
is recognized by law. The country’s community
forestry program has increased in scope and size
since 1992. A sub-decree on community forestry
provides for an increase in the number (and area) ofcommunity forests and encourages local communities
to participate in SFM. An area of 64,900 hectaresof forest has been set apart for local community use.
There are 159 community forestry sites involving
34,100 familiesa. The participation of indigenous
people is also promoted by facilitating improved
market access for their products.

Summary
Deforestation is expanding rapidly in Cambodia.
Nevertheless, the country has a large forest
resource with the potential to sustain a robust
timber industry and contribute enormously tonational development. But the recent history of
Cambodian forestry has been turbulent, and thetimber sector is in disarray. The concession system
has been suspended, yet unauthorized timber

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

133

References and other sourcesa

DFW 2003. Reporting Formats and Training
for ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable

from: http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/23831/en/khm (accessed October 2005).

October 2003. Department of Forestry andGlobal Witness 2005. Global Witness banned fromentering Cambodia. Press release 19 July 2005.

ITTO 2004. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000

Available from: http://www.globalwitness.org/

and Sustainable Forest Management in thepress_releases/display2.php?id=297 (accessed

Kingdom of Cambodia. Report of the Diagnostic

December 2005).

of the International Tropical Timber Council,
December 2004. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
21–24 March 2005, Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
attended by 35 people from government, civilsociety and the private sector.
d

FAO 2005b. Country proﬁle of Cambodia. Available

Forests, National Level. Submitted to ITTO,

Mission. Presented at the thirty-seventh sessionc

FAO, Rome, Italy.

Forest Management of Natural Tropical

Wildlife, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Unpublished.
b

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.

ITTO estimate

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
DFW/GTZ 2002. RGC Statement on Forest Policy.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
DFW 2003. Cambodia: Forestry Statistics to
2002. DFW, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
FA 2004. Report of the Forestry Administration
to MAFF. FA, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Government of Cambodia 2004. National Reportto the Fifth Session of the United Nations Forum

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
ITTO 1999. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 1998. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
Mc Kenney, B. 2002. Questioning sustainable
concession forestry in Cambodia. Cambodia
Development Review 6/1, January–March
2002. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
RGC/MAFF 2002. Cambodian Forest Policy
Review (EC-FAO Partnership Program, 2000–
2002. Project GCP/RAS/173/EC). RGC/
MAFF, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

on Forests. 25 October 2004. FA, Phnom Penh,within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Cambodia.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

Hong-Narith 1997. Asia Paciﬁc Forestry Sector
Outlook Study: Country Paper on Some Aspects

2004 (see Annex 1).
World Bank 1996. Forest Policy Assessment,of Forestry in Cambodia. Working Paper

Cambodia. World Bank, Phnom Penh,

APFSOS/WP/18. FAO, Rome, Italy/Bangkok,

Cambodia.

Thailand.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome,
Italy.

134

SFM TROPICS

World Bank 2000. Cambodia Forest Sector.
Internal Assessment Report. Unpublished.

FIJI
Forest types. The predominant forest type istropical moist forest, usually called rainforest inFiji. Small areas of remnant rainforest occur in thegrasslands, which themselves are mainly the resultof repeated burning of the drier parts of tropicalmoist forests, leaving remnants of the original
forest type and a fringe of deteriorating shrublandat the interface of the forest and grassland. Thereis also a signiﬁcant area (around 42,000 hectares)of mangrove forest.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Most of
the remaining natural forest in Fiji is on steep
and broken mountainous country and difﬁcult toaccess. During the 1990s, annual deforestation
averaged 2,000 hectares, or 0.2% (FAO 2005),
mainly in the drier parts of the two main islands.
Forests are subject to periodic wind damage of*For legend see page 58

varying intensity, including cyclonic; the existing

Forest resources

forest structure can be partly attributed to this.

Fiji has a population of about 900,000 people. It is

Permanent forest estate. There is no formallylocated in the South Paciﬁc and comprises more than
300 islands with a total land area of approximately
1.83 million hectares. The two largest islands, Viti
Levu (1.02 million hectares) and Vanua Levu (556,000
hectares), make up 86% of the total land area; they

designated PFE in Fiji, and statistical information
on forest area differs according to source and even
within the same source. Some 240,650 hectaresof natural forest have been described as protection
forest (Jiko 2003), mainly on the grounds that theseare volcanic in origin and mountainous, rising toareas are too steep to log with present techniques.

1,323 m at Tomaniivi (Mt Victoria). The eastern sides

A classiﬁcation into multiple-use natural forests,of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu receive an annual rainfall

protection forests, nature and forest reserves,of over 2,500 mm and support tropical rainforest,

and plantation forest was being considered bywhile the western portions receive less than 1,700

the authorities in early 2005. The estimate of PFE

mm annually and support a higher proportion ofcontained in Table 1 comprises protection forests(mainly secondary) grass and savanna. Estimates(as per Jiko 2003) and planted forests, as theseof total forest area (including planted forests)

are deemed to be effectively committed to permanent

include 815,000 hectares (FAO 2005), 853,000

forest use. Another 331,000 hectares of logged

hectares (Jiko 2003) and 930,000 hectaresb.

natural forests could be considered for inclusion,

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)

0.82–0.93

747

Source: FAO 2001

Production
NaturalPlanted0d

113b

Protection

Total

241

354

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005135

but the degree of ‘permanence’ of these forests isforest resources; (iii) to promote community-owned

unclear. Thus, at present there is no natural-forest

and -managed forest-processing and value-adding

production PFE in Fiji.

facilities based on indigenous forests and communityowned plantations; and (iv) to promote the production

Planted forests. Fiji has a successful plantationand export of value-added timber products.

program. The large-scale planting of pine andhardwoods by government began in the 1960s

Institutions involved in forests. There are four

and, by now, some 13% of the country’s forests

governmental/quasi-governmental institutions

are planted. In 2003, there were an estimatedresponsible for or otherwise involved in forest

52,900 hectares of hardwood plantations (mainly

management. These are: the NLTB, for the leasing

Swietenia macrophylla – mahogany), 46,300 hectaresof native land for forestry purposes; the Forestryb,dDepartment, for the licensing of timber harvesting,of pine and 14,300 hectares of mixed plantations.

transport and export, policy and planning, andInstitutional arrangements

research, training and overall forest management,

Forest tenure. Communal groups (mataqali) own

statistics; Fiji Pine Limited (FPL), a public company

89% of the unexploited forests and 84% of all Fijian

wholly owned by government and landowners which

forests, including planted forests; the remaining 16%

is responsible for pine plantation establishment,of forests are privately or state-owned. The Native

management, utilization and marketing; and theLand Trust Board (NLTB), which was set up in

Fiji Hardwood Corporation Limited (FHCL), a

1940, deals with local resource management andgovernment-owned subsidiary responsible for theadministers all customary land with the consent

hardwood plantations in the process of becomingof landowning units. The Board is chaired by thea government-landowner company similar to FPL.

Minister for Fijian Affairs and its members are

The potentially high value of the mahogany resource

nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs; it also

and disputes over ownership and control of the FHCL

includes one or two government representatives.

were contributing factors in a military coup that took

SFM policy framework. Fiji’s commitment to
SFM is demonstrated by its adherence to theForest Principles of the 1992 Earth Summit
and membership of ITTO.
Forest policy and legislation. The forest policyof Fiji was enacted in 1950 by the then Legislative
Council. The sawmilling policy, formulated in the
1960s, was amended in 1995 to support themodernization of the industry. The Forest Decreeof 1992 updated the Forest Act of 1953. A reviewof the forest policy has just been completed; its
ﬁndings will now be the subject of stakeholder

including extension plantations and timber production

place in Fiji in 2000. The Forestry Extension Divisionof the Forestry Department provides landowners withtechnical advice and assistance in the implementationof SFM.
Regional and global NGOs play a role in developing,
applying and disseminating forest-related information
to the community because of their networking
strength at the local level. Such organizations
include the South Paciﬁc Action Committee for
Human Ecology and the Environment (SPACHEE),
the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Paciﬁc(FSP), Greenpeace, WWF and the Wainimate Group.

consultations with a view to arriving at a more
broad-based policy.
The National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP) prepared

Status of forest managementin 1989 was a classic investment plan. It led to theForest for production

identiﬁcation of 29 projects that were presented

Logging on native land is allowed only withto donors in May 1990; 25 have been, or are being,

the consent of both the mataqali and the NLTB.

implemented. The Strategic Forestry Plan, 2002–

Timber-cutting rights are negotiated between

2005, which supplements the NFAP, has theconcessionaires or licensees and the NLTB, which

following objectives: (i) to provide an appropriate

authorizes the Forestry Department to issue logging

institutional and physical infrastructure to support

licences and to administer concession agreements.

the development of the forestry sector; (ii) to ensure

Around 0.29 million hectares, which is about 40%

the sustainable development and management ofof the total natural forest area, has been allocated136

SFM TROPICS

b

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2002–2004)
Timber species

Remarks

Swietenia macrophylla (mahogany)

From planted forests, popular and versatile decorative timber

Pinus caribaea (Caribbean pine)

From planted forests, bulk of it used to make woodchips

Myristica spp (kaudamu)

Natural forest species, used in sawmilling

Endospermum macrophyllum (kauvula)

Construction and joinery timber

Agathis vitiensis (dakua makadre)

Decorative timber, also for veneers and plywoodb

to concessions and long-term licences (see below).

Silviculture and species selection. Logging in natural

Each licence applies to gross areas of land that

forests is based in most cases on a selection system.

include a mosaic of production, non-commercial

The normal diameter limit for felling is 35 cm atband protection forest . Royalties are collected bybreast height. Twenty-two species are included in an

the Forestry Department and passed on in full to‘obligatory list’ and these must be felled irrespective

the landowners, except for an administration levyof market demand. Despite the provisions in the

deducted by the NLTB. The Forestry Department

licence agreements, pre- and post-harvest silvicul-

also levies fees on the licence-holders for log-

tural prescriptions do not receive proper attentionb.

scaling, regeneration costs and so on. To further

Also often neglected are enrichment and rehabilitation

the sustainable management of its forests, the Fijiplanting in logged-over forests and compensatory

government has formulated a national code of logging

afforestation to make up for land transfers. Most

practice to give practical guidance to those involvedof the larger sawmills have their own logging areas

in logging; this prescribes operational, safety andand logging operations, but they carry out almost

environmental standards. The code is now being

no planting.

revised to include RIL and other silvicultural
practices designed to enhance forest regeneration.

More species than the obligatory 22 are used in
production and trade. The most readily available

To harvest timber on any land, ‘forestry rightand commercially valuable indigenous timbers arelicences’ are required. These are of four kinds: timber

retailed directly under their own local names or inconcessions (10–30 years), long-term licences (tenmixtures called ‘Fiji hardwood’ or ‘mixed hardwood’.

years), annual licences and other licences and pre-The main commercial species from natural forests

payment licences (usually for land-clearing). One

are Agathis vitiensis (kauri or dakua makadre),

important government initiative was the development

Myristica spp (kaudamu), Endospermum macro-of a natural forest management pilot project tophyllum (kauvula), Calophyllum spp (damanu),

assess the effect of different intensities of logging

Palaquium spp (sacau) and Intsia bijuga (vesi).

on the regenerative capacity of the forests. It was

Table 2 shows the main species harvested,

aimed at maintaining the composition and structure

including from plantations.

of the natural forest and stimulating growth andnatural regeneration while ensuring the active
participation of landowners. The results will now
be applied in a much bigger forest area to test
the initiative’s commercial applicability. The Forest
Department organizes training in logging to improveskills and techniques, reduce environmental damage
and improve efﬁciency. However, the forest-sector
workforce is currently too small and lacks thenecessary skills and support to implement SFMb.

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The
main softwood plantation species is Pinus caribaea
var. hondurensis (Caribbean pine), mostly underthe management of FPL and located mainly in thedrier zones of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. There areabout 45,000 hectares of this species in plantations;the target is 75,000 hectares. Forestry Department
plantings of Caribbean pine began on a small scalearound 1950 and, by 1972 (when the expanded‘pine scheme’ began), had grown to about 12,000

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

137

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total
0

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

n.a.

n.a.

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

n.a.

n.a.

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

113

90

0

hectares. The ownership of what are now the Fijiplant integrated with the large sawmill. Conversion

Pine Trust plantations has had a chequered history.

efﬁciency is thought to be around 50%b. Industrial

Cyclone damage was almost the only one of theroundwood production in 2003 was 380,000 m3,

many problems that plagued the scheme that didof which 260,000 m3 was softwood from pine

not originate in disputes over land tenureb. The

plantations (ITTO 2005); this was down somewhat

main planted hardwood species, mahogany, isfrom 470,000 m3 total industrial roundwood

managed by FHCL. Mahogany plantations also

production in 1999 (ITTO 2004). In 2003, Fijibegan in the early 1950s and the expansion of

produced 84,000 m3 of sawnwood (up fromestablishment had grown to around 1,000 hectares

64,000 m3 in 1999), 8,000 m3 of veneer anda year by the mid 1960s. However, the program

8,000 m3 of plywood, and it exported 9,000 m3

virtually stopped in 1971 because of widespreadof sawnwood, 2,000 m3 of veneer and 6,000 m3

attack by the ambrosia stem borer. It resumed afterof plywood (ITTO 2004, 2005). As with most othera few years with the development of successful

aspects of forestry, Fiji’s wood-processing industries

containment measures, and annual planting rates

are comparatively more advanced than those inclimbed to around 3,000 hectares. By now there

other Paciﬁc Island nations. Despite the increasing

are about 53,000 hectares of plantations of thisrole of plantations, two-thirds of processed products

species; the aim is to establish a total estate of(sawnwood and plywood/veneer) are still based on

about 100,000 hectaresb.

raw material from natural forests. No data are

Forest certiﬁcation. No forest has so far beencertiﬁed in Fiji, but the 66,981 hectares of forest

available on the production and trade of mahogany,
since harvesting only began in 2003.

plantations managed by FHCL are currently

In 2001, pine woodchips accounted for 58% of forest

undergoing assessment by the Rainforest Allianceproducts’ export earnings, followed by sawnwood

SmartWood program for certiﬁcation under theand wood-based panels. A small amount of high-

FSC umbrella.

quality furniture is also exported, along with small

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. No natural forest is
contained in the nominal production PFE; moreover,none of the concessions in natural forest are thoughtb

to be sustainably managed . Of the 113,000 hectares

quantities of sandalwood and logs and slabs ofSamanea saman (rain tree). According to an ITTO
diagnostic mission, Fiji is a timber-surplus country
and export markets are the key to the sustainability of the forestry sectorb.

of planted forest in the nominal PFE, about 90,000

Non-wood forest products. NWFPs are of great

hectares are considered intactb. Most of these forests

importance, especially to rural communities. Many

have management plans, and at least 5,000 hectares,

plants are used as foods, medicines, construction

consisting of part of one concession, are being

and rooﬁng materials, artisanal products and dyes,

operated under a reasonable degree of sustained-

and in ceremonials and rituals. Wildlife, especiallyyield managementb.

pigs, is a valuable source of food. Mud crabs, lobster

Timber production and trade. In 2004, there were
26 licensed sawmills, 18 of which were operating(only one of which was large); there were also two
small veneer and plywood mills and one woodchip

138

SFM TROPICS

and shellﬁsh are harvested from the mangrove
forests. Stems of tree ferns are collected fromforest areas and made into ornamental posts,
which are widely used. Some plants, such as Piper

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

241

3

18

37

55d

methisticum (yaqona), from which the mild narcoticpresent forest extraction techniques still damage

beverage kava is made, are now largely cultivated,

the soil. Policy and codes of practice are exemplary;but others are still collected from the wild. A few

implementation is seriously at faultb.

are marketed, such as Morinda citrifolia (nono),
which is widely and increasingly used as a medicinal
plant with huge potential in international markets,
and Santalum yasi (sandalwood). Along with tuber
crops, Artocarpus utilissimus (bread fruit) is astaple food. Another item of ceremonial and nichemarket signiﬁcance is bark-cloth made from thebark of Broussonetia papyrifera using natural dyes
such as those from Elaeocarpus pyriformis andAleurites triloba.

Forest for protection

Extent of protected areas. The total extent of theprotection PFE is an estimated 241,000 hectares,
although only a fraction of this is formally designatedas protected area. According to UNEP-WCMC(2004), about 3,000 hectares of forest are inprotected areas that conform to IUCN protectedarea categories I–IV, 900 hectares of which arelowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest. Environmental management is integrated into planning anddevelopment. The main concerns in conservation
areas are the control of encroachment and themaintenance of boundaries. Issues in new conser-

Soil and water. Land-use practices pay attention

vation sites include conﬂicts of interest among

to the need for soil and water conservation. Somelandowning units and the payment of adequate

241,000 hectares of forest are classiﬁed as

ﬁnancial compensation to landowners.

protection forests, mainly located on steep landwith slopes over 30 degrees and with shallow
unstable soils.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for protection. The estimated area of protection PFE
under SFM is at least 55,000 hectares (Table 4).

Biological diversity. There are an estimatedThis comprises 37,000 hectares of legally designated455 species of amphibians, birds, ferns, mammals,

protected areas, all of which have management

palms, reptiles and trees in Fiji (FAO 2001). Fiveplans, and 18,000 hectares of mangrove forests

mammals, 14 birds, six reptiles, one amphibianthat were set aside in 1999 as soil and waterand 66 plants are listed as critically endangered,protection forest.

endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red listof threatened species; of these, two mammals,
eleven birds and one amphibian are found in forests(IUCN 2004). Forty-one plants are listed in CITES
Appendix II (CITES 2005). Santalum yasi is the mostendangered tree species in dry forests, being limited
to a small relict population. Little political attention
has so far been paid to the protection of forests
for their biological diversity, but the rural land-use
policy for Fiji now being considered by government
may address the issue.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Timber is Fiji’s third-largest export
commodity, accounting for 2.5% of GDP (ADB 2003)
and providing employment for about 3,000 peopleb.
In 2003, the export of sawnwood, plywood and veneer
was worth an estimated US$7 million; signiﬁcant
export income was also earned from woodchips
and a small quantity of value-added products (ITTO2005). The mahogany plantations have enormous
value-adding potential. The forest sector is an

Protective measures in production forests. The

important generator of government revenue, andprevention of soil erosion has long been a national

the royalties paid to customary owners provide a

priority because of the risk of ﬂooding, siltation

signiﬁcant proportion of rural income.

and damage to coastal ecosystems. Nevertheless,

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

139

Livelihood values. The culture and livelihoods of•None of the natural production forest (none of

traditional landowning communities are closely

which is considered part of the PFE) is consideredlinked to their forest resources. It is difﬁcult toto be sustainably managed.

quantify this value.

•

Generally, the standard of logging is low.

Social relations. The system of land tenure in FijiAt least 55,000 hectares of protection PFE

was introduced in colonial times, based on a local

are estimated to be managed sustainably.

traditional system, and continues to be fraught
with difﬁculty. For example, in developing leasehold•

high-value species Swietenia macrophylla

arrangements with potential forest developers, a(mahogany) and there are plans to continue tomajority of individual members of a mataqali must

expand this estate. Harvesting began in 2003;

agree to the proposal to the satisfaction of the

how the mahogany resource is managed and

NLTBb. The government is promoting community

marketed will have a large bearing on theparticipation in the development of woodlots by

future success of the Fijian timber industry.

landowners; about 100 hectares of woodlots aredeveloped each year. Work in landowner awarenessFiji has 55,000 hectares of plantation of the•Fiji also has a signiﬁcant softwood plantationby the Forestry Department is being complemented byresource, which currently supplies about two-an ITTO project on landowner training and education

thirds of industrial timber.

in SFM. There have been tensions over control ofthe mahogany resource.

•With some additions, Fiji continues to use its
forest policy developed in 1950 as the basisof forestry, but implementation is guided by theSummarypriority now given to forest development basedon exports. A review of the policy was completed

Timber is Fiji’s third-largest export commodity andrecently.

the sector still has considerable growth potential.
However, land-use conﬂicts arising from the pattern•

Apart from the conservation and expansion ofof ownership have contributed to the degradation offorest cover, the forest policy focuses mainly

the forest resource, particularly in natural forest,on the efﬁcient processing and manufactureand have often been viewed as a major constraintof value-added products and training in forest

to SFM. Other constraints include a lack of convincing

industries.

evidence for the ﬁnancial potential of the natural
resource (and therefore the continued conversion•

pine chips, sawnwood and wood-based panels.

of forests to various types of non-forest use), an

There is a small export trade of high-value

inability to control the standards of logging inﬁnished products. The expansion of the export

natural forests, and inadequate product supplyof these could make a signiﬁcant contribution

and market research. Fiji’s substantial mahogany

to the economy, particularly when mahogany

plantation estate, if well managed and marketed,
will be a signiﬁcant driver of development.

Key points•

Because of the special conditions of land ownership there is no formal PFE, but some forests
have equivalent status; an estimated 354,000
hectares may be regarded as a nominal PFE.

140

SFM TROPICS

Fiji is a net exporter of wood products, including

timber is put on the international market.
•

The forest area designated as ‘protected’ within
IUCN categories I–IV is 3,000 hectares, although
an area of 241,000 hectares has been broadly
described as protection forest.

References and other sourcesb

ITTO 2004. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000
and Sustainable Forest Management in the
Republic of the Fiji Islands. Report of the
Diagnostic Mission. Presented at the thirtyseventh session of the International Tropical
Timber Council, December 2004. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.

d

ITTO estimate

ADB 2003. Asian Development Outlook 2003.
ADB, Manila, Philippines and Oxford University
Press Inc, New York, USA.
Brown, C. 1997. Asia Paciﬁc Forestry Sector
Outlook Study: Regional Study – The South
Paciﬁc. Working Paper APFSOS/WP/01,
FAO, Rome, Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.
Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/
resources/species.html (accessed September2005).

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Jiko, L. 2003. Status of forests and trees sector
in Fiji. Presented to the Paciﬁc Islands Heads ofForestry Meeting, Nadi, Fiji, 19–23 May 2003.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

141

INDIA
India was the only country for which information
was not available for this report through at least
one of a C&I report, an ITTO mission and/or anational workshop on the ITTO C&I, although botha mission and workshop are planned for 2006.
Much of the information contained in this proﬁlehas therefore been obtained from secondary
sources and personal communications.
Forest types. About 60% of India’s forest estate iscategorized as closed and 40% as open (FAO 2001).
Tropical moist forests account for about 13% of thetotal forest area. Tropical wet evergreen forests
occur in the south, the northeast and in the Andaman
and Nicobar islands. The most widely distributed
genera are Dipterocarpus, Hopea, Callophyllum andSyzgium, and the families Lauraceae and Myrthaceae
are also well represented. Tropical moist deciduous*For legend see page 58

forests occur in areas with monsoonal rainfall; some

Forest resourcesof these are characterized by Tectona grandis (teak)India has the world’s second-largest population,

swamp forests are common in southern India.

with about 1.1 billion people, and a land area of
316 million hectares. Over 40% of the population
lives below the poverty line as deﬁned by the WorldBank (with an income of US$2 per day or less).
Systematic, consistent and accurate informationon the geographic extent and physical conditionof the country’s tropical forest is lacking. According
to FAO (2005a), the area under effective forest
cover in India is 64.1 million hectares (20% of theland area), of which 31.5 million hectares (49%)
is under natural forest cover and agroforestry. On
the other hand, FSI (2003) estimated the forest area
at 76.8 million hectares, although this probably
includes signiﬁcant areas with no forest cover. Theseestimates include substantial areas of forest northof the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, not tropicalby the ITTO deﬁnition.

and others by Shorea robusta (sal). Mangrove andDynamics of forest resource change. During the1970s, India’s annual rate of deforestation was
1.3 million hectares (IIFM 2002). In the 1990s,
the situation is said to have changed to one of net
gain through extensive afforestation. According
to FAO (2001), while natural forest was lost atan annual rate of 1.90 million hectares during the
1990s, the area under planted forest increased at
an annual rate of 1.93 million hectares. The net gain
shown in forest area is somewhat artiﬁcial, however,
because of the inclusion of rubber plantations, farmwoodlots and home gardens as forests, which
hitherto were considered to be outside the deﬁnitionof forest. Continuing deforestation and the practiceof moving the boundaries of government forests
have made the security of forest resources tenuous.

Table 1 PFE

Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)
64.1–76.8*

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)

SFM TROPICS

Production

Source: derived from FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted

22,50013,50032,600* Tropical and non-tropical142

PFE (’000 hectares)d,*Protection

Total

25,60071,700Permanent forest estate. According to themaintenance of environmental stability and theMinistry of Environment and Forests (MOEF

restoration of ecological balance; the conservation

1999), 13.5 million hectares of India’s forests areof the country’s natural heritage and biodiversity;

categorized as production forest, 10 million hectares

improved soil and water conservation; increasing

as protection forest, 15.6 million hectares as national

forest cover through massive afforestation andparks and wildlife sanctuaries, and 25 million hectaressocial forestry programs; providing for the basic

as social forest. The area of natural-forest PFE isneeds of rural and tribal populations; increasing

therefore estimated to be 39.1 million hectares,

forest productivity; improving the efﬁciency of forest

comprising 25.6 million hectares of protection

product utilization; and minimizing the pressure on

forest and 13.5 million hectares of production

existing forests. The policy stipulates that industrial

forestd. Separate data for the tropical forest PFE

wood needs should be met increasingly by farm

are not available; the estimate of PFE in Table 1,

forestry. In tune with these policy objectives, India

therefore, covers India’s entire forest estate,

formulated a national forestry action program

including subtropical and temperate forests.

(MOEF 1999), but this has not yet been put into

Planted forests. In 2000, there were an estimatedfull operation.

32.6 million hectares of planted forests (FAO 2005).

The guiding legislation still current in India is theAbout 25% of all plantations (8 million hectares)

Indian Forest Act of 1927 (amended in 1951). While

are in private, communal and non-forest public land

policies have undergone changes, the legislation has(MOEF 1999). Fifty per cent of plantations established

not changed correspondingly and it continues tosince 1980 are in an agroforestry environment,

focus on the prevention of offences. Other nationalwith varying intensities of management (ibid.). The

legislation relevant to forestry includes: the Mines

planting rate in 1990–2000 was estimated to be

Act of 1952; the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972,

1.51 million hectares per year (FAO 2001). Private

which has been recently amended; the Forest

planting is believed to exceed public planting. India

Conservation Act of 2003; the Environmental

also has an estimated 560,000 hectares of rubber

Protection Act of 1986; and the Biologicalplantations (ibid.).

Diversity Act (2002).
Within the country’s federal structure, forestry

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. All legally constituted forests
are under the ownership and control of state
governments. With farmers and households
increasingly engaged in tree-growing, a new andimportant category of private forest owners (offarm forests, home gardens and agro-industrial
plantations) is emerging.
SFM policy framework. India has not yet established
a comprehensive SFM framework for the different
kinds of forestry taking place in the country. A setof C&I for sustainably managing the dry-zone forests
of India has been developed under the Bhopal-India
Process initiated by the Indian Institute of Forest
Management in 1998, and a similar process isunder way for tropical forests under an ITTO
project (PD 37/00).

is a ‘concurrent subject’; both state and national
governments are jointly responsible for thesustainable management of the forest resource.
State governments generally have the freedom
to manage the forest resources on the basis offorest management plans. However, under theForest Conservation Act of 2003 (Paragraph 6),
state governments must obtain prior approval
from the national government for any forest
clearance for non-forestry purposes.
Institutions involved in forests. At the national level,
forestry falls under the purview of the MOEF; there
are also forest departments at the national andstate levels with deﬁned functions and responsibilities. While at the national level the role of theForest Department is mostly the provision of advice
and guidance, the state forest departments arecustodians of the public forest resource and act as

Forest policy and legislation. The national forest

the forest authorities. Often they also perform an

policy dates from 1988 and there have been no

enterprise function, becoming involved in production,

major changes since. The policy stresses: theprocessing and trade. All the forested states of

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

143

India have set up forest development corporations,maintenance of degraded forests. To correct this,which are responsible for production within the public

in January 2000 the government of India issued

forest estate. These corporations are meant toa circular concerning the extension of JFM tooperate as autonomous business entities, but,better-stocked forests. Moreover, it provided forin effect, most of them function as extensions of

the mandatory (50%) involvement of women in

the forest departments. A number of specialized

JFM activities.

institutions are linked directly to the MOEF. These
include the Indian Council of Forestry Research and
Education the Indian Institute of Forest Management
the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, theWildlife Institute of India and the Forest Surveyof India.

India has many national- and state-level NGOs
involved in forestry, wildlife conservation, environmental protection and community development.
They play a crucial role in capacity-building and in
the implementation of JFM. A number of forestrelated international NGOs are also active in India.

The National Afforestation Programme (NAP),
initiated in 2000, amalgamates all the previous
centrally sponsored forest programs except parks
and wildlife conservation. The NAP is implemented
in a decentralized manner through forest development

Status of forest management
Forest for production

agencies (FDAs). FDAs, which are different entities

India follows a system of preparation and periodical

to the forest development corporations referred torevision of working plans or management plans forabove, are autonomous entities at the level of forest

established forest divisions or FMUs. It has been

divisions in which all the village forest committees

reported that 72% of all India’s forests were under(VFCs) within the respective forest division areprescriptions of working plans in 2000, up from

represented. The central government transfers

54% in 1980 (FAO 2001). Nearly 10 million hectares

funds directly to the FDAs. FDAs are thus anof the production PFE are thought to be currently

institutional arrangement to implement the NAP

under such plans, almost half of which have beenon the basis of micro-plans developed for thatso managed for more than 30 yearsd.

purpose. The program of the NAP has effectively

The management of government forest land is the

been taken up in all states of India since 2002.

direct responsibility of the public forest administra-

Joint forest management (JFM), which wastions. All or most technical operations are undertaken

formally introduced by the 1988 national forestby the state forest departments, employing a

policy, is implemented through the involvement of

permanent or temporary labour force, or throughlocal communities at the village level and throughspeciﬁc job contracts or partnership arrangements.

FDAs at the district level. JFM is a forest management

In some cases, industrial units are allowed to extract

strategy by which the forest department and atrees marked under a selection system. There are novillage community enter into an agreement tolong-term timber concessions of the kind practised

jointly protect and manage forest land adjoining

in Southeast Asian countries. In recent years, logging

villages and to share responsibilities and beneﬁts.

in natural forests has been discouraged and, in

JFM has spread throughout the country, covering

several cases, locally banned. The resulting woodover 17 million hectares of forest (IIFM 2002).

scarcity has provided impetus for the development of

Around 63,000 VFCs in 27 states are engaged infarm forestry, homestead forestry and agroforestry.

the protection and regeneration of degraded forests

Ninety per cent of forest-based products are

in return for certain usufructuary rights and othermanufactured in the private sector. During the

beneﬁts. Constitutional Amendment No 73 provided

last 30 years, several innovative arrangements

for the transfer of ownership of NWFPs to Gramfor greater community participation have been

Sabhas/Panchayats (village assemblies) in states

introduced, including JFM, community forestry,

with sizeable tribal populations. One criticism ofout-grower tree-farming, company-community

JFM was that it covered only the protection andpartnerships and cooperative enterprises.

144

SFM TROPICS

Table 2 Some commonly harvested tropical timber species for industrial roundwood (2002–2004)*
Timber species

Remarks

Eucalyptus spp

For pulp, board and cheap timber

Acacia spp

Pulp and rural construction timber

Dalbergia sissoo

Average quality timber used in woodworking

Tectona grandis

High-quality, high-price timber

Shorea robusta

Quality construction wood

* Source: ITTO 2004a, 2004b

Illegal logging, forest encroachment, the poaching

growth and yield has often been poor due to inade-of animals and other illegal activities thrive due toquacies in site selection and site-species matching,weaknesses in control (Ahmed 1997). Policy andpoor planting stock and a lack of maintenance andlegal instruments are not supported by effective

protection (Saigal et al. 2002).

enforcement. Logging is banned in many naturalforests, but there are no adequate measures toenforce the ban, thus leading to further forest
degradation (ibid.).

Since the mid 1980s, most of the plantations havebeen established under social forestry schemes oncommunity and private land outside the forest area.
In recent years, the national forest policy has directed

Silviculture and species selection. Several different

the forest-based industry to obtain their raw material

silvicultural systems are followed in India, including afrom local private sources. This has prompted someselection system, a shelterwood system, clearfelling

large pulp-and-paper companies to promote farmand artiﬁcial regeneration with valuable species,

forestry through the extension of technology forcoppicing, afforestation with exotics to reclaim

establishing clonal plantations, and a buyback

grasslands, line and block plantations in farms,

guarantee for the pulpwood produced (outgrowing

and agroforestry systems. Table 2 shows ﬁve

schemes). A large number of tree-farming andimportant tropical timber species in production

agroforestry enterprises have sprung up all overand trade. Other common species include Hevea

the country. Private tree-planting now covers an

brasiliensis (rubber), Terminalia paniculata, T.

area of over 6 million hectares (Saigal et al. 2002).

tomentosa, Grewia spp, Xylia xylocarpa, Adina
cordifolia, Artocarpus integrifolius, Pterocarpus
spp, Gmelina arborea and Lagerstroemia lanceolata.

Forest certiﬁcation. There are no formal bodies orsystems for forest certiﬁcation. The certiﬁcation of
products manufactured with wood from non-forest

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. Of

sources (eg rubberwood) by external certiﬁcation

the estimated planted forest area of 32.6 million

bodies/agencies is reportedly taking place, but

hectares, nearly 45% is accounted for by fast-details are not available.

growing (and short-rotation) species of Eucalyptus(E. grandis, E. tereticornis) and Acacia (A. auriculiformis, A. mearnsii, A. nilitica) (FAO 2001). Teakaccounts for about 8%; other common hardwood
species are Albizia spp, Azadirachta indica, Casuarina
equisetifolia, Dalbergia sissoo and Gmelina arborea.
Pines and other conifers make up about 10% of theplanted forest estate and the remainder are otherbroadleaved species. While impressive in area, theperformance of forest plantations in terms of survival,

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. Close to 10 million hectares of the
production PFE are being managed under regular
working plans, of which at least 4.8 million hectares
can be considered to be sustainably managedd. This
area comprises forest reserves that have been
managed according to working plans for more than
30 years. In addition, an area of about 8.15 million
hectares of planted forests are intensively managed
for timber production.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

145

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
13,50013,500

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁed

9,720

0

Sustainably
managed
d

4,800

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

32,6008,150

0Timber production and trade. About 50% of India’s

medicinal plant board and state medicinal plantwood supply is provided by non-forest sources. The

boards have been set up to promote the sustainable

rest is accounted for by imports and supply frommanagement and trade of medicinal plants.

public forests, mainly forest plantations. India’sofﬁcial total roundwood production in 2003 was
296 million m3, of which 277 million m3 (94%)
was fuelwood (FAO 2005b). Total production oftropical logs was an estimated 14.0 million m3 in1999 and 13.5 million m3 in 2003 (ITTO 2004a,
2005). Tropical sawnwood production declined
by an estimated 12% in the period 1999–2003,
from 6.8 to 6.0 million m3, while the productionof tropical veneer jumped from 15,000 m3 inForest for protection
Soil and water. The federal government emphasizes
the environmental protection and conservation rolesof forest in preference to their economic role.
Measures are being taken to protect upland watersheds through forest conservation and afforestation.
Data on the extent of forests managed primarily
for soil and water protection are not available.
Biological diversity. India is one of the twelve

1999 to 246,000 m3 in 2003, and tropicalplywood from 300,000 m to 1.76 million mmega-biodiverse countries, hosting 7% of the(ITTO 2004a, 2005).

world’s biodiversity and supporting 16% of major

3

3

India is the world’s third-largest importer of (particularly tropical) logs, importing 2.69 million m3 in
2003, up from to 1.98 million m3 in 1999 (ITTO
2004a, 2005). These logs come mainly from
Malaysia, Myanmar and, increasingly, from Africa.
The value of imports of all primary forest-based
products in 2003 was US$596 million, of which
US$567 million was tropical (ITTO 2005). According

forest types. Eighty-nine mammals, 83 birds, 26
reptiles, 66 amphibians and 247 plants are listed
as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable
on the IUCN red list of threatened species; ofthese, 56 mammals, 48 birds, one reptile, 62
amphibians and two plants are found in forests(IUCN 2004). Thirteen plants are listed in CITES
Appendix I and 484 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

to a recent report (ITTO 2004b), the Indian timberProtective measures in production forests.

market is highly disorganized, reducing timber’s

India’s 1988 national forest policy requires thatcompetitiveness against substitute products.

production forests are managed in ways that are

Non-wood forest products. NWFPs such as bamboo(eg Melocanna baccifera – muli), thatching materials
and medicinal plants are essential components ofconsistent with environmental conservation, andthis stipulation must be reﬂected in the prescriptions
and practice of working and management plans.

the livelihoods of many local communities. Some

Extent of protected areas. Protected areas in India

NWFPs, such as latex, bamboo, gums, sandalwood,cover about 15.6 million hectares, comprising 83

resins and aroma chemicals, support value-added

national parks, 447 wildlife sanctuaries and 23 tiger

processing, niche marketing and export trade.

reserves (Ahmed 1997). The condition of several

NWFPs contribute over 75% of total forest export

protected areas is poor because of ﬁre, grazing andrevenue in India and add signiﬁcantly to the income

inadequate management; most are not covered byof about 30% of rural people. Recently a national

management plans (MOEF 1999). The straying of

bamboo mission was launched to establish aboutsome animals from protected areas – notably tigers,

5 million hectares of bamboo plantations. A national

elephants and some grazing mammals – causes

146

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

25,600

3,060

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

tensions in communities living adjacent to suchcombined with the non-destructive and sustainable

protected areas. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004),

harvesting of NWFPs.

3.06 million hectares of tropical forests are inprotected areas that conform to IUCN protected-area
categories I–IV, of which deciduous/semi-deciduous
broadleaved forest accounts for 1.72 million hectares
and lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest
334,000 hectares.

Social relations. Local rights govern the use offorest resources by rural and tribal communities
living in and near the forests. The plight of mostof these communities is one of great hardshipand requires the settling of tenure issues and therationalization of the system of people’s participation

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed

in forestry. JFM is India’s ﬂagship program in people’sfor protection. Insufﬁcient information was available

participation and it has the support of the nationalto estimate the extent of the protection PFE

forest policy. But the program has several constraints

managed sustainably.

that call for attention. For example, a general

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forestry’s contribution to GDP
fell from about 2.9% in 1981 to 1.7% in 1991

complaint is that government ofﬁcials still play
an overpowering role in decision-making and their
dominance in the governing bodies makes people’s
participation less effective (Saigal et al. 2002).

and to around 1% in 2001 (FSI 2003). This ﬁgure
excludes the contributions of forest-based industries (which are counted under manufacturing). It
is estimated that about 7.5 million people, mostly
in rural and tribal settings, are in forest-related
employment (ibid.).

Summary
In India, state forest departments are custodiansof the public forest resource and act as the forest
authorities. Timber production is shifting away fromnatural forests, stimulating the development of

The lack of a system of forest resource accounting

community-based approaches. All forest states haveis a major deﬁciency. For example, the value of forest-

set up forest development corporations, which areprovided beneﬁts – including wood products, fuelwood

responsible for production within the public forestand charcoal, non-wood construction material,

estate. Increasingly, some responsibilities for andforest grazing and forest fodder, food and medicinal

beneﬁts from the forests are being shared with local

plants – was estimated to be US$43.8 billion annuallycommunities. For example, joint forest management,in the 1990s (National Forestry Action Plan, reported

which usually involves an agreement between thein FSI 1999), against a reported GNP share offorest department and a village to jointly protect

forestry of US$2.9 billion in 1993.

and manage forest land, has become widespread.

Livelihood values. About 400 million people in India
live below the poverty line. Many live in mountain,
upland and ecologically fragile areas, and forestry
is often one of the main sources of employment andincome. A new concept (initiated in the states ofMadhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) is the ‘people’s
protected area’ (PPA). PPAs are based on asustainable livelihood approach allied with biodiversity
conservation and involve conservation and development

Moreover, farmers are becoming more involved intree-growing, the private sector is participating
more in forest management, and partnerships
between forest-product manufacturing companies
and local farmers are developing. However, several
components of SFM are still missing, including an
accurate inventory of resources, the classiﬁcationof land by capability and function, efﬁcient utilizationand sustained investment.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

147

Key points•

The estimated 39.1 million hectares of India’s
natural-forest PFE comprises 13.5 million hectaresof production forest and 25.6 million hectares ofprotection forest. Not all of this PFE is tropical.

•

There are also 32.6 million hectares of planted
forest in the PFE.

•

While there was a net positive change in thearea of forest during the 1990s, natural forest
continues to be lost or degraded.

•

In production forests, India follows a system ofpreparation and periodic revision of working plans.

•

FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSI 2003. State of Forest Report 2001. Forest
Survey of India, Dehra Dun, India.
ITTO 2004a. Annual Review and Assessment

ITTO 2004b. Review of the Indian timber market.
ITTO Pre-project report 68/04. An output of

4.80 million hectares of natural-forest production

PPD 49/02. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

The condition of several of the protected areas
is poor because of ﬁre, grazing and inadequate
management.

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IIFM 2002. India: National forest policy review.
Current situation of forest resources and theforestry sector. Paper submitted to the 19th
Session of the Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Commission,

Forest management is becoming increasingly

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 28–30 August 2002,

decentralized and community-based approaches

by the Indian Institute of Forest Management,

are becoming more common.

Dehra Dun, India.

A national afforestation program was initiated

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatenedin 2000 and operates at the level of forest

Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

divisions within states through forest development(accessed September 2005).

agencies and village forest committees.
India’s wood-based industries face a serious
scarcity of raw materials and, increasingly, they
depend on non-forest and external sources. The
country has become a major importer of tropicaltimber, particularly logs.

References and other sourcesd

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.

Nevertheless, it is estimated that at least

managed.

•2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

Yokohama, Japan.

to estimate the area of protection PFE so•

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO,

sustainably; insufﬁcient information was available•

species.html (accessed September 2005).

of forests is fragmentary at best, and often

PFE (tropical and non-tropical) are being managed•

from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/

Information on the extent and management
unreliable.

•

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

ITTO estimate

Ahmed, M. 1997. Asia Paciﬁc Forestry Sector
Outlook Study: In-depth Country Study – India.

MOEF website. http://www.envfor.nic.in (accessed
October 2005).
MOEF 1999a. National Forestry Action Programme– India. Two Volumes. Government of India(Ministry of Environment and Forests), New
Delhi, India.
Saigal, S., Arora, H. & Rizvi, S. 2002. The New
Foresters: The Role of Private Enterprise in the
Indian Forestry Sector. International Instituteof Environment and Development, London, UK.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

FAO Working Paper APFSOS/WP/26. FAO,

within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Rome, Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

148

SFM TROPICSINDONESIA
natural forest is often the norm. Estimates offorest area range from 105 million hectares (FAOa

2005a) to 120 million hectares ; given the political,
social, economic and environmental changes thathave taken place in Indonesia in recent years it islikely that both these over-estimate the current
extent of forest in the country.
Forest types. About 88% of forest cover is classiﬁed
as tropical moist forest. For the purposes ofmanagement, six types are distinguished: mixed hill
forests, sub-montane/montane and alpine forests,
savanna/bamboo/deciduous/monsoon forests,
peat swamp forests, fresh water swamp forests,
and tidal forests (mangroves). Mixed hill forests
account for about 65% of the natural forests andare the most important for timber production.
*For legend see page 58

Dynamics of forest resource change. There has been
a rapid loss of forest cover in the last 40 years; theForest resources
Indonesia is a 5,200-km-long chain of some
17,000 islands straddling the equator in the heartof Southeast Asia. Its 220 million people live on aland area of about 188 million hectares. Indonesia
is very diverse in geology and biology and the homeof many cultures. It also has a considerable rangeof climates, from equatorial – with rainfall evenly
distributed throughout the year – in Kalimantan,
Sumatra and West Irian, to those with a pronounced

average annual loss between 1990 and 2000 was an
estimated 1.3 million hectares (1.2%) (FAO 2005a).
In the last 20 years, periodic serious ﬁres
have affected large areas of forest, especially in
Kalimantan and parts of Sumatra. These have been
partly inﬂuenced by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation
phenomenon and aggravated by land clearance, theaccumulation of combustible matter after logging,disputes over land tenure and the presence ofburning coal seams in the surface strata.

dry season (such as in Java and the Moluccas). Soils

Permanent forest estate. The forests of Indonesia

range from the rich volcanic soils of Java and Madura

have been classiﬁed by function as production,

to the leached lateritic soils of Kalimantan. Equally

protection and conservation forests; forests

varied are population densities, land-uses and forest

earmarked for conversion are available for woodpractices. In Java, for example, with 950 persons

production until converted to other uses. About

per km2, home gardens and trees outside forests

44% of the forest area is reported to be production

supply a signiﬁcant portion of wood demand. In

forest, 27% protection, 8% conversion and 21%

Kalimantan, on the other hand, the population isconservation. According to ofﬁcial sourcesa (see also

sparser, and large-scale commercial forestry inChrystanto & Justianto 2002), the area of PFE is

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted105–120

100,382

46,0002,500

Production

Protection

Total

22,50071,000STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

149

112.2 million hectares, comprising 109.7 million

forest ownership and forest management. It alsohectares of natural forests (protection forest

provides for forestry decentralization and community

33.5 million hectares, conservation forest

participation. Other relevant policy and legal instru-

20.5 million hectares and production forest

ments include: Law No 5/1990 on the conservation

55.7 million hectares) and 2.5 million hectaresof natural living resources and their ecosystems,of plantations. However, these ﬁgures are probably

Law No 24/1992 on spatial planning and Law

based on old records and represent the area allocatedNo 23/1997 on environmental management.

to the PFE but not necessarily the extent of forest

The Forest Strategic Plan (Renstra) (2001–2005)

within that area. Table 1 shows an ITTO estimate

aims to: (i) improve the quality and productivity ofof the current PFE. An estimated 81% of thethe forest resource; (ii) reduce the rate of forest

external boundaries of the ofﬁcial PFE have been

resource degradation; (iii) implement SFM; and (iv)

demarcateda.

increase the contribution of the forest resource tothe national economy and to community prosperity.

Planted forests. The area of planted forests in2000 was estimated by FAO (2001) to be about

In 2001, Indonesia established a working group to

6.4 million hectares, but only 2.5 million hectares ofdevelop a national forest program. It has engaged

a,bthese appear to be productive timber plantations.

in wide consultations but has not yet adopted

The total area is classiﬁed as: industrial forest

a common program for the management andplantations (hutan tanamaan industri – HTI),

conservation of its forests.

non-industrial (protective) forest plantations,social forestry, and enrichment planting. There arealso plantations of agro-industrial crops that may
become increasingly important in timber supply,
including 3.48 million hectares of rubber (FAO 2001).

Institutions involved in forests. Forest management
is generally undertaken by private companies,
although six state enterprises currently operate
about 12% of the country’s concession area. Before
decentralization, the Ministry of Forestry (MoF) in
Jakarta was responsible for the management andInstitutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Article 5 of the 1999 Forest Law(see below) sets out two types of forest tenure:state and titled. A titled forest is a forest locatedon land on which the land title is registered. Traditional community rights (adat) to forest resources
are also widely recognized based on the Customary
Act of 1999. In the past, land settlement andthe designation of forest were arbitrary, leaving
unsettled a large number of claims by individuals
and communities over traditional rights, ancestral
domains and tenure.

control of forests and the conservation of natural
resources. At the provincial level there were twodifferent forestry ofﬁces: regional forestry ofﬁces(kanwil kehutanan) and provincial forestry ofﬁces(dinas kehutanan propinsi). The former, as anextension of the MoF, coordinated all technicalaspects of forestry in the provinces. At the districtlevel there were also two agencies dealing with
forestry; one was responsible to the district
government and the other was a sub-ofﬁce of theprovincial forest service. This dual control systemcame to an end in 1999 with the enactment of laws
22 and 25; MoF now has a much reduced role in

SFM policy framework. Indonesia demonstrates

the ﬁeld, and authority over forest management is

its commitment to establishing SFM through its

vested in the provinces and particularly the districts

membership of many international organizations and(kabupaten). Several national-level departments

its adherence to all relevant major international

also have a forestry role, such as the departments

conventions. It has established its own C&I, developedof trade and industry, agriculture, transmigration

national standards for forest certiﬁcation andand forest settlement, and mines and energy. An

introduced the mandatory veriﬁcation of SFMa.
Forest policy and legislation. For many years, thelegal and policy framework of Indonesia’s forestry

Inter-departmental Committee on Forestry wasestablished in October 2000 to coordinate longterm policy and planning.

was provided by the Basic Forestry Law of 1967

Decentralization in forestry covers forest production,(5/1967). This was replaced by Forestry Law

the servicing of forestry businesses and the41/1999, which is now the primary source ofprotection of forests dedicated to ecosystem andauthority and guidance on forest stewardship,

150

SFM TROPICS

biodiversity conservation. All forest land except

issued after July 1989. HPH rights are for large

national parks and nature reserves are to beconcessions and run for periods of up to 20 years,

managed by the kabupaten governments. Under Law

recently increased to 55 years for natural forests

No 22/1999, there is no hierarchical relationshipand 100 years for plantations under Governmental

between the central departments, the provincial

Regulation No 34 (2002). After decentralization,

forest services and the district forest services.

HPHHs were revived in the form of log exploitation
permits (izin pemanfaatan kayu – IPK). By the early

For many years, international NGOs have pressed

1990s, the number of HPHs had reached 584,

for forest policy reform; this role has largely beenwith a total area of about 68 million hectares. The

assumed and greatly expanded by Indonesian NGOs.
Networks link many hundreds of NGOs; prominent are
WAHLI (Indonesian Forum of Environmental NGOs),KPSHK (Community Forest System Development

recorded production of industrial wood increased
from 5 million m3 in 1965 to about 47 million m3
in 1990, a trend which led to the development offorest industries based on ‘supply-push’b. In 2001,

Group), JKPP (Participatory Mapping Network),

there were 354 HPHs and 102 HTIs covering

WWF Indonesia and the Association of Indonesian39.3 million hectaresa.

Forest Concessionaires, an industry body.

In general, Indonesian forest management needs

Status of forest management

urgent strengthening. Many of the concessions do

Forest for production

ﬁres, illegal land clearance and shifting cultivation

All production forests within the PFE are covered

one of the most critical problems of forestry andnot have clearly demarcated boundaries, and forest
are widespread. Illegal logging is now recognized as

by management plansa. However, efforts to manage

the forest industry in Indonesiaa; according to somethese forests sustainably are undermined by (among

reports, the volume of illegal logging exceeds

other things) the large discrepancy between thelegal productionb.

timber requirements of the existing wood industry

Under the concession system, the value of timber

and the estimated sustainable timber supply. At

harvested by the concessionaires is realized by thea policy level, the national AAC was reduced from3

3

22 million m in the 1990s to 5.6 million m in 2004,
a,b

but much timber still comes from illegal sources.

Any reduction of timber production will further widen
the divergence between timber supply and demand.

government as stumpage/royalty and other charges
or levies. For the whole of Indonesia the rent capture(often a reﬂection of efﬁciency) in logging concessions
during 1997–98 was 24–36% (average 30%),
leaving 64%–76% to the concessionairesb. Because

In order to open up the huge and valuable forest

log exports have been prohibited since 1985 andresource outside Java, Indonesia enacted legislation

rough-sawn timber exports since 1992, the mainin 1967 to encourage the participation of private

avenue for timber companies to capture rent isinvestors. The natural forests began to be harvested

through the export of plywood. The same top ﬁve

on a large scale in 1969 once the government begancompanies that dominate in concession holdings

issuing forest concessions. Under the concession

have obtained a similar market share in thesystem, the management and extraction of public

plywood factories.

forest resources can be undertaken by statecompanies, companies owned by regional administrations, national private companies, cooperatives
or foreign private companies with Indonesian legal
status. The concession system is also used for raisingand managing forest plantations (HTIs) and for otherforestry enterprises. There are two categories ofconcessions for logging in natural forests: forest
concession rights (hak pengusahaan hutan – HPH),
and forest products collection rights (hak pemungutan hasil hutan – HPHH); the latter ceased to be

Decentralization has tended to add to the confusion
surrounding Indonesian forest management.
For example, many local governments do not fullyrecognize nationally designated land-uses such asconcession areas. Instances have been reported inwhich small-scale operators have been granted forest
concessions that overlap concessions designatedby the national government; moreover, the capacityof local government to administer forest policies isoften limited (Rukmantara 2003).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

151

b,d

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–03)
Timber species

Remarks

Shorea spp (meranti)

Dipterocarpaceae, used for sawn timber and plywood

Dipterocarpus spp (keruing)

Dipterocarpaceae, used for sawn timber and plywood

Dryobalanops spp (kapur)

Dipterocarpaceae, used for sawn timber and plywood

Anisoptera spp (mersawa)

Dipterocarpaceae, used for sawn timber and plywood

Tectona grandis (teak)

From planted forests

Silviculture and species selection. Indonesia’s forests

There is an apparent discrepancy in information on

contain about 4,000 tree species, 267 of which

the extent of concessions allocated in plantations.

aare traded . The most important are trees of theAccording to one source there were 176 approved

Dipterocarpaceae family. Table 2 shows ﬁve of the

HTI concessions in 2000 with a land allocation ofmost important harvested species; others include

7.76 million hectaresb, while another reported thatspecies of Koompassia, Palaquium, Dyera,

the 102 HTIs in 2001 covered an area of 2.50 million

Calophyllum inophyllum and Octomeles sumatrana.

hectaresa. The overall performance of HTIs has not

Gonystylus bancanus (ramin), a highly priced wood

been satisfactory, although of a higher standard inwhich was extensively logged in the past, is now

the case of pulpwoodb. A recent evaluation of 65

listed in CITES Appendix II. The silvicultural system

HTIs recommended the continuation of only 30

originally prescribed for logging in concession areas(MoF 2003).

was ‘Indonesian selective cutting’ (Tebang Pilih
Indonesia – TPI). Only mature and overmature trees
conforming to prescribed conditions were to be
removed. It was later realized that the concessionaires were only complying with the minimum felling
diameter limit and ignoring the other requirements ofthe system (eg residual stand inventory, post-harvest
tending and enrichment planting)b. In 1989, MoF
introduced the Indonesian Selective Cutting and
Planting System (Tebang Pilih Tanam Indonesia –TPTI), which placed greater importance on naturalregeneration and enrichment planting. A further
modiﬁcation, the Selective Cutting and Strip Planting
System (Tebang Pilih Tanam Jalur – TPTJ), wasintroduced in the 1990s. It is thought that the
TPTJ should be able to deliver both increased
wood production and enhanced environmental
conservation if properly implemented.

Forest certiﬁcation. A system of timber certiﬁcation
has been developed through the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (Lembaga Ekolobel Indonesia – LEI).
Established in 1993, LEI has devised C&I for theauditing of forest management in logging concessions
and the ecolabelling of products from these concessions. LEI has also recently developed chain-of-custodycertiﬁcation and a log audit system in an effort tostamp out illegal logging and related irregularities.
This system is to be implemented through accredited
certiﬁcation bodies. LEI has also developed C&I for
planted forests, community-based forest management(CBFM) and ‘legal origin veriﬁcation’. In addition, LEI
has developed a joint certiﬁcation program (JCP)
with the FSC. As of October 2005, an area of
274,598 hectares of mostly natural forest had
been certiﬁed under JCP and the FSC (FSC 2005).
Under the certiﬁcation scheme for CBFM, two

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

forests were certiﬁed as of October 2005 andImportant planted species are teak (1.47 million

three others were under assessment, although thehectares), Pinus merkusii and other pinesarea of forest covered by these was unreporteda.

(0.77 million hectares), Acacia spp (0.64 million

One forest-based business (PT Uniseraya) had gained

hectares), Eucalyptus spp (0.13 million hectares),a chain-of-custody certiﬁcate under the LEI schemeand other broadleaved species (3.39 million hectares)

and 29 under the FSCa. Certiﬁcates of legal origin

including Gmelina arborea, Albizia and Melaleuca. Many

veriﬁcation, which use a log-tracking system tospecies are also planted in homesteads and farms.

verify the source of timber, had been awarded totwo companies in Riaua.

152

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagementplans

46,00043,200*18,400

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

275

2,940

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

2,500

2,500

0.152

* 94% of production forests are allocated to concessions, although a considerable number of concessions were under suspension
at the end of 2004

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. MoF is undertaking a review ofconcessions and their compliance with the Indonesian
C&I. During 2002–2004, 38 HPHs covering
4.20 million hectares were assessed and 25 ofthese covering 2.94 million hectares evaluatedto have good to very good compliance; a further
53 HPHs were being assessed in 2005, but results
were not available for this report (MoF 2005).
To avoid possible double-counting, all the certiﬁed
forest concessions are assumed here to be includedin the ﬁgure of 2.94 million hectares and are
therefore not added to the estimate of sustainably
managed forest given in Table 3. The 98,000-hectare
PT Hutanindo concession in Central Kalimantan,
which is working with the Tropical Forest Trust (withITTO support) to achieve a ‘sustainable standardof forestry’ and the 1.52-million-hectare Malinau(Bulungun) forest are considered to be well managed;
however, these are also excluded from the estimateof sustainably managed forest in Table 3 because of
the possibility of double-counting. If the assessmentthat 70% of concessions surveyed showed good tovery good compliance to the Indonesian C&I was
extrapolated to the entire production PFE, about
32 million hectares would be thus assessed.
Timber production and trade. Total wood
production in 2003 was estimated to be about
120 million m3, consisting of 34 million m3 ofindustrial wood and 86 million m3 of fuelwood (FAO
2005b). ITTO (2004, 2006 in prep.) gives the totalindustrial log production in 2003 as 25.0 million m3,
down from 33.2 million m3 in 1999; however, thevolume of illegal logging may exceed the ofﬁcial cutb.
The annual area allocated for timber production is367,450 hectares, comprising 252,780 hectares(69%) of natural forest and 114,670 hectares(31%) of plantations, contributing 85% and 15%
respectively to log productiona.

In 2000, the wood-based industry contained 4,400
3sawmills (installed capacity 19 million m ), 120
plywood mills (installed capacity 11.1 million m3),
39 particleboard mills, 102 blockboard mills, 13
chipmills, two MDF units, 81 pulp and paper mills(installed capacity 5.23 million tonnes of pulp and9.12 million tonnes of paper), and a large numberof secondary processing unitsb. The output ofwood-based primary processing industries in 2003
was: wood residues – 388,000 m3; sawnwood –6.25 million m3; wood-based panel products –7.33 million m3; wood pulp – 5.48 million tonnes;
and paper and paperboard – 6.99 million tonnes(FAO 2005b). Indonesia is a net exporter of forest
products. In 2003, the recorded export value ofprimary wood products (logs, sawnwood, veneer
and plywood) alone was about US$1.8 billion, downfrom US$2.9 billion in 1999 (ITTO 2002, 2005).
Exports are mainly directed towards Japan, Taiwan
Province of China, China and South Korea; Japanis the main importer of Indonesian plywood. The
wood-industry sector in Indonesia is undergoing
restructuring. It suffers from over-capacity, a woodsupply deﬁcit, unsustainable forest harvesting,a low level of capacity utilization, low efﬁciency
and low competitiveness, among other problemsb.
Non-wood forest products. A wide range of NWFPs
are produced in Indonesia – rattan, bamboo, Nipa
fronds, Metroxylon spp (sago starch), resin from
Pinus merkusii, Shorea javanica (damar matakucing), copal, Melaleuca (kaya putih oil), Santalum
album (cendana), Aquilaria malaccensis (agarwood),
medicinal plants, ﬁbres and fruits such as Durio
zibethinus (durian). Wood-carving for souvenirs isimportant, using woods such as Hibiscus tiliaccus,
Manilkara kauki (sawo kecik), Artocarpus heterophyllus (jackfruit), teak, sandalwood and ebony. One
important forest service among many is carbon
storage: the total carbon stored in the forests ofIndonesia is estimated to be 92.5 billion tonnesa.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

153

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

22,50014,40016,0005,000a1,360dForest for protection
Soil and water. Indonesia pursues integrated
watershed management; some 28% of the total
forest area is managed primarily for the protectionaevergreen broadleaved rainforest, 2.84 million
hectares of upper montane forest, 2.13 million
hectares of freshwater swamp forest, and a sizeable
3.03 million hectares of unclassiﬁed forest.

of soil and water . Forest concession agreements

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed

have conditions covering the establishment offor protection. The management of the area ofbuffer strips along streams and protective belts

the protection PFE (Table 4) is, for the most part,

along roads.

problematic. Management plans have been prepared

Biological diversity. With about 1.3% of the earth’s
land surface, Indonesia contains an estimated 10%of the world’s plant species, 12% of mammals, 16%of reptiles and amphibians, and 17% of birds. Some
58,175 species have been identiﬁeda. One hundredand forty-six mammals, 122 birds, 28 reptiles, 33
amphibians and 387 plants are listed as criticallyendangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN
red list of threatened species; of these, 61 mammals,
113 birds, 31 amphibians and 16 plants are found inforests (IUCN 2004). Thirty plants are listed in CITES
Appendix I and 1,023 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

for the Betung Kerihun and Kayan Mentarang
national parks on Borneo, which together coverabout 2.18 million hectares of forest, and their
management is being greatly strengthened under
two ITTO projects implemented by WWF Indonesia
and MOF’s Directorate General of Forest Protection
and Nature Conservation; a recent evaluation of
the Kayan Mentarang project reported considerable
progress and a positive outlook for the park.
Management plans have also been prepared forsome other national parks and efforts made to
implement them (WWF Indonesia, pers. comm.).
However, in general there is little information on

Protective measures in production forests.

the management status of the protection PFE.

In addition to stipulations for conservation

Therefore, the estimate given in Table 4, whichmeasures contained in forest concession agreements,

comprises the Kayan Mentarang National Parkelaborate guidelines are set out in various forest

only, is probably conservatived.

regulations such as the forest law and Decree
No 32 (1990) concerning the management ofprotected areas. Regulations include speciﬁcations
for road construction, protective belts along themargins of streams/rivers and roads, the alignmentof skid trails, directional felling, and enrichment
and protective planting.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forests and forest industries
make a substantial contribution to Indonesia’ssocioeconomic development. About 0.61% of thelabour force (nearly 500,000 people) is directly
employed in the forestry sectora. In 2000, forestry

Extent of protected areas. Some 400 protected

contributed 1.17% of GDP (about US$15 billion)a,areas covering about 22.5 million hectares of forest

although this ﬁgure may not include the(12.4% of land area) have been designated anddownstream-processing sector.

gazetted as nature reserves, national parks, wildlife
sanctuaries, forest parks, etc. Many of the protectedareas are thought to be degraded, due largely toillegal activitiesb. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004),
14.4 million hectares of forest are in protected areasthat conform to IUCN protected-area categories
I–IV, including 4.05 million hectares of lowland

154

SFM TROPICS

Livelihood values. An estimated 36 million people
make use of forests and forestry for their livelihoods, some 4 million of whom are tribal families
who depend entirely on natural forests for theirincomea. Rural poverty is an important cause ofillegal logging and unsustainable use.

Social relations. In many cases forest concession-•

It is estimated that at least 2.94 million hectares

aires have neglected or rejected the traditionalof natural-forest production PFE and 1.36 million

rights of local communities; in some areas this has

hectares of protection PFE are being managed

prompted such communities to collaborate withsustainably.

illegal loggers and/or to take revenge by damaging
the forestb. Some concessionaires are working•

been designated as protected areas. However,towards repairing relations with local communities

information on the management of a large partin an effort to improve acceptance of their activitiesb.

of the protection PFE is scarce.

Decentralization has often complicated disputes
over land and usufruct rights but in the long run

Some 12% of the land area of Indonesia has•

Forestry is undergoing a process of decentralization that has proven difﬁcult partly because

could provide mechanisms for resolving them.

of a lack of capacity at the decentralized levels ofadministration and partly because of disharmony

Summary
Indonesia’s forest resource base is still vast,
but it faces many threats that put its long-termin the policies of central and local governments.
•

and a certiﬁcation regime designed. Aboutsustainability in jeopardy. These include illegal

275,000 hectares have so far been certiﬁed.

logging; forest ﬁres; deforestation through land
encroachment; wasteful logging and processing;C&I for SFM have been developed for the country•

The prescriptions for the management ofstructural deﬁciencies and inefﬁciencies in forest

production forests are conceptually sound but

industries; the indebtedness of forestry enterprises;

implementation has been weak. Over-capacity

unsettled land claims; inefﬁciencies in public forestand structural imbalances in the wood-processing

administration, in particular in the process ofsector have exacerbated the situation.

decentralization; an inadequate base of humanresources; inadequate monitoring and evaluation;
and a lack of effective governance. On the other
hand, signiﬁcant progress has been made in the

References and other sourcesaand Achievements towards Sustainable Forest

establishment of certiﬁcation systems and infor-

Management in Indonesia. Submitted to ITTO,

mation on the management of concessions is

March 2002. Departemen Kehutanan, Ministry

becoming increasingly available.
Key points•

of Forestry, Jakarta, Indonesia. Unpublished.
b

The estimated 68.5 million hectares of Indonesia’s

Diagnostic Mission. Presented at the thirty-ﬁrst

hectares of production forest and 22.5 million

session of the International Tropical Timberhectares of protection forest. There are also
timber plantations.
•

The security and integrity of the PFE are affectedby several factors, of which forest ﬁre and•Council, November 2001. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
d

ITTO estimate

Chrystanto, S. & Justianto, A. 2001. Review of
National Forest Policy in Indonesia. Country

encroachment are among the most important.

report presented at the 19th session of the

Illegal logging in the PFE (both production andMongolia, 28–30 August 2002.

protection) is widely held to be a major problem.
•

ITTO 2001. Achieving Sustainable Forest
Management in Indonesia. Report of thenatural-forest PFE comprises 46.0 million

about 2.50 million hectares of productive

MoF 2002. Country Report on the Progress

The Ministry of Forestry is undertaking a review
of concessions and their compliance with theIndonesian C&I. This process has shed light on
the status of management in the production PFE.

Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Commission, Ulaanbaatar,
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

155

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2001.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC

MoF 2003. Report to stakeholders: current
condition of forestry development. Statementon progress towards implementing sustainable
forest management at the twelfth CGI meeting.
Denpasar, January 2003. Available from:http://www.dephut.go.id/INFORMAS/CGI/International Center & Working Group,

CGI_03/report_12th.htm (accessed September

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

2005).

org (accessed October 2005).
ITTO 2002. Annual Review and Assessment of the

MoF 2005. Progress towards Sustainable Forest
Management in Indonesia: Signiﬁcant Achieve-

World Timber Situation 2001. ITTO, Yokohama,ments. Information leaﬂet distributed by theJapan.

Indonesian Ministry of Forestry at the 39th

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theSession of the ITTC, November 2005.
Rukmantara 2003. Repairing the road to SFM.
ITTO Tropical Forest Update 13/4.
Smith, J., Obidzinski, K., Subarudi &World Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,

Suramenggala, I. 2003. Illegal logging, collusive

Japan.

corruption and fragmented governments in

ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Lopez, C. & Shanley, P. 2004. Riches of the Forest:
Food, Spices, Crafts and Resins of Asia. CIFOR,
Bogor, Indonesia.

156

SFM TROPICS

Kalimantan, Indonesia. International Forestry
Review 5(3), 293–302.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

MALAYSIAa

3.83 million hectares in Sabah . There are also
1.54 million hectares of peat swamp forest,
1.12 million hectares of which are in Sarawak.
Mangrove forests cover about 567,000 hectares;amore than half are in Sabah .
Dynamics of forest resource change. The averageannual loss of forest during the 1990s was an
estimated 237,000 hectares (1.2%) (FAO 2005),
largely attributable to planned land-use changea.
Wildﬁre damaged an estimated 164,000 hectaresof forest in the ﬁve-year period to 2003; dataon damage caused by encroachment, shifting
agriculture or premature re-entry to loggedaareas were unavailable for this report .
Permanent forest estate. In 2003, the areaof natural-forest PFE was 14.39 million hectares*For legend see page 58(44% of land area), comprising 3.21 million hectares

Status of forest resources
Malaysia has a land area of 32.9 million hectares
and a population of about 25 million people. It is afederation of 13 states and comprises two distinct
regions – Peninsular Malaysia, with eleven states,
and the states of Sarawak and Sabah (East Malaysia)
in Borneo. Estimates of the total natural forest area
include 19.3 million hectares (FAO 2001) and19.5 million hectaresa. Sarawak is the mostforested state, with 75% forest cover; Sabah has
60% and Peninsular Malaysia 45%. With the inclusionof tree crops such as rubber, oil palm and coconut,(22.3%) of protection forest and 11.18 million
hectares (77.8%) of production forest (Table 1).
These forest lands are gazetted in accordance with
the National Forest Act 1984 in Peninsular Malaysia
and the relevant state forest ordinance/enactmentin the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Peninsular
Malaysia contains 4.85 million hectares (34%)
of the PFE, Sabah 3.6 million hectares (25%) andSarawak 6.0 million hectares (41%)a. The area ofgazetted PFE increased from 12.6 million hectares
in 1990 to 14.4 million hectares todaya. Strong
measures of surveillance, enforcement and deterrent
punishment are in place to ensure the integrity andthe percentage of tree cover in Malaysia is 75.5%a.

security of the PFE. Some 79% of the PFE boundaries

Forest types. Malaysia’s forests are generally moist

maintaineda.

tropical forests, those in the lowlands and lower partsof the hills being dominated by Dipterocarpaceae. Of
the estimated 17.1 million hectares of dipterocarp
forests, 5.40 million hectares are in Peninsular
Malaysia, 7.92 million hectares in Sarawak andhave been surveyed and demarcated and are being
Planted forests. At the end of 2003, the total areaof planted forest for marketable timber amounted
to 263,000 hectares, of which 183,000 are
inside the PFEa. There are also about 5.27 million

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)a
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted19.3–19.5

19,148

11,200183

Production

Protection

Total

3,210

14,593STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005157

hectares of commercial agricultural plantations –in 1993 to include more stringent penalties forincluding oil palm, rubber, cocoa and coconut (MTC

certain forest offences, particularly illegal logging.

2004). Many of these, especially rubber, are used

Provision was also made for the police and armed

for wood production in addition to agricultural use.

forces to enforce the act. The National Forestry
Act is adopted for implementation by all the states

Institutional arrangements

and is complemented by relevant laws dealing with

Forest tenure. An estimated 98% of natural forest

wildlife protection, the management of nationaland 69.2% of forest plantations are state-owned;

parks, biodiversity conservation, and the rights

land and water conservation, environmental quality,athe remaining area is privately owned . The special
rights of indigenous communities are provided in the
Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954. In Sarawak, forests
cleared by native communities for agriculture before
1958 are recognized as Native Customary Rights
Land.

of indigenous communities.
New incentives were introduced in 2002 and 2003
to attract investment by the private sector andencourage its greater involvement in SFM. These
included: pioneer status to private plantation
ventures with 100% exemption from income tax

SFM policy framework. A national forestry policy

for ten years; incentives to concessionaires to(NFP) was adopted in 1978 as a framework for SFM;

carry out R&D and the development of human

this was revised in 1992 in response to growing

resources; a reduction in royalty rates for RIL,

concern for the conservation of biological diversity,

enrichment planting and ﬁre management; andthe sustainable utilization of genetic resources anddifferential royalty rates for lesser-known species.

the participation of local communities in forestry. The
Malaysian C&I for SFM were developed in 2000
based on the ITTO C&I.

Institutions involved in forests. The forestry
departments are responsible for the planning,
management and administration of forest resources.

Forest policy and legislation. Under the federal

The Forestry Department Headquarters, Peninsularconstitution, land-use falls within the jurisdiction of

Malaysia, is responsible for forestry-sector planning,

the states. Each state is empowered to enact laws,

forest management, forest development and opera-

formulate its forest policy and manage its forests.

tional studies, the provision of technical advice and

The federal National Forestry Act (1984) establishes

services, and staff training. The state forestry

the general rules on forestry and each state isdepartments in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah areempowered to enact laws and regulations in line withresponsible for the administration, management andthose rules. The federal government also provides

development of forest resources, the regulation ofadvice and technical assistance, maintains experi-

forest harvesting, the collection of forest revenue,

mental stations and funds research and training.

and the planning and coordination of the development

The National Forestry Council (NFC), established inof wood-based industries in their respective states.

1971, serves as a forum for coordination between

In Sarawak, these functions are carried out by thethe federal and state governments to discuss andSarawak Forestry Corporation, while the Forestry

resolve problems and issues relating to forest

Department is vested with regulatory functions. Apart

policy, administration and management, includingfrom the forestry departments there are a number

the determination of the annual timber harvest.

of specialized institutions such as the Forest Research

There is a commitment in the NFP that: sufﬁcientInstitute of Malaysia (FRIM), the Malaysian Timberland strategically located throughout the country

Industry Board (MTIB), the Malaysian Timber

be dedicated as PFE; the permanent forests be

Certiﬁcation Council (MTCC), and university

managed in accordance with the principles of soundforestry faculties.

forest management; and the efﬁcient harvesting andutilization of forest products and the developmentof forest industries be promoted.

Responsibility for forestry and timber at the federal
level resided with the Ministry of Primary Industries
until March 2004. Following the most recent

The legislative framework is deﬁned in the National

general election, the Forestry Department, FRIM

Forestry Act (1984) and the Wood-based Industries

and the departments of Environment and Wildlife

Act (1984). The National Forestry Act was amended

158

SFM TROPICS

were placed under the new Ministry of Natural

At present, 14 million hectares, representing 73%

Resources and Environment (NRE). Consequently,of all forests in Malaysia, including all peat swamp

the implementation of the NFP, the National Policy

forests, 81% of the inland forests and 23% of theon Biological Diversity (1998) and matters relating

mangrove forests, are covered by forest management

to the upstream activities of the forest sector areplans (up from 2.5 million hectares in 1980) .

placed under the jurisdiction of NRE. Timber andother downstream activities of the sector, including
processing, manufacturing, marketing, trade, exports
and international cooperation (including ITTO) are
under the responsibility of the Ministry of Plantation
Industries and Commodities, which replaced theMinistry of Primary Industries. This division of
responsibilities poses a coordination challenge.

aForest management implementation. All timber
harvesting and related management operations arecarried out by contractors operating on the basis ofeither a long-term logging agreement or a short-term
licence. Large concessions are normally granted
under legally binding agreements. These concessions
are often tied to wood-based industries and someof them cover periods of up to 30 years. Logging

Within each state the consultative committees at

is controlled by the respective state forestry

the village, Mukim and district levels strengthen thedepartment through its local ofﬁces; a total ofparticipation and involvement of local communities.

8,344 forestry-related personnel were employed

The public is well aware of the importance of wildlife
and environmental quality. Stakeholders including
environmental NGOs, social groups and forest-worker
movements are active in forestry and forest-related
initiatives. The forest industry is also strongly
involved at both federal and state levels through,for example, the MTIB, the Malaysian Timber Council,
the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation, the Sabah Timber Association, the Sarawak
Timber Association and other associations.

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Malaysian forest policy emphasizes the sustainable
management of forests and the balance between
protection and production. The silvicultural andharvesting regulations for the different forest types
specify the detailed steps to be followed. Theseain the public sector in 2000 . Size limits, intensity of
extraction, logging sequence, methods of treatment,
transport routes, standards of road construction,
etc are generally stipulated in the logging licences.
In Sabah, new opportunities for joint activities
between government and the private sector havebeen made possible through a recent initiative
under which the state government established
27 FMUs to be managed sustainably. Each FMU isabout 100,000 hectares in size and managementagreements with private companies offer secure
tenure for 100 years. The FMUs are generally inforests that have been logged or are being logged.
The private sector is invited to participate in the
management of these FMUs according to scientiﬁcally based management plans approved by the Sabah
Forestry Department. Data on the total number ofactive logging concessions and their sizes were notmade available for this report. The Matang mangrove
forests in Peninsular Malaysia have been managed

include codes of forest practice, forest harvestingsustainably for more than 100 years.

guidelines and standard road speciﬁcations. RIL andSilviculture and species selection. The silvicultural

helicopter logging are being conducted with emphasis

system used for managing Malaysian dipterocarp

on reducing environmental impact and (for the latter)

forests has changed over the years. Regeneration

on timber harvesting in terrain and conditions that

improvement felling was replaced by the Malayanpreclude ground-based systems; in Sabah some

Uniform System in the 1950s; these two mainly

2,000 personnel from both the Forestry Department

applied to lowland forest. The Selective Management

and the private sector have received training in RIL

System (SMS) was introduced in 1978 as logging

operationsa. Peninsular Malaysia has adopted a

moved into the hill dipterocarp forests and as

Forest Management Policy and Strategy, and Sarawak

advances in the technology of wood-processing

and Sabah have policies of managing their forests

rendered marketable many species that were

sustainably. Forest divisional management plans arepreviously not so. This allows harvesting to be

regularly prepared to run for about 10–15 years.

carried out on a 25-year cycle; the minimum

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

159

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001-2003)*
Timber species

Remarks

Shorea spp (meranti)

Used in sawmilling and plywood

Anisoptera spp (mersawa)

Used in sawmilling and plywood

Dipterocarpus spp (keruing)

Used in sawmilling and plywood

Dryobalanops spp (kapur)

Used in sawmilling and plywood

Hevea brasiliensis (‘Malaysian oak’)

From rubber plantations. Much is exported
as ﬁnished products* With the exception of H. brasiliensis, each of these is made up of a group of species with similar timber characteristics

cutting size prescribed is 60 cm diameter fora lucrative export market. Rubber plantations are

dipterocarps and 45 cm for non-dipterocarps.

managed on a rotation of about 25 years; about

Only merchantable trees (up to about ten trees per

20,000 hectares are currently being replanted

hectare) are allowed to be harvested. Post-harvest

annually. In Sarawak, 1.0 million hectares havetreatments concentrate on: (i) assessing the condition

been set aside since 1998 as licences for plantedof the crop after logging; and (ii) measures forforests for the development for forest plantations

rehabilitation/enhancement of the crop determinedof exotic and native tree species. Trees are also

according to its condition at the time. By the end

widely planted in orchards, urban areas, recre-of 2003, 2.1 million hectares of logged-over forests

ational areas and along highways.

had been treated silviculturally and 50,000 hectares
more had been enriched with native species.

Forest certiﬁcation. The MTCC was established
as an independent body in 1998; it develops andMore than 120 species are used for timber

implements standards for timber certiﬁcation

production. Besides those listed in Table 2 thesethrough multi-stakeholder consultations, establishes

include, from native forests, Hopea spp (merawan),

and implements a system to oversee and monitor

Gonystylus bancanus (ramin), Intsia palembanica

the certiﬁcation scheme, establishes networks and(merbau), kedondong (Canarium spp, Santiria spp),

cooperates with other national and international

Pterocarpus spp (angsana), Terminalia spp (talisai),bodies concerned with timber certiﬁcation, andand, from planted forests, Acacia mangium, Tectona

facilitates arrangements for mutual recognition.

grandis (teak), Toona ciliata and Gmelina arborea.

By 2004, the forests of eight states covering

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The
establishment of signiﬁcant-sized forest plantations
started in 1957 with teak, which was only successful
in areas with a distinct dry season. Since then the
program has been widened to include other fastgrowing species such as A. mangium, G. arborea,
Paraserianthes falcataria, Eucalyptus deglupta, Pinus
spp and Araucaria spp. FAO (2001) estimated thearea of plantations to be: Acacia – 180,000 hectares,
Eucalyptus – 19,000 hectares, teak – 12,000
hectares, other broadleaved species – 12,000
hectares, and conifers – 47,000 hectares. In the

4.67 million hectares in Peninsular Malaysia(including 171,000 hectares of plantations) and
60,000 hectares in Sarawak had been independently
assessed and awarded the national certiﬁcate offorest management. Another 650,000 hectares
are being examined for possible certiﬁcationa.
In addition, as of October 2005 the FSC had
certiﬁed three FMUs totalling 77,242 hectares,of which 64,808 hectares are natural forests and12,434 hectares are planted forests (FSC 2005).
The MTCC is actively cooperating with the FSC andthe PEFC to seek their endorsement.

past ten years, rubber has been planted for latex

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed

and timber, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia,

for production. The entire PFE allocated for timberand ﬁnished products of rubberwood have captured

production is covered by forest management plansa.

160

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
NaturalTotal
11,200

Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

PlantedWith
management
plans

a

6,790

Certiﬁed

11,2004,620

Sustainably
managed
d

4,790

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

183

183

183

Of the harvested PFE, management guidelines

Malaysia earned US$2.47 billion from the export ofwere implemented on an estimated 3.96 million

primary wood products in 2003; plywood accounted

hectares in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia overfor 43% of this, followed by sawnwood (27%) andthe ﬁve-year period to 2001, although post-harvest

logs (21%) (ITTO 2005). In the last few years,

surveys had been conducted on only 201,000

the average annual traded value (international

hectares of that areaa. In the absence of aand domestic) of all wood products has reachedcomprehensive evaluation of the extent to which

about US$4.5 billiona. The share of furniture andsuch management plans are being implemented

woodworking in international trade has also beeneffectively, the area of natural-forest production

increasing; it reportedly reached about 35% of the

PFE being managed sustainably is estimated to be

total of all forest product exports in 2002a.

d

at least 4.78 million hectares , corresponding to
the total area certiﬁed by the MTCC and the FSC
and the 162,000-hectare Bintulu Model Forest inSarawak (Table 3).

Non-wood forest products. Malaysia has given
priority to the development of commercial NWFPs.
Small-scale, rural-based industries using forest
produce such as rattan and bamboo are common.

Timber production and trade. Total Malaysian

Besides rattan and bamboo, marketed NWFPs

industrial log production was 21.5 million m3 ininclude damar and copal gum, Dyera costulata

2003, down slightly from 22.2 million m3 in 1999

(jelutong latex), nipah sugar, Aquilaria spp (gharu(ITTO 2004, 2005); in 1990 the estimated totalwood), illipe nuts and oil, and Palaquium spp (gutta

3

industrial log production was 39.1 million m (ITTO

percha). More recent is the development of aromatic1995). Log exports fell from 6.74 million m3 in 1999

plants, health products and medicines based on

to 5.47 million m3 in 2003 (ITTO 2004, 2005),

plant and animal species from natural forests.

continuing the downward trend evident since 1990,
when exports were an estimated 20.3 million m3(ITTO 1995). Sawnwood production fell from
5.24 million m3 in 1999 to 4.77 million m3 in2003 (ITTO 2004, 2005).

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The forest area managed for theprotection of soil and water is about 4.21 million
hectares, or about 13% of the land areaa, of which

The main wood-based industries are sawmilling,

about 3.21 million hectares fall within the PFE; thiswood-based panel products, wood moulding andlatter number comprises forest managed primarily

furniture manufacture. Others include secondary

for biodiversity and environmental conservation andand tertiary processing industries such as timberis the total area of the protection PFE. No logging

treatment, the prefabrication of wooden houses,

is allowed in sensitive and catchment areas.

and furniture and parquet manufacture. The
government aims to make Malaysia a major
producer of high value-added, wood-based productsin the world market. The supply of raw materials
at competitive prices, relatively low labour costs
and strong international prices have createdfavourable conditions for the growth of forest
industries in Malaysia over the past ten years.

Biological diversity. Malaysia is one of the twelve
mega-diverse countries. It is estimated to have
12,500 species of ﬂowering plants and more than
1,100 species of ferns. In Peninsular Malaysia, 26%of tree species are endemic. Sabah and Sarawak are
key areas of endemism. The fauna is consideredeven richer than the ﬂora: it includes 300 mammals,
750 birds, 350 reptiles, 165 amphibians, more

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

161

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

3,210a1,400a3,210

3,210d3,210dthan 300 freshwater ﬁsh and 1,200 butterﬂies.

Negara National Park straddling the states of

Of Malaysia’s estimated 19,335 forest-dependent

Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan in Peninsularspecies, 72 mammals, 542 birds, seven amphibians

Malaysia is also worth citing. Additionally, thereand 29 butterﬂies are considered endangereda.

are 135 virgin jungle reserves with a total area

Fifty-one mammals, 45 birds, 22 reptiles, 45

of 115,000 hectares scattered within the PFE toamphibians and 688 plants are listed as criticallypreserve samples of the full range of forest types.

endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN
red list of threatened species; of these, 30 mammals,
42 birds, 45 amphibians and 15 plants are foundin forests (IUCN 2004). Twenty-three plants arelisted in CITES Appendix I and 889 in Appendix II,
including ramin (CITES 2005). There are both insitu and ex situ conservation measures to protect
endangered species.
Protective measures in production forests. In
areas under selective logging, elaborate standards
have been speciﬁed for the protection of water
courses, construction of bridges and water crossings,
establishment of stream buffers, and the alignmentof skid trails, etc. The use of chemicals for the
poison girdling of trees has been discontinueda.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. The area of protection
PFE under sustainable management is estimatedto be 3.21 million hectares (Table 4), the total
area of protection PFE. Protected forest areas
outside the PFE may also be so managed but
data were not available for this report.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forests and forest industries
play an important role in the Malaysian economy,
although there has recently been a decline in theircontribution to GDP, from 5.3% in 1996 to 4.4%ain 2000 . About 337,000 people (3.3% of thelabour force) were directly employed in the foresta

Extent of protected areas. Of the total PFE,

based sector in 2003 , up from 177,000 in 1990.

3.21 million hectares are classiﬁed as protection

Much of this increase can be attributed to theforest. Outside the PFE, other protected areas that

expansion of the secondary processing industry.

have been gazetted/proposed as national parks
and wildlife and bird sanctuaries contain forest
amounting to an estimated 2.15 million hectares,
making a potential total protected forest area of
5.36 million hectares (16.3% of Malaysia’s total
land area). According to UNEP-WCMC (2004)
1.40 million hectares of forest are in reservesclassiﬁed in IUCN protected-area categories I–IV,
including 730,900 hectares of lowland evergreen
broadleaved rainforest, 174,000 hectares oflower montane forest and 29,600 hectares offreshwater swamp forest. Seven hundred thousand
hectares of forest protected areas are located inSarawak; the two largest areas are supported byLivelihood values. Forests are still important for
the livelihoods of many indigenous communities,
particularly tribal communities in Sarawak and Sabah.
De Beer and McDermott (1996) estimated thatabout 700,000 people in Sarawak and Sabahobtained at least part of their livelihood from theforest; some Penan were still nomadic and almost
entirely dependent on forest produce. The rights
of indigenous communities for the subsistence useof forest products are ofﬁcially recognized. Sago
palm (Eugeissona utilis and Metroxylon spp), meat,ﬁsh, wild honey and mushrooms are regularlycollected, as are medicinal plants, dart poison,

ITTO projects (Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary

birds’ nests, rattan and bamboo.

with 187,000 hectares and the extended Pulong

Social relations. The rights of local people regarding

Tau National Park covering 165,000 hectares).

the use of forest resources are recognized by the

The long-established 434,000-hectare Taman

1957 Land Code, the 1956 Land Ordinance and162

SFM TROPICS

other laws. Logging in forest areas claimed by•

At the federal level, the division of responsibilities

indigenous communities has sometimes createdbetween the Ministry of Natural Resources andconﬂicts between timber operators and local

Environment and the Ministry of Plantation

communities, particularly in Sarawak and particu-

Industries and Commodities poses a coordination

larly for the nomadic Penan people. These claims

challenge.

are being addressed through the legal system but
remain one of the obstacles to mutual recognition•

communities and concession companies

between the MTCC and FSC certiﬁcation schemes.

Summary

Managing relations between indigenous
needs further attention.

•

All timber harvesting and related management
operations are carried out by contractors operating

Malaysia’s forests are generally well managed,on the basis of either a long-term logging

although there are differences between Peninsularagreement (concession) or a short-term licence.

Malaysia, which has the strongest approach, andSabah and Sarawak; however, all regional forestry•

have been established and 100-year forest

administrations are committed to achieving SFM.

management agreements offered to forestry

The forest sector plays an important role in thecompanies.

Malaysian economy and is a signiﬁcant employer.
Already a major producer of value-added, wood-

In Sabah, FMUs of 100,000 hectares each•

Certiﬁcation of forest management is wellbased products in the world market, this part ofadvanced in Peninsular Malaysia and is

the sector is likely to continue to grow. A large

expected to increase in Sabah and Sarawak.

part of its furniture manufacturing is based on
rubberwood, which is grown in plantations, while•

system in place covering 16.3% of the totalmuch of the harvest from natural forests is stillland area. Nevertheless, there is a need toexported as plywood, sawnwood and logs. Well-establish better coordination between theorganized and resourced forestry administrations

federal government and the states in wildlife

at both federal and state levels have the capacity

management and environmental conservation.

to ensure that concessionaires adhere toprescribed practices and to oversee the long-term
management of the resource.

References and other sourcesa

Key points•

Level. Submitted to ITTO, October 2003. Forest
Department of Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. Unpublished. Note: someof plantations and 3.21 million hectares ofdata included in this report were updated by theprotection forest.

the estimated area of protection PFE so managed
is 3.21 million hectares.
•

Deforestation within the PFE is insigniﬁcant,but there is degradation in some forest areas.

•

forestry departments of Peninsular Malaysia,

At least 4.79 million hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are estimated to be under SFM;

Malaysia is a federation and forestry isunder the jurisdiction of the states. Thus,
the implementation of the national forest policy
requires a cooperative approach by the stateand federal authorities, which is done primarily
through the National Forestry Council.

Ministry of Primary Industries 2004. Reporting
Questionnaire for Indicators at the National

Malaysia’s PFE comprises 11.2 million hectaresof natural production forest, 183,000 hectares•

There is a well-established protected-area

Sabah and Sarawak in October 2005.
d

ITTO estimate

Abdul Razak, M.A., Woon, W-C. & Lim, H-F. 2002.
Challenges in implementing forestry-related
policies in Malaysia. Paper presented at the
IUFRO/MSSRF International Workshop on
Forest Science and Forest Policy in the Asia
Paciﬁc Region: Building Bridges to Sustainable
Future, Chennai, India, 16–19 July 2002.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005163

de Beer, J. & McDermott, M. 1996. The Economic

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theValue of Non-Timber Forest Products inWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Southeast Asia. Second Edition. The Nether-

Japan.

lands Committee for IUCN, Amsterdam, theNetherlands.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,
Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.
org (accessed October 2005).
Forest Department 2002. Forestry in Peninsular
Malaysia. Ministry of Primary Industries, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
ITTO 1995. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Tropical Timber Situation 1993–1994.
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

164

SFM TROPICS

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Ministry of Primary Industries 2002. MalaysianCountry Report on National Forest Policy
Review. Presented at the 19th Session of the
Asia Paciﬁc Forestry Commission. Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia, 28–30 August 2002.
MTC 2004. Fact Sheets: Forestry & Environment.
Malaysian Timber Council, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
NRE (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment)
2004. Malaysian Country Report. Presented atthe 20th session of the Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry
Commission, Nadi, Fiji, 19–23 April 2004.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

MYANMAR
Dynamics of forest resource change. Myanmar
lost an estimated 5.2 million hectares of forest
between 1990 and 2000, an annual deforestation
rate of 520,000 hectares (1.4%) (FAO 2005a).
There has also been apparent degradation ofremaining forests; the average volume of woody
3material in the growing stock fell from 145 m per3

hectare in 1990 to 33 m per hectare in 2000,
and the quantity of above-ground biomass fell from
217 tonnes per hectare to 57 tonnes per hectareduring the same period (FAO 2001).
Permanent forest estate. The natural-forest
PFE comprises an estimated 13.0 million hectares(Table 1); 62% of the PFE’s boundaries have been
demarcateda. Within the PFE, 9.7 million hectares
are designated as production forest, 8.3 million*For legend see page 58

hectares being mixed deciduous and 1.4 million

Forest resources

Planted forests. The area of planted forests in

hectares evergreen forestsa.

Myanmar has a land area of 67.7 million hectares
and a population of 49.5 million people. It lies between
India and Bangladesh to the west and Thailand andChina to the east and stretches from a latitude of
7° north in the Kra Isthmus to 20° north and the2000 was an estimated 710,000 hectares, 35%of which (291,000 hectares) was teak (Tectona
grandis) (FAO 2001). Agro-industrial plantations
include 110,000 hectares of rubber (Hevea
brasiliensis) (ibid.).

peak of Hkakabo Razi (5,881 m) in the Himalayas.
Rainfall varies from 500 to 5,000 mm and there
is a marked dry season. The total forest area in
Myanmar is estimated to be 34.4 million hectaresa( , FAO 2005a).

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. All forests are owned by the state;
nevertheless, private and communal tenure systems
also exist (FAO 2001). They are designated as

Forest types. Because of its wide geographicalreserved forests and public or unclassiﬁed forests;

spread, Myanmar’s forests are very varied.

commercial timber and non-timber products are

Important forest types are: evergreen (16% of

extracted from both classes. Particular rights apply

total forest cover), mixed deciduous forest (40%),

to teak; according to the 1992 Forest Law

dry forest (10%), deciduous dipterocarp forest(Chapter III), “a standing teak tree wherever(5%), hill and temperate evergreen forest (26%)

situated in the state is owned by the state”.

and tidal swamp forest (4%)a. Some of Myanmar’s
forests lie outside the tropics.

Table 1 Tropical PFE

Estimated total
forest area
(million hectares)
34.4

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)

PFE (’000 hectares)a,*
Production

Source: derived from FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted32,7009,700

710

Protection

Total

3,300

13,710* Excludes Myanmar’s non-tropical forest

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

165

SFM policy framework. Myanmar has undertaken

Resource, Environment, Development andsome actions to deﬁne a framework for SFM. For

Conservation Association; the Forest Joint Venture

example, it developed C&I for SFM in 1996 based

Corporation Ltd; and the Timber Merchants’on the ITTO C&I.

Association. The adoption of a market economy

Forest policy and legislation. Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma, was once a province of British
India, and the 1894 Indian Forest Policy guided
forest management until the Burma Forest Act
was enacted in 1902. This was in use until 1992,
when a new forest law was promulgated; thisemphasizes the importance of the participationof people in the conservation and sustainableutilization of forest resources. Other regulations
such as the Forest Rules, 1995, and the National
Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting, 1998,
also help guide forest management. A new national
forest policy was developed in 1995; it emphasizes
the need to adopt SFM, establish protected areas

was ﬁrst announced in September 1988, andmany private timber companies became involved intimber industries. For teak, however, the MTE has
a monopoly on harvesting, processing and export,
and the private sector is not permitted to export
logs of any species. With a view to stepping up the
manufacture of forest products and to promoteinternal and external distribution, the Forest Products
Joint Venture Corporation Ltd was established by
the MTE, the Forest Department and private
enterprises. In January 1995, the government
formed a privatization commission to oversee theprocess of privatization and to ensure its successful
implementation.

for wildlife protection and biodiversity conservation,

The level of decentralization is low and conﬁned

undertake sound land-use planning, privatize the wood-to the delegation of powers to parallel and vertical

based industry, and promote people’s participation

institutions. Privatization and private-sector

and community forestry.

involvement are still meagre.

The mobilization of funds for forestry development

Participation by civil society takes place throughis mainly the responsibility of government. Despite

government-sponsored NGOs such as those listed

having a long-term national forest action plan andabove. Others, such as farmers’ and women’s

district forest management plans, few resources

income generation groups are being formed. This

have been allocated to enable programs to belast initiative aims to beneﬁt social well-being byimplemented. Ofﬁcial overseas development assistanceraising off-farm incomes and helping advance SFM.

is low: US$126 million in 2003 (UNDP 2005).

International environmental NGOs are not active inInstitutions involved in forests. The Ministryof Forestry has the primary responsibility for

Myanmar, nor are independent national advocacy
NGOs.

implementing the forest policy, for the administrationand management of the forestry sector and, since

Status of forest management

January 2005, for environmental protection (Global
Witness 2005). The minister may constitute thefollowing categories of reserved forest by demarcationon land at the disposal of government: commercial
extraction reserve forest, local supply reserved forest,
watershed or catchment reserved forest, environment and biodiversity conservation reserved forest,and other categories of reserved forest. The Minister
may also declare speciﬁc areas as protected publicforest. Various government agencies and governmentsponsored NGOs play a role in forest management:
the Planning and Statistics Department; the Forest
Department; the Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE);
the Dry Zone Greening Department; the National
Commission on Environment Affairs; the Forest

166

SFM TROPICS

Forests for production
The total number of FMUs in Myanmar is 62,
out of which 41 are dedicated to timber production.
Thirty-four FMUs are actively managed for teakand other hardwoods covering an area of about
470,000 hectaresc. In the natural teak forest,
mature teak trees selected for harvesting arenormally girdled and left standing for three years
before felling and extraction. This is done to season
the timber and make it buoyant, as logs are normallytransported by ﬂoating them down rivers; in moreaccessible areas, mature teak trees are sometimes
felled and extracted green. The Forest Department
selects mature trees for harvesting while the MTE

aTable 2 Some commonly harvested tropical timber species for industrial roundwood (2001–03)
Timber species

Remarks

Tectona grandis (teak)

30–40% of logs produced

Xylia dolabriformis, X. kerri (pyinkado)

Associate of teak, found in varying proportions

Pterocarpus macrocarpus (padauk)

Associate of teakTerminalia tomentosa (htauk kyant)

Associate of teak, found in varying proportions

Millettia pendula

From planted forests

is responsible for the actual harvesting of bothmeasures to conserve the natural forests – suchteak and other hardwoods. The MTE operates

as updating district-level forest management plans,

38 extraction and rafting agencies throughout theasurveys, boundary demarcation, ﬁre protection,

country. Most log-skidding is done by elephants ;logging codes, forest reservation, and establishment

they have been shown to do less damage to theof a PFE and community involvement, but lacks

forest than machines, and wastage is less.

adequate resources, particularly to exercise control

Mechanical extraction is not favoured as it isin remote areas (Global Witness 2003). Logging in

not considered economically feasible under theKachin state, on the border with China (and outside

Myanmar Selection System (see below); it is only

the tropics) has reportedly had serious environmental

used in limited areas. So far, heavy equipment has

impacts (Global Witness 2005).

been used mainly for road construction, the loading
and unloading of logs, and for transportation.

Silviculture and species selection. Silvicultural
management of the natural forests dates backThe area harvested annually has, over the past

to 1856, when the Myanmar Selection System,

ﬁve years, averaged about 411,000 hectares;

a selection system for harvesting teak and other

52% of logging areas are under management plans

valuable hardwoods, was devised. If the prescriptionsor harvesting schemesa. Logging is guided by theof this system were followed, trees of harvesting

National Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting,size would be marked selectively within the limits ofwhich includes detailed guidelines for work such as:

the AAC calculated for each felling series according

the alignment and construction of extraction roads,

to the principles of sustained yield management.

skid trails and stream crossings; the mapping ofIn accordance with the prescriptions of the system,

tree positions; climber cutting before felling; andvarious silvicultural treatments such as improvement

the directional felling of selectively marked trees.

felling, natural regeneration felling, thinnings in

Forest management in general and teak managementin particular have various constraints and problems.
At present, timber extraction is concentrated on
only a few species. This ‘creaming’ of the forest,
if unabated, will lead to the devaluation of the forestsin the long run through a decrease of valuablespecies. Other problems are: timber theft and theillegal logging of trees for commercial use; theextension of pasture land and swidden agriculture;and over-harvesting for ﬁrewood and charcoal.
The political situation in remote areas creates annatural regeneration of teak, climber cutting, ﬁreprotection, etc are carried out in order to improve
the naturally regenerating teak forests, protect
the immature stock and assist it to attain a healthy
maturity. Silvicultural tending is necessary toguarantee the sustainability of teak in Myanmar’s
multi-species and complex teak-bearing forests;
in the absence of such tending, bamboo and lightdemanding species will suppress teak regeneration.
The extent to which such tending is carried out is
not reporteda.

environment that allows wasteful and unplanned

Of 1,286 recorded tree species, 70 are commerciallylogging and possible illegal cross-border trade.

valuable (Global Witness 2005). In addition to the

The Forest Department is undertaking remedial

species listed in Table 2, commonly used timber

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

167

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
9,700

n.a.

PlantedWith
management
plans

Certiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

291*

a

9,700

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

710

0

0

* Semi-natural teak forests

species include Adina cordifolia, Anogeissus spp,

Insufﬁcient information was available to estimate

Bridelia retusa, Dalbergia oliveri, Dipterocarpus

the area of natural-forest PFE being sustainably

spp, Homalium tomentosum and Lagerstroemia

managed, but the 291,000 hectares of semi-natural

ﬂos-reginae.

planted teak that are considered to be so managed
are treated as natural forest in Table 3.

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Myanmar has a long tradition of raising planted

Timber production and trade. Roundwood production

forests; teak plantations were introduced in 1856

in 2003 was an estimated 39.8 million m3, of which

under a taungya system, and teak remains the main35.6 million m3 (90%) was fuelwood (FAO 2005b).

planted species in commercial timber plantations.

Production statistics indicate an increase in the

Other commercial planted species include: Xylia

harvesting of Myanmar’s forests. ITTO (1999, 2004,

kerri (pyinkado), Gmelina arborea, Pterocarpus

2006 in prep.) estimated the total industrial tropicalmacrocarpus (padauk), pines, acacias and eucalypts.

log production in 2003 at 4.24 million m3, up from

The annual forest plantation program is now ﬁxed

3.35 million m3 in 1999 and 2.30 million m3 inat around 37,000 hectares (Forest Department

1994. An estimated 1.0 million m3 of sawnwood1999); Myanmar’s 1995 forest policy stipulates

was produced in 2003, up from 298,000 m3 inthat natural forests will not be cleared to make1999. An estimated 1.28 million m3 of logs were

way for plantations, only supplemented by them.

exported in 2003, up from 980,000 m3 in 1999

Tree-planting on a moderate scale is done to enrichand 602,000 m3 in 1994 (ibid.). Major export

degraded forest areas and there is some planting

destinations are China, Thailand and India (ITTO

to complement natural regeneration. Since 1997,

2006 in prep.).

joint-venture and foreign companies have been
allowed to establish their own plantations to meetthe needs of their industries (ibid.). Timber fromfarm trees, home gardens and rubber plantations
is also important in domestic timber supply.

The value of Myanmar’s exports of primary timber
products amounted to US$345 million in 2003, of
which logs contributed US$269 million (78%) (ITTO2005). According to import data for China (ITTO
3

2003), 514,000 m of tropical logs were imported

Forest certiﬁcation. So far no forests have beenfrom Myanmar in 2001, although Myanmar

certiﬁed in Myanmar. There is a committee forreported an export volume to China of 3,240 m3

timber certiﬁcation, but information on its status

in the same year. Myanmar’s policy is to reduce log

and activities was not available for this report.

exports gradually so as to promote downstream
processing. However, due to a lack of infrastructure

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

and appropriate technology, a complete ban on log

managed for production. All the production PFE

exports is not likely for quite some time. Myanmar

is covered by management plans formulated byalso exports downstream-processed, value-added

the Forest Department in cooperation with theMTEa, but information on the extent to which

products such as parquet and furniture.

these management plans are implemented was

Non-wood forest products. Many NWFPs are used

not available. In mid 2005, 470,000 hectares of

locally and marketed. The most important are bambooc

FMUs were actively managed for timber production .

168

SFM TROPICS

and rattan; others, such as cutch tree (extracted

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil andwaterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed3,300a195

6,560an.d.

n.d.

from Acacia catechu), tannin, honey and beeswax,

Extent of protected areas. The total area ofpine resin and birds’ nests, are also widely used.

protection PFE is an estimated 3.30 million hectaresa.

Forest recreation and ecotourism are important:According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 195,600 hectares

eleven areas are set apart as recreation foresta.

of forest are in protected areas that conform to IUCN

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The estimated area of forest
managed primarily for soil and water conservation

protected-area categories I–IV. The national forest
policy has set a short-term goal of increasing thecoverage of protected areas to 5% of the land area
and a long-term goal of 10% (Global Witness 2005).

is 6.56 million hectaresa. The catchments of 123

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

dams are protected; tree-planting has been carried

managed for protection. No details are available

out in some of these to prevent land degradationa.
Local people are involved in protection works.
Biological diversity. Myanmar is one of the most
biologically diverse countries in mainland Southeast

about the management status of the protection
PFE (Table 4).

Socioeconomic aspects

Asia, with 7,000 plant species, 1,347 large tree

Economic aspects. About 30,600 people are

species, 96 bamboo species and 841 identiﬁed

employed by the government in the forest sector,

species of orchid (Forest Department 2000).

including 1,400 professionals and 29,200 technical

Forty mammals, 49 birds, 26 reptiles and 38 plants

staff. Of these staff, 11,000 are in the Forest

are listed as critically endangered, endangered or

Department, 19,300 in MTE and about 300 invulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;

the Dry Zone Greening Department . Overall, someof these, 26 mammals, 37 birds and one plant

500,000 people are thought to be dependent on theare found in forests (IUCN 2004). Nine plants areforestry sector for employment; the contribution oflisted in CITES Appendix I and 182 in Appendix II

forestry to GDP was an estimated 1% in 1997–98 .

(CITES 2005).

aaLivelihood values. Some 38 million people are

The 1992 forest law and the 1995 national forest

dependent on the forest for at least part of theirpolicy both emphasize a balanced approach to

livelihood; they have access to about 6.7 million

conservation and development and highlighthectares made available through the ‘local supply

environmental and biodiversity conservation.

working circle’a.

Consequently the old Wildlife Protection Act (1936)
was replaced by the Protection of Wildlife, Wild
Plants and Natural Areas Law in June 1994 inorder to carry out biodiversity and environmental
conservation more effectively. Further, Myanmar
Agenda 21 has incorporated ex situ and in situ
measures to protect biodiversity, including
endangered species of ﬂora and faunaa.

Social relations. In order to promote and facilitatecommunity participation in managing the forests,‘community forestry instructions’ were issued inlate 1995. These emphasized the management offorests by rural communities through the protectionof natural forest and the establishment of forest
nurseries and forest plantations so as to enable
such communities to meet their needs for fuelwood

Protective measures in production forests.

and small-diameter timber. The instructions also

Protective measures in production forests arefocus on the ﬂow of beneﬁts to those communities

provided for in the guidelines for logging, roadparticipating in forest management. More thanconstruction, pre- and post-logging operations,259 agreements have been made between theand the protection of river banks and road margins.

Forest Department and social groupsa. However,

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

169

community forestry has a number of problems –•The Ministry of Forestry has primaryespecially with regards to tenure and the security

responsibility for implementing the nationalof agreements reached with government agencies.

forest policy, which was instituted in 1995.

Cross-border illegal timber trade has reportedly
fueled ethnic tensions, entrenched power struc-•

Some of the most signiﬁcant obstacles in theway of implementing SFM are institutional.

tures and created conditions under which local

These include chronic budget shortages

warlords can thrive (Global Witness 2005). The

affecting the Forest Department, very limited

control of teak-planting by government also limits

private-sector involvement, insufﬁcient well-

the proﬁtability of community forestry.

trained personnel, and a lack of effective
participatory processes.

Summary•

forest management, particularly in its large areaof teak forests, but in recent decades there has•

Myanmar has established protected areas andprepared plans for expanding the protectedbeen signiﬁcant deforestation and forest

area system and for improving biodiversity

degradation. Timber production almost doubled inconservation, but no information was available

the ten years to 2003, and the Forest Department

on implementation.

lacks sufﬁcient resources to fully implement thesilvicultural system or enforce regulations, particularly

Total production of industrial roundwood
was an estimated 4.24 million m3 in 2003.

Myanmar once boasted an exemplary system ofin remote border areas. Community forestry also

References and other sources

faces a number of challenges, such as the lack ofadecentralization in forestry administration. Never-naire for Indicators at the National Level.

theless, about half the country is still forested andSubmitted to ITTO, April 2002. Forest

SFM remains within reach, given the surmountingof political, administrative and economic obstacles.

Key points•

Myanmar has an estimated 13.0 million hectaresof natural tropical forest in its PFE, of which
9.70 million are designated for production andForest Department, Myanmar. Information
supplied to ITTO to facilitate a training
workshop on the ITTO C&I in 2006.

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
Dah, Saw E.H. 2003. Sustainable management ofMany of Myanmar’s forests are becoming
enforcement, particularly in remote regions.
At least 290,000 hectares of semi-natural teakforest in the production PFE are being managed
sustainably, but insufﬁcient information wasavailable to assess the management of the bulkof the production PFE. Nor could an estimate
be made of the extent to which the protection
PFE is so managed.

•cabout 710,000 hectares of planted forests,

degraded, exacerbated by a lack of law•

Department, Yangon, Myanmar. Unpublished.

3.30 million for protection. Myanmar also has
35% of which are teak.
•Forest Department 2002. Reporting Question-

A well-tested silvicultural system exists for
Myanmar’s teak forests, but the extent towhich it is being implemented is unclear.

170

SFM TROPICS

teak forests in Myanmar. Paper presented at
the International Conference on Quality Timber
Products of Teak from Sustainable Forest
Management, Peechi, Kerala, India, 2–5
December 2003.
Forest Department, Ministry of Forestry Myanmar
1997. Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Sector Outlook
Study: Country Report – Union of Myanmar.
Working Paper APFSOS/WP/08. FAO, Rome,
Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
Forest Department 2000. Forestry in Myanmar.
Forest Department, Yangon, Myanmar.
Global Witness 2003. A Conﬂict of Interests: theUncertain Future of Burma’s Forests. Brieﬁng
document, October 2003. Global Witness,
London, UK.
Global Witness 2005. A Choice for China: Ending

ITTO 1999. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 1998. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

the Destruction of Burma’s Northern Frontier

UNDP 2005. Human Development Reports 2005.

Forests. Global Witness, Washington, DC, USA.

Available from: http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Forest Department 1999. Forestry in Myanmar.
Forest Department, Yangon, Myanmar.

data/indicators.cfm?x=177&y=1&z=1(accessed October 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

Han, U. Saw 1995. Reform of the forestry Sector:
towards a market orientation in Myanmar. In:
Proceedings of the Workshop on Reform of theForestry Sector held in Fuzhou, China, 21-26
March 1994. FAO/RAPA Publication, 1995/4.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

171

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
area (FAO 2005a), evenly distributed across thecountry. PNG has the largest area of forest among
the island countries of the South Paciﬁc.
Forest types. The forests are varied, stretchingfrom sea-level to the tree line at an altitude of over
4,000 m. Forests can be broadly classiﬁed into:
rainforest (80%), moist forest (4%), savanna andwoodland (5%) and montane forest (11%)a. The
rainforests may be sub-divided into coastal, lowland
and hill forests. Typical tree species are: in the
coastal-littoral forests, Terminalia spp, Melaleuca
spp and Pterocarpus spp; in the lowland rainforest,
species of Alstonia, Calophyllum and Pometia; inthe hill rainforests, species of Canarium, Celtis andHopea; and in the mountains, species of Araucaria,
Agathis, Lithocarpus (oaks) and Nothofagus (southernbeech). Another important species is Eucalyptus
deglupta.

*For legend see page 58

Forest resources
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a land areaof 46.3 million hectares and a population of
5.5 million people. It consists of over 600 islands
and atolls in four major groups: the eastern half of
the island of New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland
and Bougainville. The western half of the island of
New Guinea is a province of Indonesia; to the south
it is separated from Australia by the Torres Strait.

Dynamics of forest resource change. Forest
cover declined at an estimated annual rate of
113,000 hectares (0.4%) between 1990 and2000 (FAO 2005a).
Permanent forest estate. The determination of a
PFE is difﬁcult under the customary land ownershipthat applies in PNG. The estimates given in Table 1
are based on the areas set aside by the government
for timber development or reserved for protectiona.

A spine of mountains, the Owen Stanley Range,

Planted forests. The area of forest plantations atruns east to west; the country’s highest peak isthe end of 1999 was an estimated 58,000 hectares,

Mt Wilhelm, rising to 4,510 m above sea level.

comprising government plantations of 22,800

On both sides of the mountain chain are fertile

hectares and private plantations of 35,200 hectares

plains, ﬂooded deltas, mangrove swamps and(PNG Forest Authority 2002). Given that the present

broad sandy beaches.

rate of planting is an estimated 4,000 hectares

PNG’s forest area was an estimated 30.6 million
hectares in 2000, which is 67.6% of the total land

per yeara, the current total area might be about
80,000 hectares. There are also about 20,000
hectares of Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) (FAO 2001).

Table 1 PFE

Estimated total
forest area
(million hectares)
30.6

172

SFM TROPICS

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)

PFE (’000 hectares)
Production

Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted30,1508,700a80d

Protection

Total

1,700a10,480Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Customary land ownership isguaranteed by the PNG constitution and is the key
factor inﬂuencing the use of the forest. Ninety-sevenper cent of the land is held as communal or clancommons; there is also individual/private ownershipof land. There are a large number of clans andtribes, speaking more than 800 languages. Customary
rights include rights to all natural resources, withthe exception of minerals, petroleum, water andgenetic resources. Landowner groups are legally
entitled to be involved actively in decisions
concerning the management of their forest land.

Institutions involved in forests. The PNG Forest
Authority was created in 1991 under the provisionsof the Forestry Act. It succeeded the former
Department of Forests, the 19 provincial forest
divisions and the Forest Industry Council andwas established as a statutory corporation withregulatory and administrative responsibility for the
management of the forest sector throughout thecountry. In 2001, it had a total staff of over 600,
including about 430 with diplomas or university
degreesa. The Forest Authority comprises the
National Forest Board (NFB) and the National Forest
Service (NFS), and a number of regulatory andadministrative responsibilities have been delegated

SFM policy framework. PNG’s national forest

to the provincial level. The Board operates throughpolicy was approved in 1991. The country has alsoa system of specialist advisory committees andadopted ITTO’s C&I as a monitoring tool for SFM.

provincial forest management committees which

Forest policy and legislation. The main objectivesof the national forest policy are: (i) the management
and protection of the nation’s forest resources asa renewable natural asset; and (ii) the utilization of
the nation’s forest resources to achieve economic
growth, employment, greater Papua New Guinean
participation in industry, and increased viable onshore
processing. Parallel to the development of this policy,
the National Forests and Conservation Action Plan
was prepared and ofﬁcially approved in 1996. Three
sub-policies linked to the national forest policy werereleased in 2003: an ecoforestry policy; a reforestation policy; and a downstream-processing policy.
The legal authority for the various recommendationsof the national forest policy and the measuresto achieve them are contained in the following
instruments: the Forestry Act (1991, as amended
in 2000); the National Forestry Development
Guidelines (1993); the Planning, Monitoring andControl Procedures for Natural Forest Logging
Operations (1995); the Key Standards for
Selection Logging in Papua New Guinea (1995);
the PNG Logging Code of Practice (1996); theNational Forestry Plan (1996); Procedures for
Exporting Logs (1996); and Forestry Regulation(1998). PNG has established a number ofregulatory instruments to support SFM; there are,however, some gaps in implementation. Other legal
instruments relevant to forestry are: the Land Groups
Incorporation Act (1974); the PNG Labour Law

are serviced by the NFS. The PNG Forest ResearchInstitute is a specialized agency falling under thepurview of the PNG Forest Authority. The PNG
Forest Industries Association is an incorporated
national association representing and promoting
the interests of the PNG forest industry. Monitoringand surveillance of the log trade is carried out undercontract by SGS of Switzerland. The Department ofEnvironment and Conservation is responsible forthe administration of protected areas and also
has a monitoring role with respect to adherence
to environmental regulations.
A ‘landowner company’ (LOC) concept was developed
as part of the national forest policy in order toincrease national participation in forestry. However,many of the LOCs have been plagued by mismanagement and in-ﬁghting between different landownerfactions, with the result that many have become
alienated from the people they were supposed torepresent. LOCs, as licence holders, contract
foreign companies to conduct logging. It was
expected that these companies would train thelandowners and make them capable of runningtheir own businesses, but such a development has
not yet taken place. The main problems are thelack of education and business knowledge on thepart of most landowners, difﬁculties in successfully
structuring the LOCs due to the complex land tenuresystem, and the proliferation of landowner groups(Filer & Sekhran 1998).

(1990); and the Environmental Act (2000).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

173

A number of international NGOs (eg WWF, Conser-

of infrastructure, can be implemented through anvation International, The Nature Conservancy) andinvestor with the consent of the customary owners

national NGOs and religious bodies are active in thethrough an FMA. Management responsibility canarea of social welfare vis-à-vis forestry. National

also be delegated to legally established LOCs. The

and international NGOs have taken a lead in the

FMA should specify the returns due to the landowner.

development of ecoforestry initiatives. They also
have programs to train landowners in SFM.

As of 2003, the PNG government had acquired
timber rights from the customary owners for about
5.0 million hectares of forest (generally throughStatus of forest managementa50-year timber lease arrangements) . The rights
acquired are normally allocated to foreign developers

Forest for production

who have the necessary ﬁnancial capabilities.

According to the 1991 Forestry Act (Section 56)

There are, however, concerns about the manner

the government may acquire timber rights fromin which timber concessions are awarded andcustomary owners pursuant to a forest management

controlled, particularly about area approval, resource

agreement (FMA) between the customary owners andinventory, the determination of the appropriate

the government. The National Forest Development

cutting cycle, the management of fragile forests

Guidelines issued in 1993 specify that the customary

and conservation set-asides, and the treatment ofland over which an FMA has been negotiated and alandholder involvementc. It is difﬁcult to ensure thetimber permit issued should be managed so as tointegrity and security of the PFE, since landowning

maintain or improve the forest’s capacity to produce(and land-claiming) communities do not recognize

timber and other commercial forest products on

rigid boundaries and controls. Local villagers area sustained-yield basis, subject to environmental

expanding their shifting cultivation into naturalprotection standards, and with opportunities

forest, including parts subjected to logging orprovided for meaningful participation by theopened up by the construction of new roads. All

customary owners, while maintaining futurestate-acquired timber concessions are supposed todevelopment options. The PNG Logging Code ofbe implemented according to RIL prescriptions, but

Practice and Key Standards for Selective Logging

post-harvest surveys have not been carried out inin PNG also provide speciﬁcations and prescriptions

the majority of these forests, and the remotenessfor reducing the impact of logging.

of many operations means that monitoring is

Before the promulgation of the Forestry Act,timber rights were acquired by a process referred
to as timber rights purchase. The rights acquired
under this system were only for the harvesting of
merchantable timber and did not transfer to thestate or concessionaires the responsibility ofoften lackinga. In general, a lack of resources isconstraining the achievement of SFM by limiting
the extent of ﬁeld visits that can be made formonitoring purposes and also by reducing staff
in the Forest Authority and the Department ofConservation and Environmenta.

forest management. The national forest policy

Silviculture and species selection. The silvicultural

conﬁrmed the government’s intention to proceedsystem prescribed for natural forests is selectivewith the acquisition of timber rights and to provide

logging, involving the removal of mature and over-for their long-term management. Through an FMA

mature trees to allow the remaining crop to growthe PNG Forest Authority secures a commitment

naturally to maturity. Even though the pre-FMA

from the resource owners to follow recommended(prior to 1991) system was also described asforest management practices while simultaneously

selective logging, all trees above the prescribed

offering investors access to the forest for a minimum

limit in a management unit were cut over withinof 35 years. Implementation may involve the state

10–20 years (ie less than the planned fellingin issuing a timber permit, under which it manages

cycle), thus consuming the resource faster than

the forest on behalf of the customary owners for

could be sustained. From 1991–92 onwards,

the duration of the FMA. The management roles of

all new forestry operations have had an assigned

the state, including timber harvest and construction

cutting cycle of 35 years. Bringing projects started

174

SFM TROPICS

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–02)
Timber species

Remarks

Pometia pinnata (taun)

The relative abundance of the species varies fromlocality to locality. No data are readily available
about their relative importance at the national level.

Intsia bijuga (kwila)
Eucalyptus deglupta
Calophyllum spp
Anisoptera thurifera

before 1991 into line with the new requirements

for domestic use (FAO 2005b). Total industrial

will require a substantial reduction in the permitted

tropical log production was an estimated 2.30

harvest levels and smaller projects to be consoli-

million m3 in 2003, up from 2.10 million m3 in

dated into larger, economically sustainable projects.

1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005) and well below the

The tropical forests of PNG consist of a heterogeneous mixture of some 200 tree species. Basedon quality and market acceptability, these species
have been categorized into four groups for ﬁxing
royalties and charges. In addition to those listed inTable 2, important species harvested include Intsia
bijuga (kwila), Pometia pinnata (taun), Pterocarpus
indicus (rosewood), Calophyllum spp, Celtis spp,
Canarium indicum, Dillenia papuana, Terminalia spp,

estimated sustainable yielda of 4.7 million m3.
The forest industry is predominantly based on log
exports; an estimated 2.02 million m3 of tropicallogs were exported in 2003 (up from 1.98 million
3

m in 1999) (ITTO 2004, 2005), which makes PNG
the world’s second-largest exporter of tropical logs
after Malaysia. PNG earned US$126 million in2003 from exports of tropical timber, US$109
million of which were from logs (ITTO 2005).

Buchanania spp, Palaquium spp and Homalium

The national forest policy anticipates increased

foetidum (Table 2).

domestic processing of forest products to create

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Eucalyptus deglupta, an indigenous species, is themain planted tree, along with E. grandis, Acacia
mangium, Tectona grandis, Terminalia brassii,
Pinus caribaea, P. patula, Ochroma lagopus andOctomeles sumatrana.
Forest certiﬁcation. PNG has a national
FSC working group and has developed national
certiﬁcation standards. The extent of FSC-certiﬁed
forest area in PNG so far is one area of 19,215
hectares consisting of semi-natural and mixed
plantation forest, and natural forest (FSC 2005).

employment, facilitate the transfer of technology
and promote the export of value-added products.
However, little progress has been made so far
in this regard. The principal export markets forlogs in 2003 were China (62% of all log exports),
Japan (20%) and Korea (9%) (ITTO 2005).
Non-wood forest products. The people of PNG
make use of many NWFPs for their livelihoods andconsume wild meat, wild tubers, medicinal plants
and other produce on a daily basis. Butterﬂies, live
birds, eagle wood, Santalum (sandalwood) and rattan
products are important sources of local income.
An average 13 tonnes of sandalwood are exported

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

each yeara. Despite the signiﬁcant value of andmanaged for production. Management plans havecommunity dependence on NWFPs, there appear

been prepared for an estimated area of just under

to be no ﬁrm government policies towards them.

5 million hectares of production foresta, at least
1.5 million hectares of which are considered managed
sustainably and are expected to undergo certiﬁcation

Forest for protectionin the near futurec (Table 3).

Soil and water. PNG’s rugged terrain and steep

Timber production and trade. In 2003, PNG

always be important. The Logging Code of Practice,produced an estimated 7.2 million m3 of roundwood,of which about 76% (5.5 million m3) was fuelwood

slopes mean that soil and water conservation will
which is applied to state-acquired concession areas,
includes measures for the protection of water and

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

175

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
8,700

PlantedWith
management
plans

5,600

Certiﬁed

a

4,980

19*

Sustainably
managed
c

1,500

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

80

n.d.

0*

* The single area of mixed semi-natural, plantation and natural forests has been counted as ‘natural’ heresoil resources, but these are not always strictly

Insufﬁcient information was available for an estimate

followed. No data are available on the extent of

to be made of the area of protection PFE managedcatchment protection forests.

sustainably.

Biological diversity. New Guinea is one of the mostﬂoristically rich islands on the planet. An estimated
20,000 species of higher plants have been found –Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forestry contributed

about 7.5% of the world’s total number of higher

US$334 million to PNG’s GDP in 2001a, whichplant species. The world’s greatest diversity of

was about 76% of total GDP. Recent information

orchids (over 2,000 species) and a similar number

on employment provided by the forestry sector wasof fern species occur there. PNG also contains

not available for this reporta. The government collects

important representatives of the ﬂora of therevenues from a log export tax and a reforestation

ancient super-continent Gondwanaland, including

levy, while resource owners receive a royalty ona large contingent of southern conifer species andtimber harvested (10 kina per m3) and other levies

Nothofagus (southern beech). Fifty-eight mammals,

and premiumsa. However, it has been observed that33 birds, ten reptiles, ten amphibians and 142 plants

many of the beneﬁts of forestry operations haveare listed as critically endangered, endangered or

generally not ﬁltered through to landowners, andvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;

income has not been saved or invested to ensureof these, 22 mammals, 29 birds, ten amphibians

long-term development (PNG Forest Authority 2002).

and one plant are found in forests (IUCN 2004).
Seven plants are listed in CITES Appendix I and
254 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

Livelihood values. About 80% of the PNG population
is rural and uses forests to meet a wide range ofsubsistence needs, including food, fuel, shelter,

Protective measures in production forests. There

medicines and cultural aspects, as well as toare regulations for commercial forestry operations

supply land that is used in shifting agriculturalin order to protect catchments and prevent soil

systems. No quantitative information was madeerosion. As noted earlier, however, the enforcement

available for this report.

of these is often problematic.

Social relations. Customary landowners

Extent of protected areas. At present there areparticipate in the processes by which the Forest

33 government-declared protected areas in wildlife

Authority purchases timber rights but are not

management areas, national parks and naturemuch involved in the subsequent management andreserves . According to UNEP-WCMC (2004),

development of the resourcesa. The purchase of362,200 hectares of forest are in protected areas

rights usually involves payments or royalties andthat conform to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV,

levies to landowner groups, which has led toincluding 322,000 hectares of lowland evergreen

conﬂicts and tensions within such groups. The

broadleaved rainforest.

presence of logging camps (and the associateda

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Details are scanty about
the system of protected areas and their condition.

176

SFM TROPICS

disruptions to social and cultural environments)
has also created tensions in some communitiesc.

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)
Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plansManagedsustainably

1,700

362

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Summary•

as part of the 1979 national forest policy in

Two-thirds of PNG is under forest cover and theorder to increase national participation inofﬁcial timber harvest is well below the estimatedforestry. However, this has not been wholly

national sustainable timber yield. On average, eachsuccessful.

citizen has rights over about 6.4 hectares of forest.
However, the majority of people still live in extreme

A ‘landowner company’ concept was developed•

PNG is a major exporter of tropical logs,
3

poverty. The challenges are substantial if SFM is toshipping out an estimated 2.02 million mbe achieved. Key among them would appear to be:in 2003 to China, Japan and other mostly

reducing the social and cultural disruption of logging;

Asian destinations.

increasing the beneﬁts to local development of forest
management; and increasing the allocation of•log export tax and a reforestation levy, while

resources to the monitoring of logging activities

resource owners receive a royalty on timber

and the implementation of forest policies at theharvested (10 kina per m3) and other levies

national level.

Key points•

and premiums.
•

purchases timber rights but are not much
involved in the subsequent management

inﬂuencing the use of the forests; 97% of theand development of the resources.

land is held as communal or clan commons.
The determination of a PFE is difﬁcult in PNG
given its land-tenure system. Nevertheless,
ITTO estimates that the country has about

References and other sourcesaForest Management of Natural Tropical Forests.

considered permanent; these include 8.7

Submitted to ITTO, September 2003. PNG

million hectares of forest over which timber

Forest Authority, Boroko, PNG. Unpublished.

rights have been acquired (production PFE),
and about 80,000 hectares of timber plantations.
•

At least 1.5 million hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are estimated to be managed
sustainably. No estimate could be made of theextent to which the protection PFE is so managed.

•

The PNG Forest Authority was establishedin 1991 by the Forestry Act as a statutory
corporation with regulatory and administrative
responsibility for the management of thecountry’s forests.

PNG Forest Authority 2003. Application of
National Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable

10.5 million hectares of forest that might be

1.7 million hectares allocated for protection

Customary landowners participate in theprocesses by which the Forest Authority

Customary land ownership is guaranteedby the PNG constitution and is the key factor•

The government collects revenues from acInformation derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, heldon 18–20 April 2002, Port Moresby, PNG,
attended by 53 people from government,
civil society and the private sector.

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
de Ath, C. 1980. The Throwaway People: Social
Impact of the Gogol Timber Project, Madang
Province. Institute of Applied Social andEconomic Research, Boroko, PNG.

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Hammond, D. 1997. Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Sector

Filer, C. & Sekhran, N. 1998. Loggers, Donors andOutlook Study: Commentary on Forest Policy inResource Owners: Papua New Guinea Country

the Asia-Paciﬁc Region (A Review for Indonesia,

Study. Policy that works for forests and people

Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,

series No 2. IIED, London, UK.

Philippines, Thailand and Western Samoa).
Working Paper APFSOS/WP/22. FAO, Rome,
Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.
National Forest Service/PNG Forest Authority
1997. Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Sector Outlook
Study: Country Report – Papua New Guinea.
Working Paper APFSOS/WP/47. FAO, Rome,
Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
PNG Forest Authority 2002. National forest policythreview. Country report presented at the 19

Session of the Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Commission,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 28–30 August 2002.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-FSC International Center & Working Group,

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

2004 (see Annex 1).

org (accessed October 2005).

178

SFM TROPICS

PHILIPPINES
climate and altitude into evergreen rainforest (81%),semi-evergreen forest (10%) and mountain forest(9%). On the basis of vegetational characteristics,
forests have been further classiﬁed as various typesof dipterocarp forest (61%), mossy forest (18%),
pine forest (5%) and others including beach forestaand mangrove (15%) .
Dynamics of forest resource change.
Deforestation occurred at an annual rate of about
316,000 hectares in the 1980s, caused by land
conversion, shifting cultivation, forest ﬁres andover-logginga. Deforestation decreased somewhat
to about 89,000 hectares (1.4%) annually during
the 1990s (FAO 2005). Much of the remaining
forest is heavily fragmented.
The forests of the Philippines are subject to*For legend see page 58

typhoons and other wind damage. Floods have

Forest resources

caused widespread damage and large numbersof casualties in recent years. Regular ﬁres occur

The Republic of the Philippines lies to the east of

in many forest areas.

continental Asia between the South China Sea andPermanent forest estate. The country’s land

the Philippine Sea, extending from 5° to 20° northresources are classiﬁed into forest lands andof the equator and comprising over 7,000 islands.

alienable and disposable (A&D) lands. All lands

It has a land area of 30 million hectares and ain the public domain of 18% in slope or greater

population of 82 million people. Most of the land

are classiﬁed as forest lands. The Departmentin the Philippines is mountainous; 53% of theof Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

country is classiﬁed as uplands, being 18% orreported in 2005 that the extent of the PFE wasmore in slope. While close to 16 million hectares

15.9 million hectares, comprising areas above theof the land is categorized as forest land, estimates

stipulated 18% slope limit; however, based on anof the actual forested area in the country include

interpretation of LANDSAT images from 2001–2003

5.4 million hectaresa, 5.79 million (FAO 2005) and7.2 million hectaresa, of which 0.8 million hectares
might be regarded as primary foresta.

only an estimated 6.24 million hectares of these are
actually foresteda, including an estimated 1.54 million
hectares in protected areas and about 4.7 million

Forest types. The Philippines has two broad

hectares in production forests (Table 1).

biogeographical regions: the east, which remains

Under the present land classiﬁcation system,

wet throughout the year, and the west, which has

the information available on forest land and A&D

a dry season. The forests have been classiﬁed byland is often confusing. Also, land statistics in the

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001a

NaturalPlanted5.4–7.2

5,288

4,700

274

Production

Protection

Total

1,540

6,514

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

179

Philippines tend to be imprecise and changeable,of forests, the systemization of land classiﬁcation,

as new ways of estimation supersede older ones.

the establishment of wood-processing plants, andMost forests are found on forest land, and mostthe protection, development and rehabilitation ofcropland on A&D land, but these land-uses are notforest lands. The code was drawn up when the major

always consistent with the legal classes. Of the area

thrust was on the massive commercial harvestingpresently classiﬁed as A&D land, 30–35% has slopesof the vast state-owned natural forests by large

greater than 18%. Conversely, as much as 28% ofcorporations. Now, the focus has shifted towards

forest lands have slopes less than 18%. Loopholes insmall-scale CBFM, covering planted forests as wellthe existing system of land laws, the lack of demar-

as natural forests. The drafts of a new national

cation of the PFE and other categories of land, andland-use code and an SFM act have been due to be

the status of extensive stretches of land as open

considered by the legislature for several years. The

access have affected the integrity and security

current code and subsequent laws and regulationsof the forest. Forty-ﬁve per cent of the external

have not been fully harmonized. Some recent forestry-boundaries of the PFE are reportedly demarcateda.

related laws and administrative instructions include

Planted forests. No clear ﬁgures on the extent
of planted forests are available; estimates range
afrom 274,000 hectares to 753,000 hectares(FAO 2005). An estimated 25,600 hectares were
established in 2002, of which 4,900 hectares
were planted by the private sectorb. There are an
estimated 97,000 hectares of rubber plantations(FAO 2001a).

Institutional arrangements

the Republic Act 7586/1992 on a National Integrated
Protected Area System; Executive Order 263/1995
on Community-Based Forest Management as a
National Strategy for Sustainable Development of
the Country’s Forests; the Indigenous People’s Rights
Act 1997 (Republic Act 8371); and Executive Order318/2004 on Promoting Sustainable Forest
Management in the Philippines (which provides
guidelines on how to harmonize and implement
forestry reforms).
A Master Plan for Forestry Development (MPFD)

Forest tenure. The government holds title to a

was prepared in 1990 but not really implemented.

large part of the forest land; data on the actual

It was reviewed, revised and updated in 2003 withextent were not available for this report. Considerable

the support of UNDP/FAO. The government is now

portions of the forests (excluding protected areas)in a position to take appropriate action to implement

are also held by the private sector, communities andthe revised MPFD and create an environment topeople’s organizations, and by indigenous people

attract investment for forestry development.

with various kinds of tenure. A 1995 Presidential
Executive Order granted tenure and user rights
over certain denuded forest lands and forests tocommunities; in recent years, the allocation of forest
resource user rights has changed signiﬁcantly (see‘Forest for production’).

Institutions involved in forests. DENR is thegovernment agency responsible for the managementof forests and protected areas. From 1904 to 1987,
the Bureau of Forestry (BFD) was responsible under
different departments. With the issue of Executive
Order 192 of 1987, most regulatory functions of

SFM policy framework. The 1987 constitution,

the BFD were devolved to ﬁeld ofﬁces known as

which reﬂected a general reorientation of naturalenvironment and natural resources ofﬁces (ENROs),

resource management policies in favour of co-

and BFD became the Forest Management Bureau

production, installed CBFM as the main framework(FMB), a bureau of DENR with recommendatory

for forest resource management. Today, communities

powers. There are two other forestry-related

are the main implementers of SFM strategies andbureaux within DENR: the Protected Areas andprograms.

Wildlife Bureau and the Ecosystem Research

Forest policy and legislation. The foundation ofand Development Bureau.

forest policy is Presidential Decree 705 of 1975, asIn respect to decentralization, the Philippines Local

amended; it is known as the Revised Forestry CodeGovernment Code of 1991 conferred certain centralof the Philippines. According to this code (Section 2),

government powers relating to taxation, budgeting,the components of forest policy are the multiple-use

planning and management on local government units.

180

SFM TROPICS

In forestry, DENR devolved some of its functions

The legal basis of the TLA system changed underto the regional level and reassigned some 1,000

the 1987 constitution, resulting in some dramatic

staff members to local authorities. DENR was also

reductions in the awarding of concessions. However,expected to transfer budgets, assets and records for

TLA holders were allowed to continue to operate

the Department’s devolved functions and programs,

until the expiry date indicated in the original

but there has been only limited progress in thisagreement, subject to certain requirements. The

regard (Ferguson & Chandrasekharan 2005).

policy implemented over the past 15 years has been

Many elements of Philippine civil society participate
in forest management and development. A numberof international and national NGOs are involved inforestry, particularly in CBFM and environmental
conservation. Some of the national NGOs involvedin forestry are: Tanggol Kalikasan, the Philippines
Association for Inter-cultural Development, HARIBON,
and Environmental Science for Social Change.

Status of forest management
Forest for production
The administration of forest lands is principally
the responsibility of the state. The private sectorbegan to be involved in forestry in the late 1920s,
extracting and exporting Philippine mahogany(dipterocarp species) worldwide. At the height ofthese operations in the 1970s, the private sector
held more than two-thirds of the public forest lands
for timber extraction in concessions.
No other Asia-Paciﬁc country was deforested as
extensively as the Philippines in the period afterWorld War II. Even though timber licence agreements(TLAs), the system for allocating logging rights,
stipulated that logging operations should be
conducted according to a system of selective
logging, and there were detailed guidelines forforest management, these were hardly everapplied. Many of the problems associated with thelarge-scale destruction of the forest resource canbe linked to a combination of land and concession
tenure issues and the lack of ability or will to enforce
the conditions of the concessions. In order to preventto reduce, phase out or cancel the areas under
TLAs in favour of awarding forest harvesting rights
embodied in timber production sharing agreements(TPSAs). The TPSA system increased government
revenues, but these revenues did not generally goback into forest management as originally intended.
An important element in the new policies was theencouragement of private-sector participation inforest plantations. TPSAs then evolved into ‘industrial forest management agreements’ (IFMAs),‘socialized industrial forest management agreements’(SIFMAs) and community-based forest managementagreements (CBFMAs), all of which encourage
investment in maintaining the forest growing stock
through a performance bond. These new instruments
take into account the provisions of the Indigenous
People’s Rights Act, according to which indigenous
people have the right to title over their ancestral
lands. It also means that they have a say in the
management of these lands. TLAs will all be phasedout by 2006 and CBFM arrangements are becoming
the norm.
Under CBFM, organized communities operate withinallowable-cut limits set by the government. They
harvest timber and other forest products to sell,
use for their own needs, or process. The sale oftimber, rattan, bamboo and other forest products has
provided additional income for upland communities.
As of December 2003, CBFM projects covered
5.97 million hectares (FMB 2005); the 13 active
TLAs covered 544,000 hectares in February 2005.
Forestland grazing management agreements covered
473,000 hectares in December 2003, SIFMAs
35,400 hectares and agroforestry lease agreements

the loss of old-growth forests, Decree 24/1991

147,000 hectares (ibid.).

imposed a ban on old-growth (or primary-forest)

Silviculture and species selection. TLAs for logging

logging from January 1992 and shifted logging

in natural forest follow a system of selective cutting,to second-growth (residual) forests. Silvicultural

while forest plantations follow a system of clearfellingprescriptions were not followed. Today, the control

and artiﬁcial regeneration. Many species are used,of illegal activities remains a major challenge andand it is difﬁcult to determine which are the mostis considered one of the main obstacles to SFMb.

commercially important. Species from natural forests
not listed in Table 2 but of commercial importance

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

181

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–03)
Timber species

Remarks

Shorea squamata (mayapis)

Used in the sawmilling and plywood industries

Parashorea plicata (bagtikan)

Used in the sawmilling and plywood industries

Calophyllum spp (bitanghol)

Used in the sawmilling and plywood industries

Albizia falcataria

From secondary forest stands and planted forests

Gmelina arborea

From planted forests

include Dipterocarpus grandiﬂorus (apitong), Cleis-

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

tocalyx operculatus (malaruhat), Pterocarpus indicus

managed for production. Given the uncertainties(narra), Shorea polysperma (tangile) and Ficus notathat the phasing out of TLAs is bringing, the extent(tibig). Natural hardwoods are in short supply

of SFM is difﬁcult to gauge. Certainly, some of theand plantation woods such as Gmelina arborea,

TLAs have been active for more than 30 years andEucalyptus spp and Acacia mangium, along withthe forests are now in their third cut, and some

imported timber, are increasingly being used.

CBFM arrangements also show promise. The total

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Species most commonly used in plantations are
Eucalyptus spp, which account for 25% of allplantations, and Tectona grandis (teak) (5%).
Forest plantations include those developed by thegovernment in regular reforestation projects, bycommunities in CBFM projects, and by industrial

area of PFE under management plans is 910,000
hectaresa; in general, however, data on the qualityof management are lacking. The area of naturalforest managed sustainably is estimated by ITTO to
be at least 76,000 hectares, comprising a forest
concession managed with ITTO assistance in Surigaodel Sur.

concerns through IFMAs, as well as tree farms

Timber production and trade. The production ofdeveloped by small landholders on private lands. No

industrial roundwood in the Philippines peaked atrecent, aggregated information is available on the11.2 million m3 in 1974 (FAO 2001b); in 1977

survival, growth or yield of the plantations, but it isthere were some 325 sawmills and 70 wood-based

thought to be low. Corporate-sector involvement in thepanel manufacturing units (ibid.). By 2003, tropicalgrowing of industrial plantations is being encouraged

industrial roundwood production had fallen tothrough IFMAs for the development of integrated

503,000 m3 (ITTO 2005). Correspondingly, theindustrial forest plantations. An IFMA is a production-

number of processing units and their production

sharing contract entered into between DENR and a

has also fallen: in 2003 there were 31 active

qualiﬁed applicant for a period of 25 years; the period

regular sawmills with an annual log requirement

may be renewed for another 25 years, consistentof 539,000 m3 and 50 plywood and veneer

with the principle of sustainable development andmanufacturing units (FMB 2005). Many of thein accordance with an approved comprehensivefunctioning mills have retooled and modiﬁed theirdevelopment and management plan. In December

operations to suit present conditions. Sawmills and2003, there were 201 IFMAs and industrial tree

woodworking mills mostly rely on plantation woodplantation lease agreements covering a total areaof Gmelina arborea, Eucalyptus deglupta, Albiziaof 714,000 hectares (FMB 2005). In addition,

falcataria, Pinus radiata and Pinus caribaea.

trees are raised in farms, homesteads, roadThe ﬁrst three of these are mostly produced

margins and in agroforestry systems.

locally and the last two are mostly imported.

Forest certiﬁcation. No forest in the Philippines is

The Philippines imports a signiﬁcant volume of timber

known to be independently certiﬁed as well managed.

– 356,000 m3 of logs, 338,000 m3 of sawnwood
and 93,000 m3 of veneer in 2003 (ITTO 2005).

182

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

4,700

n.d.*

910

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

76

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

274

274

0

* Recent and continuing changes in the forest allocation system mean that even recent ﬁgures may be out of dateNon-wood forest products. No reliable ﬁgures on

Extent of protected areas. To conserve the diversity

the production and trade of NWFPs were availableof ecosystems and species, 327 protected areas

for this report. NWFPs produced and marketed

have been established with a total area of 6.85 million

in the Philippines include resins, tannin, honey,

hectares (not all of which are forested)a. According

medicinal plants, bamboo, rattan, nipa shingles,

to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 1.54 million hectares ofAgathis celebica (almaciga), etc. The allowable cut

forest are in protected areas that conform to IUCN

for rattan was 21.0 million linear metres in 2003

protected-area categories I–IV, including 246,000(FMB 2005). Much raw material for the NWFP

hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest

industry is imported from other Southeast Asianand 825,000 hectares of unclassiﬁed forest.

countries and is further processed in the Philippines.

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The Revised Forestry Law (Chapter

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Insufﬁcient data wereavailable to estimate the area of the protection
PFE being managed sustainably.

III) and the Philippine Environment Code (Chapter III
and Chapter VI) have provisions on watershed andecosystem management, including procedures forthe protection and management of sensitive areas
for soil and water conservation. The area of forest
managed primarily for soil and water conservationais not known .

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. The contribution of the forest
sector to GDP was 1.6% in 1975, 0.14% in 1999aand 0.05% in 2002 . An estimated 23,400 people
are employed in forest-related government positions,a

22,500 of whom have university degrees ; no reliable

Biological diversity. The Philippines is rich indata on the total forest-sector workforce were

biodiversity, containing an estimated 24,300

available for this report.

forest-dependent species of mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians and ﬁsha. A total of 50 mammals, 72
birds, eight reptiles, 48 amphibians and 215 plants
are listed as critically endangered, endangered orvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;

Livelihood values. An estimated 18–20 million people
are dependent on 7.2 million hectares of forest lands(not all of which are forested) for subsistence uses
and traditional and customary lifestylesa.

of these, 31 mammals, 65 birds, 48 amphibians

Social relations. Indigenous people play a crucial

and 21 plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004).

role in CBFM implementation in areas they claim

Thirteen plants are listed in CITES Appendix I andas ancestral domain. DENR formulated guidelines

196 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

and undertakes the identiﬁcation, delineation andProtective measures in production forests. Woodproduction from natural forests is progressively being
reduced and efforts are being made to increase
the area under planted forest.

recognition of ancestral land and domain claims
through Department Administrative Orders 93/02.
DENR further provides speciﬁc guidelines on the
management of certiﬁed ancestral domain claims.
However, there remains considerable uncertainty
about the future of all ongoing and new CBFM
projects under indigenous peoples’ tenurea.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

183

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)
Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

1,540

1,540

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

The Philippines has been experimenting with people’s•

While commercial-scale concessions (using whatparticipation for more than 30 years. CBFM has

are called ‘timber licence agreements’ – TLAs)

now been given the status of the ﬂagship/banner

have been the main mechanism for allocating

program of DENR, particularly to address poverty

logging rights in the past, forest management

and the lack of economic development in uplandis now being conducted largely under community-and forest-dwelling communities.

based approaches; TLAs will be completely
phased out by 2006.

Summary•

to the national economy has declined dramati-

The Philippines has lost a substantial part of its

cally in recent years and stood at only 0.05%

natural forest, and timber production has declinedof GDP in 2002.

dramatically over the last three decades. Manyof the problems associated with the large-scale

The contribution of the industrial forest sector•

On the other hand, an estimated 18–20 million

destruction of the forest resource can be linked

people are dependent on forest lands (notto a combination of land and concession tenurenecessarily forested) for subsistence uses

issues, and the lack of ability or will to enforce theand traditional and customary lifestyles.

conditions of the concessions. Moreover, many of
the rural poor did not have land tenure and often•

DENR is the government agency responsible
for forest management and protected areas;settled illegally on forest land. Considerable efforts

a degree of administrative decentralization has

have recently been put into the development ofbeen pursued in recent years.

community forestry, but the success of this approachin restoring the country’s degraded landscapes,•

The Philippines is a net importer of timber.

particularly on steep slopes, and in increasing rural•

The Philippines has a large number ofincomes, remains to be proven.

endangered species. In its protected-area networkof 6.85 million hectares, the estimated extent

Key points•

An area of 15.9 million hectares has been deﬁned
legally as forest land (land with greater than
18% slope), but the estimated natural-forest
PFE under actual forest cover is only about
6.24 million hectares, comprising 4.70 million
hectares of production forest and 1.54 million
hectares of protection forest. There are also
an estimated 274,000 hectares of plantation.

•of forests is 1.54 million hectares.

At least 76,000 hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are estimated to be sustainably
managed. No estimate could be made of theextent to which the protection PFE is so managed.

184

SFM TROPICS

References and other sourcesa

DENR-FMB 2003, 2005. National Report of
the Philippines: Criteria and Indicators for
Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical
Forests. First report submitted to ITTO, March
2003; second report submitted March 2005.
Department of Environment and Natural
Resources-Forest Management Bureau,
Manila, the Philippines. Unpublished.

b

ITTO 2003. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000
and Sustainable Forest Management in thePhilippines. Report of the Diagnostic Mission.
Presented at the thirty-ﬁfth session of theInternational Tropical Timber Council,
November 2003. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

cInformation derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
16–20 September 2002, Tandag, Surigao delSur, the Philippines, attended by 46 people fromgovernment, civil society and the private sector.

Acosta, R. 2002. The impact of incentives on thedevelopment of plantation resources in thePhilippines. Presented at the 19th Session of
the Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Commission, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 28–30 August 2002.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
Contreras, A. 2002. State-civil society relations
and forest governance in Thailand and thePhilippines. De la Salle University, Manila,
the Philippines.
FMB 2005. Forestry statistics. Available from:http://forestry.denr.gov.ph/index.html(accessed October 2005).
Forest Management Bureau, Department ofEnvironment and Natural Resources 1997.
Asia Paciﬁc Forestry Sector Outlook Study:
Country Report – The Philippines. Working
Paper APFSOS/WP/33. FAO, Rome, Italy/
Bangkok, Thailand.

FAO 2001b. Yearbook of Forest Products. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
Ferguson, I. & Chandrasekharan, C. 2005. Paths
and pitfalls of decentralization for sustainable
forest management: experiences of the AsiaPaciﬁc region. In: Colfer, C. & Capistrano, D.
(eds) A New Vision for the State (and How it isWorking Out in Forests). CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.
Guiang, E. 2001. Impacts and effectiveness of
logging bans in natural forests: Philippines. In:
Forest Out of Bounds: Impacts and Effectivenessof Logging Bans in Natural Forests in AsiaPaciﬁc. FAO Regional Ofﬁce for Asia and the
Paciﬁc, Bangkok, Thailand.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Mercado, E. 2000. Decentralisation and devolutionof forest management in the Philippines: uneasy
steps to institutional maturity. In: Decentralisation and Devolution of Forest Management in
Asia and the Paciﬁc. Publication 2000/01.
FAO Regional Ofﬁce for Asia and the Paciﬁc,Bangkok, Thailand.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for
ITTO, 2004 (see Annex 1).

FAO 2001a. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

185

THAILAND
Lagerstroemia, Diospyros, Terminalia, and Artocarpus;(ii) pine forests, mainly of Pinus merkusii (2%);(iii) mangrove and coastal forests (2%), the main
mangrove genera being Rhizophora, Avicennia andBruguiera and the main beach genera Diospyros,
Lagerstroemia and Casuarina; (iv) mixed deciduous
forest (22%), the dominant species being Tectona
grandis (teak), Xylia kerrii, Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Dalbergia spp and Afzelia xylocarpa; and(v) dry dipterocarp forest (31%).
Dynamics of forest resource change. Forest
covered over 60% of the land area in 1953, but
by 2000 this had fallen to less than 30%. Between
1990 and 2000, the annual loss of forest cover wasan estimated 112,000 hectares, a deforestation
rate of 0.7% (FAO 2005a). Remaining forests
are subject to a range of disturbances, including*For legend see page 58

encroachment for agriculture, forest ﬁres (anForest resources

estimated 2.63 million hectares of mostly deciduous

The Kingdom of Thailand is located in the

2000a), refugees from neighbouring countries seeking

southeastern part of continental Asia, bordered
by Myanmar, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
Cambodia and Malaysia. It has a land area of
51.3 million hectares and a population of 63 million
people. In the 1980s and 1990s, Thailand’s economy
was one of the fastest growing in the world, but
this coincided with the rapid depletion of its natural
resources. Estimates of forest cover range from
13.0 million hectaresa to 14.8 million hectares(for 2000; FAO 2005a).
Forest types. The forests can be classiﬁed as:(i) evergreen forests with three sub-types – tropicalrainforests, semi-evergreen forests and hill evergreen
forests (43% of the forest area), dominated by
species of the genera Dipterocarpus, Hopea, Shorea,

forest were affected by ﬁre in the period 1996–
living space, the development of infrastructure, andillegal logging.
Permanent forest estate. The area of PFE reported
in 1991 was 23.5 million hectares, much of it alreadywithout forest cover. The most recent estimate
suggests that this had shrunk by almost 50% to13.0 million hectares in 2001a, 1.15 million hectaresof the original PFE having been converted toagriculture, 8.3 million hectares to settlements
and infrastructure and 1.1 million hectares toother usesa. The balance now available comprises
about 10.1 million hectares of closed forest (theestimated PFE given in Table 1) and 2.84 million
hectares of open forest. The production forest is
now mainly planted forest on government land.

Table 1 PFE

Estimated total
forest area
(million hectares)
13.0–14.8

Source: FAO 2001

10,127* Includes semi-natural planted teak186

SFM TROPICSPFE (’000 hectares)d

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)

Production
NaturalPlanted01,870*

Protection

Total

8,260

10,130

The security of the PFE in Thailand is somewhat

The national forest policy has been revised

problematic. The allocated areas keep changing,periodically, changing its focus to suit changing

boundaries are not clearly demarcated and thesituations. The 1941 policy focused on timberland is subject to illegal occupation. The logging

production and dealt solely with the management

ban in 1989 (see ’forest policy and legislation’) hasof plantations and logging concessions in natural

not had the expected positive effect; it did little toforests. The 1985 forest policy sought to establish

limit environmental degradation (Pragtong 2000).

the long-term coordinated management of forest

Planted forests. The total extent of planted forest
in 2000 was an estimated 2.81 million hectares(FAO 2001); not all of this is in the PFE estimatedin Table 1. In addition, there were about 2.1 million
hectares of rubber plantations, an important sourceof timber (ibid.).

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. All forests in Thailand are ownedby the state, although all trees established on

resources, envisaging increasing the area of forest
to 40% of the land area. With the imposition of thelogging ban in 1989 the focus of forestry moved
clearly towards conservation. The present forest
policy was adopted in 1997, based on suggestions
contained in the forest-sector master plan, which wascompleted in 1995. Reforestation and afforestation
were seen as important initiatives for the future
supply of wood. Implementation of the plan has,
however, been hindered by several constraints,
mostly institutional.

private lands are private property. The 1997

Institutions involved in forests. The Royal Forest

constitution recognizes the right and duty of tradi-

Department (RFD) was established in 1896 as thetional and other local communities to participate insole agency for the administration and management

natural resource management, although withoutof forest resources. The RFD is also responsible forchanges to forest-related legislation it is unclear

the training of ﬁeld staff and for forestry research.

what this means in practice for forest management.

In 2003, the RFD had ﬁve technical bureaux, seven

There is an ongoing debate in Thailand about theadministrative divisions, 21 regional ofﬁces, 76

rights of traditional and other local communities toprovincial forestry ofﬁces and 530 district forestry

access forests, including in protected areas. Ruralofﬁcesa. However, with recent changes in the focus

people dependent on the forest and forest landof policy and the decentralization of forest adminis-

have the right to collect certain NWFPs for their

tration (see below), the structure of the RFD has

consumption and rural tradea. Some ‘disturbed’
state forests are available for long-term rent at
a low charge for growing crops or planting treesa.

been rationalized. For example, the Forest Management Division, which was responsible for preparing
timber harvesting plans, has been dissolved.

SFM policy framework. In the strict sense, there

The 1997 constitution provides for theis no framework for SFM in Thailand, even thoughdecentralization of federal powers and functions

the country formally subscribes to the overall

to local governments. The 1992 Tambon (local)

concept. Production forestry is concentrated in teak

Administration Act also gives greater roles to local

and rubber plantations and, for the time being, there

administrations. Accordingly, tambon administrations

is no comprehensive scheme to restore degraded

will manage forests within their territories.

forests to economic use.

Mechanisms for decentralization will include:

Forest policy and legislation. Thai forestry is
regulated by a number of legislative instruments:
the National Forest Act of 1941, the Wildlife
Preservation and Protection Act of 1960, theNational Parks Act of 1961, the National Reserved
Forests Act of 1964 and the Forest Plantation Act

community forest and buffer-zone management;
small-scale forest plantations; and local responsibility
for forest and forest-ﬁre protection. Achieving abalance between the roles and functions of the RFD
at the various levels and the tambon administrations
represents a signiﬁcant challenge.

of 1992. A draft Community Forestry Bill has been

Civil society was inﬂuential in the decision of theunder development and debate in Thailand for moregovernment to ban commercial logging in 1989 inthan a decade, but as of September 2005 had

the wake of destructive ﬂoods which occurred in

not passed into law.

the southern region of the country. In 1997, civil

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

187

d

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–03)
Timber species

Remarks

Hevea brasiliensis (rubberwood)

Used in furniture manufacturing

Tectona grandis (teak)Expensive cabinet wood

Eucalyptus spp

Cheaper utility wood

Acacia spp

Cheaper utility wood

Pinus merkusii

Medium-quality timbersociety was also closely involved in the revisionvillages were completely destroyed, the governmentof the constitution, which expressed as abanned logging in natural forests and cancelled all

fundamental state policy the recognition of theconcessions. Despite the logging ban, however, therights of communities to participate in naturalforests remained accessible and forest clearance

resource management (Contreras 2002). The

and encroachment became widespread. In 1995,

Thailand Environment Institute, established init was estimated that there were about 10 million

1993, is the main domestic NGO that focuses

people living on state forest lands; these lands wereon environmental management.

subsequently allotted to the squatters (Nalampoon2002). In 1996, the government of Thailand also

Status of forest management

revoked all logging licences in mangrove forests toForest for production

logging in natural forest; nevertheless, illegal tree-

In the past, Thailand followed a scientiﬁc approach tofor example, an estimated 77,000 hectares were

natural forest management under the prescriptions

encroached upon, presumably by settlers, in theof forest management (working) plans, adequately

period 1993–98a.

supported by forest inventories. The last suchinventory was undertaken in 1975. Generalmanagement guidelines prescribed that deciduous
teak forest should be managed under a 30-year
felling cycle. The dry dipterocarp forest was to be
managed under the modiﬁed ‘coppice’ and ‘coppicewith standards’ systems, based on a 20-year rotation;

reduce their destruction. Today, there is no ofﬁcial
cutting remains a problema, as does encroachment;

Silviculture and species selection. Silvicultural
management was started in Thailand in the earlypart of the last century. Different silvicultural
systems such as selection, shelterwood, coppicewith standards and modiﬁed coppice were tried
and adopted as appropriate.

for the tropical evergreen forest the management

The pattern of wood use has changed over thesystem adopted was similar to the selection cutting

last few decades. During the period of the logging

system prescribed for the deciduous teak forest,

concessions, the ﬁve most important species in thebased on a 30-year felling cycle. However, thetimber market were Dipterocarpus alatus (29%),

working plan system was discontinued when

Shorea obtusa (12%), teak (8%), Hopea spp (8%)

Thailand banned commercial logging in 1989.

and Xylia kerrii (5%)a. Now, plantation species

In the period 1960–1988, timber harvesting was
carried out through timber concessions under thehave taken the place of all but teak (Table 2),
which is derived from ‘semi-natural’ forest.

principle of harvesting yield control. More than

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

500 concessions were issued, covering about half

The RFD began planting teak in 1906 on an area

the country; under this system the forests wereof less than one hectare. By 1980, the annual area

over-harvested and residual forest stands badly

planted was about 160,000 hectares, under thedamaged. After disastrous ﬂash ﬂoods in 1988

taungya system. The state enterprises (Forest

in Nakomsithammarat Province, in which several

188

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

n.a.

n.a.

0

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

n.a.

n.a.

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

1,870

250*

1

* Semi-natural planted teak forests

Industry Organisation and Thai Plywood Factory)

Timber production and trade. Industrial roundwood

also established teak plantations to feed the industry.

production (a large part of it rubberwood) grew fromIn 1992, the government passed the Forest Plantation

4.98 million m3 in 1999 to 7.80 million m3 in 2003

Act, allowing the private sector to establish planta-(ITTO 2004, 2005); total roundwood production,

tions on degraded forest land. In 1994, the RFD

including for fuelwood, was 27.9 million m3 in 2003

launched a forest plantation promotion project to(FAO 2005b). Sawnwood production increased

encourage and support private landowners anddramatically from 147,000 m3 in 1999 to 2.29

local farmers to establish forest plantations of

million m3 in 2003, and veneer also grew rapidly,

commercial tree species and to help the country

from 3,000 to 160,000 m3; plywood production

become more self-sufﬁcient in timber. Through thisincreased more sedately over the period, fromproject, private owners of plantations were to receive

82,000 to 90,000 m3 (ITTO 2004, 2005).

a subsidy from the government. In 2000, the areas

Thailand’s downstream processing, particularlyof plantation species were: teak – 836,000 hectares;

furniture and joinery, is also thriving.

Eucalyptus spp – 443,000 hectares; Acacia mangium
and other Acacia spp – 148,000 hectares; otherbroadleaved species – 541,000 hectares; Pinus
merkusii and other Pinus spp – 689,000 hectares;
and other conifers – 148,000 hectares (FAO 2001).
But perhaps the most important plantation species
for the timber industry is Hevea brasiliensis (rubber);Thailand is a net importer of primary wood products.
Log imports were about 380,000 m3 in 2003,
down from 466,000 in 1999; sawnwood imports
were 1.65 million m3 in 2003 (ITTO 2004, 2005).
Thailand also exported about 1.51 million m3 ofrubberwood sawnwood in 2002 (ITTO 2005).

the country’s large estate of this species, planted

Non-wood forest products. Rattan and bamboo

originally for its rubber latex, has increasingly been

are the most important marketed NWFPs, but pine

harvested for its timber. Timber from agroforestry

resin, lac and medicinal plants also have considerable

plots, home gardens, avenue trees and farm trees

commercial value. The RFD maintains some 102

is of increasing importance in Thailand.

forest recreation sites, attracting an estimatedForest certiﬁcation. Legal forest production isbased on non-forest sources and planted forest;
thus there is no natural forest certiﬁed in Thailand.

a

16 million visitors per year .

Forest for protection

As of October 2005, one planted forest of 921

Soil and water. Since 1965, the RFD’s Watershedhectares had been certiﬁed by the FSC (FSC 2005).

Management Division has taken measures to

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. With logging activities banned in
the natural-forest PFE, there is no natural forest
area sustainably managed for timber production;
semi-natural planted teak forests in which timber
production is possible are treated as planted
forests in Table 3.

rehabilitate degraded steep lands in watersheds
through tree-planting and the establishment offorest villages. Catchment areas have been divided
into ﬁve classes based on the level of protectionneeded; Class I areas are to be put under strict
control. The forest area managed primarily forthe protection of soil and water is estimated to
be about 9.32 million hectaresa. However, controlling

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

189

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)
Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

8,260

5,450

9,320

n.d.

522d

encroachment and other human activities to ensure

30 national parks and about 20 wildlife sanctuaries

compliance with existing laws and regulations relating

had approved management plans (ICEM 2003).

to soil and water conservation is proving almost

However, clear data on the status of management in

impossiblea.

a large part of the protection PFE are not available.

Biological diversity. Thailand has at least 1,190
tree species, 9,440 ﬂowering plants, 591 ferns,a292 mammals, 962 birds and 123 amphibians .
Thirty-eight mammals, 50 birds, 22 reptiles, threeamphibians and 88 plants are listed as criticallyendangered, endangered or vulnerable on the
IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,
26 mammals, 40 birds, three amphibians andone plant are found in forests (IUCN 2004).
Fifteen plants are listed in CITES Appendix I
and 279 in Appendix II (CITES 2005).
Protective measures in production forests. As
there is no timber production in natural forests,
all forests are considered as protection forests,
although many are still harvested for NWFPs for
local consumptiona. In mid 2002, the RFD introduced a new ecosystem management plan for the
1.8-million-hectare Western Forestry Complex thatprescribes protective measures to sustain forest
ecosystems.

ITTO is providing support for the management of
the Phatam Protected Forests Complex in northeast
Thailand and to initiate cooperation in transboundary
biodiversity conservation between Thailand, Cambodia
and Laos. The project extends over an area of
174,000 hectares covering four protected areas.
Another ITTO project supports the developmentof the buffer zone of the 348,000-hectare Kaeng
Krachan National Park using participatory
approaches. These areas are thought to be
managed sustainably.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. The decrease in forest
production over the past 20 years has reducedathe contribution of forestry to GDP to about 0.1% .
However, the wood-processing sector has been
increasing production in recent years using timber
obtained mostly from plantations, non-forest sources
and imports; illegal logging contributes an unknown
percentage of the timber supply. Employment ﬁgures

Extent of protected areas. Thailand has a well-in the forest sector are not availablea. Tourism isestablished system of 349 protected areas covering

the country’s primary source of foreign exchange,a total area of 8.25 million hectaresa. According
to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 5.45 million hectaresof forest are in protected areas that conform
to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, including
2.04 million hectares of semi-evergreen moist
broadleaved forest, 1.63 million hectares ofdeciduous and semi-deciduous broadleaved forest,
and 627,000 hectares of lower montane forest.
However, Thailand’s protected-area system isand, no doubt, protected forests are a signiﬁcantattraction.
Livelihood values. An estimated 10 million forestdwelling and rural communities are dependent on
about 2.6 million hectares of forests for subsistence
uses and traditional and customary lifestylesa,
making use of NWFPs such as edible plants,
wild fruits, wild meat, mushrooms and honey.

fragmented (ICEM 2003), and some areas may

Social relations. The enactment of the Community

be too small to sustain their ﬂora and fauna,

Forest Bill would help community forestry to gain

particularly large mammals.

new prominence in Thailand and could help resolve

Estimate of the area of the forest sustainably
managed for protection. Five-year management
plans are being produced for all gazetted nationalparks and wildlife sanctuaries. By 1999, more than190

SFM TROPICS

conﬂicts between the national forestry administrationand local communities. However, the long-runningdebate over the draft bill illustrates its contentious
nature.

Summary

References and other sources

Forestry in Thailand is constrained by several factors.

a

RFD 2002. Response to the Reporting

Coincident with Thailand’s rapid economic growth in

Questionnaire for Indicators at the National

the 1980s and 1990s, its forest resources became

Level. Submitted to ITTO, January 2002.

severely depleted. Logging in natural forests has

Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand.

been banned, but the forests remain under pressure
from encroachment, illegal logging, ﬁre andother agents. The Royal Forest Department, theUnpublished.
d

ITTO estimate

government agency responsible for forests, has

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

a long history of forest management and remains

from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/

reasonably well resourced. Plantations, especially

species.html (accessed September 2005).

of rubberwood, and imports are now supplying theContreras, A. 2002. State-civil society relations

country’s thriving downstream-processing timberindustry. The huge importance of tourism to theThai economy provides an excellent incentive forstrong measures to improve forest protection.

Key points•

The PFE is estimated to be 10.1 million hectares,of which 1.87 million is production PFE (allplantations) and 8.26 million protection PFE.

•

An estimated 50% of the reported PFE in 1991
has been converted to agriculture, settlements
and other uses.

•

A logging ban has been in place in natural forests
since 1989, after disastrous ﬂash ﬂoods;
however, it has not been sufﬁcient to stop
forest loss and degradation.

•

Illegal tree-cutting in natural forests remains
a problem.

•

At least 522,000 hectares of protection PFE
are being managed sustainably, but generally
little information is available on the status ofmanagement in forested protected areas.

•

Forests are owned by the state. There is an
ongoing debate in Thailand about the rights oftraditional and local communities to use andmanage forests, including in protected areas.

•

Philippines. De la Salle University, Manila, thePhilippines.
de Beer, J. & McDermott, M. 1996. The Economic
Value of Non-Timber Forest Products inSoutheast Asia. Second edition. The Netherlands Committee for IUCN, Amsterdam, theNetherlands.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,
Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.
org (accessed October 2005).
Kijkar, S. 2003. Current status of teak in Thailand.
In: Bhat, K.M., Nair, K., Bhat, K.V., Muralidharan,
E., & Sharma, J. (eds) Quality Timber Productsof Teak from Sustainable Forest Management.
Conference proceedings of the International
Conference on Quality Timber Products ofTeak from Sustainable Forest Management,
2–5 December 2003, Peechi, Kerala, India.

A draft Community Forestry bill has been under

Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi,

development and debate in Thailand for more

Kerala, India/ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

than a decade.
•and forest governance in Thailand and the

ICEM 2003. Lessons Learned from Global Experience:

Timber production in Thailand has shifted from

Review of Protected Areas and Development innatural forests to planted forests, particularly

the Lower Mekong River Region. International

teak and rubberwood, and non-forest sources

Centre for Environmental Management, Indoor-of wood, supplemented by imports.

oopilly, Australia.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

191

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of the

Pragtong, K. 2000. Recent decentralisation

World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,plans of the Royal Forest Department and its

Japan.

implications for forest management. In: Enters,

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Nalampoon, A. 2002. Thailand national forest policy
review. Country report presented at the 19th
session of the Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Commission,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 28–30 August 2002.

192

SFM TROPICS

T., Durst, P. & Victor, M. (eds) Decentralisation
and Devolution of Forest Management in Asiaand the Paciﬁc. RAP Publication 2000/01,
Bangkok, Thailand.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

VANUATU
Forest types. A national forest inventory,completed in 1990, estimated that forests andother wooded areas comprised 205,000 hectares of
mid-to-high forest, 239,000 hectares of low forestand 2,500 hectares of mangroves; the rest were
thickets (434,000 hectares), scrub (45,000 hectares)
and woodland (380 hectares). The mid-to-high forest(canopy height ranging from 20–30 m) and low
forest (ranging in height from 10–20 m) fall underthe broad category of tropical evergreen forests,
the main species being of the genera Calophyllum,Campnosperma, Dillenia, Elaeocarpus, Endospermum
and Gmelina. The common species in the mangrove
forests belong to the genera Rhizophora, Avicennia,
Lumnitzera, Sonneratia and Xylocarpus.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Despite
reported agricultural expansion, FAO (2005a)*For legend see page 58

estimated that Vanuatu’s forest area increased

Forest resources

slightly in the 1990s.

Vanuatu has a land area of 1.21 million hectares

Vanuatu is subject to frequent cyclones; on average,

across about 80 islands and a population of about
200,000 people. It lies approximately 170 km to
the southeast of the southernmost island of theat least one severe cyclone causing signiﬁcantforest damage occurs every ﬁve years. These open
up large gaps in the forest canopy and allow the

Solomon Islands and about 800 km west of Fiji.

invasion of the vine Merremia.

The four main islands of Santo, Efate, Malekula

Permanent forest estate. Vanuatu has no legallyand Erromango generally consist of a narrowdeﬁned PFE; since all land is owned by individuals

coastal plain rising through broken foothills toor clans, a future PFE will need to be negotiateda steep mountainous interior. The majority of thewith and agreed by the respective landowners.

rural population (about 80% of the total) lives in

The ﬁgures given in Table 1 show the area of forest

a subsistence economy. The land has not yet beenthat could possibly comprise a PFE in the future.

classiﬁed according to function or land capability.
The area of natural forests and other wooded landis an estimated 902,000 hectares (74% of theland area)a.

Planted forests. The area of planted forest in
Vanuatu is about 2,100 hectaresa,d, including about
300 hectares of privately owned Endospermum

Table 1 PFE*

Estimated total
forest area
(million hectares)
0.902

PFE (’000 hectares)a,d

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

442

Production
NaturalPlanted117

2.10

Protection

Total

8.37

127

* Possible components of a future PFE

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

193

medullosum. The annual planting rate in Vanuatu

export ban, establishing the AAC, and instituting

is reported to be 30–40 hectares. Agro-industrial

licences of a kind that will encourage commitment

plantations of Cocos nucifera (coconut), with an

to value-added processing, etc.

area of 215,000 hectares, are an important nonforest source of wood in Vanuatu.

The principal forest law in force is the Forestry Act
of 2001, which superseded the Forest Act of 1982.
Other laws that support the implementation of theInstitutional arrangements

forest policy include the International Trade (Floraand Fauna) Act of 1989, the National Parks Act

Forest tenure. In Vanuatu, all lands, including
forest lands, are customarily owned. The land may
be owned communally, usually by clans (extendedafamily units), or individually .

of 1993 and the Timber Rights Guarantees Act of2000. Under the provisions of these acts, several
rules and regulations have been issued: eg a ban
on log exports (1993), a code of logging practice

SFM policy framework. Article 7(d) of the 1979

(1996), mobile sawmill regulations (1996) andconstitution states that “every person has thesandalwood regulations (1997).

fundamental duty to … safeguard the natural
wealth, resources and environment in the interestof the present generation and of the future generations”. This is echoed in the 1997 national forest
policy, the principle goal of which is to ensure thesustainable management of Vanuatu’s forests toachieve greater social and economic beneﬁts for
current and future generations. The ITTO C&I havebeen adopted as a monitoring tool, and training

Institutions involved in forests. The Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is responsible forforestry. Within the ministry, the Vanuatu Department
of Forests (VDF), established in January 1980, is
responsible for the management of natural forests
through policy development, planning, protection,
silvicultural principles and guidelines. It is also
responsible for all reforestation, afforestationand small-scale sawmilling. Total stafﬁng for thehas been provided.

implementation of SFM was 51 in 2000, including

Forest policy and legislation. In 1991, the18 professionalsa. This is considered inadequate

government instituted the National Forest

for policing adherence to forest-related rules andProgramme, an important outcome of which was

regulations; the VDF and other departments depend

the draft national forest policy of 1995, which waslargely on the owners of the resource to comelater issued as the formal Vanuatu National Forest

forward to report breaches of the regulations

Policy Statement of 1997. During its preparationby concessionairesa.

the views of stakeholder groups, including national
and provincial governments, chiefs, community

The VDF maintains a policy of open cooperation
with NGOs and collaborates closely with someleaders, churches and the forest industry, were

programs carried out by them. NGOs such as thesought. Consultative meetings and workshops

Foundation of the People of South Paciﬁc support

were held in each province. The national forest

and assist in training and extension programs. The

policy contains an indicative program of action

Forestry Act provides a mechanism for wider andin all aspects of the management of Vanuatu’s
forests which, if fully implemented, would lead tomore consultative planning in forest management.

aa signiﬁcant improvement in forest management .
It also makes speciﬁc recommendations on the
management of forests in the different islandgroups. The policy deﬁnes a series of objectives,
measures and strategies for implementation undernine major headings: forest management, environmentand conservation, landowners and communities,
forest industries, afforestation and extension,
forest research, forest training and education,
forest administration, and forest revenue. The
policy advocates giving ﬁrm legal effect to a log

194

SFM TROPICS

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Under the system of forest ownership existing in
Vanuatu the role of the government through the VDF
is to provide guidance and support to customary
owners in planning the use and development of
their forest resource. The ﬁnal decision on how to
use the forest resource is the prerogative of theowners. The guiding regulations include the following:Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–03)
Timber species

Remarks

Dysoxylum confertiﬂorum

Used for sawmilling and furniture manufacturing

Pterocarpus indicus (bluwota)

PNG rosewood, high-priced species

Intsia bijuga (natora)

Valuable timber species known as merbau in Southeast Asia

Calophyllum neo-ebudicum

Used for sawmilling and furniture manufacturing

Endospermum medullosum (whitewood)

New Guinea basswood••

harvesting quotas allocated to each of the four

provincial government, the VDF, the Department

main islands (which are regarded as FMUs),

of Environment, the Lands Department, resource

based on estimated AAC levels;

owners’ representatives and the logging company.

minimum diameter limit set for each timber
species;•••

A code of logging practice has been developedin consultation with the industry that is designed
to foster the application of sustainable forest

periodic closure of harvesting in sandalwood

harvesting to reduce damage, soil disturbanceareas;and canopy openings. Recently, logging has been

licensing of operators to help ensure goodincreasingly observed to be more controlled andlogging practice; anddamage to the forest is reported to have been

selection logging to be practised.

nevertheless, a lack of monitoring and post-harvest

reduced (A. Leslie, pers. comm., September 2004);

Even though the importance of long-term forest

surveying of logging operations means limited

management plans is emphasized in the Forestry

information on the quality of harvesting is available.

Act, so far no plans have been prepared for any of

Logging concession agreements are relatively

the four main FMUs (which correspond to the fourmain islands) or for individual concessionsa. According
to the Forestry Act, logging companies are required
to prepare and submit a coupe harvesting plan,
providing details of all operations, which has to beapproved by the VDF before logging commences.

short-term (5–10 years); at present, 7,200
hectares are allocated for logging under eight
separate concessions. The largest concessions
are foreign-owned (by operators from Malaysia and
New Zealand). The estimated annual sustainabletimber yield from the 117,000 hectares of natural

The national forest inventory estimated that theforest suitable for logging is 68,000 m3 a.

total forest area suitable for logging in Vanuatu

Silviculture and species selection. There arewas around 117,000 hectares, about 25% of thetotal forest resource, and the total forest growing
stock was about 13 million m3. The remainder ofthe forest was considered unsuitable due to steep
slopes, dissected land forms, low sawlog volumes
and cultural reasons. The quality of the natural forest
for commercial forestry is low: in over 50,000
hectares of the harvestable natural forests, theexpected timber yield is about 20 m3 per hectare
and even in the best parts of it the yield will not be
more than 30 m3 per hectare.

no comprehensive guidelines for the silvicultural
management of the production forests, although
the broad suggestion is to follow selective logging
with minimum diameter cutting limits. Around 20
species are generally recognized as marketable
but the timber industry in Vanuatu concentrates
on just a few species, mainly for domestic sale.
Many species cut elsewhere in the Paciﬁc are
not used in Vanuatu. Besides the species listed
in Table 2, commonly used species are: Syzygium
spp, Myristica fatua, Elaeocarpus angustifolius,

A harvesting plan is normally prepared throughAntiaris toxicaria and Castanospermum australe.

consultation involving representatives of the

In addition, Agathis macrophylla (kauri) is much

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

195

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

117

n.d.

0

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

0

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

2.1

2.1

0

sought-after for timber and has been an important

about 76% was used as fuelwood (FAO 2005b).

export in the past. Easily accessible stands are

The production of industrial logs was an estimatednow exhausted. Santalum austrocaledonicum

30,000 m in 2003, down from 41,000 m in(sandalwood), valued for the essential oil in its

1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005). An estimated 1,000 m

3

3

3

3

heartwood, is a major silvicultural challenge,of logs and 11,000 m of sawnwood were exported

in particular regarding its regeneration.

in 2003 (ITTO 2005). The wood-processing industry

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Forest plantations tend to be established in small
woodlots, generally of less than one hectare. Pinus
caribaea and Cordia alliodora are the most important
plantation species, and Swietenia macrophylla andTectona grandis have been tried out in the recent
past together with agroforestry tree species.
Currently, there is little logging for commercial
purposes in planted forests. Plantation developmentin Vanuatu has been short on planning and proper

is not well developed; processing units are small andof low technology. The exploitable forest resource
is probably too limited and geographically dispersed
to encourage the establishment of competitive
international-scale mills. There are two signiﬁcantsized, ﬁxed-site mills and several smaller mills, plus
around 50 portable sawmills; the average recovery
of logs processed for export is a low 35%a. The ﬁxedsite mills generally have some form of wood-preservation treatment facilities.

implementation. Considering the inadequacies of

The government of Vanuatu has operated a log

Vanuatu’s natural forests for production purposes

export ban intermittently to assist the development

because of their quality, composition and distribution,of a domestic processing industry.

forest plantations will have to play a much largerrole if future timber needs are to be met. The
national forest policy suggested an initial targetof 20,000 hectares of forest plantations by 2020.
Trees outside the forest are mainly coconut andfruit trees in home gardens. Trees on farms andcattle ranches are important for meeting local
needs for timber.

Non-wood forest products. Being the raw material
to produce sandalwood oil, sandalwood (Santalum
album, S. austrocaledonicum) is the most important
NWFP in Vanuatu; about 52 tonnes were exported
in 2000, much of it to Taiwan Province of China.
The estimated sustainable yield of sandalwood
is 80 tonnes. An oil-extraction facility has recently
been constructed for the domestic production ofForest certiﬁcation. No certiﬁcation initiatives

sandalwood oil. Other important NWFPs that arehave yet been taken.

locally processed and exported include sago fruit

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. In the absence of longterm management plans and post-harvest care,production forests in Vanuatu cannot be considered
to be managed sustainably (Table 3). Encouragingly,
though, the current annual industrial log harvestof about 30,000 m3 is well below the estimatedsustainable yield (68,000 m3 – see above).
Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
production in 2003 was 119,000 m3, of which

196

SFM TROPICS

shells, Canarium nuts and Barringtonia nuts.
Bamboo, palm ﬁbres, medicinal plants and live
birds are important locally. Forest recreation
is an emerging activity. There is an ecotourism
facility in one of the forest protected areas.

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Much of the natural forest in themountainous interiors has a primarily protectiverole. However, some of these forests have been
degraded by grazing and, in places, by burning.

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

8.37a

0

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

In some areas, erosion and soil degradation areboundaries, which usually use physically prominent

signiﬁcant problems. No data are available on thefeatures such as trees, coastline, ridges and rivers;

extent or percentage of forest managed primarily

they are therefore known to most people living

for the protection of soil and water, although somenear the areaa. There is a limited capacity in theareas are reserved for this purpose in coupe

country to implement the National Parks Act for the

harvesting plansa.

protection of these areas. Although the system of

Biological diversity. Vanuatu’s forests are relatively
species-poor and structurally less complex than
the forests of the Solomon Islands and PNG due tothe geological youth of the archipelago, its isolation

customary landownership makes it difﬁcult to create
new protected areas, more than 50% of existing
protected areas were either initiated or supported
by landowners and surrounding communitiesa.

and frequent cyclones. The degree of endemism in

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

the Vanuatu ﬂora is not as great as in neighbouring

managed for protection. No information on the

countries, either; around 15–20% of trees andstatus of management in protected areas was

shrubs are thought to be endemic. Five mammals,

available for this report (Table 4).

eight birds, two reptiles and ten plants are listed
as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable
on the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,
two mammals and seven birds are found in forests(IUCN 2004). Forty-three plants are listed in CITES
Appendix II (CITES 2005). Vanuatu has national

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forestry’s contribution to GDPa

was about 7.7% (US$2.84 million) in 2000 . An
estimated 500 people are employed directly in thealogging sector .

conservation strategies for six commercial tree

Livelihood values. According to a recent national

species (Endospermum medullosum, Agathis

census, 80% of the Vanuatuan population ismacrophylla, Agathis silbae, Intsia bijuga, Pteroa

carpus indicus and Santalum austrocaledonicum) .
Protective measures in production forests. The
Code of Logging Practice has provisions for exclusion
zones (eg steep slopes, environmentally sensitive
and unstable soils, stream buffers, etc), guidelines
for establishing infrastructure (eg road standards)
and operational controls.
Extent of protected areas. There are ﬁve forest
protected areas totalling 8,366 hectares, fallingwithin the mid-to-high forest (6,349 hectares – 3%of all mid-to-high forest), low forest (1,717 hectares– 0.7% of all low forest) and mangrove forest (300
hectares – 12% of all mangroves)a. According toUNEP-WCMC (2004), however, no forests are inprotected areas conforming to IUCN protected-area
categories I–IV, although 5,900 hectares arereported in IUCN Category VI. The boundariesof the protected areas are not demarcated on
the ground but are mapped using customary landengaged in some form of small-scale commercial
or subsistence forestry activitiesa. In addition tocommercial forestry operations, fuelwood, herbal
medicines, wild meat, edible nuts, thatch grass,and plants used for ceremonial purposes and the
manufacture of musical instruments are all part ofthe subsistence needs of the rural community. The
value of forest products for subsistence use could
be as high as US$14 million per yeara.
Social relations. The Forestry Act (2001) provides
a mechanism for a broad consultative planning
process. This mechanism comprises a management
committee involving a provincial/state representative,
a representative of the resource owner, andrepresentatives of the VDF, the Environment
Department and the Lands Department. The lowlevel of literacy in Vanuatu makes it difﬁcult forforestry ofﬁcers to fully explain forestry issues
and terminology to landownersa.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

197

Summary•small; about 3% of the mid-to-high forest andNo formal PFE has been created in Vanuatu because

0.7% of the low forest are represented in

all forests are under customary ownership. The role

protected areas.

of the national government in forest management isin policy development, planning, protection, silvicul-

The protected-area system of Vanuatu is verytural principles and guidelines, and the supervision ofReferences and other sources

logging companies. However, to date it has not beenapossible to implement a forestry regime that operates

ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Assessing

on the basis of long-term forest management plans.

Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical
Forests in Vanuatu. Submitted to ITTO, April

Key points•

2002. Vanuatu Department of Forests, Portd

There is, therefore, no formal PFE. Theoretically,a future PFE could amount to 127,000 hectares,of which 117,000 would be natural-forest
production PFE and 8,340 protection PFE;
there are about 2,100 hectares of plantations.

•

Production forests are not covered by longterm management plans and therefore cannot
be considered sustainably managed. No estimate
could be made of the area of protection PFE
under SFM.

•

The current annual harvest of about 30,000
3m is well below the estimated sustainable yield
3(68,000 m ) from the 117,000 hectares ofnatural forest deemed suitable for production
forestry.
•

The national forest policy contains an
indicative program of action in all aspects ofthe management of Vanuatu's forests which,if fully implemented, would lead to a signiﬁcant
improvement in forest management.

•

The Department of Forestry under the Ministryof Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has
responsibility for administering and managing
the forest. The personnel, funds and facilities
available to it are inadequate to carry out thesefunctions.

•Vila, Vanuatu. Unpublished.

All lands, including forests, are customarily
owned.

•

The four FMUs (corresponding to the four mainislands) are not covered by long-term management
plans, although coupes are usually covered byharvesting plans based on the Code of Logging
Practice.

198

VDF 2002. Report on the Application of

SFM TROPICS

ITTO estimate

Brown, C. 1997. Asia-Paciﬁc Forestry Sector
Outlook Study: Regional Study – The South
Paciﬁc. Working Paper APFSOS/WP/01.
FAO, Rome, Italy/Bangkok, Thailand.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

LATIN AMERICA &THE CARIBBEANSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

199

BOLIVIA
La Paz, Beni, northwestern Cochabamba and the
mid- and north-western parts of Santa Cruz). This
forest is rich in timber species, such as Swietenia
macrophylla (mara), Hura crepitans, Calophyllum
spp and rubber, and NWFPs such as Bertholletia
excelsa (Brazil nut). The semi-deciduous forest, theChiquitania, is mainly located in the department of
Santa Cruz and is characterized by species such
as Astronium urundeuva, Piptadenia macrocarpa
and Tabebuia spp. Sub-Andean and Andean forests
cover the western ﬂank of the Andean chain ataltitudes between 400 and 3,500 m. These arecharacterized by Lauraceae and Meliaceae up to
900 m, by walnut-pine forests (Juglans australis andPodocarpus spp) between 1,200 m and 1,700 m
and, beyond that up to 2,700 m, by Alnus
acuminata (aliso).

*For legend see page 58

Dynamics of forest resource change. FAO (2005)

Forest resources

estimated deforestation at 161,000 hectares or

The landlocked country of Bolivia has a land area ofgovernment of Bolivia estimated the total area

110 million hectares and an estimated population of
8.6 million people. It has three broad biogeographicalzones: the high-altitude, unforested altiplano(highlands in the Andean mountain zone), with peaks
exceeding 6,000 m; los yungas and los valles, which
include the valleys on the eastern ﬂank of the Andes;
and the tropical lowlands of Amazonia (El Oriente),
containing moist tropical forests in the northeasternpart and subtropical plains in the southeast (El Chaco).
Recent estimates of forest area include 53.1 million
hectares (FAO 2005), 58.6–59.5 million hectaresa
and 52.2 million hectares (UNEP-WCMC 2000).

0.3% per year over the period 1990–2000. The
deforested in 1993–2000 at 1.9 million hectares
and reported that it was highest in the western(non–Amazonian) part of the countrya. Deforestationand forest degradation in Bolivia are linked to planned
and unplanned settlement as well as the expansionof agriculture and permanent pasture. On one hand,commercial farmers clear large areas for soybean
plantations and, on the other, small-scale farmers
also cause deforestation by employing slash-and-burnpractices. Uncontrolled forest ﬁres occur regularly
at the end of the drier seasons and cause local
damage to forest stands that have already been

Forest types. Eighty per cent of the forest lies inopened up. However, no large ﬁres, droughts or

the tropical moist forest zone (departments of Pando,

increased storms have been observed recently
in Bolivia’s tropical forest regiona.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted52.2–59.5

47,99917,000d60aforest (’000 hectares)

Production*

Protection

Total

14,700d**

31,760d* Production PFE includes the delimited concession areas of 5.47 million hectares in the Oriente and other production areas(TCOs and ASLs) – see below** The ﬁgure given for protection PFE is subject to the ﬁnal designation of a number of protected areas

200

SFM TROPICS

Permanent forest estate. Integrated land-use plansaAmazon Forest, sponsored by the Amazon Cooperation

exist for about 76.5 million hectares of the country .

Treaty. The country is also using the ITTO C&I as

Out of the 59.5 million hectares of forest as deﬁned

an instrument to monitor progress towards SFM.

in these plans, 31.7 million hectares are classiﬁed aspermanent forest areas, of which at least 2.3 million
hectares have been converted to agricultural landa.
Twenty-ﬁve million hectares have been classiﬁed ashighly productive forests and a further 1.7 million

Forest policy and legislation. Forestry is regulated
under Forest Law 1700 of 12 July 1996 andits decrees and regulations approved in December
1996. This law was one of the ﬁrst applications ofsustainable development principles in the country.

hectares as potentially productive but reserved

It adopts the concept of SFM as follows: “The goalfor recreational or other non-timber use. About

shall be to regulate the sustainable use and protection

5.47 million hectares are allocated as productionof the forests and forest lands for the beneﬁt offorests for timber concessions according topresent and future generations, harmonizing theForest Law 1700 of 1996 (Table 1).

social, economic and ecological interests of the

Planted forests. The total area of planted forests inacountry” (Article 1). Since 1996, the ancestral

Bolivia is estimated to be around 60,000 hectares .

rights of local communities have had precedence

The ofﬁcial estimate of the total area of planted

over forest concession-holders where these rights

forest in the tropical lowlands is 20,000 hectares

overlap, and subsequent laws have strengthened(Malky Harb 2005), although FAO (2003) put thecommunity rights. Together with Environmental

planted forest area in the Amazon part of Bolivia

Law 1333 of April 1992 and the Law of Agrarianat 46,000 hectares, including 28,000 hectares

Reform 1715 of October 1996, Law 1700 regulates

for production. Planted forest plots are generally

all aspects of the management and conservation

small and include both indigenous and exotic treeof forest resources. Article 2 of Law 1700 deﬁnes

species. A large proportion of the planted forest

the broad objectives of forest development in Bolivia,

is located in the departments of Cochabamba

which are to:and Chuquisca. Most has been established underprograms supported by international organizations,•forest activities and forest conservation to

the main focus being on local communities with

contribute to attaining the socioeconomic

various aims including increasing revenues fordevelopment of the nation;

small landowners, restoring degraded lands anderadicating coca plantations.

promote the adoption of sustainable and efﬁcient•achieve sustainable and enhanced yields fromforest resources and guarantee the conservation

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Forests are both publicly and privatelyof ecosystems, biodiversity and the environment;•

prevent and check soil erosion and the degra-

owned in Bolivia. In 2002, 28.2 million hectares

dation of forests, grasslands, soil and water,(53%) of the forest estate were publicly owned andand promote afforestation and reforestation;

administered by the state (White & Martin 2002).
Another nearly 17 million hectares of publicly owned

protect and rehabilitate water catchment areas,•

facilitate access to forest resources and theirforest are under speciﬁc user rights or ownership

beneﬁts for the whole population, in strict(derechos sobre los productos y propiedad), including

compliance with regulations for protection

more than 12.6 million hectares of indigenousand sustainability;community lands (tierras comunitarias de origen –TCOs)a. A further 2.8 million hectares (5%) are•

and the dissemination of its results for theprivately owned by ‘local social groups’ (agrupaciones

beneﬁt of the production, conservation andsociales del lugar – ASLs) and another 5.4 million
hectares (10%) are privately owned by individuals
and industries (White & Martin 2002).
SFM policy framework. In 1995, Bolivia adopted theTarapoto Proposal of C&I for the Sustainability of thepromote forestry and agroforestry researchprotection of forest resources; and•stimulate understanding and promote awarenessof the responsible management of catchment
areas and their forest resources.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

201

Institutions involved in forests. According tomanagement at the University of Cochabamba (seeArticle 19 of Law 1700, the Ministry of Sustainable

Achá & Guevara 2003). Through the Law of Popular

Development and Planning (Ministerio de Desarrollo

Participation (Law 1702, 1996), urban and rural

Sostenible y Medio Ambiente) has overall responsibility

municipalities have been created and given new

for the national forestry regime. The Directorate

responsibilities and resources, including over the

General of Forests is responsible for forest policy

use and management of forests. Territorial grass-within this ministry. The Forestry Superintendencyroots organizations such as ‘peasant communities’(Superintendencia Forestal) is the regulatingand ‘neighbours’ councils’ are being recognized andorganization and the National Forestry Development

given important tasks in the new structure forFund (Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Forestal –the use of public resources. The Law of Regional

FONABOSQUE) is the ﬁnancing mechanism, although

Decentralization has created prefecturas in theit is not in operation. Departmental governments andnine departments of the country with responsibility

municipalities should support the development of thefor the regulation, planning and coordination offorest sector in accordance with speciﬁcations in

activities in the municipalities within them.

the law. The Renewable Natural Resource Regulatory
System (Sistema de Regulación de Recursos
Naturales Renovables – SIRENARE) regulates,
controls and supervises the sustainable utilizationof renewable resources (Article 21).

The FSC has established the Bolivian Council for
Voluntary Forest Certiﬁcation (Consejo Bolivianopara la Certiﬁcación Forestal Voluntaria) to oversee
the establishment of this certiﬁcation system in
Bolivia. The private sector is organized through a

Through Law 1788 on the organization of executive

producers’ association coordinated by the Bolivian

power (Ley de Organización del Poder Ejecutivo),

Forestry Chamber (Cámara Forestal de Bolivia).

the Vice-Minister of the Environment, Natural

The Chamber also includes a technical component

Resources and Forestry Development is given

known as the Promabosque which, among other

responsibility for the following strategic objectives

tasks, promotes SFM in natural and planted forests.

related to forests:

Three forest concessions covering a total area of•carry out a preliminary evaluation of thepotential of national forest resources;•

enous community land committees (comités detierras comunitarias de origen) by carrying out
inventories, management plans and annual
operational forest plans;
identify and classify areas for permanent forest
production to be licensed by the Forestry
Superintendency;•

major universities in Bolivia for educational andresearch purposes.

facilitate technical assistance in the empowerment and strengthening of ASLs and indig-•

262,000 hectares have been granted to the two

apply current policies and standards anddevelop complementary standards to facilitate

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Since 1996, access to forest resources in the PFE
has been based on:•forest concessions in state lands (tierras ﬁscales);•concessions for ASLs;•

harvesting permits in privately owned forest
lands, divided into two categories: (i) sustainable

the development of forestry activities;•

establish reference lists of forestry permits; and•follow up and evaluate forestry plans, programs
and projects.

forestry with management plans, and (ii)conversion permits (permisos de desmonte); and•forest management in TCOs.

Under Law 1700, forest concessions are granted for

The country is strengthening the ability of its

a period of 40 years, subject to a forest management

personnel to implement SFM by providing in-service

plan audit every ﬁve years. Management plans andtraining and maintaining forestry education at a

auditing are also required in TCOs and private forests.

high level, including specialization courses in forest

The exclusive user rights of indigenous groups over202

SFM TROPICS

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood*
Timber species

Remarks

Hura crepitans (ochoó)

11% of production, 2002 (about 63,000 m3)

Amuburana cearensis (roble)

7% of production, 2002

Cedrela odorata (cedro)

Production declined from 103,000 m3 in 1998
to 20,000 m3 in 2002

Carinaria ianarensis (yesquero blanco)

4% of production, 2002

Tabebuia spp (tajibo)

8% of production, 2002

* Sources: c, SIFOR/BOL (2002)

their forest resources are guaranteed in the TCOs.

prescribe silvicultural operations before, during andIn privately owned forests, a permit for conversion

after harvesting. Harvesting itself has to be done

into other economic land-uses can also be obtained.

according to RIL prescriptions and a detailed annual

The rules for forest management plans are described

operational plan. Silvicultural prescriptions and RIL

in Law 1700 and complementary regulations (Decree

are implemented in most certiﬁed forest concessions.

24453). A management plan has to be prepared bya professional forester who is independent of theconcessionaire. Forest management is supervisedby the Forestry Superintendency and also by thosemunicipalities in which the concession is situated.

There are more than 2,000 tree species in Bolivia,of which at least 220 have been used and marketedin different areas of the country (STCP 2000). In
the past, forest operations in Bolivia were basedon the selective logging of a few valuable species,

Bolivia has recently made efforts to implement forest

in particular mara and Cedrela odorata (cedro). In

policies to meet SFM objectives. SFM, however, isrecent years, the number of harvested species has

a relatively new concept and still needs to be fullyincreased and this has resulted in higher removals.

introduced and enforced. In 2003, a total of 86

For instance, in 1995 (before the new forest law)commercial forest concessions were operating in an

mara was the most important tree species harvested

area of 5.47 million hectares, most of them with ain the country, accounting for around 16% of theavalid management plan . A system of auditing hascommercial timber removed; currently, however,been developed and the Forestry Superintendency

it ofﬁcially constitutes less than 1% of commercial

is beginning to operationalize this. The fact that atimber removed (SIFOR/BOL 2002). In addition tosigniﬁcant number of forest concessions has been

the species listed in Table 2, important timber species

certiﬁed over the past ﬁve years (see below) indicatesharvested in Bolivia include Sterculia apetala (sujo)

the high standard of forest management alreadyand Schizolobium amazonicum (serebó).

being achieved.

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The

Regulations under Law 1700 recognize as a valid

major species planted – mostly in higher-altitude areas

ﬁve-year audit those forest audits carried out by an– are Eucalyptus globulus (about 41,000 hectares)

international system of voluntary forest certiﬁcation,

and Pinus patula; these two occupy about 90% of

properly accredited by credible international bodies.

the area planted. Although considered relatively

Accordingly, in late 2003 the Forestry Super-ineffective for controlling soil erosion, both species

intendency renewed the forest-concessions rights forwere planted for this purpose because they were

40 more years of FSC-certiﬁed forest concessions.

considered suitable for cool climates. At the moment,

Silviculture and species selection. Management
plans prescribe methods of checking the progressof regeneration after forest harvesting, generally
through permanent observation plots. They also

these plantations are major providers of fuelwood
and local timber. Other plantations are of Alnus
acuminata, Pinus radiata, P. pseudostrobus,
Cupressus lusitanica, Acacia spp and other species,

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005203

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagementplans

17,0005,470*

5,470

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

2,210

2,210

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

60

n.d.

0

* Includes only those concessions allocated for commercial harvesting to the private sector and excludes community-based concessions

both exotic and indigenous. More than 25 species

Non-wood forest products. Brazil nut is by far theof eucalypt and pine have been tried. Trees frommost important NWFP exported by Bolivia, while

outside the forest are not used to any great extent

palm hearts and cacao are also signiﬁcant. Palm

as a source of traded timber.

hearts are harvested mostly in private forests andForest certiﬁcation. Bolivia has the largest areaof certiﬁed natural tropical forests in Latin America,
all under the FSC scheme. The total certiﬁed forest
area as of December 2005 was 2.21 million
hectares (FSC 2005).
Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. The total area of sustainably
managed natural forest for production is estimatedto be at least 2.18 million hectares (Table 3), which
comprises the area certiﬁed plus an estimated 0.5
million hectares of forest undergoing certiﬁcation
processes and 2,705 hectares of community forest
in the Chiquiacá and Orozas communities for which

are subject to a management plan. Many other
NWFPs are used locally and nationally but makelittle contribution to exports.

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The Environmental Law of 1992
dedicates two chapters to soil and water protection.
It also deﬁnes soil and watershed conservation asa speciﬁc responsibility of the state. Through international cooperation, many small-scale plantations
have been established to protect watersheds in theAndes, mainly to control soil erosion but also as a local
source of ﬁrewood and products for local markets.

a management plan has been developed under an

Biological diversity. Bolivia is renowned for its

ITTO project (PD 44/99 Rev.2 (F)). In addition,

biological diversity, considered seventh in the

40,000 hectares of planted forests are believed toworld for the diversity of its birds, tenth for otherbe well manageda,c, although not necessarily covered

vertebrates and 15th for primates; it also contains

by formal management plans; these consist essen-

at least 18,000 species of plant. There is a hightially of community forests in mountain regions.

degree of endemism and many of its ecosystems

Timber production and trade. The total sustainableproduction capacity of the production PFE is estimatedto be about 8 million m3, but present production
is far less. According to ITTO (2005), the 2003
production of logs was 650,000 m3 and sawnwood
3347,000 m . Sawnwood is the main industrial
wood product and most of it is export-oriented.

are undisturbed. Twenty-six mammals, 31 birds,
three reptiles, 21 amphibians and 70 plant species
are listed as critically endangered, endangered orvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;of these, twelve mammals, 19 birds, one reptile and
17 amphibians are found in forests (IUCN 2004).
Bolivia has listed six plant species in CITES Appendix I
and 448 plant species in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

The diversity of timber species and the lack ofTimber species listed in Appendix II include maramarkets for lesser-known species is a problem inand Podocarpus parlatorei.

Bolivia. Although the country produces a signiﬁcantquantity of certiﬁed wood, access to this sensitive
international market is still limited.

Protective measures in production forests.
Detailed regulations have been established underLaw 1700 for commercial forestry operations toassist in protecting watersheds and soil. Forest

204

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed14,700

7,660

6,790

n.d.

2,380dmanagement plans must make special provision for

Livelihood values. Tropical forests are of great value

biological corridors, the regulation of hunting and theto local forest dwellers, including indigenous peoples

conservation of endangered plant and animal species.

who have subsistence user rights for non-commercial

Extent of protected areas. There are ﬁve ofﬁcial
protected-area categories: (i) national parks; (ii)natural monuments; (iii) wildlife sanctuaries; (iv)wildlife reserves; and (v) natural areas for integrated
use. Around one-third of the forested area of Bolivia(18.5 million hectares) has been allocated to a totalaof 36 protected areas . These include the Reservas

purposes without the need for permits throughout
the forest estate; hunting and ﬁshing are the mostimportant activities. Forest areas are also considered
as a reserve of available land and are used forsubsistence agriculture. An estimated 300,000
people derive a large part of their living from forestcresources .

Naturales de Inmovilización, which have provisional

Social relations. The 1996 forest law recognizes

status as protected areas until a ﬁnal decision is

local rights governing the use of forest resources,

taken about the category of protected area to which

but the system still needs to be fully implemented

they belong based on their values and characteristics.

and enforced. In fact, weak law enforcement andAccording to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 7.65 million

land tenure problems are still major constraints tohectares of forest are in protected areas that

SFM. Local tensions between legally deﬁned forest

conform to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV,

users and forest dwellers remain unabated. Illegal

including 1.39 million hectares of lowland evergreen

logging of mara and cedro in particular still exists.

broadleaved rainforest and 1.32 million hectares

Illegal crops, particularly coca, are planted byof lower montane forest. Five protected areas,

migratory farmers in ﬁelds and small openings

covering a total area of 4 million hectares situatedand are often a major reason for violencein lowland tropical and subtropical areas, are inter-in forested areasc.

connected through permanent production forestsa.
Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for protection. An estimated 10.7 million hectaresof forested protected areas are covered by administrative decrees or simple management directivesaand staffed with forest rangers ; these include
2.38 million hectares in the Madidi National Park (thesubject of an ITTO project), for which a management
plan is being developed and activities instigated tostrengthen ﬁeld-level management. This latter areais the extent of the estimated area of sustainably
managed protection PFE, since insufﬁcient information
was available on the status of management elsewhere.

Socioeconomic aspects

Summary
Bolivia has made remarkable progress towards
SFM over the past decade. It has launched andimplemented a comprehensive and ambitious reformof its forest sector and embarked on a major processof conferring property rights for natural forests toindigenous communities. Through an overarching
political decentralization process, responsibilities
and monitoring functions are being decentralized
to municipalities and rural communities; this has
generated some tensions. Forest certiﬁcation has
become a major factor in the introduction of SFM
practices, and Bolivia has the largest area of certiﬁed
natural forest in Latin America. However, the reform

Economic aspects. In 2002, forest-based activities

process faces many obstacles; full implementation

contributed about 3% to Bolivia’s GDP; logging andstill needs time and continuous and strong

the wood-processing industry employed 60,000

political will.

peoplea. There is also a signiﬁcant informal sector
involved in logging and industrial operations.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

205

Key points

References and other sources•a

The PFE comprises an estimated 17.0 milliondel Manejo Forestal en Bolivia. Submitted tohectares of protection forest. A further

ITTO, February 2004. Prepared by Soledad,

16.3 million hectares of forest have notM., Ministerio de Desarrollo Sostenible yyet been allocated.
•

There remain huge, partly unexploited forest

Planiﬁcación, La Paz, Bolivia. Unpublished.
cresources in the Amazon Basin.
•

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held

The estimated area of natural-forest production

1–4 September 2003, Cochambama, Bolivia,
attended by 40 people from government, civil

2.18 million hectares; the estimated areasociety and the private sector.

of protection PFE so managed is at least•

2.38 million hectares.

d

The Ministry of Sustainable Development andAchá, G. & Guevara, R. 2003. When foresters
have a higher calling. ITTO Tropical Forest

national forestry regime.

Update 13/4.

The Forestry Superintendency oversees
Territorial grassroots organizations are gaining
increasing recognition in the new structure for•

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
FAO 2003. State of Forestry in the Latin American

professional knowledge and the establishment

and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO Regionalof certiﬁed forests provide a good basis forOfﬁce for Latin America and the Caribbean,

SFM. But access to some markets for certiﬁed

Santiago, Chile.

An auditing system is in place; as it becomes
operational, a clearer picture of the overallsituation in production forests will emerge.
Land tenure and, in particular, the absence ofclearly deﬁned property rights are key limitations
to attracting investments to the Bolivian forest
sector and, consequently, to achieving SFM.
There are ambitious plans for the creation andmanagement of protected areas, but these stillneed to be acted upon. The status of their
management is mostly unclear.

•

species.html (accessed September 2005).

A well-established wood-processing industry, goodto maintain high standards.

•

from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/

2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

signiﬁcant price premium may make it difﬁcult•

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available

the use of forest resources, but tensions remain.

timber remains problematic and the lack of a•

ITTO estimate

Planning has overall responsibility for theadherence to the forest law.
•

Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training

PFE under sustainable management is at least•

Government of Bolivia 2004. Informe Avances

hectares of production forest and 14.7 million

FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC
International Center & Working Group, Germany.
Available from: http://www.fsc-info.org(accessed December 2005).
Government of Bolivia 2000. Informe de Progresopara Lograr el Objetivo del Año 2000 de la
OIMT. Submitted to ITTO, 2000. Ministerio deDesarrollo Sostenible y Planiﬁcación, La Paz,
Bolivia. Unpublished.
ITTO 1996. The Promotion of Sustainable Forest
Development in Bolivia. Report of the Diagnostic
Mission. Presented at the twenty-ﬁrst session

Illegal logging and illegal crops are constraintsof the International Tropical Timber Council,

to the full adoption of SFM and the effective

November 1996. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

conservation of protected areas in many localities.

206

SFM TROPICS

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of the

STCP 2000. Plan Estratégico para el Desarrollo delWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,

Sector Forestal de Bolivia. STCP, Curitiba, Brazil.

Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened

UNEP-WCMC 2000. Statistical Analysis of Forests& Protection V3.1, July 2000. Available from:Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/statistics.

(accessed September 2005).

htm (accessed June 2005).

Malky Harb, A. 2005. Sector Forestal en Bolivia.

UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

Diagnósticos sectoriales. Unidad de Análisis dewithin protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Políticas Sociales y Económicas, La Paz, Bolivia.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

Available from: http://www.udape.gov.bo/

2004 (see Annex 1).

diagnosticos/ (accessed November 2005).

White, A. & Martin, A. 2002. Who Owns the World’s

SIFOR/BOL 2002. Cámara Forestal de Bolivia.

Forests? Forest Tenure and Public Forests in

Estadísticas de Exportación de Productos

Transition. Forest Trends, Washington, DC, USA.

Forestales – Gestión 2002. SIFOR/BOL,
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

207

BRAZIL
Brazil is largely tropical or subtropical; temperatures
average about 26°C with little seasonal variation.
Annual rainfall varies from 3,000 mm or more insome parts of the northern region to 1,600 mm
in central Brazil and 300 mm in the northeast.
Estimates of total forest cover range from544 million hectares (FAO 2005a) to 444 million
hectares (UNEP-WCMC 2000); both estimates
include tropical and non-tropical forests, although
the area of non-tropical forest is small. According
to UNEP-WCMC (2000), 430 million hectares of
the total are tropical.
Forest types. Brazilian forests can be classiﬁed
broadly as Amazon rainforest, Atlantic rainforest,
central cerrado savanna, arid caatinga and thewetlands of Pantanal. About 95% of the existing
natural forests (and 98% of the potentially productive*For legend see page 58

natural forests) are in the Amazon (Macqueen et al.

Forest resources

2003). The extent of the major forest types are as

Brazil has a land area of 846 million hectares and

217 million hectares; semi-evergreen moist broad-a population of about 177 million people. It shares
16,000 km of borders with ten neighbouring
countries and its Atlantic coast is 7,370 km long.
Ninety-three per cent of the country is below 800 m
in altitude. The highest peaks, of about 2,500 m,
are found on the northern border with Venezuela in
the territory of Roraima and the state of Amazonas,
and in the southeast on the Atlantic coast. Two
geographic features stand out: the vast Amazon
Basin, which contains the world’s largest area of
tropical rainforest; and the Brazilian Highlands, aneroded plateau in the south and southeast of thecountry, which separates Brazil’s inland regions
from a narrow Atlantic coastal plain. The climate offollows: lowland evergreen broadleaved forests –leaved forest – 48 million hectares; and sparse trees
and parkland – 38 million hectares (UNEP-WCMC
2004). Data about the extent of secondary forests
are not available. Mangrove forests cover about
1.6 million hectares (ibid.).
Dynamics of forest resource change. The annual
rate of change in forest cover in the period 1990–
2000 was estimated by FAO (2005a) to be 0.4%,
or 2.31 million hectares per year. However, efforts
to reduce this rate may be working; according to theBrazilian government, in the twelve-month period
August 2004 to July 2005 some 1.89 million
hectares were deforested in the Amazon, down

Table 1 PFE

Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)
444–544*

Total closed natural
tropical forest(’000 hectares)

PFE (’000 hectares)**
Production

Source: derived from FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted

489,515

98,100

3,810

Protection

Total

271,000

372,910* Tropical and non-tropical** Estimate for production and protection PFE are derived from MMA (2001) CIFOR (2003), FAO (2004) and Poore & Thang (2002).
Tropical forest area only. The production PFE includes 48.2 million hectares of conservation units for sustainable use and an estimated50 million hectares of legal reserves for production purposes (CIFOR 2003)

208

SFM TROPICS

from 2.7 million hectares in the corresponding periodfor ‘legal reserves‘ in private forest areas are also

in 2003–04 (Damé 2005). While all kinds of forest

deﬁned by law. According to the 1965 forest code

have been subject to deforestation, it has been mostand subsequent regulations (eg Decree 1.282 ofsevere in the Atlantic rainforests and in the central

1994), 80% of the forest property is to be kept as

plains. Of the original area of Atlantic rainforest, only

legal reserve in the Amazon, 35% in the cerrado

7% remains; by comparison, 86% of the Brazilian

and 20% in other areas. Legal reserves in private

Amazon remains intact. Many factors contributelands cover 198 million hectares, and indigenous

to deforestation in the Amazon, the main ones inlands (Indian reserves) cover 103 million hectares

recent years being the expansion of cattle-raising(ibid.). Parts of these forests have been set apartand commercial agriculture, in particular soybeans.

as ‘extractive reserves’ for the harvesting of latex,

In 2004, about 20% of the total Brazilian cattle herdnuts, fruits, oils and other products as a way ofof 204 million animals was in the Amazon, and theproviding sustainable economic beneﬁts from theindustry is reportedly growing at more than 4% perrainforest. The extractive reserves, which areyear (Louven 2005). Other factors in deforestation

administered by the Brazilian Institute of Environment

include unregulated logging, mining and oil extraction,

and Renewable Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do

subsistence agriculture and ﬁre.

Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais RenováveisNatural hazards such as ﬂoods, cyclones anddroughts are rare, but forest ﬁres have been aconspicuous recent component of forest destruction.
Fire is a relatively new phenomenon in the Brazilian
Amazon and is mainly human-induced.

– IBAMA), now make up about 4 million hectares(0.8%) of the Brazilian Amazon (IBAMA website).
The National Council of Rubber Tappers of Brazil has
set 10% of the Amazon as its target for extractive
reserves. Despite the fact that much production
forest land is privately owned, the forests are

Permanent forest estate. In the Amazon the PFE

considered under the Brazilian constitution to be

may be considered to comprise 48.2 million hectares

a common asset for all inhabitants, and ownershipof conservation units, 103 million hectares ofand tenure disputes are a major problem. Private

indigenous lands, 20.4 million hectares of permanent

owners are only able to exercise their rights withinpreservation areas and 198 million hectares of legal

the limits imposed by the forest law of 1965, which

reserves on private lands, including both production

regulates the harvesting of timber resources.

forests and protection areas, amounting to a totalof about 370 million hectaresb.

SFM policy framework. A new national forest policy

Planted forests. The total plantation forest area wasof the Coordinating Commission for the Nationalan estimated 4.98 million hectares in 2000 (FAO

Forestry Program (Comissão Coordenadora do

2005a), but the split of this between tropical andPrograma Nacional de Florestas – CONAFLOR),

non-tropical was not reported. Tomaselli and Siqueira

made up of 42 representatives of major public,(2005) reported a total of 1.96 million hectares

private and civil-society interest groups, has addedof Pinus and 3.29 million hectares of Eucalyptus

a participative dimension to policy identiﬁcation andplantation (the two genera comprising an estimatedformulation in the country. Policies relating to forestry

95% of all plantations). Of these 5.25 million hectares,

aim to achieve: better cooperation between the

3.81 million were established in states with afederal and state governments; the creation ofsigniﬁcant proportion or all of their territories in thenational and state forests and extractive reserves;

tropics. Approximately 14,000 hectares of Tectona

the stimulation of wood and NWFP production; thegrandis (teak) have been established, and this area

creation of national parks and biological reserves;is increasing.

the removal of undue incentives for deforestation;

was launched in 2001. During 2004, the creation

new instruments for ﬁnancing SFM; the elimination

Institutional arrangementsof local structural imbalances in forestry enterprises;

Forest tenure. About 70% of the production PFEchange-over from increased government presence toin the Amazon is owned privately (FAO 2004). There
are legal stipulations to set aside conservation areas
within each private forest property and requirements

the establishment of state-level forest programs; theenhanced people’s participation and private investment; and continuous monitoring and evaluation.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

209

Forest policy and legislation. Brazil is a federation

Institutions involved in forests. The MMA isof 26 states, a federal district and more thanresponsible for forestry as well as for planning,

5,500 local governments (municípios). The adoption

coordinating and controlling activities related toof a new constitution in 1988 prompted powerful

the National Environment Policy and policies fordecentralization in the management of naturaldeveloping the Amazon. It supervises the activities

resources and in the implementation of developmentof IBAMA, chairs the National Council for the

programs. Considerable political and tax power andEnvironment (Conama Conselho Nacional do

ﬁscal revenue shifted from the central government

Meio Ambiente – CONAMA) and takes part into states and municípios, and privatization and

the President’s Chamber for Natural Resources

economic liberalization policies were also pursued.

Policies, which coordinates various aspects related

However, unclear rules and the ensuing friction

to forests. In addition to MMA, other agencies also

have made it difﬁcult for the state and municipal

have responsibilities related to forest resources,

governments to have a more intense and directsuch as the National Colonization and Agrarian

involvement in the management of forestry resources.

Reform Institute (Instituto Nacional de Colonização

Moreover, efforts to deﬁne the relative responsibilities

e Reforma Agrária – INCRA). Another federal agencyof different layers of government have proved

with an important impact on land management isinadequate, as have efforts to exert sub-national

the Indian National Foundation (Fundação Nacional

power to improve the management of the sectordo Índio – FUNAI), which is responsible for the(Gregersen et al. 2004).

preservation of Indian culture. In 1999, a Secretariat

The National Forest Program 2000–2010 (Programafor Biodiversity and Forests was created in MMA.

Nacional de Florestas – PNF) seeks to ensure the

IBAMA, established in 1985, implements andsustainability of the forests. One of the aims is tocoordinates national forest policy. It was created byestablish 50 million hectares of sustainably managed

merging several earlier federal agencies, including

national forests (Florestas Nacionais – FLONAs)

the Brazilian Forest Development Institute; it isby 2010 and to achieve a target of 20 million hectares

responsible for the coordination of national environ-of forest plantations on private land. It incorporates

mental issues. In general, IBAMA administers forests

six broad program areas, focusing on: the encour-nationwide, monitors and controls forestry programs,

agement of the sustainable use of forests;

and conducts environmental awareness campaigns.

fostering reforestation; the recovery of permanent

It also has authority to transfer some of thesepreservation areas and reserves; the support ofpowers and responsibilities to sub-national govern-

indigenous people; the control of deforestation andments, although reportedly this has not happened

illegal activities; and the prevention of forest ﬁres.

on a signiﬁcant scale (Toni 2003). IBAMA has no

Forest legislation includes: the forest law of 1965

control over the 113 million hectares of indigenous(as amended); the Law of Protection of Fauna oflands, which remain the responsibility of FUNAI,

1967; the National Environmental Policy of 1981;

nor has it any control over conversions in

the Water Resources Policy of 1997; Law No 9605

settlement areas.

of 1998 on environmental crimes; Decree No 3179
of 1999, establishing penalties for forest crimes; andDecree No 3420 of 2000, creating the PNF. These
are complemented by regulations from the National
Environmental Council and instructions from the
Ministry of the Environment, Water Resources andAmazon (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente – MMA)
and IBAMA, which provide for a national systemof conservation units, penalties for all damages
caused to nature, obligatory forest replacement,
as well as norms related to felling quotas, land
conversions, the prevention of forest ﬁres, etc.

Forestry research is carried out mainly by theBrazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Empresa
Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária – EMBRAPA)
through its National Forestry Research Center
located in Colombo in the state of Paraná. EMBRAPA
has groups of forestry research staff at various
centres: for the savanna in Brasília; for the humid
tropics in Belém do Pará; and for the caatinga inPetrolina, Pernambuco state. It also has forestry
research units in the states of Acre, Rondônia,Roraima, Amapá and Amazonas. The National
Institute of Amazonian Research (Instituto Nacionalde Pesquisas da Amazonia – INPA), an autonomous

210

SFM TROPICS

institution in Manaus, conducts research on forest

areas, including the introduction of a concession

products and silviculture. Universities, large

system (Veríssimo & Cochrane 2003). An estimatedforestry enterprises, and NGOs such as the43.9 million hectares of the production PFE in the

Amazon Institute of People and the Environment

Amazon are owned privately; of these, an estimated(Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia

21.9 million hectares of accessible forest could– IMAZON) also engage in forestry research.

produce a sustainable yield of 15.2–21.9 million m3

University education in forestry started in 1960;

per year (Tomaselli & Siqueira 2005). By law theforest engineering courses are now offered by 20

use of natural forest resources on private land

universities. There are some 7,000 forest engineers

requires the presentation of a sustainable forest

working in Brazil, 1,600 with master’s degrees

management plan (plano de manejo ﬂorestaland 300 with PhDs.

sustentável – PMFS) to IBAMA. Timber may also

Various national and international NGOs participate
in programs and projects and contribute to raisingawareness, increasing political pressure for action
and supplying some of the technical expertisethat may be lacking in some regions. The federal
government and its community program have been
fostering linkages between local governments andthe local population. Under this program, municípios
stimulate discussions for the preparation ofsustainable local development plans. At the beginningof 2002, some 157 municípios (less than 3% of allmunicípios) had participated in the program. In certain
cases the priorities of poor local populations haveclashed with the interests of entrenched and powerfulelites of loggers and cattle ranchers (Toni 2003).

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Even though the need for managing forests according
to approved management plans was speciﬁed in
the 1965 forest law, this was almost completely
ignored until 1994 when the government deﬁned
SFM in practical terms through Decree 1.282.
In 1995, Brazil adopted the Tarapoto Proposal of
C&I for the Sustainability of the Amazon Forest,
sponsored by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty.
This, along with the ITTO C&I, form the basis ofbe harvested when land is converted to other uses
such as agriculture. Present legislation allows theconversion of a speciﬁed percentage of land into
other uses, while the remainder must be maintained
under forest cover and requires a PMFS for
harvesting. The requirements for the authorizationof deforestation are much easier to fulﬁl than thehighly bureaucratic requirements for the approvalof forest management plans and annual operationplans. However, control and law enforcement in
the Amazon are extremely difﬁcult because of thevastness of the area, poor infrastructure, a lack of
capacity and the large number of actors contributing
to deforestationb. Other problems facing forestryin Brazil are: the remoteness of many forestsfrom centres of commerce and control; the weakcompetitiveness of SFM as a land-use; the lack ofcompetitiveness of the tropical timber industry, forvarious reasons; extensive degraded forests; lackof full-cost pricing and the abundant availabilityof low-cost timber; and a serious shortage ofmanagement skillsb. In 2001, IBAMA suspended
23% of forest management operations for poor
inventory, lack of compliance, lack of zoning andother reasons (Macqueen et al. 2003). It has beenreported that only about 7% of forest productionis under proper forest management (FAO 2004).
However, a new and positive trend is emerging.
A few private forestry operations have introduced

sustainable management in Brazil’s tropical forests.

SFM, incorporating scientiﬁc planning, multipurpose

Brazilian legislation does not yet provide for forest-

service programs and R&D; these include Orsa

utilization concessions in FLONAs or other publicly
owned forest areas; thus, there are no conventional
forest concessions in Brazil, and almost all production
management is conducted by private enterprises
in privately owned forests. In line with its desire to
introduce SFM to 50 million hectares of FLONAs
by 2010, the government has been investigating
options for allocating timber production in thesemanagement, environmental conservation, social
Florestal, which restructured its Jari operations,and Cikel Brasil Verde, a fully integrated timbercompany.
Silviculture and species selection. Technicalrequirements for logging include inventory and the
preparation of stock maps, estimation of the AAC,
the ﬁxing of cutting size, harvesting rules, conser-

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

211

Table 2 Some commonly harvested tropical timber species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Parkia spp (faveira)At least ﬁve different species are used as plywood

Calophyllum brasiliense (jacareuba)

Widely used for exterior construction, furniture, etc

Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá)

Main dark hardwood for multiple uses

Brosimum utile (amapa)

Widely harvested in the Amazon

Erisma uncinatum (cedrinho)

Widely used locally in the Amazon

vation measures and silvicultural treatment (FAO

Forest certiﬁcation. As of December 2005, a total

2004). The cutting cycle has been reduced fromof 3.46 million hectares of natural and planted

50 to 30 years, and recently to 25 years. Initially,

forests, including Mil Madeireira, ORSA Florestal,

selective logging was conﬁned to very valuable

Cockel, and Guavirá Industrial e Agroforestal, had

species such as Swietenia macrophylla (mogno)

been certiﬁed under the FSC umbrella in Brazil.

and Virola surinamensis (virola), which are both

Of this, an estimated 1.16 million hectares were

under harvesting moratoriums, but, with increasing

natural tropical forest and 1.35 million hectares

demand, the number of species extracted has

planted tropical forest (FSC 2005). The Brazilian

increased. More and more new species are ﬁnding

forest certiﬁcation system CERFLOR was started

markets, and some 150 species are now being

in the 1990s and became operational for planted

logged in Amazon forests (Macqueen et al. 2003).

forests in 2003; a system for natural forests

Nevertheless, the issue of lesser-known and lesser-

is under development with ﬁnancial assistanceutilized species is still real, as there is insufﬁcientfrom ITTO.

demand for them and they do not command highprices. Table 2 lists some commonly harvested
tropical timber species.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. An estimated 7% of the timber ofthe Amazon comes from areas covered by approved

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

forest management plans and 25% from approved

Even though planted forests account for only about

forest conversion areas (FAO 2004; CIFOR 2003).

1% of the total forest in Brazil, their contribution

As described earlier, there is no concession system in

to industrial development has been signiﬁcant. The

Brazil; most legally produced timber in the Amazon ismain industrial tree species used today are various

harvested from private lands subject to the approval

species of Pinus and Eucalyptus. E. grandis, E. saligna

by IBAMA of a management plan. Information on

and E. urophylla are the species commonly planted in

the implementation of such plans was generally not

southern Brazil, and E. citriodora and E. camaldulensis

available for this report. A small amount of state-in the drier parts. The pulp and paper and charcoal

owned forest is also producing timber. The 65,714-

industries are dependent on eucalypt plantations andhectare Antimary State Forest in the state of Acre

there are plans to expand them. After the failure ofis being managed sustainably according to alarge-scale Gmelina arborea plantations in the Jarimanagement plan developed under an ITTO project;

project in the Amazon, there have been considerable

some 16,713 m were produced in 2003 from

improvements in the silviculture and management

an area of 2,200 hectares; annual production isof hardwood plantations, now being managed on

expected to increase to 52,000 m3 (data supplieda 25- to 30-year rotation. Tectona grandis (teak)by ITTO project PD 94/90 Rev.3 (I)). Some 3,222

has become a favourite (eg in Mato Grosso andhectares of the Tapajòs FLONA near Santarém inRondônia) because of its high value and quality andPará state is also being managed according to a

its amenability to being raised in an agroforestry

management plan developed under another ITTO

environment.

project (PD 68/89 Rev.1 (F)); the management

3

plan covers a total area of 136,000 hectares of212

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

98,100

n.a.

5,250

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

1,160

1,360

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

3,810

1,350*

1,350* Estimate based on the assumption that at least the certiﬁed planted forests have management plansproduction forest within the FLONA. An estimated
1.16 million hectares of natural tropical forest

Forest for protection
Soil and water. The Amazon River Basin produces

are certiﬁed under the FSC umbrella. Available

20% of all freshwater in the world; it is therefore

information indicates that at least an estimatedvital that its soil and water resources are properly

1.36 million hectares of natural tropical forest

protected. However, no information on the area

are being sustainably managed (Table 3).

of forest set aside primarily for soil and water

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood
production amounted to an estimated 236 million m3
in 2003, including 133 million m3 (56%) of fuelwood(FAO 2005b). In 2001, the contribution of plantations
to total wood production was 83 million m3 (35% of
the total); eucalypts alone accounted for 56 million m3,
providing raw material for pulp, ﬁbreboard, particleboard and charcoal (FAO 2003). Brazil produced an
estimated 29.7 million m3 of tropical logs in 2003,
up slightly from 27.3 million m3 in 1999 (ITTO 2004,
2005). About 15.9 million m3 of tropical sawnwood
3

were produced in 2003, of which 1.32 million mwere exported. In the same year, Brazil produced
3

an estimated 1.2 million m of tropical plywood, of
which 738,000 m3 were exported; Brazil does notexport logs. Brazil also produces substantial volumes(nearly 80 million m3 in 2003) of non-tropical timber(ibid.). According to an ITTO diagnostic mission, a
key constraint to the development of a sustainabletimber industry based on natural tropical forestsis the fragility of the supply chain, which is subject

protection was made available for this report.
Biological diversity. Brazil’s forests contain asigniﬁcant share of the world’s biodiversity, including
an estimated 56,000–62,000 higher plant (notincluding mosses, lichens and fungi) and mammal
species. The Amazon is home to 20% of the world’s
plant species, 20% of bird species and 10% of
mammal species. Seventy-four mammals, 123 birds,
22 reptiles, 24 amphibians and 381 plants are listed
as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable
on the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,
45 mammals, 77 birds, ﬁve reptiles, 18 amphibians
and twelve plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004).
Brazil has listed 59 plant species in CITES Appendix I
and 610 in Appendix II (CITES 2005). The Brazilian
National Policy and Strategy for Biodiversity(ESNABIO) and the National Biodiversity Programme
are designed to address the situation through insitu and ex situ measures and the managementof biotechnology.

to disturbance by several factors. Moreover, theProtective measures in production forests.

ﬁnancial competitiveness of SFM in natural forests

Measures taken to protect the production forests

with alternative land-uses is often low, leading to

as part of the country’s forest conservation strategybinclude, among others: a moratorium on the harvesting

signiﬁcant deforestation .
Non-wood forest products. Brazil owes its name tobrazilin, a red dye from Caesalpinia echinata, and to
the dye extractors, brasileiros. A large number of
NWFPs (food, medicinal plants, perfumes, dyes andtannins, natural rubber, Brazil nut, handicraft andconstruction materials, exudates, honey and wax)
are used locally. The list of plants providing
NWFPs is substantial.

and sale of over–harvested species such as mogno
and virola; the introduction and implementation of
measures to control illegal logging through high-techdevices for timber-tracing and satellite data transfer;
limiting the area allowed for farming in forest
properties in the Amazon; yield regulation innatural selection forests; restoration forestry
programs; the establishment of ecological

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

213

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

19,000*

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

271,000* Includes tropical and some non-tropical forest

corridors; incentives for municípios that haveor other signiﬁcant human-induced disturbanceenvironmental conservation areas through thedue to their remoteness.

transfer of a ‘products and services tax‘; andbroadening the scope of eligible activities for
Clean Development Mechanism support.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forestry contributes about 5%

Extent of protected areas. There is great uncer-

to Brazil’s GDP. It is estimated that 1.8 million people

tainty about the extent of protected areas in Brazil,

have employment directly related to forests (Virgíliowith ﬁgures ranging from 27 million hectares

et al. 2002). The timber industry employs, on average,

to 271 million hectares; partly this stems from

4% of the total workers in the manufacturing

differences in the deﬁnition of ‘protected’ and thesector. Data on the number of people employed inextent to which extractive uses are permitted.

that part of the sector speciﬁcally utilizing natural

The estimate given in Table 1 and Table 4 includes

tropical forests were not available for this report.

indigenous reserves and protected areas onprivate land. According to UNEP-WCMC (2004),
19.0 million hectares of forest (tropical and nontropical) are in protected areas conforming to IUCN
protected-area categories I–IV, including 10.4 million
hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest and 5.41 million hectares of unclassiﬁed

Livelihood values. The indigenous communities in
the Amazon, dwellers in extractive reserves andrubber tappers, and caatinga forest users in thenortheast depend in large measure on forests for
subsistence; however, no data on the extent of
this dependence were available for this report.

tropical and non-tropical forest. Law 9.985 ofSocial relations. The majority of the Amazon’s

2000 created a National System of Nature

inhabitants are recent settlers and the differences

Conservation Areas (Sistema Nacional de Unidades

in their backgrounds lead to frequent friction. Whilede Conservação), consisting of two main categories:

indigenous peoples comprise 0.2% of Brazil’s total(i) strictly protected areas (exclusively serving forest

population, indigenous lands and ancestral domains

and biodiversity conservation), in which timber– mostly in the Amazon – cover about 11.5% of

harvesting and the extraction of NWFPs are not

the total land areab. Of the 586 indigenous areas,

allowed – these include national parks, biological

138 have been recognized formally and 326 areas

reserves, ecological reserves, national monuments

have reached the ﬁnal stage of such recognition; inand wildlife refuge areas (IUCN categories I–IV);

27 areas, boundaries have been demarcated but inand (ii) sustainable-use protected areas, where

only 19 have the boundaries been fully approvedb.

controlled utilization is allowed – these cover

The slow process of recognition and approval ofnational forests, environmental protection areas

tenure causes dissatisfaction on the part of theand extractive reserves. The combined total ofindigenous communities. Nevertheless, the situation

69 million hectares (about 8% of the nationalof indigenous communities has improved in someterritory) is categorized, in terms of responsibility,

areas; indigenous organizations are now bothas federal conservation units (45 million hectares)

stronger and more numerous and the indigenousand state conservation units (24 million hectares).

population has started to grow, thus reducing

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. No data were available
on the status of management of the protection
PFE (Table 4). However, vast areas of the Amazon
are currently under no threat from deforestation

214

SFM TROPICS

fears of extinction. On the other hand, the majority
of indigenous people still suffer from economic
marginalization, malnutrition and inadequate
assistance and protection (as they remain under
the guardianship of the federal government)b.

Summary•

regulations have been developed to facilitate

Brazil is endowed with an incredible abundance andforest administration and to achieve SFM.

variety of ﬂora and fauna; it has more known speciesof plant than any other country. The Amazon repre-

A wide range of policies, strategies, laws and•Institutional weaknesses and an inadequate

sents the single largest tract of tropical rainforest

capacity for enforcing policy and policy

and is still 86% intact; in contrast, the Atlantic forest

instruments have been a signiﬁcant constraint.

covers less than 7% of its original area (although it
still harbours a wide variety of biodiversity). Some•management plans; the bulk of woodof the most signiﬁcant problems facing forestry inproduction, though derived from private sources,

Brazil are: poor infrastructure; the remotenessis reported to be unauthorized because it is notof many forests from centres of commerce andbased on ofﬁcial approvals. Harvests are often

control; the weak competitiveness of SFM as a landuse; the lack of competitiveness of the tropical timberindustry; lack of full-cost pricing and the abundant

Only a small portion of the forest is undernot based on any SFM criteria.
•

A number of companies have come forward
for the voluntary certiﬁcation of their forest

availability of low-cost timber; a serious shortage

management operations. However, the ﬁnancialof management skills; and a lack of enforcementcompetitiveness of SFM in natural forests withof laws and regulations. To date, the high level ofalternative land-uses is often low, leading tobiodiversity in the Amazon has not been a devel-signiﬁcant deforestation and threatening theopment asset. Given that development will continue

long-term viability of sustainably managed

in the region, probably at an accelerated rate, there

natural forests.

is an urgent need to ﬁnd ways of using the biodiversity
resource in ﬁnancially remunerative and sustainable
ways. Government has been working to address
institutional barriers to SFM and a number of recent
initiatives offer hope that the area of production PFE
in the Amazon under SFM will expand signiﬁcantlyin the future.

Key points•

Brazil is a forest-rich country with a tropicalforest PFE of 370 million hectares. Despite
deforestation in certain parts, there are stillhuge forest resources in the Amazon region.

•

An estimated 1.36 million hectares of natural
tropical forest production PFE are being
sustainably managed; insufﬁcient information
was available to estimate the area of protection
PFE so managed.

•

Vast areas of the Amazon are currently under nothreat from deforestation or other signiﬁcant
human-induced disturbance due to theirremoteness.

•

Brazil has successfully raised large-scaleindustrial forest plantations through private
investment to ensure a sustainable supply of
raw material.

•

The majority of the production forest is under
private ownership, although ownership andReferences and other sourcesb

ITTO 2002. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000
and Sustainable Forest Management in Brazil.
Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented
at the thirty-third session of the International
Tropical Timber Council, November 2002. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.

CIFOR 2003. Livestock, development and deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon. CIFOR News Online
No 33, August 2003. Available from: http://
www.cifor.cgiar.org/docs/_ref/publications/newsonline/33/livestock.htm (accessed
September 2005).
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
Damé, L. 2005. Taxa de desmatamento da
Amazônia cai 31%. O Globo, 5 December 2005.
Available from: http://oglobo.globo.com/
online/plantao/189525228.asp (accessed
December 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. Yearbook of Forest Products 2001.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

tenure disputes are a major problem.
STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

215

FAO 2004. Estudio de Tendencias y Perspectivas

MMA 2001. Programa Nacional de Florestas.

del Sector Forestal en America Latina al Año

Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Secretaria de

2020: Informe Nacional Brasil. Prepared by

Biodiversidade e Florestas, Diretoria do Programa

Tomaselli, I. FAO, Rome, Italy.

Nacional de Florestas, Brasilia, Brazil.

FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC
International Center & Working Group, Germany.
Available from: http://www.fsc-info.org(accessed December 2005).
Gregersen, H., Contreras-Hermosilla, A., White,
A. & Phillips, L. 2004. Forest governance andfederal systems. Paper presented at the
CIFOR/Intercooperation Interlaken Workshop
on Decentralization in Forestry, Interlaken,
Switzerland, 27–30 April 2004.
Hirakuri. S. 2003. Can Law Save the Forest?
Lessons from Finland and Brazil. CIFOR, Bogor,
Indonesia.
IBAMA website. http://www.ibama.gov.br(accessed July 2004).

Poore, D. & Thang, H. 2002. Review of Progress
towards the Year 2000 Objective. Reportpresented at the twenty-eighth session of
the International Tropical Timber Council,
May 2000. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
Tomaselli, I. & Siqueira, J. 2005. Gestão fundiária
inadequada: principal problema do setor ﬂorestal
brasileiro. STCP Informativo No 9, 2005/2006.
Toni, F. 2003. La gestion forestal en los municípios
de la Amazonia Brasileana. In: Ferroukhi, L. (ed)La Gestion Forestal Municipal en America
Latina. CIFOR/IDRC, Bogor, Indonesia.
Veríssimo, A. & Cochrane, A. 2003. Brazil’s boldinitiative in the Amazon. ITTO Tropical Forest
Update 13/3.
Virgílio, V., May, P., Lago, L. Dubois, O. & Grieg-Gran,
M. 2002. Instruments for Sustainable Private
Sector Forestry in Brazil: An Analysis of Needs,
Challenges and Opportunities for Natural Forest
Management and Small-scale Plantation Forestry.

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theInternational Institute for Environment andWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Development, London, UK. Available from:Japan.

http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Louven, M. 2005. Região Norte já tem 20% do
rebanho bovino do país, que aumentou 4,5%.
O Globo, 5 December 2005. Available from:

php?o=9131IIED (accessed June 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2000. Statistical Analysis of Forests& Protection V3.1, July 2000. Available from:http://www.unep-wcmc.org (accessed June
2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

http://oglobo.globo.com/jornal/economia/

Waack, R., Tocci, R., Pironel, A. & Reckziegel, E.

189547799.asp (accessed December 2005).

2004. SFM in ORSA Florestal: the case of

Macqueen, D., Grieg-Gran, M., Lima, E., MacGregor,

ORSA Florestal. In: Freezailah, B., Basri, H.,

J., Merry, F., Prochnik, V., Scotland, N., Smeraldi,
R. & Young, C. 2003. Growing Exports: The
Brazilian Tropical Timber Industry and International
Markets. Small and Medium Enterprise Series
No 1. International Institute for Environmentand Development, London, UK.

Shaharuddin, M., Chandrasekharan, C., Wilson,
S. & Tomaselli, I. (eds) Sustainable Managementof Tropical Forests: Private Sector Experiences.
Conference proceedings of the Malaysia/ITTO
International Conference on Sustainable
Management of Tropical Forests – Private
Sector Experiences, 13–15 April 2004,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

216

SFM TROPICS

COLOMBIA
procerum; there are also large tracts of swamp
and catival forests characterized by stands ofMora megistosperma, Campnosperma panamensis
and Prioria copaifeira. Submontane and montane
Andean forests are also extensive and containpatches of Quercus humboltii (roble). Colombia
also has a signiﬁcant mangrove resource.
Dynamics of forest resource change. FAO (2005)
estimated the average annual rate of deforestation
at about 190,000 hectares (0.4%) in the period
1990–2000. Deforestation is highest in the foothillsof the Andes in the departments of Chocó, Cesar,
Santanderes, Nariño and Putumayo, where colonists
are concentrated and the majority of coca is
produced.
Natural hazards affecting forests include those*For legend see page 58

associated with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation
phenomenon and volcanic activity; hurricanes

Forest resources

occasionally affect forests on the Caribbean coast.

With a land area of 114 million hectares, Colombia

Permanent forest estate. Although it is estimatedis the fourth-largest country in South America by area;that harvestable forests for timber may cover

it has a population of 44.2 million people. Colombia

as much as 38 million hectares, the utilizable

is characterized by two well-deﬁned biogeographicalpotential is limited by accessibility and ecologicalzones: the Andean mountain zone of three mountainfactors.The Ministry of Environment estimatedranges and three tropical plains – one between the

an area of permanent production forest of about

Paciﬁc and the Andes, one fronting the Caribbean

5.5 million hectares, containing a growing stock

coast in the north, and one containing the Amazonof 200 million m (CONIF 2004). There is no PFE

and Orinoco basins to the east. Estimates of forest

per se classiﬁed in Colombia; ﬁgures in Table 1

area include 65.6 million hectares (UNEP-WCMC

are indicative only.

2000), 53.2 million hectaresa, and 49.6 million
hectares (FAO 2005).

3

Planted forests. FAO (2005) estimated that thearea of planted forest was 141,000 hectares

Forest types. An estimated 85% of Colombia’s

in 2000; this corresponds closely to the ofﬁcial

closed forests are found in the Amazon Basin andestimate of 148,000 hectaresa. However, according

on the Paciﬁc coast (CONIF 2004). In the Amazon,

to the National Forest Development Plan of 2000

terrace forests contain valuable timber species such

(Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Forestal), Colombia

as Virola spp, Brosimum utile and Humiriastym

had 350,100 hectares of planted forest in 1997.

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted49.6–65.6

51,4375,500*

148a

Production

Protection

Total

8,860**

14,508* The estimate for natural production PFE is derived from CONIF (2004)** Protection PFE is the sum of forests classiﬁed in IUCN protected-area categories I–IV by UNEP-WCMC (2004)

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

217

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. The 1991 constitution recognizes
the ancestral rights to land of indigenous groups
and Afro-Colombian traditional communities. Forest
ownership is both public and private. Private landis subdivided into private property and collective
property, the second of which includes indigenous,
Afro-Colombian and farmer groups. Today,
22.1 million hectares of forest, mostly in the Amazon

forest law was approved by Congress in December
2005 and at the time this report went to press it
was awaiting Presidential approval. The new law
seeks to: expand the sustainable use of naturalforests and make the control of these forests more
rigorous; further promote forest plantations andcreate ﬁnancial mechanisms for investments; andregulate and further develop forest concessions
in the country.

region, are owned by indigenous communities and

The forest policy (Política de Bosques) now in force

5.4 million hectares, mainly in the Paciﬁc region,

was approved in 1996; it is being revised and wasby Afro-Colombian communities (CONIF 2004). In

due to be ﬁnalized in 2005. Among the aims of theaddition, many forest areas in the Andean region,

policy are to: (i) achieve the sustainable use of forestsin particular planted forests, are privately owned.

for their conservation; (ii) consolidate the incorpo-

SFM policy framework. Colombia has developed its
own set of C&I for SFM, based on those proposedby ITTO. The country has extensive legislation onforest management, with detailed instructions on the
preparation of management plans. However, thedegree of control exercised by regional corporations
in charge of forest management (see below) is notration of the forest sector in the national economy;and (iii) contribute to the improvement of the qualityof life of the people. Essential steps include: (i) themodernization of administration; (ii) the conservation,
restoration and use of natural forests; and (iii) thestrengthening, support and consolidation of theinternational position of Colombia in forestry matters.

clear and there may be huge differences in the

In 1998, the Green Plan (Plan Verde) was formulated.

way in which management standards are applied

This promotes reforestation and, in particular, thein different parts of the country. This may also be

restoration and rehabilitation of degraded forest andcaused by the generally difﬁcult governance situation

the management of secondary forests. A Nationalin the country: critical portions of Colombia’s Andean,

Forestry Development Plan approved in December

Chocoan and Amazonian forests are located in2000 has been adopted as ofﬁcial state policy andmunicipalities where armed groups (left-wingoffers a strategic vision for forest management

guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries) contest

through 2025. The plan has been developed

political authority. This is perhaps most evident inaccording to the concepts of the Forests Program

the case of the Andes, where the largest continuousof the Convention on Biological Diversity, which

forest remnants (Serranía de San Lucas, Nudo deltakes the ecosystem approach as its conceptual

Paramillo, Páramo de Las Hermosas and East Andes)

foundation. This approach aims to achieve a balancelie in municipalities where both armed groups are

between conservation, sustainable use and thepresent (Alvarez 2005).

equitable distribution of beneﬁts. The Forest for

Forest policy and legislation. The forest law(Ley 2 sobre Economía Forestal de la Nación yConservación de Recursos Naturales Renovables)
dates back to January 1959. It has been complemented by a number of decrees, the most importantones being the forest code of 1974 (Decreto 2811,

Peace (Bosque para la Paz) program promotes comanagement, reforestation and forest restoration as
important elements in social development. Anotherprogram is Familias Guardabosques, which aims topromote SFM and the substitution of illicit crops
such as coca.

Código Nacional de Recursos Naturales Renovables

Institutions involved in forests. Law 99 createdy de Protección al Medio Ambiente) and the decree

the Ministry of Environment in December 1993,of 1996 on forest use (Decreto 1791 Régimen dereplacing the former forest service (Instituto deAprovechamiento Forestal). Regulations that restrict

Desarrollo de los Recursos Naturales Renovables –the export of logs from natural forests have been

INDERENA). In 2001, the Ministry of Environment

in force for more than ten years; only roundwood

became part of the Ministry of Environment, Housing

coming from planted forests can be exported. A new

and Territorial Development (Ministerio de Ambiente,

218

SFM TROPICS

Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial – MAVDT). MAVDT

by commercial forestry in natural forests; however,formulates policy on the environment and renewable

cutting permits are still widely used, which include

natural resources and establishes the broad guide-

legal requirements for management procedures.

lines, rules and criteria for the environmental regulation

When forests are converted to other land-usesof land-use, including forestry. At the national level,or for the development of infrastructure, the law

the Department of National Planning, the Ministry of

stipulates compensation measures, generally inAgriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry

the form of afforestation. No information on theof Commerce, Industry and Tourism also play roles

area on which timber-harvesting is permitted wasin forest development and conservation. Technicalmade available for this report.

support and research in natural resource management
are conﬁned to a private-public corporation, theNational Corporation for Forestry Research andDevelopment (Corporación Nacional de Investigacióny Fomento Forestal – CONIF), and to universities.
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute was created in
1993 to promote, coordinate and perform researchon the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Colombia. Fewer than 50 people work on
forest management-related activities in the federal
governmenta.

The National Forestry Development Plan proposesthat an area of 2 million hectares of forests be
identiﬁed as potential production forest by 2005,
and the government of Colombia is in the processof verifying the management of 3.13 million hectarescof production forest . Pilot projects have started indifferent forest areas, including three ITTO-supported
ﬁeld projects – in Guaviare (74,000 hectares,
including 2,500 hectares of managed natural forest),
Choco (2,000 hectares of protection planted forest)
and an area of 64,000 hectares of degraded natural

Colombia is one of the most decentralized countries

forest and planted forest in San Nicolás/Río Negro.

in Latin America: 40% of total public expenditure is

One particular forest production area of several

managed locally (by municipalities). The management

thousand hectares is situated in Atrato, Arenal.

of forests is part of the National Environmental

In the Amazon region there are a number of pilot

System (Sistema Nacional Ambiental – SINA), whichareas that include sustained-yield management,

was established by Law 99 and consists of 33

totalling about 120,000 hectares. In all theseautonomous regional corporations (corporaciones

pilot areas, forest management plans have been

autónomas regionales y las corporaciones de desar-

prepared and are being implemented through arollo sostenible). These corporations are responsible

multi-stakeholder approach.

for the management and administration of all
natural resources in the area of their jurisdiction,
including the granting of concessions, permissions
and authorizations for forest harvesting.

Silviculture and species selection. Forest harvestingis carried out through timber-licence contracts inthe forest areas operated by most of the regional
corporations; thus, there is no systematic application

Local NGOs play an important part in monitoringof silviculture, even though this is required forresource use and in forest development. There arecontinuous logging activities under Decree 2811

no major industrial associations and support byof 1974 (Article 213) and Decree 1791 of 1996

international donors for forestry is relatively limited.

(Article 5b). Particularly in the Paciﬁc region, many

The forestry and agricultural faculties of the various

timber species are subject to uncontrolled salvage

universities in the country also play important roles

logging, among them Brosimum utile (sande), Carapa

in forest research and development.

guianensis (andiroba), Cedrela odorata (cedro),
Prioria copaifera (cativo), Campnosperma panamensis

Status of forest management(sajo) and Tabebuia serratifolia/T.rosea (cedro rosado).

Forest for production

Table 2 lists ﬁve commonly harvested timber species

Colombian law differentiates between permits,
concessions and authorizations for timber harvesting,but no forest concession has been allocated in thelast 20 years. The present policy is one of ‘non-use’An estimated 250 species are used by industrya.
in Colombia.
Planted forest and trees outside the forest. Since
1970, the government has provided incentives forforest plantation development and, since 1994, has
exempted from some taxes those who invest in

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

219

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Pinus patula (pino candelabro)

From plantations in mountainous regions

Dialyanthera sp (virola)Particularly in the Paciﬁc region

Prioria copaifera (cativo)

Often in nearly pure stands, partly over-harvested

Brosimum utile (sande)

Particularly in the Paciﬁc region

Cariniana pyriformis (abarco)

Widely distributed, outdoor and indoor use, furniture

the establishment and maintenance of plantations.

Timber production and trade. The production

Since then, more than 70,000 hectares have beenof industrial roundwood from natural and planted

reforested as protection forests, mainly in Antioquia,

forests in 2003 was 3.14 million m , compared to

Córdoba, Magdalena, Santander and the Valle

2.40 million m3 in 1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005). Nearlydel Cauca. The main plantation species are Pinus

all of this wood served the domestic market. The

caribaea, P. oocarpa and, in particular, Pinus patula

production of sawnwood in 2003 amounted to(pino candelabro); these comprise 55% of the total

about 599,000 m3, compared to 729,000 m3 inplanted area, followed by eucalypts (20%, including

1999. Veneer production in 2003 was very small

Eucalyptus globulus, E. camaldulensis and E. urophylla)(9,000 m3) and plywood production in 2003 wasand Acacia mangium and other broadleaved species,

estimated at 38,000 m3 (ITTO 2005).

in particular Gmelina arborea and Tectona grandis(teak, teca). Indigenous species planted include Cordia
alliodora (vara de humo), Bombacopsis quinata (ceiba
tolúa), Tabebuia rosea, Alnus acuminata (aliso),Lafoensia speciosa and roble. The forest law currently
under review intends to further promote forest
plantations and raise the area covered by themto about 1.5 million hectares.

3

Non-wood forest products. More than 300 NWFP
species are known and used in Colombia. Guadua
angustifolia (guadua), a bamboo native to the coffee
belt (región cafetera), is one of the country’s mostimportant NWFPs. It is used mainly for local housing
construction, but also by modern architecturaldesigners and in handicrafts. In the departmentsof Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda, Tolima and Valle delForest certiﬁcation. Since 1996, certiﬁcation has

Cauca the natural area of guadua is about 21,000

gained ground in Colombia. The Grupo de Certiﬁcación

hectares, supplemented by 5,100 hectares of plant-

Forestal Voluntaria has developed drafts for national

ations; total annual production exceeds 250,000 m3

certiﬁcation schemes for both natural and planted(CONIF 2004). The principal products harvested inforests. Pilot projects are being implemented innatural forests include rubber; palm fruits, particu-

eight forest zones, including the certiﬁcation of

larly Mauritia ﬂexuosa (canangucha) and Euterpea bamboo plantation. As of December 2005, two

precatoria (asahí); fruits from Theobroma grandi-planted forest areas covering 58,444 hectares

ﬂorum (copoazu); Euterpe oleracea (palm hearts);

had been certiﬁed (FSC 2005).

Chamaedorea spp (xate leaves) for ornamental use;

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. Little information is available on thequality of natural forest management in Colombia
and it is therefore difﬁcult to make a general
assessment of forest management standards.
Several pilot areas, partly supported by ITTO projects

and wildlife, especially ﬁsh and reptiles. Coca,although illegal, is also widely grown. There isgreat potential for ecotourism but this cannot be
developed at present because of security problems.

Forest for protection

covering about 200,000 hectares of natural forests,

Soil and water. Colombia is one of the ten mostare considered to be sustainably managedc.

productive countries worldwide in terms of freshwater yield. It has 19 major irrigation districts

220

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total
5,500

Allocated toconcessions/
under licence
c,d

2,150

With
management
plans

PlantedCertiﬁedn.d.

0

Sustainably
managed
c

200

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

148

80

58

and more than 500 small irrigation areas. Many

protection areas and on steep slopes (government

environmental campaigns have been launched inof Colombia 1999). There are no speciﬁc provisions

the cities to inform communities about the impor-

for RIL.

tance of water conservation. Fifty-two protection
forest areas have been classiﬁed, covering about
312,000 hectares; regulations exist for the use
and protection of these areas but they are not being
implementeda. CONIF (2004) reports an area of
650,000 hectares in reservas forestales protectoras
de orden nacional and distritos de conservación desuelos. Water shortages could eventually affect morethan 14 million people in some parts of the country,
particularly in Magdalena and Cauca (CONIF 2004).
Through its system of regional corporations, thecountry emphasizes watershed reforestation projects.

Extent of protected areas. Colombia has 49 forest
protected areas (national parks, nature reserves,
sanctuaries for ﬂora and fauna, and one uniquenatural area, Unica Area Natural), covering
10.3 million hectares; there are no data on
connectivitya. Under Law 2 of 1959, seven zones
of forest reserves have been set up for sustainable
management and for watershed and biodiversity
protection. Today, these areas cover 53.6 million
hectares, including 38.2 million hectares in the
Amazon Basin (CONIF 2004).

Over the past nine years, about 120,000 hectares ofAccording to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 8.86 million

new protection plantations have been established (ibid.).

hectares of forest are in protected areas conforming

Biological diversity. Colombia is a country withgreat physical contrasts, resulting in a great varietyof ecosystems, a richness of species and many
endemics. It has one of the highest levels of species
diversity in the world, boasting some 55,000 plant

to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, of whichmore than 5 million hectares are lowland evergreen
rainforest. The integrity of protected areas isthreatened, however, by a lack of control,
guerrilla activities and drug trafﬁckingc.

species, of which one-third are endemic (one of theEstimate of the area of forest sustainably

top 20 countries in the world in this respect), 1,721

managed for protection. Insufﬁcient information

bird species and 205 reptile species. Thirty-nine

was available to estimate the area of protection

mammals, 88 birds, 16 reptiles, 208 amphibians

PFE that is sustainably managed.

and 225 plants are listed as critically endangered,endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list ofSocioeconomic aspects

threatened species; of these, 21 mammals, 79

Economic aspects. When including downstream

birds, 194 amphibians and ﬁve plants are foundin forests (IUCN 2004). Colombia has listed nine
plant species in CITES Appendix I, 338 plant species
in Appendix II and one species in Appendix III (CITES2005). Timber species listed in Appendix II include
Swietenia macrophylla, Guaiacum ofﬁcinale andTachigali versicolor; Cedrela odorata is the solelisting in Appendix III.
Protective measures in production forests. Timber
licences are not granted in critical watershedindustries (manufacture of pulp, paper, cardboard,
processed wood and furniture), the contributionof the forest sector to GDP is 1.8% (CONIF 2004).
The trade balance in forest products is negative
because of the import of pulp and paper, although
the gap declined from US$280 million in the 1990s
to US$39 million in 2001 and 2002. It is estimatedthat the forestry sector provides employment to
54,000 people, comprising 24,000 in forest industry
and 30,000 in reforestationa.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

221

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

8,860

8,860

312

n.d.

n.d.

Livelihood values. It is estimated that more than
2,000 plants are used by local communities for
medicinal purposes. Domestication of wild animals

Key points•

forest resource in the Amazon Basin.

(zoocría) is another important economic activity,
including species as different as crocodiles andColombia has a rich and largely unexploited•

Indigenous communities own 22.1 million

butterﬂies. The gathering of ornamental plants,

hectares of forest, mostly in the Amazon, andparticularly orchids, is important in the low-level

Afro-Colombians about 5.4 million hectares,

cloud forest and contributes locally to livelihoods.

mainly in the Paciﬁc region.

Illegal coca production and trade remain ﬁnanciallythe most attractive economic activities for many•

– although this has not been designated ofﬁcially –colonists living in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.

of which 5.65 million hectares is production
PFE and 8.86 million hectares protection PFE.

Social relations. The main forest zones of thecountry are inhabited nearly exclusively by indigenous
communities or Afro-Colombian communities (Chocó).

•

The estimated area of natural-forest production
PFE under SFM is at least 200,000 hectares.

Their traditional lifestyles are closely linked to the

Little information is available on the status of

use of forest resources through shifting cultivation

forest management in the protection PFE.

and the gathering of forest products, including
hunting and ﬁshing. The constitution of 1991 and

The PFE is estimated to be 14.5 million hectares•

There is a well-established and well-developed

laws 99 and 70 of 1993 recognize this and makeprogram to establish planted forests. A new

speciﬁc reference to such traditional forest uses.

forest law awaiting presidential approval would

There are conﬂicts over timber resources and illegal

promote an increase in plantations to aboutcrops between local forest-users and the armed

1.5 million hectares.

forces of different factions.

•

There is a lack of forest law enforcement andtransparency in the application of laws that deal

Summary

with forest management. Because of armed
conﬂict, there is little long-term management

The overall forest management situation in Colombiaof or control over resources.

is not clear. On the one hand, advances have been
made at the policy level in the priority activities•

No speciﬁc standards have been establishedidentiﬁed under ITTO’s Objective 2000, including thefor large-scale production forestry and there

approval of a forest policy, new forestry legislation

are no concession policies.

and the formulation of forest management plans.
Forests are administered within the wider context•

approval seeks to make major reforms to theof environmental management, and existing policy
goals emphasize protection and conservation
functions as well as forest restoration and forest

management of natural forests.
•

National institutions appear to be under-resourced
and unable to maintain an effective presence

land rehabilitation. However, there is as yet no clear

in the ﬁeld.

designation of the PFE and inadequate control offorest resources on the ground, in particular in

However, the new forest law awaiting presidential•

There is a well-established protected area

the Amazon region; nor are silvicultural methods

system and a well-established system toapplied in natural production forests.

monitor biodiversity.
•

The wider role of forests in providing
environmental services is recognized.

222

SFM TROPICS

References and other sourcesaGovernment of Colombia 2002. Desarrollodel Cuestionario sobre la Evaluación de los

FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,

Sostenible de los Bosques Tropicales Naturales

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

a Nivel Nacional. Submitted to ITTO, Januaryorg (accessed December 2005).

Colombia. Unpublished.

Government of Colombia 1999. Informe deProgreso para Lograr el Objetivo del Año 2000

Information derived from the report of, andde la OIMT. Submitted to ITTO, November 1999.

discussions with participants at, a training

Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Bogotá,

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held

Colombia. Unpublished.

11–14 February 2003, Rio Negro, Colombia,
attended by 45 people from government, civilsociety and the private sector.
dFAO, Rome, Italy.

Criterios e Indicadores para la Ordenación

2002. Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Bogotá,c

FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.

ITTO estimate

Government of Colombia 2005. Articulado
Aprobado Proyectode ley Numero 264/04
Camara “Por la Cual se Expide la Ley Forestal”.
Sesiones Comisión Quinta. August 2005.

Alvarez, M. 2005. Guerrillas in the midst.

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theConservation Biology 19: 2040-2043.

World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.
Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/

Japan
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theresources/species.html (accessed September

World Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,2005).

Japan.

CONIF 2004. Sector Forestal Colombiano. Fuente

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatenedde trabajo y bienestar social. Corporación

Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

National de Investigación y Fomento Forestal.

(accessed September 2005).

Serie política No 50. CONIF, Bogota, Colombia.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003b. State of Forestry in the Latin
American and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO

UNEP-WCMC 2000. Statistical Analysis of Forests& Protection V3.1, July 2000. Available from:http://www.unep-wcmc.org (accessed June
2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

Regional Ofﬁce for Latin America and thewithin protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Caribbean, Santiago, Chile.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

223

ECUADOR
Forest types. Four major forest types occur
at altitudes of up to 2,800 m:•

Amazon rainforest;•

rainforests in the northwest (mainly in Esmeraldas
province). Rainfall increases with altitude, ranging
from 1,500–3,000 mm at sea level to 6,000 mm
and more at 800 m. The most common
commercial species are Protium and Dacryodes
spp, Laureaceae, Brosimum utile, Inga spp,
Pourouma chocoana and Ceiba pentandra (kapok);•

mixed forests of the Andes, on the western andeastern slopes, at lower and upper levels, andtowards the Andean high peaks. These include
cloud forests; and•dry forests along the central and southern coast,with Cordia alliodora, Pseudosamanea guachapele,*For legend see page 58

Tabebuia spp and various Bombacaceae (Ceiba andForest resources

Bombax spp, and balsa – Ochroma lagopus).

Ecuador has a land area of 27.7 million hectares andSlightly degraded primary forests cover about

a population of 12.6 million people, and comprises

3 million hectares, whereas secondary forests

four main biogeographical zones: the Andeanand scrublands (matorrales) together cover about

mountains (sierra); the Paciﬁc coast; the Amazon

4 million hectaresc. Most of the secondary forests

Basin; and, 1,000 km from the coast in the Paciﬁc

are in the Paciﬁc coast region.

Ocean, the Galapagos Islands. Estimates of forest
area include 11.4 million hectares (MAE 2000),
10.6 million hectares (FAO 2005) and 8.4 million
hectaresc. According to the Ministry of Environment(Ministerio del Ambiente – MAE) (2000), there areabout 6.98 million hectares of forest in the Amazon,
2.52 million hectares on the wet Andean mountainslopes and 1.95 million hectares in a few remoteareas of the Paciﬁc coastal region. The native foreston the Paciﬁc coast is mostly of low crown density

Dynamics of forest resource change. FAO (2005)
estimated the annual deforestation rate over theyears 1990–2000 to be about 137,000 hectares.
Deforestation is highest in the dry forest area inthe southern coastal region. The cause is mainly
conversion – both regulated and unregulated – toagricultural land. Uncontrolled forest ﬁres are a major
threat, particularly on the Paciﬁc coast; landslides inmountain regions are also common after heavy rainfall.

and is generally heavily degraded. Intact forest

Permanent forest estate. Most of Ecuador’s forests

areas are found in the easternmost part of theare owned by communities or privately (see ‘forest

country (oriente).

tenure’). Although most do not yet have land titles,

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted8.40–11.4

10,854

3,100d

164

224

SFM TROPICS

Production

Protection

Total

4,300d7,564

the area of forest that might be considered PFE is

Forest policy and legislation. Over the past ten

about 7.56 million hectares (MAE 2000), of which

years or so, Ecuador has formulated various action

only 600,000 hectares are currently consideredplans and policies with the overall aim of promoting

economically harvestable due to steep slopes inthe sustainable management of its forest resources.

mountainous terrain, low timber density, difﬁcultyThis process has included the formulation of aof access and social constraints. All forests classiﬁed

Forestry Action Plan (1991–1995), a new forest

in the national system of protected areas (Sistema

policy (1995), the formulation of strategic goals

Nacional de Áreas Protegidas – SNAP) are considered

for national forest actions and a strategy forto be in the protection PFE.

sustainable forest development in Ecuador (2000),

Planted forests. The total area of planted forestb

in 2002 was about 164,000 hectares , of which
80% is eucalypt and pine plantations in the Andes;
the remaining 20% is mainly in the coastal regionc( , MAE 2000), including stands of balsa.

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. The Ecuadorian Strategy for Forest

the approval of a law on environmental management(1999), and the formulation of an environmental
strategy for sustainable development (2000). The
last of these included a number of substantial reforms
in the application of the forest law; consequently,
Decree 346 was enacted in April 2000 which
recognizes that natural forests are highly vulnerable
and all interventions should be carried out according
to the above-mentioned ﬁve SFM criteria.

Sustainable Development (2000; Estrategia para el

In 2001, MAE worked with relevant stakeholders

Desarrollo Forestal Sostenible) includes legal provi-

representing the private sector and civil societysions to allocate forests to indigenous communities,

to develop a system of independent monitoring of

farmers and other groups already in possession of

the forest control system. A forest control entity

forest lands on the condition that they guarantee

called Vigilancia Verde was created with the overall

the sustainable management and conservation oftask of supervising the ﬂow of forest products fromthe allocated forests. Recently, about 4.5 million

the forest to the marketplace, and the Regencia

hectares of potential production forests were

Forestal was created to increase the transparency

allocated to indigenous communities (ancestralof Vigilancia Verde, to provide technical assistanceindigenous or Afro-Ecuadorian)b; these are treatedand support law enforcement in forest operations,as privately owned. The remaining PFE is mostly inand to oversee the implementation of the C&I in

farmers’ plots, which generally range in size between

the management of the forests. In 2002, SGS

30 and 60 hectares; the process by which thesereceived a mandate to carry out an independent

farmers might be granted land tenure still needs

audit of the new forestry control system under the

to be clariﬁedb.
SFM policy framework. Ecuador has recently
developed its own set of C&I for SFM based on
those of ITTO. In 2000, the (1981) forest law(Ley 74 RO/64 de 4 Agosto de 1981 sobre Ley
Forestal y de Conservación de Areas Naturales yRegencia Forestal. At the end of 2003, however,the Supreme Court of Ecuador declared that theentire control system was incompatible with thecountry’s constitution. As of November 2004,
the contractual terms between MAE and SGS
were being renegotiated.

Vida Silvestre) was revised and a forest policy was

Late in 2003, Ecuador launched a process

formulated that aimed to reduce deforestation andto formulate a national forest and reforestation

ensure SFM. The law now contains ﬁve criteria

program with the overall aim of reviving the forest

for SFM: (i) sustainable timber production; (ii) the

sector and broadening its stakeholder base.

maintenance of forest cover; (iii) the conservationof biodiversity; (iv) co-responsibility in management;and (v) the reduction of negative social and environmental impacts. The ﬁve criteria are accompaniedby 33 indicators, which are now being applied but
are subject to further evaluationc.

Institutions involved in forests. In early 1999, theEcuadorian Institute for Forestry, Natural Areas andWildlife (Instituto Ecuatoriano Forestal y de Areas
Naturales y Vida Silvestre) was integrated into the
National Directorate of Forests (Dirección Nacional
Forestal) under MAE – now the sole governing body

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

225

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–2003)
Timber species

Remarks

Brosimum utile (sande)

Main natural forest species from the Paciﬁc region

Cordia alliodora (laurel)

From forests, secondary forests, pastures and plantations

Cedrela odorata (cedro)

Primary and secondary forests from the Amazonian and
Paciﬁc regions

Alnus acuminata (aliso)

In mountainous regions

Humiriastrum procerum (chanul)

From natural forests in the northeast of Ecuadorof the forestry sector. MAE has restructured andsupervision and protection. Due to uncontrolled land

modernized the forestry administration in an attempt

reform and subsequent pressure from squatters,

to decentralize by forming regional centres that haveconcessionaires were forced to withdraw fromsome autonomy in operation and ﬁnancial control.

concessions in the early 1980s and effectively

These centres are, in turn, intended to involve the civil

abandoned the use of such agreements as a tool

population in planning and decision-making. However,of forest management. Ecuador now uses a system

the division of responsibilities between the nationalof short-term logging licences which, in addition toand regional levels remains vague and the results

its impact on the quality and efﬁciency of logging

of this restructuring are largely unsatisfactoryb.

operations, has encouraged foresters to consider

Both national and international environmental NGOs
are very visible in Ecuador. They implement projects
in natural resource protection and management andalso have an important advocacy role in issues ofenvironmental policy. Forest-owners and timberindustries are organized in associations (AIMA,
ASOTECA and others). They play an active partin policy-making and forest development.

Status of forest management
Forest for production

other ways of ensuring future long-term supplies oftimber, particularly through agroforestry. There isstrong pressure on the resource from informal andillegal operators who resist regulations they see as
unrealistic, and illegal logging is widespread; it may
constitute as much as 50–70% of total productionb.
SFM is a long way from being achieved in most of
Ecuador’s PFE: “the forest stock of Ecuador, in viewof its importance for national development, has been
exploited irrationally. The forest sector presents a
picture giving evidence of a clear failure in sustainability” (MAE 2000).
Most timber-harvesting today is done on indigenous

There is no coordinated approach to natural forestand small-farmer community lands and private lands.

management in Ecuador; many potential management

Legal harvesting is carried out under three kinds

techniques have not yet been put into practice. Thereof permit: (i) cutting permits (the great majority);

are, however, many examples of management-related(ii) areas harvested according to simpliﬁed forest

activities, including: timber inventories, a system ofmanagement plans (PAFSIs), which mainly involve

logging concessions (now dormant), and a continuing

non-mechanized extraction; and (iii) areas with

program of selection and declaration of protected

integrated management and sustainable management

areas (SNAP), of which a few receive at least someareas (PAFSUs), which are bigger and suitable forprotection and management.

industrial harvesting; however, no PAFSUs have been

Before 1980, several licensed logging concessions

established in the ﬁeld. More than 1,000 cutting

operated in deﬁned areas with deﬁned annual yields.
The legal and practical provisions were similar to
those operating in many other countries and, as
elsewhere, there were serious difﬁculties of control,

226

SFM TROPICS

permits were issued in 2003, varying in size fromless than one hectare to more than 150, with3

allowable cuts ranging from less than 5 m to
3cmore than 2,000 m.

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

3,100

n.d.

65

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

101

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

164

65

21.3*

* This area comprises forest described as ‘plantation’ (1,341 hectares) and ‘semi-natural and mixed plantation and natural forest’(20,000 hectares)

Silviculture and species selection. About 120

certiﬁcation process with FSC covering 2,000

timber species are used in the domestic market.

hectares, but this was not successful eitherc.

The prime species harvested in the past include

The Durini Group, the principal investor in forestry,

Swietenia macrophylla (mara), Cedrela odorata

is engaged with FSC in certifying 10,900 hectares(cedro) and Anacardium excelsum (marañón),of natural forests; the same group owns 16,220

but these have become scarce. Today, 80% of thehectares of certiﬁed planted and semi-natural forest

harvesting volumes from native forests come from

(FSC: 9,220 hectares, ISO 14001: 7,000 hectares).

cabout 25 species . Besides those listed in Table 2,

Currently, 21,341 hectares are certiﬁed under thethe more important species are Virola, Otoba

FSC umbrella (FSC 2005).

glycycarpa (sangre de gallina), Cedrelinga catenaeformis (chuncho), Podocarpus spp and Prumnopitys
spp (romerillo, azucena) from the southeasternforests, and Trattinnickia glaziovii (copal).

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for production. The estimated area of natural-forest
production PFE under SFM is at least 101,000
hectares (Table 3); this area includes forests

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. It iscurrently in the process of becoming certiﬁed as

estimated that about 1 million hectares of forest

well as some 37 FMUs considered to be sustainably

land are suitable for forest plantationsb; however,managedc. The latter areas include private forest

so far there is no ﬁrm plan to effectively support

lots and planted and natural forests in the sierra

an increase in the forest plantation area. The main

managed by communities.

planted forest species include pines and eucalypts,
as well as Cordia alliodora (laurel), Schizolobium
parahybum (pachao) and Tectona grandis (teak,teca) in lowland areas and Alnus acuminate (aliso)
in the mountains. A private company (Durini Group)
owns more than 20,000 hectares of plantations.
The group established long-rotation plantations(eg with Cordia alliodora and Jacaranda copaia)in harvested forest plots and has managed these
forests for more than 20 years. Balsa, a major

Timber production and trade. Total production oflogs for industrial purposes was 1.24 million m3 in
2003, down from 1.44 million m3 in 2000. Total
sawnwood production was an estimated 52,000 m3,
up from 36,000 m3 in 2000. Ecuador exported
11,000 m3 of logs in 2003, down from about
91,000 m3 in 2000. Plywood exports were
70,000 m3 in 2003 (ITTO 2005).
Non-wood forest products. A number of NWFPs

export timber from natural forests, is planted

are important, in particular ﬁbres; bamboo (Guadua);

today on a limited scale.

latex; gum; palm products, particularly palm hearts;

Forest certiﬁcation. Certiﬁcation is an emerging
topic in Ecuador, promoted by NGOs, private
enterprises and communities. A ﬁrst project involving
Afro-Ecuadorian communities near Esmeraldas did
not succeed. In 2000, the indigenous community,
Awa, on the border with Colombia, initiated aand medical plants. Tagua or vegetable ivory (seedof the palm Phytelephas macrocarpa) is usedcommercially in handicrafts, as are ﬁbres of Bactris
gasipaes and Carludovica palmata (paja toquilla).
A number of ecotourism centres, mostly in the
Amazon, attract international visitors.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

227

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

4,300

1,790

2,450*

513

n.d.

* Designated for protection under SNAP but timber production is not excluded

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Protection forest lands include allpresent, former and potential forest lands that areof special importance for the protection of soil orwater resources or for preventing erosion or ﬂooding.
They include state land as well as privately owned
or occupied land on steep slopes or water catchments and other areas unsuitable for agriculture
or livestock production. These areas are distributedin many parts of the country and vary greatly in size
and importance; in total they amount to about
2.45 million hectares (Egas 2003).

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for protection. Little information was available forthis report on the quality of management in theprotection PFE (Table 4). Up to 500,000 hectarescare reportedly covered by management plans .
Management plans have been prepared (underan ITTO project) for two small reserves (totalling
13,000 hectares) and are now starting to be
implemented.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forest-based activities contribute

Biological diversity. Ecuador has a wide range ofaround 2% of GDPb. However, data are quite

ecosystems and is considered a mega-biodiverse

unreliable due to the high level of informality incountry. It has more than 16,000 plant species fromthe forest sector. The forest and timber industry

273 families, including more than 1,200 ferns andis characterized by a high number of small timber

3,200 orchids. There are 369 native mammals,

extractors and wood-processing units with low

1,616 birds, 394 reptiles and 415 amphibians.

capital input and by poor working conditions; it has

Thirty-ﬁve mammals, 79 birds, eleven reptiles,

difﬁculty delivering high-quality processed products.

163 amphibians and 1,832 plants are listed as

It is estimated that there are more than 500 units

critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable onof active extractors and timber companies, mostthe IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,of them producing less than 2,000 m3 annually.

13 mammals, 65 birds, 145 reptiles and 1,162

An estimated 235,000 people are in employment

plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004). Elevenlinked to forestry and timber industries, which isplants are listed in CITES Appendix I and 1,293
in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

8% of the country’s active economic populationb.
Livelihood values. Forests have great value for local

Extent of protected areas. Protected areas on theforest dwellers, with hunting and ﬁshing the mostEcuador mainland amount to 4.67 million hectares

important activities. Forests are also considered as(18% of the total land area), distributed in 31

a land reserve and are converted for subsistencedifferent legal categories (national parks, biologicalagriculture.

reserves, ecological reserves, geo-botanical reserves,

Social relations. Illegal harvesting is widespreadb

bird reserves, wildlife reserves, etc). In addition, thebiological reserve of the Galapagos Islands covers
14.1 million hectares of land and marine ecosystems.
According to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 1.79 million
hectares of forest are in protected areas conforming
to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, including
1.55 million hectares of lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest. However, some areas that havebeen ofﬁcially declared as protection forests areclaimed by indigenous communities and colonists.

228

SFM TROPICS

and illicit crops are found in certain forest areas.
Forest tenure remains a signiﬁcant problem andthere are many conﬂicts between communities,
government and the private sector. The legal system
has not yet been able to resolve such issues, to theextent that signed contracts between the forest
industry and the communities may remain unfulﬁlled
for many yearsb.

Summary•

and additional costs, which have been transferred

SFM is a long way from being achieved in most of

to the private sector. High transaction costs

Ecuador’s PFE. National forestry institutions remainstimulate informality and corruption andweak. One reason for this is that there has been no

increase timber volumes from illegal sources.

organizational or stafﬁng continuity in the ministry
responsible for forests, MAE, and also a lack ofInstitutional weaknesses have created bureaucracy•

The effective management of protected forests isclarity in the decentralization process. On theinhibited by a lack of funding, a lack of sufﬁcient

positive side there is a declared political willingness

political support to the forest sector and, in someto designate state forests to communes, indigenous

areas, disputes over tenure.

communities, settlers and other interested groups
if they can prove that they have the capacity to
manage and conserve forest resources.
Nevertheless, there is little sign of consistent

References and other sourcesb

ITTO 2004. Consecución del Objetivo 2000 y

progress towards SFM.

la Ordenación Forestal Sostenible en Ecuador.

Key points

at the thirty-sixth session of the International•

Tropical Timber Council, July 2004. ITTO,

Information on the forest sector is quite often
poor and contradictory.

•

Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented

Yokohama, Japan.
c

The PFE is estimated to be 7.56 million

discussions with participants at, a training

hectares, of which 3.26 million hectares

workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held(including 164,000 hectares of plantations)

15–19 December 2003, Esmeraldas, Ecuador,

may be regarded as production PFE.
•

information was available for an estimate to bemade of the extent of protection PFE so managed.
•

Native forests are under threat mainly becauseof the expansion of the agricultural frontier near
the coast and in the Amazon area.

•

There is strong pressure on the forest frominformal and illegal operators resisting change
towards SFM, and illegal logging is widespreadin all three forest regions.

•

Many accessible forests are now degraded andsecondary.

•

The capacity to implement the national forest
program and other forest-related policies andlaws is low.

•

In many cases, and despite new legislative
provisions, forest tenure remains unclear.

•attended by 43 people from government, civilsociety and the private sector.

At least 101,000 hectares of natural forest in
the production PFE are under SFM. Insufﬁcient

There is a discrepancy between actual harvesting
practices and forestry regulations. Harvestingis generally unsustainable, and legal provisions
for harvesting operations are unrealistic andmay push forest-users towards illegality.

Information derived from the report of, andd

ITTO estimate

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
Egas, D. 2003. Tendencias y Perspectivas delSector Forestal Ecuatoriano al Año 2020. FAO,
Rome, Italy.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. State of Forestry in the Latin American
and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO Regional Ofﬁce
for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago,
Chile.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,
Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.
org (accessed December 2005).
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

229

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened

MAE 2000. Informe de Progreso para Lograr elSpecies. Available from: http://www.redlist.org

Objetivo del Año 2000 de la OIMT. Submitted to(accessed September 2005).

ITTO, January 2000. Ministerio del Ambiente,

MAE 2001. Ecuadorian Strategy for Forest
Sustainable Development. National Report inQuito, Ecuador. Unpublished.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

Preparation for Rio+5 Forum. Ministerio delwithin protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Ambiente, Quito, Ecuador.

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for
ITTO (see Annex 1).

230

SFM TROPICSGUATEMALA
and Belize. This is mainly a limestone plateau covered
with dense moist tropical forests, swamps andgrasslands, and features the ruins of ancient
Mayan cities. Estimates of total forest area include
2.85 million hectares (FAO 2005a) and 4.29 millionahectares , the latter (for 2002) based on theanalysis of satellite imagery.
Forest types. Four major forest types can be
distinguished:•tropical hardwood forests (bosque latifoliado):
more than 300 tree species have so far been
identiﬁed, but two genera, Dialium andBrosimum, dominate;•closed pine forests in the highlands (bosque depino denso): the most commercially important
species is Pinus oocarpa;*For legend see page 58•

Forest resources

mixed hardwood and pine forests (bosque mixto)
covering about 450,000 hectares, composedof two main tree associations: pine-oak andWith a population of 12.4 million people and a landpine-liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciﬂua).

area of 10.9 million hectares, Guatemala has theCupressus lusitanica (cypress) is also foundlowest forest area per capita in Central America

in these forests; andafter El Salvador. The country can be divided into
three main biogeographical regions. The ﬁrst, where•

relicts of mangrove forests (bosque de manglar)

most of the population lives, comprises highlands

covering about 17,000 hectares on the Paciﬁcmade up of several mountain chains stretching fromcoasta.

the border with Mexico southwards to the borderwith Honduras. The highest peaks are steep volcanic
cones reaching more than 4,000 m above sea level;
the country’s main conifer forests are found here.
The second is the Paciﬁc plain, stretching along the
Paciﬁc coast, which is characterized by rich volcanic
soils. Once covered with tropical moist forest andnatural grassland, this region is now mainly developed
into sugar, banana and rubber tree plantations, andcattle ranches. The third, the Petén, is a ﬂat, lowlying region situated in the north bordering Mexico

Dynamics of forest resource change. The averageannual deforestation rate in 1990–2000 was an
estimated 54,000 hectares, or 1.7% of the forest
area (FAO 2005a). There has been deforestationin the conifer forests of the highlands for centuries,
but today it mostly takes place in the Petén, which
was an intact and inaccessible forest area up to the
1960s. Large-scale deforestation started there in
the 1970s as a result of a land colonization program
initiated by the government and accelerated in the
1980s when entire villages of indigenous people

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted2.85–4.29

2,824

1,140d71aforest (’000 hectares)

Production

Protection

Total

1,240d2,451

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

231

sought refuge from the country’s civil war. An

As a result, despite recent efforts the problems

estimated 78% of the deforestation in the Peténof insecurity of land tenure and ownership remain

is caused by shifting cultivation, the remainder by

critical for the rural poor.

acattle ranching . The country has about one million
hectares of secondary forests (bosques secundarios,
arbustales).

SFM policy framework. Guatemala is actively
involved in the Lepaterique C&I process of Central
American countries. Since 2001, the country has

Uncontrolled forest ﬁres occur regularly at the end

been making a major effort to test and adopt FSCof the drier seasons in the conifer forests and thestandards as a binding instrument for monitoring

tropical hardwood forests, causing local damage

forest management. The country is also considering

to forest stands that have already been opened up.

adapting the ITTO C&I as an instrument to monitor

Uncontrolled ﬁres damaged over 60,000 hectares

progress towards SFM at the national level .

aof forest in 2003 . About 4,000 hectares of conifer
forests are affected by insect infestations thatafollowed previous ﬁres .

c

Forest policy and legislation. The present forest
law (October 1996, Decree 101-96) emphasizes theimportance of reforestation and forest conservation

Permanent forest estate. Twenty-two per centand makes reference to SFM. The ministry in chargeof the country’s land area (2.36 million hectares)of rural development until 2000 (Ministerio deis covered by forests with an integrated land-use

Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación – MAGA)aplan . The estimated total area of natural-forest

established an environmental policy in 1998,

PFE is 2.38 million hectaresa (Table 1), which can be

identifying sustainable development as its primarysubdivided into 1.14 million hectares of production

goal. A new forest policy was formulated in 1999;

forest and 1.24 million hectares of protection

this promotes the concept of productive managementc,dforest. The distribution of the PFE by forest typeof natural forests (fomento al manejo productivo deis as follows: tropical hardwood forest – 1.7 million

bosques naturales), with the aim of making natural

hectares; conifer forest – 50,000 hectares; mixed

forests a main feature of economic development in

hardwood and pine forest – 130,000 hectares;

order to conserve biodiversity and improve the living

and open woodlands and secondary forests –conditions of forest-dependent populations. This

500,000 hectaresc.

aim was to be achieved by intensive silvicultural

Planted forests. In 2003, there were an estimated
71,000 hectares of planted forest in Guatemala,mainly of local pine speciesa. About 3 million hectaresof non-forested land are considered suitable foratree-planting .

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Forest ownership may be public
or private; public is divided into national (federal
government), local government or municipal andcommunal. An estimated 38% (1.5 million hectares)
are privately owned, 34% (1.4 million hectares)
are national forests and about 930,000 hectares
are municipally/communally owned. Indigenous
communal lands (ejidales) have special status bylaw. Because of the civil war (which ended formallyin 1996), the ownership of about 210,000 hectares
is obscure – more than one million people weremanagement to increase the quality and quantityof timber and NWFPs. The policy also makes speciﬁc
reference to restoration and rehabilitation as major
elements of forest development. Based on this newpolicy, a strategic plan was developed that includes
new ﬁnancial mechanisms, such as incentive
payments for reforestation, the Clean Development
Mechanism and payments for environmental services,
particularly water. A national biodiversity strategy
was formulated between 1995 and 1999; it
regulates in situ and ex situ conservation andincludes long-term planning and management
directives for protected areas. The Law on Protected
Areas of February 1989, amended in 1996 and1997, regulates the system of protected areas
known as SIGAP (Sistema Guatemalteco de Areas
Protegidas). A national strategy for the conservationand sustainable use of biodiversity was also approvedin 1999.

displaced from their traditional lands in the 1980s

Institutions involved in forests. Through aand 1990s. Moreover, the complicated system ofcongressional decree approved in December 2000

land tenure has led to many overlapping rights.

(Decree 90-2000), the Ministry for Environment232

SFM TROPICS

and Natural Resources (Ministerio de Ambiente y

Guatemala contains 24 ethnic groups; more than

Recursos Naturales – MARN) shares authority over

two-thirds of the population is of indigenous descentnatural resources with MAGA, but the relativeand 61% is rural. There is a long tradition of forest

responsibilities of the two ministries for forest

conservation, particularly in the highlands. Local

management are not clear. The National Forest

institutions are in charge of forest administration,

Institute (Instituto Nacional de Bosques – INAB),

and a village council generally deals with forest-related

created in 1996 out of the former forest service

issues. However, such local institutions, communities

as an independent and decentralized state agency,

and local NGOs have long been excluded from forest

is responsible for developing SFM in natural forests

management, except for a few cases in the Petén.

and for the establishment and management ofSince the end of the civil war there has been someplanted forests. The latter is supported through aparticipation in the classiﬁcation and management

national incentive program (Programa de Incentivosof protected areas through national and regional

Forestales – PINFOR) that by the end of 2004 hadroundtables (mesas de diálogo) and in forest

generated more than US$50 million for forest

development through consultation roundtables

development activitiesc. INAB is also responsible

convened by INAB together with the National

for forest inventories and the preparation of forest

Forest Program Unit. An association of NGOs

management plans in both planted and natural(Asociación Nacional de Recursos Naturales yforests. INAB is supervised by a national council

Medio Ambiente) participates in the supervisory(Junta Directiva del INAB) that comprises repre-

committee of INAB and in the consultative groups

sentatives of MAGA, the private sector and civilof MARN and CONAP.

society and the national association of municipalities.
The National Council of Protected Areas (Consejo
Nacional de Areas Protegidas – CONAP), establishedunder MARN in 1989, is responsible for the
management of protected areas. CONAP is also

Status of forest management
Forest for production

in charge of the overall management of natural

The forest law of 1996 made the preparation offorests, and in particular of the Maya Biosphere

forest management plans compulsory for long-term

Reserve, the largest tract of closed moist tropicalforest users. The management plan itself, however,forest in Guatemala, and the biosphere reserve

is in many cases only an improved timber harvestingof Sierra de las Minas. CONAP’s tasks include theplan and often does not prescribe any silviculturaldelivery and supervision of long-term community

prescriptions or measures to conserve biodiversity.

and industrial concessions. In the mid 1990s,

To improve the situation, INAB has adopted a

CONAP established a new system of community

methodology prepared by the former Regional Forest

concessions as an incentive for SFM in multiple-use

Program for Central America (PROCAFOR) and thezones in the Petén. Some of the communities that

Tropical Research and Higher Education Centre

became involved in forest management under this(Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación ynovel concept have managed, with international

Enseñanza – CATIE). The method includes the

support, to certify their forest operations.

preparation of ‘simpliﬁed management plans for

The process of decentralization is recent and an
expression of national reconciliation after the civil

hardwood forests’ and ‘forest management plansfor conifer forests in Central America’.

war. Each national institution has its own criteria

The two main forest types harvested over thefor decentralization. By the end of 2004, a total ofpast century are the conifer forests and the mixed

105 municipal forest ofﬁces had been establishedc.

pine/hardwood forests of subtropical areas. Today,

Municipalities are required to create environmental

the greatest production potential is in the tropicalofﬁces and are encouraged to conduct reforestation

hardwood forests and in secondary forests.

projects; municipalities can keep 50% of the revenues

In 2003, a total area of 697,000 hectares in thefrom concessions and harvesting licences(Ferroukhi 2003).

PFE was covered by management plans, 483,000
hectares in tropical hardwood forests, 172,000
in mixed forests and 37,200 in pine forestsa.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

233

c,

Table 2 Some commonly harvested hardwood species for industrial roundwood *Timber species

Remarks

Swietenia macrophylla (caoba)

15% of export volume in sawnwood and 40%
of total export value in 2003

Lonchocarpus castilloi (manchiche)

Mainly for domestic uses

Calophyllum brasiliense (santa maria)

Mainly for domestic uses

Bucida buceras (pucte)

Increasingly exported as a new species for ﬂooringand parqueting* Tropical hardwood species only; overall, the most important group of commercial timbers in Guatemala is Pinus spp

Since 1998, forest concessions have been granted

closely monitoring regeneration of the two main

to communities, who manage for both timber andspecies and are promoting enrichment planting after

NWFPs. At the beginning of 2004, twelve community

harvesting, particularly with caoba. The minimum

concessions and two industrial concessions had

cutting diameter for caoba and cedro is 60 cm

been granted, all of them located in the Peténa. The(55 cm in certain FMUs); for other species it is 45 cm.

total area under forest concessions was 463,423
hectares, most of them community based; thesmallest concession was 4,149 hectares and thelargest 83,558, and the two industrial concessions
were 64,869 hectares and 66,548 hectares insizea. Forest concessions are managed according
to a polycyclic silvicultural system with a 40-yearrotationa. All concessions are required by law to
obtain certiﬁcation under the FSC scheme within
three years of establishment.

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Relatively small areas of tree plantations arescattered throughout the country; these are often
established without a clear purposec. Four conifer
species (P. caribaea, P. maximinoi, P. oocarpa andC. lusitanica) and two broadleaved species (Tectona
grandis (teak, teca) – 4,000 hectares, and Gmelina
arborea) make up 70% of existing plantations. Hevea
brasiliensis is planted for both rubber and timber.
Some 18,400 hectares of new plantations were

The most serious problem in forest management isestablished between 1997 and 2002, mainly throughsmall-scale illegal logging of single trees over wide

an incentive program for private investors andareas. In the tropical hardwood forests, Swietenia

communities, with an emphasis on teak plantations

macrophylla (caoba) and the various species ofand agroforests. The present reforestation policy

Cedrela are the species most targeted by illegal

aims to establish another 240,000 hectares

logging. In the highlands, illegal logging threatens inof plantation between 2003 and 2016.

particular Abies guatemalensis (pinabete) and cypress.

Forest certiﬁcation. The National Council

Silviculture and species selection. Of the 424 known

of Sustainable Forest Management Standards

indigenous tree species, 320 are considered to have(Consejo Nacional de Estándares de Manejo Forestal

some usea; about 25 species are traded. The main

Sostenible) has developed national certiﬁcation

traditional commercial species in the mountainous

standards for both natural and planted forests.

areas are pines (Pinus oocarpa, P. pseudostrobus,

Since December 2003, these standards have been

P. maxiinoi), cypress and Quercus spp (roble).

tested at the national level and were expected to

Caoba and Cedrela odorata (cedro) are the main

be widely implemented by 2005. With internationalcommercial species in the hardwood forests of the

support, a considerable effort has been made to

Petén; despite heavy logging over the past 60 years

certify forests in the PFE. As of December 2005,

or so, both species occur in abundance in all forest

15 FMUs covering a total area of 522,870 hectares

layers and cannot be considered threatenedc. The

had been certiﬁed by SmartWood or SGS according

two species constitute the main valuable species

to FSC standards (FSC 2005). Of these, 520,410

for the majority of the certiﬁed FMUsc. FMUs arehectares were in natural forests and 7,566 hectares

234

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total
1,140

Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

PlantedWith
management
plans

540

Certiﬁed

697

520

Sustainably
managed

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

71

25

7.57

d

672

in plantations; most are located in the Maya

Non-wood forest products. Among the interna-

Biosphere Reserve in the Petén. After Bolivia andtionally tradable NWFPs are pine resin, pine seeds,

Brazil, Guatemala has the largest extent of FSC-

copal (Bursera bipinnata, Protium copal and othercertiﬁed forests in the tropics.

species), xate leaves (from the Chamaedorea palm),
Pimenta dioica (pimiento) and Manilkara zapota

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. About 700,000 hectaresof the production PFE are subject to some sortof management, of which an estimated 265,000
hectares are conifer and mixed forests, both naturaland planted, outside the moist tropical forest zone.
Assessments of the management of community
forest concessions indicate that forest managementc

has improved there . At least 672,000 hectares of(chicle gum), a dominant tree in the primary forestsof the Petén. Pine resin and copal are mainly
produced in private forests and chicle, xate andapimiento in public forests . Another species used is
Quassia amara, known as hombre grande, a natural
biocide used in organic agriculture in the Petén.

Forest for protection

natural-forest production PFE are considered to be

Soil and water. The system of protected areas

under SFM, composed of the certiﬁed forest conces-in Guatemala, SIGAP, comprises nearly 950,000

sions in the Petén and natural pine forests managed

hectares of special protection forests (zonas dedaaccording to deﬁned management principles . Table 3

amortiguamiento) . An estimated 184,000 hectares

summarizes the forest areas managed forof forest land are managed primarily for soil andproduction purposes.

water protection .

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood

Biological diversity. The forests of Guatemala areproduction in 2002 was an estimated 16.1 million m3,

extremely rich in biodiversity and are characterized

up from 14.7 million m3 in 1999 (FAO 2005b).

by ﬂora and fauna representative of both temperateaTotal industrial roundwood production in 2003 wasand tropical America. Ten mammals, eleven birds,

3

an estimated 492,000 m , of which 392,000 m

eleven reptiles, 74 amphibians and 87 plants are

was coniferous. Total sawnwood production was

listed as critically endangered, endangered or

200,000 m3 (including about 160,000 m3 ofvulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species;

conifers); veneer and plywood production eachof these, six mammals, ten birds, two reptiles, 74

3

3amounted to about 20,000 m in 2003 (ITTO 2005).

amphibians and three plants are found in forests

Some of the sawnwood and most of the veneer and(IUCN 2004). Guatemala has listed six plant species

plywood production is exported to other countries

in CITES Appendix I and 363 plant species, includingin Central America and the Caribbean and to North

Abies guatemalensis, in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

America, mostly as certiﬁed products. Firewood
and charcoal are important products for the local
market for cooking food and for generating energy
for small artisanal industries (brick-making, molassesmaking, lime-making, etc).

Protective measures in production forests.
Concession-holders are required to, among otherthings, conserve seed trees, set aside areas fromwhich tree-felling is excluded, make special provisions
for biological corridors, regulate hunting, andconserve endangered plants and animals.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

235

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

1,240

836

184

n.d.

n.d.

Extent of protected areas. Forty-seven (39%) of
the 120 protected areas in Guatemala are interconnecteda. Legally protected areas that include
forest and non-forest land cover 3.1 million hectares,or 28% of the national territory. Forty-three aresmaller than 1,000 hectares and ﬁve are bigger than
100,000 hectares. According to Guatemala’s 1999aSocioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. The forest sector contributed
approximately 2.5% to GDP in 2003a. In 2003,
the forest sector directly employed an estimated
37,000 peoplea.
Livelihood values. Hunting and the gathering of edible

forest resource assessment , about 2.26 million

plants such as the fruits of chicle have been of great

hectares of forests have some protected area status,

importance for the Mayan culture for centuries.

as follows:

Both indigenous communities and colonists in thetropical moist forest zone use forest products in•conifer forests: 42,000 hectares;•

tropical hardwood forests:1,820,000 hectares

bayal (Desmoncus spp) and palm leaves (sabal) for(including IUCN Category VI – multiple use);

housing. In the highlands (the most populated areas),

mixed conifer/hardwood forests:

fuelwood from the forests is the most important•

their households; products include the ﬁbres of

140,000 hectares;

source of energy.

•

mangrove forests: 4,000 hectares; andSocial relations. A speciﬁc program was launched•secondary forests/matorrales:(Proyecto Fortalecimiento Forestal Municipal y

250,000 hectares.

in 2001 known as the communal forestry program
Comunal – BOSCOM) to counter pressure on

Of these, about 45% are in IUCN Protected-areanatural resources and to provide work for theCategory I (21 areas, 209,000 hectares), Category

unemployed; it involves 102 municipalities thatII (40 areas, 160,000 hectares) and Category III

carry out reforestation and protection measures.

(seven areas, 102,000 hectares); they include

The program also provides incentives for small-national parks, biological reserves, protected biotopes,

scale timber producers in forest management.

cultural monuments and wildlife sanctuaries. The
estimate by UNEP-WCMC (2004) of the area offorest in protected areas conforming to IUCN
protected-area categories differs, putting nohectares in Category I, 382,000 hectares in
Category II, 453,000 hectares in Category III(including 119,000 of ‘unclassiﬁed’ forest), and
1,000 hectares in Category IV, for a total ofSummary
Forests play an important role in Guatemala. They
provide a source of income and household products
for many poor and a resource for the commercial
timber sector. However, SFM has been hinderedin the past by, among other things, a protracted

836,000 hectares in the four categories.

civil war, and deforestation was widespread. As theEstimate of the area of forest sustainably managed

up, the sector is attempting to improve forest

for protection. Insufﬁcient information was available
for estimating the extent of protection PFE managed
sustainably.

lowland rainforests of the Petén are also opened
management. Great strides are being made byboth private operators and communities, to theextent that more than half the production PFE
is now considered to be under SFM.

236

SFM TROPICS

Key points
•

•

•

•

•

•

•

The PFE comprises an estimated 1.14 million
hectares of natural-forest production forest,
71,000 hectares of plantations and 1.24 million
hectares of protection forest.
At least 672,000 hectares of production PFE
are estimated to be under SFM; insufﬁcient data
were available to estimate the area of protection
PFE so managed.
The system of protected areas and the monitoringof biodiversity have both been long established.
However, information on the status of their
management is lacking.
A large part of the natural forest estate in
the highlands has been over-harvested, anddevelopment is proceeding rapidly in the Petén.
Enormous efforts have been made since theend of the civil war to reorganize the control
and management of forest resources; this has
included the decentralization of management andmonitoring. But support for existing community
forest management institutions remains weak.
There is long-standing experience in the
management of conifer forests. The recent
implementation of a well-deﬁned concession
management policy in moist forest areas also
constitutes a solid basis for SFM.
Forest management certiﬁcation has been widely
introduced with the support of international donors
in the community concessions in the Petén, but
its long-term prospects will depend on its ﬁnancial
viability once donor support is withdrawn.

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC
International Center & Working Group,
Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.
org (accessed December 2005).
Ferroukhi, L. (ed) 2003. Municipal Forest
Management in Latin America. CIFOR/IDRC,
Bogor, Indonesia.
FAO/INAB 2004. Resultados Preliminares delInventario Forestal Nacional Piloto. FAO, Rome,
Italy/Instituto Nacional de Bosques, Ciudad,
Guatemala.
INAB website. http://www.inab.gob.gt (accessed
November 2005).
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Elías, S. & Wittman, H. 2004. State, forest, andcommunity: the reconﬁguration of power andchallenges for decentralizing forest management

References and other sourcesac

INAB 2004, Informe sobre la Aplicación deCriterios e Indicadores para la Ordenación
Sostenible de Bosques Tropicales Naturales en
Guatemala. Submitted to ITTO, January 2004.
Prepared by Revolorio, A., Caceres, R. & Sales,
E., Instituto Nacional de Bosques, Ciudad,
Guatemala. Unpublished.

in Guatemala. Presented at the CIFOR/
Intercooperation Interlaken Workshop on
Decentralization in Forestry, Interlaken,
Switzerland, 27–30 April 2004.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators,
held 18–22 April 2005, Santa Elena dePetén, Guatemala, attended by 38 people fromgovernment, civil society and the private sector.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

237

GUYANA
cover is an estimated 16.9 million hectares,
or 78% of the land area (FAO 2005).
Forest types. The major vegetation types are
rainforest, seasonal forest, dry evergreen forest,
marsh forest (including mangrove and swamp forest)and mountain forest. The composition of the forestchanges considerably from north to south and reﬂects
varied topographic and geological conditions.
Rainforest is the most common type and the mostimportant source of timber. Seasonal forests havea lower, more even canopy and include deciduoustrees; they are found in the north Rupununi andupper Berbice areas. Dry evergreen forests occupy
belts of leached white sands and are also foundthroughout the Pakaraima Mountains.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Most of*For legend see page 58

Guyana’s forests are still intact, unexploited andForest resources
Located on the Atlantic seaboard in northeasternSouth America between Suriname and Venezuela,

not threatened by the expansion of agriculture. The
annual rate of deforestation is estimated variously
to be 0.3% (49,000 hectares, FAO 2005) and lessthan 0.1%b. Deforestation is mainly caused by

Guyana has a land area of 21.4 million hectares

semi-urban expansion and mining.

and a population of about 800,000 people. It has

Permanent forest estate. About 13.6 million

a very humid climate and can be divided into four

hectares have been classiﬁed as state forest and may

biogeographical zones: (i) the narrow coastal plain,

be considered potential production forest. Of these,

where 90% of the population lives and which is

5.8 million hectares are allocated to commercial

largely used for agriculture. It has a narrow fringeuse, 500,000 hectares to research and protectionof mangroves; (ii) the so-called rolling hills, anand 63,000 hectares are protected and outside theextensive, forested area with sandy acid infertile soils

jurisdiction of the forest service. About 7 million

reaching 90 m above sea level; (iii) a Precambrianhectares (56% of the state forest), mainly in thelowland region of tropical rainforest; and (iv) the

south of the country, have not yet been allocatedPakaraima Mountains, a forested sandstone plateau

to timber harvesting or other uses; a lack of readyalong the borders with Venezuela and Brazil thataccess and long distances to market make thestands between 1,000 and 1,200 m above sea

commercial harvesting of these forests economicallylevel (reaching 2,740 m at Mt Roraima). Forest

infeasible at present.

Table 1 PFE*PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted

16.9

16,916

5,450

12

Production

Protection

Total

980**

6,442

* Amerindian lands are not included here as part of the PFE. A conservation concession area initiated with the support of Conservation
International of about 300,000 hectares is included as part of the protection PFE** Source: UNEP-WCMC (2004)

238

SFM TROPICS

Planted forests. The estimated total area of

responsible for other matters related to theplanted forest is 12,000 hectares (FAO 2005).

environment and natural resources (such as wildlife

No signiﬁcant reforestation activity is taking place.

and protected areas). Two statutory bodies are
responsible for coordinating developments in natural

Institutional arrangements

resources: (i) the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Natural

Forest tenure. Ownership of the PFE is vested inmatters requiring policy decisions before they are

the state; the remainder of the forest comprises

presented to the full cabinet; and (ii) the Natural‘other state land’, Amerindian land and private

Resources and Environment Advisory Committee,

property. No Amerindian lands are consideredwhich includes the heads of Forestry, Geology andpart of the PFE, although many are surrounded

Mines, Lands and Surveys, the Guyana Naturalby it. Nine indigenous (Amerindian) tribes (Akawaio,

Resources Agency, the energy agencies, the Land-use

Arawak, Arekuna, Carib, Macusi, Patamona, Waiwai,

Planning Unit, the Institute of Applied Sciences andWapisiana and Warao), with a total population ofTechnology, the Hydro-meteorological Department,

about 40,000, have legal title to approximately

and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

1.4 million hectares of land, including forest.

The Presidential Adviser for Natural Resource

Resources and Environment, which discusses all

SFM policy framework. Guyana was a participant
in the development of the Tarapoto C&I under the

Directors has direct responsibility for formulating

Forestry Commission (GFC) reviewed both thepolicy guidelines and planning frameworks for the

Tarapoto and ITTO C&I in the development of adevelopment, use and management of forests.

new national forest plan.

The GFC, a semi-autonomous public agency, wasForest policy and legislation. The current forest

created in 1979 to replace the Forest Department,

act was promulgated in 1953. The GFC drafted

which was set up in 1925. The GFC advises thea new forest act in the late 1990s with technicalassistance from the UK Department for International
Development; this was approved by the Cabinet

minister on issues relating to forest policy, forest
laws and regulations. Guided by the national forest
plan, it has the legal mandate to manage and control

Subcommittee on Natural Resources but by latethe utilization of all state forest lands to ensure the2004 had not been passed by Parliament. The

optimal use and sustained yield of forest produce anddraft forest act provides the basis for control instate forest, assistance to hinterland communities,
and the sound management of forest in Amerindianb

lands through the provision of advisory group services .
The national forest policy was formulated in an open
and transparent way with extensive consultation
with a wide range of stakeholders and approved in
1997. It is now accepted by all stakeholders as asound guide for the forest sector as a whole. An ITTO
diagnostic mission to Guyana in 2003 found that thenational forest policy framework was both comprehensive and sensible, although it was predicatedon mutually supportive approaches by government
and industry which had not yet developed at theblevel required .
Institutions involved in forests. The president has
direct responsibility for forestry, although the day-toAgriculture. The Ofﬁce of the President is also

work of the individual agencies involved in natural
resources and the environment. The GFC Board of

Amazon Cooperation Treaty. In 2001, the Guyana

day administration is delegated to the Minister ofManagement is responsible for coordinating thethe maintenance and improvement of the forest
environment. The GFC also develops and monitors
standards for forest-sector operations, develops
and implements forest protection and conservation
strategies, oversees forest research, and provides
support and guidance to forest education andtraining. It is also involved in a number of initiatives
to address emerging social issues in forestry.
The EPA, which was established in 1996, carries
out environmental impact assessments on all major
land-based developments; before any operation cancommence in a forest concession, a company must
submit an environmental impact assessment for
approval by the EPA and the GFC. The GFC has alsoestablished an Environmental Monitoring Unit tomonitor all environmental matters pertaining toforestry. The EPA delegates the routine monitoringof forestry developments to the GFC.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

239

One forest producers’ association and a number

an environmental and social impact assessment,of smaller community-based loggers’ associations

and a forest management plan; this requires anrepresent loggers and sawmillers in the forestry

exploratory permit. The permit process has been

sector and endeavour to ensure collaboration indeveloped to ensure transparency in concession

activities such as training, information, public

allocation, that the proposed investment is inawareness and institutional development. National

the national interest, and that the proposed

environmental NGOs are weak, but international

investment is designed to achieve the maximum

environmental organizations are assuming

beneﬁcial use of the forest resource. The permit

independent roles in forest control and information-

does not convey the right to harvest or remove any

sharing, partly in collaboration with the forest

forest produce or to construct roads, buildings

administration.

or other infrastructure. Permission may be granted
to fell and remove forest produce for research

Status of forest management

purposes only. In 2004, three exploratory permits

Forest for production

been issued (ibid.). Exploratory permits are

Current forest harvesting permits are allocatedaccording to three categories based on area andlength of contract. The categories are:••

In 1998, the GFC introduced a Code of Practice forTimber Harvesting based on FAO’s Model Code ofForest Practice; the code, which was revised in 2002,
prescribes internationally accepted standards for

granted on a lease for 20 years or more over an

exclusion areas and buffer zones, 100% pre-harvest

area of 24,000 hectares or more. As of Octoberinventory, road construction, felling, skidding,

2004, 23 TSAs had been allocated to local andtrucking, operational and camp hygiene, andinternational companies covering an area of more

occupational health and safety. Besides exclusion

than 4.0 million hectares (65% of all commercial

areas and buffer zones, the code also restricts

allocations). The average size of a TSA is 176,000

logging on slopes greater than 40% and sets a

hectares (ranging from 29,500 to 1.67 million

minimum distance of 10 m between harvest trees

hectares), and companies can hold more thanto minimize the size of canopy openings. A log-

one TSA at a time (Tropical Forest Foundation

tagging system to assist the monitoring of timber(TFF) pers. comm., October 2004);

harvesting and reduce illegal cutting has been inwood cutting leases (WCLs): licences are granted

effect since 1999. For the SFPs, a quota system

8,000–24,281 hectares, although a few of theactual WCLs exceed this. In October 2004, ﬁve

has been put in place that is determined by the size
and assumed stocking of the area. The GFC has
also developed a draft code of practice for the

licences were in existence covering a total area

harvesting of NWFPs.

of about 327,500 hectares (ibid.) The average

The draft forest act prescribes the issue of forest

size of a WCL was therefore 65,500 hectares;

concession agreements to replace TSAs and WCLs,

state forest permits (SFPs): cutting permits

and also allows ‘forest concession agreements forare granted on an annual basis for areas ofstate forest up to 8,094 hectares in size. SFPs
are generally issued to small-scale operators;
284 permits covering a total area of 1.33 million
hectares were allocated in 2004 (21% of allcommercial allocations) (ibid.). The average•also prescribed in the draft forest act.

timber sales agreements (TSAs): concessions areon 3–10-year leases theoretically for areas of•covering an area of 376,728 hectares had

conservation purposes’ and ‘use permits’. The
former are designed to allow conservation organizations to pay an amount equivalent to that which
would have been paid for commercial harvestingrights for the exclusion of timber harvesting fromparticular forest areas; the latter are designed tosize of an SFP is about 4,600 hectares; andaddress matters such as the collection of orchids

exploratory permits: before a WCL or a TSA is

is not required.

issued, a three-year exploratory period is granted
in order to gather all the necessary information
for the preparation of an investment proposal,

240

SFM TROPICS

or ecotourism where a full concession agreement
Guyana’s forests are characterized by a predominance of relatively slow-growing, high-density timber
species and smaller trees than in most other tropicalTable 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood*
Timber species

Remarks

Catastemma commune (baromalli)

38% of total log production in 1999–2000

Eperua falcata (wallaba)

Predominantly used for roundwood and splitwood
products

Chlorocardium rodiei (greenheart)

20% of total log production

Mora excelsa (mora) and other Mora spp

5% of total log production

Peltogyne venosa (purpleheart)

9% of total production* Source: TFF pers. comm., October 2004

regions due to the inherently low fertility of soils

tories and harvest planning (ibid.). Log-tagging

derived from the ancient Guiana Shield. Commercial

appears to have been accepted by the industry andtimber occurs in spatially segregated ‘reefs’ or stands

has increased the capability of the GFC to monitor

in which one or two commercial species are dominant.

timber transactions. RIL techniques are promoted

Nevertheless, a large proportion of the commercial

by the ITTO-funded Forestry Training Centre, astock in these stands is defective (hollow or crooked),subsidiary of GFC, through demonstration forests

possibly due to the poor nutrient availability of theand hands-on training. This training program, whichsoils and a very low rate of natural disturbance

had trained some 90 forest operators by 2004,(which seems to have resulted in over-mature stands),

has been well received and has led to a growing

and commercially viable stands are usually separated

acceptance and awareness of the GFC’s code of

by stands that are nearly devoid of commercial

practice and RIL practices, and an increasing demand

species. Forest harvesting is, therefore, highlyfor RIL training. The Iwokrama International Centre

selective; on average, two to three trees are felled

for Rainforest Conservation and Development (known

per hectare, with an average yield of about 7 m3.

as the ‘Iwokrama forest’) is responsible for the

The national forest plan prescriptions allow up to

management, conservation and sustainable

20 m3 per hectare to be harvested on a 60-year

development of 360,000 hectares of tropicalcycle, but few concessionaires take even half of

rainforest, which the government of Guyana

this (TFF pers. comm., October 2004). Because

allocated as a way of demonstrating that tropicalof poor operational planning and poor matching offorests can provide economic beneﬁts while also

timber resources with markets, most companies

conserving biodiversity. Its operation has been

re-enter logged-over areas before the end of the

supported by a range of donors, including ITTO.

cutting cycle, particularly in the more easily
accessible areas (ibid.).

The lack of security associated with logging permits
discourages investments in SFM. These arrangements

Detailed forest management plans are not required

provide little guarantee that the investor will continue

for SFPs. The code of practice applies to TSAs andto have access rights to the same concession area

WCLs but is presently only mandatory for new

in the future, thereby encouraging excessive logging

concessions. Nevertheless, companies are being

and other unsustainable practices. Indeed, it would

monitored for the implementation of its requirements

appear that there is an entrenched culture of forest

and violations are reported. The new forest act, once

extraction and utilization within the industry rather

adopted into law, will make the code mandatory forthan a commitment to enhancing the productivity

all forest concession areas. At present, few if any

or value of the forest that is left after harvestingb.

companies fully conform to the code, particularly
where harvest restrictions (steep slopes, bufferzones, 10 m rule) are concerned, although a few
companies conduct 100% pre-harvest forest inven-

Silviculture and species selection. The default
silvicultural system is natural regeneration withpolycyclic cuts, without post-harvest silvicultural

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

241

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

5,450

3,800

3,730

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

520

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

1200interventions. Under the 1953 Forest Act, yield isdeveloped a national certiﬁcation standard based

regulated by a minimum diameter limit of 34 cm,

on FSC and the Peru and Bolivia examples; thiswhile forest management plans for WCLs and TSAs

was to be submitted to the FSC for endorsement

must specify the cutting cycle and yield per cuttingin early 2005. To date, there is no certiﬁed forest

cycle; they must also indicate species for harvestingin Guyana, but two concessionaires are engaged inand harvesting rules.

the process of certifying forest management and

There are more than 1,000 tree species but only a
few are commercially known and marketed. About
16 species are known to be marketable (Table 2

chain-of-custody under the FSC scheme, while twomore concessionaires have shown an interest in
pursuing certiﬁcation.

shows ﬁve of these), Chlorocardium rodiei (green-

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

heart), Peltogyne venosa (purpleheart), Eperua spp

managed for production. The area of production(wallaba), and Hymenaea courbaril (locust) being

PFE estimated to be sustainably managed is at

the favoured species on the international market.

least 520,000 hectaresd (Table 3); this is the sum

Greenheart is resistant to attack by marine borers
and has long been valued as piling for wharvesand for other marine applications. Catostemmaof the concession areas applying for certiﬁcationand the production forest area of the Iwokrama
forest.

commune (baromalli), the predominant species

Timber production and trade. Total industrial

harvested for plywood production in 2001, waslog production was 251,000 m3 in 2003, downnever harvested commercially in any signiﬁcantfrom 435,000 m3 in 1999 (ITTO 2004, 2006

way before 1992. Greenheart’s share in the total

in prep.). The ten-year average for 1994–2003

wood production is greater than suggested by log

was 342,000 m3, and the highest was in 1997

production volumes (of which its share was 20%(521,500 m3) (ITTO 2004). Sawnwood productionin 1999–2000), since the production of piles andwas 38,000 m3 in 2003, compared to 50,000m3

chainsaw lumber is not included in these ﬁgures.

in 1999. Plywood production also declined, from

Other important species include Goupia glabra

87,000 m3 in 1999 to 75,000 m3 in 2003 (ITTO(kabukalli), Trattinickia spp (ulu), Pouteria speciosa

2004, 2006 in prep.).

(suya), Aspidosperma spp (shibadan), Simarouba
amara (marupá) and Carapa guianensis (crabwood).

Guyana is a net timber exporter. It allows log exportsof all timber species except crabwood and locust,Planted forest and trees outside the forest. About

while a ban is proposed for purpleheart to beneﬁt

12,000 hectares of forest plantations, mainly Pinus

the furniture industry. The total export value of logs,

caribaea, were established in the 1960s. They were

sawnwood and plywood in 2003 was US$26.4 million,

originally intended to supply a pulp industry but arecompared to US$31.3 million in 1999 (ITTO 2002,

currently untended. No major reforestation activity2005). Some 66,000 m3 of logs, 27,000 m3 ofis taking place.

sawnwood and 53,000 m3 of plywood were

Forest certiﬁcation. Certiﬁcation became an issue

exported in 2003 (ITTO 2005).

in Guyana when, in 2000, overseas buyers requested

Non-wood forest products. Many NWFPs areevidence of SFM for timber imported from Guyana.

harvested from natural forests but only a few are

An FSC-endorsed national working group has

extracted commercially. Euterpe oleracea (palm242

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

980

980

n.d.

243d

243d

heart, manicole) is an important product that isbirds, ﬁve amphibians and two plants are found inexported in large quantities, valued at more thanforests (IUCN 2004). Guyana has listed three plant

US$5 million per year (van Andel et al. 2003). Nibi

species in CITES Appendix I and 57 in Appendix II

and kufa (rattan-like Heteropsis ﬂexuosa and Clusia(CITES 2005).

spp) are used for furniture-making and exported to
the Caribbean islands, the UK and North America.
Fibres of Mauritia ﬂexuosa (ité palm) are used tomake baskets, mats and other items for export.
Other products include latex from Manilkara bidentata(balata), Bixa orellana (annatto dye) and Carapa
guianensis (crabwood oil). Mangrove bark is exported
for tanning leather. There is a legal trade in wildlife,
especially birds, reptiles and amphibians; the export

Protective measures in production forests. The
code of harvesting practice includes provisions forprotecting watercourses, reducing the impact oflogging on residual stands and conserving protectedwildlife. Forest management plans must identify
biodiversity reserves (4.5% of the productive forestarea). The GFC’s monitoring division monitors TSAs
against the standards prescribed by the code.

revenue from this is estimated at US$1.5–2 million

Extent of protected areas. Guyana has only one

per year (ibid.).

protected area managed under the Environmental
Protection Act – the Kaieteur National Park, which

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Forests are still intact over large
areas and no speciﬁc measures have been set out
for large-scale soil and watershed conservation.
There are, however, threats to biodiversity andto soil and water, of which gold mining may be thegreatest. Small-scale gold mining takes place overa wide area; impacts include localized deforestation,
the removal of topsoil and the pollution of watercourses with sediment and mercury. Trees felled bygold-miners cause blockages to rivers, sometimes
resulting in downstream ﬂooding.

is 63,000 hectares in size. In addition, 16 forest
reserves cover a total of 7,700 hectares and the
Mabura Hill Forest Reserve extends over 2,000
hectares of forest. According to UNEP-WCMC(2004), 980,000 hectares of Guyana’s forest
estate are in protected areas conforming to IUCN
protected-area categories I–IV. Of the 360,000
hectares of primary forest managed by the Iwokrama
International Centre for Rainforest Conservation andDevelopment, 180,000 hectares have been set
aside for forest conservation purposes. Conservation
International has been awarded a conservation
concession of 82,000 hectares to the south of

Biological diversity. Guyana’s large areas of intact

Iwokramab. A project funded by the GEF will assist

forest ecosystems have a very high conservation

the government with the establishment of a repre-

and ecological value. More than 1,200 vertebrate

sentative system of protected areas. The project has

species were counted in a 1997 inventory, including

set up an independent Protected Areas Commission

198 mammals, 728 birds, 137 reptiles, 105

and has started to establish a system of protected

amphibians, and more than 6,000 plant species,

areas by identifying and supporting the managementof which about one hundred are forest trees ofand development of two pilot areas.

commercial interest. It is almost certain that many
more species remain to be discovered. Thirteen
mammals, three birds, six reptiles, six amphibians
and 23 plants are listed as critically endangered,endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list of
threatened species; of these, ﬁve mammals, three

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for protection. The estimated area of protection PFE
under sustainable management is at least 243,000
hectares. This area comprises the Kaieteur National
Park and the conservation area set aside in the
Iwokrama forest.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

243

Socioeconomic aspects

Summary

Economic aspects. In 2003, forest-based activities

Guyana has a broad forest resource base and large

contributed 3.3% to GDP, generating US$842,700

growing-stock of hardwood timber. It has introducedin royalties (Bank of Guyana 2004) and providing

and implemented a well-designed forest management

employment for 14,000–16,000 people in 720

and control system in its timber production forests.

enterprises, including sawmills and timber dealers

However, there is a gap between the well-functioning(actual forest-based activities employ approximately

core staff of the GFC and the industry that has tob

7,000 people) . There is also considerable informal

implement forest management in the ﬁeld. Politicaland unrecorded employment and economic activity.

and social uncertainty, lack of secure tenure, lackLivelihood values. Forests are an integral part ofAmerindian culture and are important for building
materials, ﬁbres for textiles and weaving, and tannins
and dyes, as well as for wildlife, fruit, seeds and nuts
that are hunted or gathered for food. Medicines are
obtained from more than 130 plant species (vanAndel et al. 2003). Some communities have under-of understanding and awareness, lack of skilled
labour, outdated management practices and, recently,
a difﬁcult economic environment have imposed major
challenges for the achievement of SFM. Progress isbeing made in improving forest harvesting practice.

Key points

taken the commercial harvesting of these resources.

•

Guyana’s forests are still largely intact.

Social relations. Amerindian communities are•

The PFE comprises an estimated 5.45 million

generally located in remote areas away from urban

hectares of production forest and 980,000

centres and rely on subsistence ﬁshing, shifting

hectares of protection forest. A further 7.35

cultivation and hunting for a living. The creation

million hectares of state forest have not yetof a Ministry of Amerindian Affairs in 1992 hasbeen allocated.

facilitated a more participatory role for thesecommunities in national development; this takes•of forest degradation and environmental

place mainly through regional democratic councils.

pollution.

Not all Amerindian claims have been fully addressed,
but there have been major developments in thisUncontrolled gold mining is a signiﬁcant cause•

At least 520,000 hectares of production PFE

direction. Amerindian communities are afﬂicted by

and 243,000 hectares of protection PFE aresevere social and health problems, particularly inbeing managed sustainably.

communities adjacent to gold-mining and timber
concessions. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs•

system has been elaborated but is inadequately

and the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission(GGMC) have collaborated to train a number ofrural residents as rangers to complement GGMC’s

implemented.
•

Progress is being made in the training of
logging operators.

monitoring efforts in mining districts. The Iwokrama
forest initiative has had signiﬁcant success in

A detailed management provision and control•

The area of totally protected forests is low andinvolving local Amerindian communities in forest

there is not enough control and management inmanagement (Bakken Jensen 2005).

protected areas.
•

The national forest policy is widely accepted asa sound guide for the forest sector but is yet tobe fully implemented.

•

A new forest law, which would establish a forest
concession system in place of the current TSAs
and WCLs, has been drafted but is yet to beenacted.

244

SFM TROPICS

References and other sourcesb

ITTO 2003. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000

2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

and Sustainable Forest Management in Guyana.

FAO 2003. State of Forestry in the Latin American

Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented atand Caribbean Region 2002. FAO Regional

the thirty-fourth session of the International

Ofﬁce for Latin America and the Caribbean,

Tropical Timber Council, May 2003. ITTO,

Santiago, Chile.

Yokohama, Japan.
d

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment

ITTO estimate

van Andel, T., MacKinven, A. & Bánki, O. 2003.

FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2002. Annual Review and Assessment of theCommercial Non-timber Forest Products of theWorld Timber Situation 2001. ITTO, Yokohama,

Guiana Shield: An Inventory of Commercial NTFP

Japan.

Extraction and Possibilities for Sustainable
Harvesting. The Netherlands Committee for
IUCN, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Bakken Jensen, O. 2005. Iwokrama’s plan for
SFM. ITTO Tropical Forest Update 15/2.
Bank of Guyana 2004. Gross Domestic Product
Data 1994–2004. Available from: http://www.
bankofguyana.org.gy/Financial%20Frame.htm(accessed October 2005).
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
GFC 2004. Overview of Progress in Guyana

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

towards Ensuring Sustainable Production of
Tropical Timber. July 2004. Guyana Forestry
Commission, Georgetown, Guyana.
Government of Guyana 2000. Progress Reportto Achieve the ITTO Year 2000 Objective.
Government of Guyana. Submitted to ITTO,
2000. Unpublished.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

245

HONDURAS
Paciﬁc coast, which mainly comprises agriculturalland and some remnant mangroves. In total, forest
covers an estimated 5.38 million hectares, or 48%
of the Honduran land area (FAO 2005). The central
highlands and the La Mosquitia savannas are coveredby 1.5 million hectares of pine forests, while morethan 3 million hectares of rainforest cover much of
the Caribbean coast, the Agalta Mountains and theeastern lowlands; these constitute the country’s
major closed forests.
Forest types. Honduras is one of the few tropicalcountries with large areas of natural conifer forests,
which are composed of one or several of seven Pinus
species, as well as species of the genus Abies.
At lower altitudes up to 700 m, P. caribaea (pinocostanero) dominates; between 700 and 1,400 m,
P. oocarpa occurs often in pure stands; and above*For legend see page 58

1,500 m up to 1,900 m a mixture of P. oocarpa (pinoForest resources

ocote), P. maximinoi (pino llorón) and P. tecumumanii

Honduras, the second-largest country in Central

2,000 m, P. pseudostrobus, P. ayacahuite (pinoAmerica, has a land area of 11.2 million hectares
and a population of 6.9 million people. It comprises
three distinct biogeographic regions. The central
highlands cover about 60% of the country, withfertile valleys and steep slopes between 700 and
1,900 m above sea level, the highest peak reaching
more than 2,800 m. A second region is the vast
northern coastal plain abutting the Caribbean Sea,
which can be divided into two sub-regions: the central
plain, mainly covered by grassland, swamps,
secondary palm forests and pine forests; and thenortheastern plain, the Mosquito Coast (La Mosquitia),
which is sparsely populated and covered by pine
forests, tropical moist forest and some mangrove
forests. The third biogeographic region is a narrow
strip of land along the Gulf of Fonseca on the southern(pino rojo) constitutes the major forest layer. Above
blanco), P. pseudostrobus (pinabete), P. hartwegii(pino de montaña) and species of the genus Abies
occur. Natural pine forests are used intensively by
local communities and by industry. Tropical moist
forests are found mostly in the north. The mostcommon species are Vochysia hondurensis, Virola
koschnyi, V. sebifera, Luehea seemanii, Terminalia
amazonia, Cordia alliodora, Cedrela mexicana,
Ceiba pentandra, Tabebuia guayacan and Swietenia
macrophylla. The Acrocomia palm is common over
all these forests.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Deforestation
averaged an estimated 59,000 hectares per year
between 1990 and 2000, which is about 1% of theforest area (FAO 2005). In the past, deforestation

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted

5.38

3,811

1,590*

48aforest (’000 hectares)

Production

Protection

Total

1,600d3,238* Includes 1.5 million hectares of pine forests and 90,000 hectares of broadleaved tropical rainforests

246

SFM TROPICS

was due to agro-industrial development, mainly

community forest. There are many claims for thebanana plantations. Today, demand for land by smalla

use of forests, particularly over public lands, andscale farmers is thought to be the major cause ,large tracts of moist forest have no clear ownershipalong with a constant expansion of pasture. The

status.

growth in the cattle industry was stimulated until
recently by subsidized credit schemes favouring
cattle ranching over forest management.

SFM policy framework. Honduras has adopted
the ITTO C&I to monitor its progress towards SFM.
The forestry action plan 1996–2015 (Plan de

The existence of pine forests in Honduras is closely

Acción Forestal – PLANFOR) adopts the principles

linked to repeated ﬁre and the regeneration of pines.

of sustainable forest development, the conservation

Nevertheless, frequent human-induced ﬁres have ledof ecosystems and integrated management of

to widespread degradation in these forests. The worst

watersheds, forest utilization and industrialization,

natural disaster in recent years was Hurricane Mitch

and forestry extension and research. The plan isin October 1999, which killed thousands of people

complementary to another important development

and caused signiﬁcant damage to forests.

plan, Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial, particularly

Permanent forest estate. Some 53% of the national
territory was in forest use in 2002a. The closed
forest area is estimated at 3.8 million hectares,
both PFE and non-PFE. The permanent forest land,
which includes deforested areas in legally gazetted
forest, covers 5.93 million hectares, distributed asfollows:•

Closed pine forests (bosque de pino denso):
695,000 hectares;•••

theless, outside the PFE and at the forest frontier
there is an almost complete lack of adequate control;
illegal timber extraction and land conversion arereportedly widespread, driven partly by an increased
ﬂow of money from drug trafﬁcking (ContrerasHermosilla 2003, EIA 2005).
Forest policy and legislation. There is a great
diversity of laws and regulations – at least 38 –referring to forests. The current forest law (LeyOpen pine forests (bosque de pino ralo) :Forestal 85/72) was promulgated in 1972, while

1.82 million hectares;

a subsequent regulation (Acuerdo 634/84) issued

Tropical hardwood forests (bosque latifoliado):in 1984 established detailed instructions for SFM.

2.86 million hectares;

This constitutes a framework for SFM.Nevertheless,

Mixed hardwood/pine forests (bosque mixto):

are weak and have features that encourage illegal

559,000 hectares;•

in relation to the reduction of deforestation. Never-in general the legal provisions pertaining to forests
action by some actors (ibid.). The legal system is

Mangrove forests (bosque de mangle):

perceived by some forest communities as unfair

54,000 hectares.

(ibid.) A revision of forest-related legislation was

Table 1 shows the estimated actual area of closed
forest in the PFE.

started in 2002 as part of the Honduras Forestry
Agenda (Agenda Forestal Hondureña) and includes
laws relating to wildlife and protected areas based on

Planted forests. Planted forest covered abouta

48,000 hectares in 2000 . Most is privately owned.

the pillars of sustainability, economic proﬁtability,
ecological sustainability and social development. The
new law, if enacted, will address the conservation of

Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. With the passing of a law on themodernization of agriculture (Ley de Modernización
Agrícola) in 1992, some state-owned forests weretransferred to municipal and private ownership. Today,
there are three main types of forest ownership:(i) public (tierras nacionales), which is under
the direct administration of the forest service;(ii) municipal (ejidales); and (iii) privately owned/

national forests and introduce provisions to support
the management of forests by communities, suchas technical support and tree-planting subsidies.
Institutions involved in forests. Twelve agencies
are engaged in forest development, the mostimportant being: the Secretariat for Agriculture(Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería); theSecretariat for Natural Resources and Environment(Secretaría de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente –STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

247

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood*
Timber species

Remarks

Pinus caribaea (pino costanero)

From natural pine forests and plantations

Pinus oocarpa (pino ocote)

From natural pine forests

Calophyllum brasiliense (santa maria)

Mainly for domestic use

Cordia alliodora (laurel)

From off-forest areas, village plantations andnatural forests

Ceiba pentandra (ceiba)

Mainly off-forest trees are harvested* Source: AFE-COHDEFOR website, 2003

SERNA), and the State Forestry Administration

forests in 1996. Before a forest management plan

(Administración Forestal del Estado-Corporación

is prepared, the forest owner must clearly establish

Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal – AFE-COHDEFOR).

legal tenure. Management plans are prepared

AFE-COHDEFOR is responsible for the formulation,

by foresters according to the norms set by AFE-

implementation and control of norms and rules for

COHDEFOR. Besides directions for silviculture

forest management in ejidales and private forests.

and harvesting, management plans should contain

AFE-COHDEFOR also manages state forests andprescriptions covering the protection of soil andorganizes the marketing of forest products. In earlywater, biodiversity, and measures against ﬁres,

2004, there were discussions regarding thepests and diseases. Forest harvesting is based onreorganization of the institutions surrounding forests

a contract between AFE-COHDEFOR and the forest

and the creation of a national forest service (Servicio

owner, which also speciﬁes the silvicultural andForestal Nacional – SEFONAC) to replace AFE-

conservation measures of the management plan.

COHDEFOR. Generally the forest administration lacks

Before harvesting, the owner must give a bankthe ﬁnance and staff necessary to adequately enforce

guarantee in favour of AFE-COHDEFOR; this is

the law and manage the forests. Approximately

cancelled once all silvicultural and conservation

1,000 professionals work in the twelve agencies

measures are complete. Incentives to promoteainvolved in forestry .
Non-governmental organizations are mainly involvedin rural development activities, agroforestry andthe management of protected areas rather than inproduction forestry. There is an increased interest

SFM include: exemption from taxes up to a certain
amount if a forest owner invests in reforestation;technical assistance to prepare reforestationplans; and the provision of seeds and nurserystock to private investors.

among civil-society actors in promoting forest certi-

The pine forests are relatively easy to manage

ﬁcation and, in the private sector, an increase insustainably. They have a great capacity for regen-action to combat illegal activities.

eration if ﬁre can be controlled and used effectively
to accelerate regrowth and if regenerating seedlings

Status of forest management

are protected from animals. Pines are fast-growing

Forest for production

continuous production is assured. However, in many

Forest management plans have been mandatory inof the management plan applied. Illegal practices

production forests since 1992; they span ﬁve years

are common in FMUs and there is a general problem

and include a yearly operational plan. Managementof non-compliance with management prescriptions

and silvicultural norms were prepared by AFE-

(Contreras-Hermosilla 2003). There is little experience

COHDEFOR for conifer forests, mixed forestsin the management of broadleaved rainforests andand forest plantations in 1995 and for hardwood

few management prescriptions to secure sustainable

248

SFM TROPICS

and, if management guidelines are followed,
cases, the harvesting plan is the only component

a,dTable 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

1,590

1,070

671

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

37

187

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

48

28

0

management in them. A recently completed ITTO

Forest certiﬁcation. As of December 2005, threeproject examined the impacts of intensiﬁed harvesting

forests with a total area of 37,281 hectares hadon lesser-used species in the broadleaved rainforest

been certiﬁed under the FSC umbrella; two of theseof northeastern Honduras and should result in new

were ejidales in natural broadleaved forest and one

management prescriptions.

was a private Pinus forest (FSC 2005). Some of

In 2003, management plans covered 1.0 million
hectares of pine forests, most of them privately
owned, and 96,000 hectares of tropical moist
forests (AFE-COHDEFOR website). In total, 903

the bigger private timber companies have recently
started to reinvest in their own forests throughreforestation and integrated management andhave shown interest in certiﬁcation.

FMUs had management plans, 97 of which were

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managedin public forests, 78 in the ejidales and 728 infor production. About 700,000 hectares of theprivate forests (ibid.). The total annual allowableproduction PFE are subject to some kind of

cut in the pine forests was 1.97 million m3 (ibid.).

management, a ﬁgure which includes an estimatedSilviculture and species selection. Of 400 potential
timber species, 25 are commonly used commercially.
The two most important species by far are P. caribaea(pino costanero) and P. oocarpa (pino ocote) (Table2). Important hardwood species from the tropicalmoist forest include Vochysia hondurensis (san juán),Virola koschnyi (palo de sangre), Terminalia amazonica(cumbillo), Swietenia macrophylla, Calophyllum
brasiliense (santa maría), Carapa guianensis,
Cedrela odorata and Tabebuia rosea.
Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Because natural pine forests are so abundant,
planted forests have not been developed to any great
extent. The main plantation species are native pines(up to one-third of all plantations), with an estimatedtotal planted area of 16,000 hectares. Species such
as Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena spp, Gmelina arborea
and eucalypts are an essential part of agroforestry;
another important planted tree is Tectona grandis(teak, teca). The Programme for the Development ofCommercial Forest Plantations (Programa para el
Desarrollo de Plantaciones Forestales Comerciales– PRODEPLAN) was launched in 1997 to stimulate
the expansion of the plantation estate.

265,000 hectares of conifer and mixed forests
outside the moist tropical forest zone. It is estimatedthat an area of at least 187,000 hectares issustainably managed; this includes certiﬁed forest,
just under 100,000 hectares of natural pine forest,
and about 50,000 hectares of tropical broadleaved
forest in the upper Cangrejal River Basin, wherean ITTO-funded project (see above) helped local
communities improve forest management insome of the areas allocated to them.
Timber production and trade. The total annual
roundwood production for 1996–2000 was
approximately 7 million m3 (FAO 2003). In 2003,
the production of industrial pine logs was an estimated3

3780,000 m and tropical hardwood was 21,000 m(ITTO 2005); the remainder was for non-industrial
uses, particularly fuelwood. The estimated total
sawnwood production in 2003 was 525,000 m3,
slightly more than in 1999 (404,000 m3) (ITTO
2004, 2005). Nearly all recorded Honduran wood
production serves the domestic market; a small
amount of pine sawnwood is exported to othercountries in Central America and the Caribbean.
Non-wood forest products. The total number of
NWFPs used at the regional and national levels is
not known. Firewood is the most important NWFP,STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

249

and charcoal is also important in local markets.

lowland tropical and pine forests within Honduras.

Internationally tradable NWFPs include pine resin

All cloud forests (bosques nublados) are protected(production in 2002: 15,200 barrels), resin of

in ten national parks, eight wildlife reserves andliquidambar (251 barrels), and pine seed for export

18 biological reserves; even so, most are heavily(more than 460 kg in 2002 for seed banks) (AFE-

degraded (Contreras-Hermosilla 2003). Honduras

COHDEFOR website). Much emphasis is given tois part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

valuing environmental services and Honduras
participates actively in initiatives to develop
markets for them.

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Many municipalities manage microwatersheds declared for the protection of freshwater
sources, as per Article 64 of the 1985 Forest Law.
Such micro-watersheds are delimited in the ﬁeld
(generally fenced) and no use is permitted otherthan the protection of water sources. A total forest
area of 352,342 hectares has been classiﬁed forthe primary purpose of protecting soil and water.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably managed
for protection. Insufﬁcient information was available
for an estimate to be made of the area of protection
PFE managed sustainably.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forestry contributes signiﬁcantly
to Honduras’s national income, reaching a peakof 10% of GDP late in the 1990s. Nevertheless,its potential is constrained by such factors as theuncertainty of land tenure, high transaction costs,
scarcity of public support and specialized services,and economic distortions that depress the prices

Biological diversity. The forests of Honduras arethat primary producers receive for their timber.

characterized by ﬂora and fauna representative

It is estimated that, in 1999, about 60,500 peopleof both temperate and tropical America. Detailed

were formally employed in the forest sector: 18,500

biological inventories are not available; however, it

in forest operations and 42,000 in forest industrya.

is known that there are more than 700 breeding
bird species and an additional 225 that are
migratory. Ten mammals, six birds, eleven reptiles,
53 amphibians and 111 plants are listed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the
IUCN red list of threatened species; of these, ﬁve
mammals, six birds, four reptiles and 53 amphibians
are found in forests (IUCN 2004). Honduras has
three plant species in CITES Appendix I and 217 inAppendix II (CITES 2005).
Protective measures in production forests. Forest
management plans contain some prescriptions, suchas for protection strips along watercourses and RIL,
but they are not widely applied in forest harvesting(Contreras-Hermosilla 2003).

Livelihood values. Honduras has serious problems
of infant mortality, illiteracy and overall poverty, andforests constitute an important supplement tolivelihoods – both in the provision of goods andservices and for land. Informal harvesting andtrade in forest products are important for manyin forested areas. Collaborative arrangements
still need to be developed to make such informal
harvesting compatible with the objectives of SFM.
Social relations. Despite the fact that the law
has made provisions for local communities to own
forests, there are great difﬁculties in practice inprotecting these forests from encroachment, timbertheft and illegal hunting. For example, the biospherereserve of La Mosquitia as well as the indigenous

Extent of protected areas. The extent and statuscommunities of Miskito, Pech and Garifuna areof protected forest areas are not clear. Some 18%

greatly threatened by unregulated colonization (ICof the national territory has some kind of protected2004). On the other hand, the involvement of ruralarea statusa, which corresponds to a total area of

people in forest management reportedly increased

about 2 million hectares. According to UNEP-WCMC

in 1998–2002; for example, some 30,000 families(2004), 433,700 hectares of forest are in protected

beneﬁted from increased participation in theareas conforming to IUCN protected-area categories

management of about 560,000 hectares, 373

I–IV, including 88,000 hectares of needleleaf forest

agroforestry groups received technical assistance,and 99,000 hectares of montane forest. The Rio

and 135 capacity-building events were carried out

Platano UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in northeastern

involving 2,025 participants (AFE-COHDEFOR 2002).

Honduras is designed to protect the largest intact

250

SFM TROPICS

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

1,600

434

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

Summary•

Illegal logging is thought to be prevalent.

Present management of the broadleaved natural•

The extent and status of protected forest areas

forests in Honduras is sometimes more a matter ofare not clear. Few data are available on the level

extracting only the most valuable species than ofof protection afforded by forested protectedsilvicultural management. Silvicultural and conser-

areas.

vation measures described in forest management
plans are often not respected and there is a riskthat logged-over areas will become degraded. Illegal
logging is widespread and nourishes an informal•

conversion.
•

A revision and modernization of forest legislation
was started in 2002 as part of the Honduras

wood sector that competes with legally produced

Forestry Agenda, but the new law is yet to be

timber and timber products. Protected forest areas

enacted.

are not clearly delimited and there are difﬁculties
in protecting remote forest areas from forest

Many protected areas are threatened by land•

Forest tenure, particularly on public land, isdegradation and deforestation. On the othersubject to dispute; large tracts of moist forest

hand, recent efforts have been made to overcome

have no clear ownership status.

illegal activities and corruption and to strengthen
institutions in order to integrate forests into•

Generally, the forest administration lacks theﬁnance and staff necessary to adequately

sustainable development; the wider importance ofenforce the law and manage the forests.

forests for goods and environmental services has
been recognized and the forest law is being revised.
The challenge will be to translate a good theoretical

References and other sources

framework of law and policy into effectiveaimplementation in the ﬁeld.

AFE-COHDEFOR 2003. Criterios e Indicadorespara la Ordenación Forestal Sostenible de los

Key points

Bosques Tropicales Naturales. Submitted to•

The PFE comprises an estimated 1.59 million

del Estado Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo

hectares of production forest and 1.60 million

Forestal, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Unpublished.

hectares of protection forest.
•

At least 187,000 hectares of production PFE
are being managed sustainably. Insufﬁcient
information was available to estimate the areaof protection PFE so managed.

•

The broadleaved moist forest could make alarger contribution to sustainable developmentin Honduras, although the potential for timber
production is not known.

•

Management norms for the pine forests havebeen formulated and are being implemented insome forests; prescriptions for the sustainable

ITTO, September 2003. Administración Forestald

ITTO estimate

AFE-COHDEFOR website. Forestry Administrationof Honduras. Available from: http://www.
cohdefor.hn (accessed July 2004).
AFE-COHDEFOR 2002. Informe sobre la
Funcionalidad Global e Institucional del Sector
Forestal 1998–2002. AFE-COHDEFOR,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).

management of the moist forests also exist but
are less clear.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

251

Contreras-Hermosilla, A. 2003. Barriers to legality

Ferroukhi, L. (ed) 2003. Municipal Forest

in the forest sectors of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Management in Latin America. CIFOR/IDRC,

Honduran Network for Broadleaf Forest

Bogor, Indonesia.

Management (REMBLAH) and the Nicaraguan
Natural Conservation and Restoration Society,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
EIA 2005. The Illegal Logging Crisis in Honduras.
Environmental Investigation Agency, Washington,
DC, USA.
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. State of Forestry in the Latin American
and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO Regional
Ofﬁce for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Santiago, Chile.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,
Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.
org (accessed December 2005).

252

SFM TROPICS

IC 2004. Country Report, Bilateral Aid Programme
2004. Intercooperation, Bern, Switzerland.
ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

MEXICO
forest area including bushland (matorrales) and nontropical forest is estimated by Torres Rojo (2004)
to be 64 million hectares and by FAO (2005a) to
be 55.2 million hectares. The National Commission
for Forests (Comisión Nacional Forestal – CONAFOR)
estimates the forest area to be 56.9 million hectares
along with another 58.5 million hectares ofb‘vegetation’ cover in arid zones . There are anbestimated 26.4 to 33.1 million hectares (FAO
2001) of natural tropical forests.
Forest types. Mexico’s ecoclimatic zones can bedivided into three approximately equal areas: tropical,
subtropical/temperate, and semi-arid/arid. The
tropical region includes rainforests, which originallycovered 6% of the country but probably about halfthat nowc. The major forest type in the temperateand subtropical north is Quercus forest, which may*For legend see page 58

be pure or mixed with other temperate-climate

Forest resources

broadleaved species such as Liquidambar styraciﬂua

Mexico has a population of 105 million people andand broadleaved forests’ category of the nationala land area of 195 million hectares, making it thethird-largest country in Latin America after Brazil
and Argentina. It is bordered in the north by theUnited States; in the west and south by the Paciﬁc
Ocean; in the southeast by Guatemala, Belize andthe Caribbean Sea; and in the northeast by the
Gulf of Mexico. It is mainly mountainous, with lessthan 35% of its surface area below 500 m and morethan half of it above 1,000 m. The northwest of
the country contains dry, open forest but rainfall ishigher farther south, where tropical moist forests
occur. The Southern Highlands, located south of thecentral plateau, are composed of a number of steep
mountain ranges, deep valleys and dry plateaux,
including the Chiapas Highlands bordering Guatemalathat constitute an important forest zone. The total(sweet gum) and Fagus mexicana (beech). The ‘conifer
forestry inventory is characterized by a few dominant
species, including conifers such as Pinus and Abies
combined with various species of Quercus, Cupressus
and Juniperus. Tropical forests are found on slopes
along the Gulf of Mexico and the Paciﬁc Ocean, theIsthmus of Tehuantepec and in southern Yucatán inthe states of Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana
Roo and Veracruz. Among typical tree species are
Terminalia amazonia, Dialium spp, Brosimum spp,
Manilkara zapota, Lonchocarpus spp andTerminalia oblonga.
Dynamics of forest resource change. The averageannual deforestation rate in 1990–2000 was
estimated to be 631,000 hectares, or 1.1%of the forest area (FAO 2005a); it is currently

Table 1 Tropical PFE

Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)
55.2–64.0*

Total closed tropicalnatural forest(’000 hectares)

PFE (’000 hectares)
Production

Source: derived from FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted33,1207,880c100

Protection

Total

5,600b13,580* Includes non-tropical forest

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

253

b

an estimated 400,000 hectares and falling .

peoples and indigenous communities, private

Deforestation is caused mainly by conversion tolandowners or the government, depending on the

agricultural land and uncontrolled forest ﬁre. An

location of the forest. An estimated 80% of Mexico’s

estimated 550,000 hectares of vegetation areforests are owned by ejidos and local communities.

disturbed each year, indicating a rapid degradation

These forests are also known as propiedad social,processb. Forest degradation is often the startingor forests under social property. They are owned

point for deforestation; direct causes of deforestation

by about 8,500 communities, or núcleos agrariosb.

and forest degradation include incentives for forest

Around 15% of the forest area is owned privately

land conversion, high levels of rural poverty, illegal

and 5% is classiﬁed as national land.

logging and the cultivation of illegal crops. Shifting
cultivation practices that have been applied successfully for centuries are now a major cause of forest
destruction in tropical forests. At the national
level, a total of 278,000 hectares of forest are
rehabilitated to some extent each yearb.

SFM policy framework. Mexico has a comprehensive
national forest program spanning 2001–2006 anda national Strategic Forestry Plan 2025 (Programa
Estratégico Forestal – PEF 2025) that sets theframework of SFM. Mexico has developed a C&I
framework for temperate forests and is now

The Yucatán Peninsula is subject to frequent hurri-

formulating a proposal to ITTO to develop a set

canes; at the time of report preparation no infor-of C&I speciﬁcally for its tropical forests, based

mation was available on the effects of Hurricaneon the ITTO framework.

Wilma, which hit the Peninsula in October 2005.
Forest ﬁres occur mainly in the semi-arid part ofthe country but also in humid tropical forest areas.
Fire is a serious problem and is caused mainly byagricultural and grazing activities; it is exacerbatedby the effects of hurricanes, which greatly increase
the volume of ﬂammable biomass. The country has
made a major effort to combat forest ﬁresb.

Forest policy and legislation. A new forest law(Ley General de Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable)
for the management of production forests wasenacted in 2003 and became effective when thedecree (Reglamento da la Ley General de Desarrollo
Sustentable) was enacted in February 2005. Itemphasizes the importance of forest services andtheir inclusion in forest management. There appears

Permanent forest estate. The allocation of PFE

to be some inconsistency in the interpretation of theper se is not done in Mexico. The estimate of thedifferent laws that affect forest management,

tropical production PFE in Table 1 is based on data

including the forest law, the General Law on Ecologicalsupplied by the government of Mexico to ITTO in

Balance and Environment (Ley General del Equilibrio

conjunction with a C&I workshop convened in April

Ecológico y Protección al Ambiente) and the General

2005 and the estimate of protection PFE is based

Law on Wildlife (Ley General de Vida Silvestre).

on data reported by an ITTO diagnostic mission

In addition, many state governments have created

to Mexico.

their own forestry/environmental laws.

Planted forests. Estimates vary on the extent

A number of special programs were set up in theof plantations. The ITTO mission reported about

1990s to bring about greater consistency in forest

100,000 hectares of planted forest for timberpolicy. The most important ones are: the National

production, mainly in the tropical zone, and about

Forest Development Program (Programa Nacional

590,000 hectares for protection and rehabilitationb.

de Desarrollo Forestal – PRODEFOR); the national

FAO (2001) estimated a total plantation estate ofreforestation program (Programa Nacional de

256,000 hectares (plus 11,000 hectares of rubber)

Reforestación), which is designed to promote theand an annual planting rate of 35,000 hectares

reforestation of deforested areas; the community

per year.

forest development program (Programa deConservación y Manejo Sustentable de Recursos

Institutional arrangements

Forestales en México); and the national reforestation

Forest tenure. Article 5 of the 2003 forest law

plantations. These programs are geared mainly(see below) states that the forest resources belong totowards community development and the reduction

communes (ejidos), local communities, indigenousof poverty through the restoration of natural capital.

254

SFM TROPICS

program, PRODEPLAN, for promoting commercial

In October 2003, CONAFOR launched a pilot program

Harvesting in ejidos and privately owned forests is

in markets for environmental services to increase

implemented through cutting permits. Three kinds

funding for forest conservation and management.

of permits are given out: small-scale harvesting

Institutions involved in forests. Mexico is a
representative, democratic and federal republic
comprising 31 states and one federal district. Eachstate is autonomous in all internal affairs. In many of
the states there is a major interest in environmental
issues such as forest restoration and conservation.
Several states have their own secretariat forenvironmental and forestry issues. At the federal
level, the Secretariat for Environment and Natural
Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos
Naturales de México – SEMARNAT) is the responsible
government agency for natural resources, including
forests. Various directorates are responsible fortechnical aspects of forestry, particularly the
Directorate for Forest and Soil Management(Dirección de Gestión Forestal y Suelos).

permits in areas of up to 20 hectares, medium-sized
harvesting permits for areas of between 20 and
250 hectares, and commercial logging permits
for areas above 250 hectares. Logging in tropicalforests is carried out mainly by forest owners andcommunities as well as contractors working fortimber traders or the forest industry. Forest owners
must employ at least one forestry professional who
is in charge of forest management, and they mustalso present a forest management plan (programade manejo forestal) and a yearly harvesting plan. The
minimum cutting diameters tend to vary by state.
In the (tropical) state of Quintana Roo, for example,
harvesting includes trees of high-value species witha diameter of 55 cm and above and trees of otherspecies with a diameter of 35 cm and above.

CONAFOR was created by presidential decree

About 8,500 ejidos and local communities in thein 2001 as a public organ with a decentralizedcountry possess forested areas, but in some areas

function and the overall objective of integrating

private ownership is also important. The extent of

natural resource management into the national

forest within ejidos varies, the smallest ones being

sustainable development program. Through its

around 300 hectares and the largest nearly

13 regional ofﬁces, CONAFOR is responsible for,450,000 hectares. An estimated 7.1 million hectares

among other things, the implementation of PEF

of closed forests (both temperate and tropical) are

2025. The Federal Ofﬁce for Environmental

covered by management plans (FAO 2001) for timberProtection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al

and/or non-timber forest production. The estimatedAmbiente – PROFEPA) is in charge of auditing andtotal tropical forest area harvested annually ismonitoring production areas and natural protected

179,000 hectares, distributed in 584 forest

areas. In addition, there are technical and capacity-management unitsc. Timber harvesting in moistbuilding institutes such as the National Forest andtropical forest involves the selective cutting of high-Agriculture Research Institute (Instituto Nacional devalue tree species, in particular Cedrela odorata

Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias).

(cedro rojo) and Swietenia macrophylla (caoba). Both

NGOs play a major advocacy role on behalf ofcommunities and are also important for informationsharing and capacity-building in respect to collaborative forest management. Community organizations
have a strong inﬂuence on the use and managementof forest areas.

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Forest management is conducted mainly in the
ejido-owned forests, most of which are locatedin the temperate and subtropical forest zone; theforest of each ejido can be considered as an FMU.

were once abundant in the forests of Yucatán, but
over-harvesting – including through illegal logging,a widespread problem in Mexico’s forestsc – and alack of regeneration of these light-demanding species
in closed forests have brought the sustainable
harvesting level to below 1 m3 per hectareb.
Well-established silvicultural systems known as
the Silvicultural Development Method (Método
de Desarrollo Silvícola) and the Mexican Methodof Forest Management (Método Mexicano deOrdenación de Montes) are applied in the temperate
and pine forests. In the Mayan zone in the stateof Quintana Roo, several well-functioning FMUs
are applying polycyclic forest management; someare also certiﬁed. In general, however, ejidos ﬁnd

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

255

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested tropical timber species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Swietenia macrophylla (caoba, kobchi)

Remains the major logged species in value
in all states of Yucatán

Cedrela odorata (cedro rojo)

Both caoba and cedro rojo are being planted
due to shortage of supply

Lysiloma latisiliquum (tzalam)
Lonchocarpus castilloi (machiche)
Metopium brownei (chechen)themselves in a vicious circle: income derived from

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

forest activities is insufﬁcient to justify the invest-

managed for production. Mexico has signiﬁcantly

ments required to improve their operationsb. The

strengthened its system for implementing SFM and

Mexican government has taken a wide range ofmany of the necessary elements are operational.

actions in the ﬁght against illegal logging. What isHowever, the process to improve production has

still missing is the involvement of public and private

been slow due to limited capacity and willingness

buyers through clear purchasing policies that willof the private sector to change forest management

prevent the access of illegal products to national

and industrial processing systemsb. An estimatedmarkets; improved information on the problem is

8.6 million hectares of natural forest are under somebalso needed .
Silviculture and species selection. Around one-thirdof hardwood timber production comes from tropical
species, among them the species listed in Table 2
as well as Pseudobombax ellipticum (amapola),
Dendropanax arboreus (sac-chaca), Dalbergia retusa(guanciban), Brosimum alicastum (ramon), Bucida
buceras (pucte) and Simarouba glauca (pasak).

form of forest management (Torres Rojo 2004);
this ﬁgure is more than the total estimated PFE andmight include some non-tropical forests in statesthat are mostly tropical. Of the 8,500 ejidos, 2,417
implemented commercial harvesting in 2002b. The
production potential of ‘high and medium’ forestsin the tropics is an estimated 1.4 million m3, much
more than current (ofﬁcial) productionb. The area of
tropical production PFE being managed sustainably

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

is estimated to be at least 111,000 hectares

Species of Eucalyptus are predominant, with a(Table 3); this includes only certiﬁed forests, as noplanted area of about 105,000 hectares, followed

information was available regarding the managementby pines (85,000 hectares) and Tectona grandis

of other forests in the production PFE.

(teak, teca – about 3,000 hectares); the latter isbecoming increasingly important as a plantation
speciesc. A national forest inventory in 1994
estimated that 10.7 million hectares of land wereavailable for the establishment of planted forest(CONAFOR 2001), but only 4–5 million hectares

Timber production and trade. In 1994, the total
growing stock of Mexican forests was an estimated
2.8 billion m3, of which 1.0 billion m3 were in tropicalregions (CONAFOR 2001); total roundwood
production was an estimated 45.5 million m3 inare suitable for that purposeb.

2003 (FAO 2005b). Ofﬁcial industrial roundwood

Forest certiﬁcation. As of September 2005, there

an estimated 781,000 m3 was non-coniferous andwere 41 FSC-certiﬁed FMUs covering a total area

606,000 m3 was tropical (ITTO 2006 in prep.);of 707,829 hectares of natural forest, the great

PROFEPA estimates the illegal volume of roundwood

majority community-owned (FSC 2005). Of these,from all forests to be in the range of 5–7 million m3 b.

twelve FMUs covering about 163,000 hectares

Most of the industrial roundwood production isare located in the tropical part of Mexico.

consumed within the country (ITTO 2005). There256

SFM TROPICS

production was 6.28 million m3 in 2003, of whichTable 3 Management of the tropical production PFE (’000 hectares)
NaturalPlanted

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

7,880

8,600

8,600

Certiﬁed

Sustainably
managed163

163

are more than 278 sawmills to process tropical3timber, with an average capacity of 5,100 m
b

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

100

34

0

found in forests (IUCN 2004). Mexico has listed
103 plant species in CITES Appendix I and 2,100

annual log consumption .

plant species in Appendix II (CITES 2005).

Non-wood forest products. More than 1,000

Extent of protected areas. Protected areas

species of NWFPs are used, of which 70 are(áreas naturales protegidas – ANPs) cover about

subject to some form of control (Torres Rojo

17.9 million hectares (9.2%) of the national territory.

2004). National commercial NWFP production

This is an increase of almost 70% in the last decade;was 143,000 tonnes in 2002, of which only 4%

they cover about 5.6 million hectares in tropical andwas sourced from states in the southeastern region

sub-tropical areasb. The system includes 34 biosphereof the country; the total value of this portion wasreserves (10.4 million hectares), 65 national parks

73 million pesosb. NWFPs include ornamental(1.39 million hectares), four natural monuments,

plants, resin, bamboo ﬁbres, wax, tannin and

27 protection areas of ﬂora and fauna (5.5 million

gums, medicine, fruits, nuts, spices and honey.

hectares), four natural protected areas for reclas-

The most important products from tropical regions

siﬁcation and one natural-resources protection area.

include copal, products from different palms such

Discrepancies remain in the deﬁnition and number

as Chamaedorea spp (palma camedor), Sabal spp

of protected areas; for example, it appears that

(palma de sombrero), Scheelea liebmannii (palma

some designated protected areas occur on privatereal), Byrsonima crassifolia (fruits of nanche),land, and their protection status is unclear. According

Pimenta dioica (pimiento gorda) and Manilkara

to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 1.04 million hectares ofzapota (chicozapote gum).

tropical forest are in protected areas classiﬁed inForest for protection

IUCN categories I–IV, of which 419,000 hectares
are lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest.

Soil and water. Large parts of Mexican forests

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

are classiﬁed as water protection areas (cuencas

managed for protection. No data were available

de amortiguamiento). Data on their extent are noton the status of management of the protection

available.

PFE (Table 4).

Biological diversity. Mexico is among the top ten
most biologically diverse countries in respect to theSocioeconomic aspects

number of vertebrates and vascular plants. It has

Economic aspects. The direct contribution of thethe highest diversity of reptiles of any country andtropical timber sector to employment could be asis third for bird diversity and fourth for terrestrial

high as 60,000, but a considerable number ofmammals. There are more plant species in Mexico

these people work informally and are not counted

than in the US and Canada combined. Seventy-four

in ofﬁcial statisticsb. The contribution of the national

mammals, 62 birds, 21 reptiles, 191 amphibians

forest sector to GDP was about 17 billion pesos,and 262 plants are listed as critically endangered,or 1%, in 2003b.

endangered or vulnerable on the IUCN red list of
threatened species; of these, 13 mammals, 39 birds,
three reptiles, 176 amphibians and 113 plants are

Livelihood values. It is estimated that about
12 million people live in or adjacent to forest.
They are generally considered the poorest segment

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

257

Table 4 Management of the tropical protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

5,600

1,040

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

of the rural population, and forests and matorrales
form an important component of their livelihoods.
A substantial number of ejidos depend mainly on

Key points•

but is still high.

forest activities for their livelihoodsb.
Social relations. Often, communities lack the•

Mexico has not formally designated a PFE.
ITTO estimates that about 13.6 million hectaresorganization and funds to manage forests andcan be considered to constitute a tropical PFE,

woodlands effectively. There is also often a divergencecomprising 7.88 million hectares of natural-forest

between national interests to protect and manage

production PFE, 5.60 million hectares of protection

forests and particular local interests. Recent conﬂicts

PFE and 100,000 hectares of industrial timber

have arisen due to the extension of protection areas

plantations.

without proper consultations with the people livingin these areasb. Another area of conﬂict is excessive

The rate of deforestation has apparently slowed•

The area of natural tropical production

utilization and unauthorized land conversion. TherePFE under SFM is estimated to be at leastis an ongoing conﬂict in tropical forest areas of the

111,000 hectares, corresponding to thestates of Chiapas and Oaxaca over a lack of accesstotal area of certiﬁed natural tropical forest;

to land and insecurity of tenure.

insufﬁcient information was available on theforest management outside these areas foran estimate to be made for the wider tropical

Summary
The management of Mexico's forests differs greatly
between the pine and oak forests in the temperate

production PFE.
•

management of Mexico’s tropical protection PFE.

zone, the forests in subtropical regions and the moist
tropical forests in the south. The rate of defores-

No data were made available on the status of•

About 8,500 ejidos and local communities own

tation has apparently slowed but is still high. Over-an estimated 80% of Mexico’s forests. Aboutharvesting and illegal harvesting of forest resources

15% is owned privately and 5% is national land.

is widespread (although less so in the tropics thanin the temperate zone); they exceed sustainable•

management of production forests, including

levels in many areas. Community management isin ejidos. Some states have also enacted their

the major form of forest management but, in manycases, communities are not equipped to manage
their forests sustainably. Some of the problems

own forestry/environmental laws.
•

The low ﬁnancial viability of natural forest
management appears to be inhibiting thethat obstruct progress towards the sustainableuptake of SFM in some ejidos.

management of the closed forest areas in communes(ejidos) include a lack of resources and know-how

A forest law enacted in 2003 governs the•

The national government has taken steps

for the economic use of forest resources andto combat illegal logging and forest ﬁre,discrepancies in the objectives between communities,

but both these problems are still prevalent.

the private sector and forest authorities. On the other
hand, good progress has been achieved in forest•

in the tropics is an estimated 1.4 million m3,

certiﬁcation, although much of this to date has beenmuch more than current (ofﬁcial) production.

outside the tropics. Moreover, the government has
taken steps to address shortcomings in the sector
and is attempting to combat illegal logging and ﬁre.

258

SFM TROPICS

The production potential of the natural forests•

Continuing conﬂicts over land-use are apparently
inhibiting SFM in some areas.

•Some forests are classiﬁed as protected areas
but are privately or communally owned, andtheir protection status is unclear.

FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC
International Center & Working Group, Germany.

References and other sources

Available from: http://www.fsc-info.orgb(accessed September 2005).

ITTO 2005. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000
and Sustainable Forest Management in Mexico.

World Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,at the thirty-ninth session of the International

Japan.

Tropical Timber Council, November 2005. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.
c

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theReport of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented

Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held
4-8 April 2005, Playa del Carmen, Quintana
Roo, attended by 46 people from government,
civil society and the private sector.

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database.
Available from: http://www.cites.org/eng/
resources/species.html (accessed September2005).

ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
SEMARNAT 2004. Anuario estadístico de la
producción forestal 2002. SEMARNAT, Mexico
City, Mexico.
SEMARNAT website. http://www.semarnat.gob.
mx (accessed November 2005).

CONAFOR 2001. Programa Nacional Forestal

Torres Rojo, J. 2004. Informe Nacional México.

2001–2006. Comisión Nacional Forestal

Estudio de tendencias y perspectivas deland Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos

sector forestal en América Latina al año

Naturales de México (SEMARNAT), Mexico City,

2020. SEMARNAT, Mexico City, Mexico/

Mexico.

FAO, Rome, Italy.

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003. Estado actual del sistema de información
forestal. Internal report. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).
Velasquez, A. 2002. Patrones y tasas de cambiodel uso del suelo en México. Gaceta Ecológica
62:21-27. Instituto Nacional de Ecología,
Mexico City, Mexico.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

259

PANAMA
1.1 million hectares can be considered young
secondary forests that are partly used for shifting
agriculture (ANAM 2003).
Forest types. The prevalent forest type in Panama
is semi-deciduous tropical moist forest, together
with lowland, sub-montane and montane evergreen
forests. Mangrove forests can be found on the
Paciﬁc coast. Tropical moist forests are typical of
the low-lying and medium-altitude parts of Darien,
where they cover a considerable area. These stands
are heterogeneous but always dominated by
Cavallinesia platanifolia, sometimes in combination
with Anacardium excelsum in the dominant storey,
and average 22–25 m or more in height. The lower
storey contains various species of palms. Other
forest types in the country characterized by thedominance of a few species are:*For legend see page 58•

Forest resources

Quercus (oak) forests, which are found in theTalamanca Mountains. These are sometimes
fully closed, with a dominant storey of two

Panama has a land area of 7.56 million hectares

species of oak and a few other species;

and a population of about 3 million people. It canbe divided into four biogeographical zones: (i) the•

cativo (Prioria copaifera) forests, which are

Cordillera de Talamanca, which extends southwards

found alongside mixed forest stands, always infrom Costa Rica in the west, with peaks of more

the proximity of rivers on inundated areas; andthan 3,000 m; (ii) the central lowlands, bisected by
the Panama Canal; (iii) the largely forested eastern•

Campnosperma panamensis forests, which
occur on poorly drained ground in the westernregion, characterized by a series of lower mountain

Atlantic coastal region.

ranges (San Blas and Portobello ranges) of up to
1,000 m and hilly landscapes up to 800 m (Darien);

Dynamics of forest resource change. Anand (iv) the lowlands on the Caribbean coast. Nearly

estimated 47,000 hectares of forest were lost

90% of the country lies below 1,000 m. Estimatesannually between 1992 and 2000 (ANAM 2003),

of forest cover include 2.88 million hectares (FAOa rate of 1.3% per year. The highest rate of2005), 3.01 million hectaresb, 3.3 million hectares

deforestation was in Comarca Ngobe Bugle in thea(ANAM 2003), and 3.48 million hectares . Aboutnorthwest of the country, with 10,000 hectares

2.6 million hectares are degraded primary forests

per year (2.7%), and in the Province of Darien, withand secondary forests (rastrojos), of which about

17,000 hectares per year (1.7%). Deforestation is

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed natural

2.88–3.48

3,052

260

SFM TROPICS

forest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

Production
NaturalPlanted

350b

56a,b

Protection

Total

1,580b

1,986

caused by urbanization, cattle ranching and agro-44). The ITTO C&I are used to monitor progress

industrial development, but also by unregulated

towards SFM. No integrated planning for land-use has

shifting cultivation (rozas) and, in already degradedbeen applied, nor is there any clear demarcation of acforest areas, by poor logging practices .

PFE. Boundaries have been delimited and management
plans prepared for some protected areas.

Permanent forest estate. According to existingland-use plans, 75% (5.6 million hectares) of theForest policy and legislation. A number of legislative

land is suitable for forest use and only 20% has goodchanges during the 1990s affected forestry. Law

agricultural potential. The forest law of 1994 (Ley

1/94 of 1994, which replaced Law 39 of 1966, was1/94) classiﬁes forest into production, protection

designed to conserve and manage forest resources

and special areas; these latter include scientiﬁc,sustainably. Law 1/94 also established a National

historic, educational, tourist and recreational areas.

Fund for Forest Development and Protection (Fondo

Of the present forested area, 350,000 hectaresde Protección y Desarrollo Forestal – FONDEFOR) to

are set aside for production, although this has notb,cyet been mapped or demarcated on the ground.

assist in forest promotion, protection management,
supervision, control and research, and forestry

About 140,000 hectares in the provinces ofextension. The fund, however, is not yet functioning,

Colón, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas have not yet

and all forest-related taxes go to general revenue.

been harvested and may be considered potential

Article 43 of Law 1/94 states that all private forest

production forest. The National Environmental

land covered by forests, either natural or artiﬁcial,

Authority (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente – ANAM)

is exempt from national taxes, provided that the(2003) estimated the area of protection forests tolandowner is registered in the Registro Forestal

be 1.18 million hectares, comprising 1.08 million

and a certiﬁcate of ownership has been issued.

hectares of forested areas in national parksb and96,000 hectares of forest reserves. The total
area of protection PFE is an estimated 1.58 million
hectaresb. Nearly 1 million hectares have not yet
been allocated; many of these areas, however,are classiﬁed under a protected-area categoryb.

The most important recent change, however, was
the introduction in 1998 of the general environmentallaw (Ley 41/98), which established principles andnorms for the protection, conservation and restoration of the environment, and for promoting thesustainable use of natural resources. Under thisPlanted forests. In 2004, there were about

new legislation, land capability planning has started

56,000 hectaresa,b of planted forest, most of themto provide a basis for environmental management.

cprivately owned . About 1.2 million hectares of land

The law also recognizes the rights of indigenous

are available for plantation developmenta.

communities to manage forests in the comarcas(Article 44). More recently, Decree Law No 2 ofInstitutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Forests are divided into public,
private and comarcas, or indigenous reserves, but the
majority of the forest estate is state-owned. Regarding
indigenous forest lands, the 1972 constitution
recognizes the collective landholding units known as
comarcas and gives them authority to manage their

January 2003 approved a set of forest management
guidelines for Panama.
Institutions involved in forests. Law 41/98
established ANAM, in charge of the overall
supervision and control of forestry. There are
200 forest professionals in Panama, of whichapproximately 40 work for ANAM (ANAM 2004).

lands according to customary law. Most of the closed

Various national and international NGOs are active

forest area is situated within the comarcas (Comarca

in forest management and conservation. Thesede Emberá-Wounaan, Comarca Kuna de Wargandi,

include the National Association for the Conservation

Comarca Kuna Yala and Comarca de Madungandi). The

of Nature (Asociación Nacional para la Conservación

comarcas comprise 28% of the national territoryde la Naturaleza – ANCON) and other associations(2.2 million hectares); large parts are forested.

such as Fundación NATURA and the National Parks

SFM policy framework. The forest law (Ley 1/94)
provides a framework for SFM (articles 26, 28 andand Environment Foundation (Fundación Parques
Nacionales y Medio Ambiente – PA.NA.M.A.).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

261

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001-2003)
Timber species

Remarks

Bombacopsis quinata (cedro espino)

Important timber species that has maintained its
value over many years

Anacardium excelsum (espavé)

Important timber species over the past ten years

Miroxylum balsamum (bálsamo)

Major timber species in the national market

Prioria copaifera (cativo)

Losing its value because of competition from cheap
plywood imports

Tectona grandis (teak, teca)

From plantations, increasingly important in thenational timber market

Status of forest management

management plans for SFM and independent

Forest for production

have been prepared. Forests are being high-gradedmonitoring of implementation, but few such plans

The framework for natural forest management is
set by Law 1/94 and its regulation 5/98. Forest
management in natural forests is carried out by way

through cutting permits, without regard to long-termsustainabilityc. Logged-over forests are generally
degraded.

of various types of timber-cutting licences, including

Silviculture and species selection. No formal

logging permits on private lands, special permits

silvicultural systems are applied in the naturalfor subsistence (granted to individuals for cutting

forests. The total number of tree species harvested

a small number of trees for personal use), ﬁve-year

and marketed to a signiﬁcant extent is between twelve

forest concessions for 1,000–5,000 hectares andand 15; the most commonly harvested are shown infor areas larger than 5,000 hectares, logging permits

Table 2, but new species are now being considered inand forest concessions for indigenous communities

the market, including Miroxylon balsamum (bálsamo),in the comarcas, and logging permits for community

Platymiscium pinnatum (quira), Hieronyma alchor-

forest plantations. Between 1991 and 1999, 29

neoides (zapatero), Puteria spp (platano), Gyranthera

forest concessions were granted over 67,150

darinensis (cucharo) and Astronium graveolens

hectares, but forest concession licences have been(zorro). Those most harvested previously included

suspended since 2002. Seventeen permits (overCarapa guinanensis (tangare), Cedrela odorata3,400 hectares) have been granted on private farms(cedro amargo), Tabebuia rosea (oak), Calophyllum

and 66 permits for communities over 15,000

brasiliense (maria), Copaifera aromatica (cabimo),

hectares. Six community permits were in operation

Dalbergia retusa (cocobolo), Ocotea spp (bambito)in September 2004, while ANAM granted approxi-

and Swietenia macrophylla (caoba).

bmately 5,200 subsistence permits in 2004 . Logging
under existing community permits is selective,
generally done without regard to forest management
guidelines, and is very detrimental to the remaining
forestb. Moreover, indigenous communities havebeen known to sell their rights to such permits to
private companies for meagre prices. Management
is occurring in some privately owned plantations andnational parks, and in privately owned tracts offorests located mostly in eastern Panama. Law
1/93 stipulates that the granting of licences for
new concessions is conditional on integrated forest

262

SFM TROPICS

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
Of the estimated 56,000 hectares of plantationsin 2003, 44,000 hectares have been establishedsince 1992b, the majority by private and community
landowners. While the main plantation species before
1990 was Pinus caribaea (pino caribe) at 7,000
hectares, after 1995 Tectona grandis (teak, teca)became the major species, with nearly 28,000
hectares of new plantations. Teak and pino caribe
account for about 80% of the planted area. Other
species planted are valuable hardwoods such as
Cordia alliodora (laurel), Bombacopsis quinata

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
NaturalPlanted

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

350

86

63

Certiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

0

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

56

32

12.2

(cedro espino), Terminalia amazonia (amarillo), caoba,

ﬁbres as Astrocaryum sp (chunga) and Carludovica

Hieronyma alchorneoides and Dipteryx panamensis

palmata (the ‘Panama-hat palm’) are used for(almendro).

handicrafts, as is the wood of Dalbergia retusa(cocolobo). Poles and leaves of Cryosophila guagara

Forest certiﬁcation. As of December 2005, sixplantations with a total area of 12,240 hectares had
been certiﬁed under the FSC umbrella (FSC 2005).
ANAM supports the development of voluntary(guagara) are used for local construction. Fruits
and nuts from forest trees are collected for local
use and sale, including Borojoa patinoi (borojó),
a fruit with aphrodisiac properties.

certiﬁcation through technical workshops, whichhave been held with NGOs and the private sector.
Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. The total area of forest
covered by management plans is about 63,000

Forest for protection
Soil and water. Forests managed principally
to protect soil and water cover about 326,000
hectares; most of these are situated in thehectares. Few if any of the existing concessions
are thought to manage their forests sustainablyc.
More than 1,000 small landowners manage about
32,000 hectares of planted forest.

watershed of the Panama Canal, which coversb

an area of 518,000 hectares . They have theimportant function of protecting the Panama Canalfrom siltation and ensuring an adequate supply of

Timber production and trade. Total roundwood

water for the locks. The Ministry of Health has a

3

production was an estimated 1.2 million m in 2000

program of forest restoration and reforestation in(ANAM 2004), 95% of which was for fuelwood

watersheds that serve as water sources for ruraland charcoal. Ofﬁcial industrial log production was
33

about 100,000 m in 2003, up from 48,000 m
in 1999 (ITTO 2004, 2005); an estimated350,000 m of logs are entering the local marketcfrom illegal sources . Sawnwood production in3

2003 was about 27,000 m (ITTO 2005). The
total installed sawmill capacity is approximately
200,000 m3 (ANAM 2004), which is double
current ofﬁcial industrial log production. The
primary-processing industry is very small, uses
antiquated equipment and is located mainly inthe periphery of Panama City; it is in such a poor

communities and municipalities.
Biological diversity. Panama is very biodiverse forits size. Estimates indicate over 10,000 species
of vascular plants, 218 mammal species, 929 bird
species, 226 reptiles and 164 amphibians (UNEPWCMC website). Eighteen mammals, 20 birds,
seven reptiles and 52 amphibians are listed as
critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable on
the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,seven mammals, 18 birds, 52 amphibians and four
plants are found in forests (IUCN 2004). Anotherstate that it faces extinction within ﬁve yearsb.

estimate of endangered species of ﬂora and fauna

Non-wood forest products. Numerous wildlife

CITES Appendix I and 543 in Appendix II, including

species provide important sources of protein in

caoba and Swietenia humilis (CITES 2005).

indigenous territories, including tapir, Agouti paca(conejo pintado), and other mammal species. Many
plants are collected for medicinal purposes. The
palm fruit Phytelephas seemannii (tagua) and such

is 5,308 speciesb. Six plant species are listed in

Extent of protected areas. The newly created
National System of Protected Areas has 50 protectedareas divided into 13 categories with an area

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

263

b,c

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (‘000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

1,580

1,040

326

396d

180c

of 2.45 million hectaresb (32% of the national

Livelihood values. Special consideration has been

territory). However, encroachment and timber theftgiven to the comarcas where community forest

in the protection PFE are widespreadc. Protectedconcessions can contribute to the livelihood of local

areas are distributed according to the following

communities; such approaches have been tested

main management categories: 17 national parks

through an ITTO project in the Kuna Yala commu-

with a total area of 1.3 million hectares, out ofnities on the Atlantic coast with limited success.

which 1.08 million hectares are forested; forest

Forests are generally considered a common goodreserves; four wildlife refuges (32,000 hectares);and there is little perception of their sustainable

protection forests; wetlands; natural monuments;

use on the part of stakeholders, including local

natural areas; hydro protection zones; wild areas;

communities, settlers invading forest areas from

biological corridors; and multiple-use areasa. The

other regions and commercial logging operators.

Darien National Park encompasses nearly 50%of the total forest protected area. Six protectedareas out of 43 are interconnected. An estimated

Summary

1.04 million hectares of forest are contained within

The management of Panama’s PFE is problematic.

protected areas conforming to IUCN protected-area

Concessions have been suspended, and smaller-scale

categories I–IV, including 741,000 hectares of

logging is being carried out with little oversight andlowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest (UNEP-

without detailed management plans or silvicultural

WCMC 2004).

prescriptions. The timber industry is in a poor
state, with antiquated equipment and an under-supply

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Insufﬁcient information
was made available for this report to enable anestimate to be made of the area being sustainably
managed over the entire protection PFE. However,an estimated 722,000 hectares of such forestsof legally produced timber. Large areas of forest areclassiﬁed as protected areas; nevertheless, they
are generally not managed or controlled effectively.
Forest plantations are being developed, mainly on
private properties. Forest management appears
strongest in the watershed of the Panama Canal.

are covered by administrative instrumentsb andbeneﬁt from some form of managementa. Simple
management plans exist for several protected forest
areas, but they are generally not implemented due

Key points•b

The PFE comprises an estimated 350,000

to a lack of ﬁnancial resources and personnel . The

hectares of natural production forest andcore protected forest area in the watershed of the

1.58 million hectares of protection forest.

Panama Canal (about 180,000 hectares) is generally

A further 1.60 million hectares of forest haveconsidered well managedc (Table 4).

not yet been allocated.
•

Socioeconomic aspects

No production PFE is considered to be undersustainable management. The estimated areaof protection PFE under SFM is estimated to

Economic aspects. The contribution of the forestasector to GDP is very low (less than 1% in 2002 ).

be at least 180,000 hectares, comprising the

However, it is an important economic factor locally,

core protection area of the Panama Canal.

particularly for indigenous communities; the forest
sector employs about 6,500 people, many of themrural poora.

264

SFM TROPICS•

The forest law recognizes the rights of indigenous communities to manage forests in indigenous reserves (called comarcas).

••

ANAM has insufﬁcient human and ﬁnancial

la cobertura boscosa y uso del suelo de la

and control of forestry operations necessary

Republica de Panama: 1992–2000. Informe

to ensure adherence to forest-related laws andFinal. Proyecto OIMT PD 54/98 Rev 1.

regulations.

Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente and ITTO,

The private sector and civil society have beenminimally involved in the preparation of SFM
policies and strategies.

•

There is a lack of information on the silvicultureof the country’s natural forests and an apparent
lack of research and training capacity.

•

Most of the protected areas and protection
forests are not well delimited and arethreatened by encroachment.

•

ANAM 2003. Informe ﬁnal de resultados deresources to carry out the ﬁeld-level monitoring

Illegal logging is widespread in the moist forest
area, even in protected areas. This is a signiﬁcant
impediment to long-term SFM.

Panama City, Panama.
ANAM 2004. Tendencias y Perspectivas delSubsector Forestal Nacional. Borrador
Final. Informe a la FAO, Febrero 2004.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,

References and other sources

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

aorg (accessed December 2005).

ANAM 2002. Informe sobre los Criterios
e Indicadores de la OIMT para la Ordenación

World Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,

Submitted to ITTO, April 2002. Prepared by

Japan.

Castillo, S., Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente,
Panama City, Panama. Unpublished.
b

ITTO 2004. Consecución del Objetivo 2000 yla Ordenación Forestal Sostenible en Panamá.
Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented at
the thirty-seventh session of the International
Tropical Timber Council, December 2004. ITTO,
Yokohama, Japan.

cInformation derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, heldd

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of the

Sostenible de los Bosques Tropicales Naturales.

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
UNEP-WCMC website. UNEP-WCMC Species
Database. http://www.unep-wcmc.org(accessed March 2003).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

29 March–2 April 2004, Panama City, Panama,

within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

attended by 42 people from government, civil

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

society and the private sector.

2004 (see Annex 1).

ITTO estimate

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

265

PERU
Forest types. The main forest type in Peru is
tropical moist forest (rainforest), with subtypes that
depend on altitude and the different soils within the
Amazon Basin, particularly their position in relation
to rivers. The alluvial forests, including those on thelower river terraces, offer some of the best potential
for integrated forest management and agroforestry
because of their vigorous growth, ﬂat terrain andbetter accessibility; their upper stories are generally
35–40 m in height. These forests have been used
intensively in the past, leaving large expanses ofsecondary forest (purma) dominated by stands offast-growing, light-demanding pioneer species. Hill
forests – on rolling terrain with moderate slopes –are the most widespread forest type in the tropicalmoist forest area.
Dynamics of forest resource change. Annual*For legend see page 58

deforestation in Peru averaged an estimated 0.4%

Forest resourcesin the period 1990–2000 (FAO 2005a); the current

Peru, the third-largest country in South America, has

Deforestation is caused mainly by the establishment

a land area of 129 million hectares and a populationof 27.1 million people. It has three distinct biogeographical zones. The desert coastal region covers
13.6 million hectares, the semi-arid Andean mountain
range (sierra) 39.2 million hectares, and the moist
tropical Amazon Basin, including the eastern humid
slopes of the Andes, 75.7 million hectares. Ninety-

rate is an estimated 269,000 hectares per yeara.
of new settlements due to migration from the Andes,
migratory agriculture, illicit cultivation of coca, andthe expansion of urban centres such as Iquitos and
Pucallpa.
Permanent forest estate. Under the forest lawof 2000 (Ley 27308/2000), the forest is classiﬁed

two per cent of Peru’s forests lie in the Amazon

into the following categories:

Basin. Estimates of Peru’s forest area include•

production forests (permanent and in reserve);•

forests on protection land;•

forests for future use (forest plantations,65.2 million hectares (FAO 2005a), 71.1 million
hectares (UNEP-WCMC 2004), 78.6 millionahectares and 86.4 million hectares (governmentof Peru 2000). Peru has the second-largest forest

secondary forests and degraded forests forestate in Latin America and the eighth-largest globally.

restoration);

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)a,d,*
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted65.2–86.4

64,20424,600200–300* CIEF pers. comm., December 2005** Includes 250,000 hectares of plantations

266

SFM TROPICS

Production

Protection

Total

16,30041,150**•

natural protected areas;•

forests in native and rural communities; and•local forests.

accepted ITTO’s C&I to be used at the FMU level.
Speciﬁc C&I were prepared for the ﬁrst permanent
production forest in Biabo in 1999. The concession
management plans for all other production forests

Permanent production forests are intended forare based on these C&I.

timber production and the conservation of forest

Forest policy and legislation. The forest legislation

resources; an approved forest management planof 1975 was completely revised recently with theis required. As of 2005, 24.6 million hectares ofpermanent production forests had been establishedin the Amazon Basin in the departments of Loreto(14.8 million hectares), Ucayali (4.09 million
hectares), Madre de Dios (2.52 million hectares),
San Martin (1.5 million hectares), Huanuco(880,000 hectares), Junin (250,000 hectares),
Pasco (180,000 hectares), Cuzco (170,000
hectares), and Ayacucho and Puno (CIEF pers.
comm., December 2005).

support of an ITTO project (PD 42/96 (F)). The
current forestry and wildlife law and its regulations(Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre – Ley 27308 – andReglamento de la Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre– Decreto Supremo 014/2001-AG) were approvedin 2000 and 2001 respectively, and a new national
forest strategy was prepared in 2002. This strategy
presents an historic analysis/baseline for the forest
sector; deﬁnes a vision and strategic principles,
strategic objectives, expected outputs, and programs

Planted forests. There is some uncertainty

for the development of the sector; and provides

about the area of planted forests. According toindicators to monitor the progress made. The

one estimate, the total forest plantation area was

document has been widely discussed in a participatorya

650,000 hectares in 2001 . The planned planting

process and was ofﬁcially adopted by the Peruvian

rate since 1997 is reported to be 50,000 hectares

government in August 2004 (Decreto Supremoaper year , but this may not have been fully achieved.

031-2004-AG). The new forestry and wildlife law

Current realistic estimates suggest the total forestry

embodies the forest policy of the country (articles

plantation area to be between 200,000 and

3–7) and prescribes several options for SFM and

300,000 hectares (CIEF pers. comm., December

reforestation, including:2005). Most plantations are located in the Andean
region, the main species there being Eucalyptus•

NWFPs, ecotourism and environmental services

globulus. About 70% of all planted forest is privately(Article 10);or community owned, and 30% is owned publicly.
••(Decree 014/2001); andthe forest are owned by communities. In 2002,
public forests reserved for communities and indigenous groups, of which 6.2 million hectares had land
titlesa. In the Peruvian Amazon, 1,192 indigenous
communities possess land rights. There is uncertainty
regarding the extent of ownership of Amazonian
forest by community and indigenous groups. FAO(2003a) estimated that some 22.5 million hectares
were so owned; others suggest that clear land titles
only cover around 10 million hectares (J. Leigh,pers. comm., December 2005).

the sustainable management of local forests
by local governments and rural populations

public, private and indigenous. Large parts of
8.4 million hectares of forests were classiﬁed as

the sustainable management of forests belonging
to indigenous communities (Article 12);Institutional arrangements
Forest tenure. Forest lands are classiﬁed into

40-year concessions for commercial timber,•the establishment of 40-year reforestation
concessions (Article 28).

Forestry is a major part of the changing politicalcontext in Peru. Forests have become a major
issue in the National Governance Agreement that
institutionalizes dialogue between different actors,
deﬁnes approaches to development and strategies
for poverty reduction, and aims to improve foodsecurity, employment and social cohesion. The
administration of forest resources will also be
included in the continuing political decentralization

SFM policy framework. Peru has recently developed

from central to regional governments. Moreover,standards for forest management. It has adopted

forestry is an important element in deﬁning anational C&I based on the Tarapoto process and has

policy for rural development.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

267

Institutions involved in forests. The forest sector

de Pueblos Andinos, Amazónicos y Afroperuanos) areis overseen by the National Institute for Natural

also strongly involved in forest issues. The University

Resources (Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturalesof La Molina has a strong forestry faculty that is– INRENA), which was set up in 1992 under theactively involved in SFM research. All the afore-

Ministry of Agriculture. INRENA also runs thementioned, together with government institutions

state system of natural protected areas (Sistema

and private-sector representatives, are also ofﬁcial

Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas por elmembers of the National and Regional Forestry

Estado – SINANPE). The National Consultative

Dialogue and Consensus Roundtables (Mesas

Council for Forest Policy (Consejo Nacionalde Diálogo y Concertación Forestal Nacional yConsultivo de Política Forestal) is a legally constituted

Regionales), which meet periodically to discussnational consultative council to supervise environ-

the implementation of forest policies.

mental and forest policy. However, as of December
2005 it had not been physically established. In addition,
an independent forest control and supervision agency(Organismo Supervisor de los Recursos Forestales
Maderables – OSINFOR) was created in 2000 and

Status of forest management
Forest for production

subsequently incorporated into INRENA with limited

Up to mid 2002, some 1.85 million hectares ofautonomy. An independent agency for the promotion

forests were harvested under the old harvestingof forest-based production and forest industries andregime through more than 1,500 harvesting

the marketing of environmental services of forests

contracts, most of them with an area of less(Fondebosque) has been created and is supported

than 1,000 hectares. The total cumulative autho-

by several international donors; it provides technicalrized timber volume under these contracts was

assistance, training and ﬁnancial services to timber

3.64 million m3. Concessionaires often worked

producers. National development institutions suchwith subcontractors, who brought in their own

as the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (Instituto

equipment and personnel and were paid on volume

de Investigación de la Amazonía Peruana – IIAP)

extracted. However, basic silvicultural and operational

play important roles in the promotion of SFM at themeasures such as RIL that might ensure sustainablelocal level. With the assistance of an ITTO project,yield were generally not applied. Extraction remained

INRENA has enhanced its forest production statis-

selective, concentrating on the species of hightical capabilities through its Centre for Strategiccommercial value or wide industrial use. By mid

Forestry Information (Centro de Información

2003, only 151,000 hectares of forest licences

Estratégica Forestal – CIEF).

were still operating under this old regime.

National and international NGOs are very active

The new forestry and wildlife law eliminated thein Peruvian forestry and are inﬂuential in theformer harvesting contracts and established long-development of policy; WWF Peru, Foro Ecológico,term concessions over larger areas; these areConservation International Peru, ProNaturaleza

allocated by public auction and carry an obligation(Fundación Peruana para la Conservación de la

to present and comply with a long-term forest

Naturaleza) and Red Ambiental, for example, aremanagement plan and yearly operational plans.

important in driving forest conservation and theSilvicultural treatments and RIL now form part offorest concession reform process. Various private-

the terms of reference for management plans andsector organizations are also involved, the mostyearly plans of operation and are being applied in

active being the National Forestry Chamber (Cámara

at least 40% of the concessions (CIEF pers. comm.,

Forestal Nacional), the National Timber Corporation

December 2005). The public forests so far classiﬁed(Corporación Nacional de la Madera del Perú) andas permanent production forest and registered inregional forest producer associations, in particularpublic registries have been divided into harvestingathose of Madre de Dios and Ucayali . Indigenous

units that range in size from 5,000 to 10,000

peoples’ associations such as the National

hectares. The granting of concessions has been

Development Institute of the Andeans, Amazon People

organized through public competition with theand Afro-Peruvians (Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo

following conditions: the length of concession

268

SFM TROPICS

c,

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (1991–2004) *Timber species

Remarks**

Cedrelinga catenaeformis (tornillo)

112,441 m3/year

Swietenia macrophylla (caoba)

53,256 m3/year

Cedrela odorata (cedro)

52,997 m3/year

Virola spp (cumala)42,719 m3/year

Hura crepitans (catahua)

27,731 m3/year* CIEF pers. comm., December 2005** Average sawnwood production over the period

is 40 years and renewable; the total area designatedlesser-known species and intensify their logging

for concessions until 2005 was 24.6 million hectares;

operations, at least until the silvicultural prescrip-

bidding is open to national and foreign companies

tions to be implemented as part of the management

under two types of bidding system – public auctionplans developed under the new forest concessions(subasta publica) for concessions of 10,000–

regime achieve harvestable volumes of the high-value

50,000 hectares, and public bidding (concursocommercial species. The ﬁnancial viability of the

público) for concessions of 5,000–10,000 hectares;

concessions will depend in large measure on theirand the maximum cumulative area for a conces-ability to obtain good prices for such species.

sionaire is 100,000 hectares under the public

Concession areas are also generally relatively

auction system and 50,000 hectares under thesmall, typically 12,000–20,000 hectares. There ispublic bidding system.

some question about whether concessions of such

By 2005, long-term concessions covering

size will encourage substantial capital investment.

7.54 million hectares had been allocated as

The new forest law speciﬁes forest audits

follows (CIEF pers. comm., December 2005):

every ﬁve years and the renewal or suspension•

Department Madre de Dios:
85 concessions totalling 1.30 million hectares;•••

the results of such audits, which are based on
the application of a set of C&I for SFM derived

Department Loreto:from ITTO and the Tarapoto process. In addition,

242 concessions totalling 2.58 million hectares;

extraordinary inspections are being carried out

Department Ucayali:

in the forest concessions as part of the country’s

171 concessions totalling 2.88 million hectares;

CITES-Appendix II mahogany observation strategy.

Department San Martin:the volumes and species of all legally harvested

34 concessions totalling 498,000 hectares; and•of concession agreements depends absolutely on

Department Huanuco:
48 concessions totalling 286,000 hectares.

Through CIEF, INRENA has the capacity to tracktimber from concessions and other permits.
Silviculture and species selection. At least 90
species are used for timber and timber products;

Many of these concessions are in formerly selectively

about 20 meet 80% of the demandc. In the past,

harvested areas such as the ﬂood zone along

the major timber species harvested in the Peruvian

Amazonian tributaries and constitute what in someAmazon was Swietenia macrophylla (caoba), andareas will be the third intervention within the lastthis is still an important species; Peru became the

30–40 years. Generally, the species harvested

largest single exporter of it after Brazil banned its

have changed, as many primary species are no

harvesting and export. Its high value also encourages

longer present in large volumes. It is expectedillegal activities: INRENA has reported that, in 2003,

that the new concessions will harvest increasingly

90% of illegally traded logs were of caoba; there arealso indications that caoba and other high-value

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

269

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagementplans

24,600

8,000

5,000

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

59.5*

560

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

200–300

80* Includes 32,600 hectares of semi-natural and mixed plantation and natural forest

species are being obtained illegally from protectedcsystem for the voluntary certiﬁcation of forest

and indigenous areas . Guazuma spp (bolaina) andproducts, and several companies have commenced

Calycophyllum spruceanum (capirona) are the species

a pre-certiﬁcation processc.

most traded in the domestic market. Other important
species include Virola spp (cumala), Amburana
cearensis (ishipingo), Dipteryx micrantha (shihuahuaco), Hura crepitans (catahua), and Cariniana
decandra (cachimbo). Table 2 shows the ﬁve mostcommonly harvested species, ranked by averagesawnwood production for the period 1991–2004.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. It is difﬁcult to estimate
the area of forest that is sustainably managed.
The system of forest concessions is very new andthere is little information on how that part of the
PFE with management plans is being managed. An
estimated 500,000 hectares of concessions are

Planted forest and trees outside the forest. 1997

undergoing certiﬁcation processes and, with thewas declared the ‘Year of Reforestation’ in Peru andalready-certiﬁed forest, form the minimum set ofin 1999 an ambitious reforestation scheme wassustainably managed forest shown in Table 3.

started under the name Sierra Verde. Between
1997 and 2000 Prosopis was sown over morethan 400,000 hectares to thicken sparse woody
formations and to establish new woody cover where
there was none before. However, it is estimated that
only 10% survived. In 2005, reforestation was
declared of national interest by Supreme Decree003-2005-AG; a national reforestation plan has
been developed and is to be launched shortly.
A considerable number of long-term reforestationand enrichment-planting trials of native species
such as Cedrelinga catenaeformis (tornillo),
Simarouba amara (marupa), Parkia velutina(pashaco) and others in the Peruvian Amazon (egin Jenaro Herrera, Bosque Von Humbolt and Tingo
Maria) have been established, with good results.
However, these trials have not yet been expanded
to an operational scale.

Timber production and trade. Roundwood production
in 2003 was estimated to be 10.3 million m3, of
which 9.10 million m3 was fuelwood (FAO 2005b).
National production of industrial timber in 2003 wasan estimated 1.29 million m3 of logs, 528,000 m3
of sawnwood and about 101,000 m3 of plywood(ITTO 2006 in prep.). It is estimated that the
maximum sustainable harvest under a 40-year
polycyclic system is in the range 25–40 m3 perhectareb; current offtake would appear to be well
below that. It is estimated that there are 250
sawmills in Peru, the majority with a small installedcapacity (averaging 2,900 m3/yr)b. About 25% ofthem have bandsaws and a capacity of 10,000 m3
per year or more. There are also ﬁve veneer mills,
twelve plywood mills, 20 parquet plants and 80 small
workshops producing fruit boxes, etc (FAO 2003a).
Almost all the wood is used domestically; only aForest certiﬁcation. According to FSC (2005),

very small amount is exported. The export of logs

one natural forest covering 26,936 hectares was

is not permitted; only processed products may

certiﬁed as of December 2005, and one semi-natural

be exported.

and mixed plantation and natural forest area covering
about 32,600 hectares. Both belong to indigenous
communities in Ucayali. A national working groupon forest certiﬁcation, coordinated by WWF Peru,
is working on the establishment of an FSC-accredited

270

SFM TROPICS

Non-wood forest products. The use of NWFPs
is widespread in Peru, particularly in the Peruvian
Amazon, where over 130 products have been
identiﬁed for major local consumption and national
and international trade. Important products forTable 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

16,300

3,130

390

n.d.

1,540dthe international market include Prosopis julifora

Protective measures in production forests.

(algarroba) from dry zones (6.5 million kg per year),Management-plan prescriptions for forest conces-

Uncaria tomentosa (uña de gato or cat’s claw,

sions give clear guidance on leaving protection strips

500,000 kg per year), Bertholletia excelsa (castaña

along streams; they specify species to be protectedor Brazil nut, 1 million kg per year), Caesolpinia tara

and refer to wildlife protection in concession areas.

(tara fruit, 3.9 million kg per year), palmito (palmThere are also prescriptions for RIL.

heart, 200,000 kg per year), Croton lechleri (sangrede grado), caña brava and caña hueca (1.1 million
units per year), and a great number of medicinal
and aromatic plantsa. Trade in NWFPs in 2000
earned more than US$14 milliona.

Forest for protection

Extent of protected areas. In 2001, new naturalprotected areas were deﬁned and existing protectedareas were reclassiﬁed. The well-developed andrelatively well-funded system of protected areas,
SINANPE, now contains 61 protected areas covering
an area of 17.7 million hectares, or 14% of thecountry. Protected areas include national parks,

Soil and water. Soil and watershed conservation isnational reserves, national sanctuaries, historic

important, particularly in the Andes. The Nationalsanctuaries, hunting reserves, communal reserves,

Program for the Management of Water Catchments

reserved zones and protection forests. Their mainand Soil Conservation (Programa Nacional de Manejo

purpose is to protect representative ecosystems

de Cuencas hídrograﬁcas y de Conservación deand their biodiversity. According to UNEP-WCMC

Suelos) has been carrying out the most extensive(2004), 3.13 million hectares of forest are inforestry program in the country; it aims to use

protected areas conforming to IUCN protected-areaparticipatory programs of social development tocategories I—IV, including 1.9 million hectares ofcontribute to soil and water conservation based

lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest. Based onon reforestation. A total of 390,000 hectares

provisions in the new forestry and wildlife law, inof forest are classiﬁed as exclusively for soil andJuly 2001 INRENA granted an area of 135,832

water protectiona. The total forest carbon stock
is estimated at 6.4 billion tons, 95% of which isin Amazonian forestsa.
Biological diversity. Peru has a great range of
geographical conditions and is very biodiverse.
It contains 10% of the global total of ﬂowering
plants (40,000–50,000 plant species), 462
mammals, 1,816 birds, 360 reptiles, 332
amphibians, 2,000 sea ﬁsh and 797 fresh water

hectares as a ‘conservation concession’ for a periodof 40 years to a private association (the Amazon
Watershed Conservation Association – Asociaciónpara la Conservación de la Cuenca Amazónica –ACCA). In such concessions, protection activities,
ecotourism and the sustainable use of NWFPs may
be carried out, but not logging. It is expected that
more concessions will be granted in the future for
NWFPs and conservation.

ﬁsh. Forty-eight mammals, 97 birds, eight reptiles,

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

78 amphibians and 276 plants are listed as criticallymanaged for protection. The area of protection

endangered, endangered or vulnerable on the IUCNPFE managed sustainably is estimated to be at

red list of threatened species; of these, 19 mammals,

least 1.54 million hectares, which includes the core

70 birds, 62 amphibians and two plants are foundwater protection forests of about 60,000 hectaresc;

in forests (IUCN 2004). Twelve plants are listed

the totally protected portion of the Peruvian partin CITES Appendix I; 463, including caoba, inof the transboundary protected areas of Tambopata

Appendix II; and one in Appendix III (CITES 2005).

(1.09 million hectares) and El Condor (253,000

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005271

hectares), which are supported by ITTO projects;

embodies the forest policy of the country andand the ACCA conservation concession (136,000

prescribes several options for SFM and refores-

hectares). Moreover, large areas of the protection

tation. An independent forest-control mechanism

PFE, even if not formally under SFM, are under nohas been established and a broad coalition of

imminent threat due to their remoteness.

stakeholders from the public and private sectors
and civil society works together to develop joint

Socioeconomic aspects

approaches to SFM. Nevertheless, Peru still facessome major challenges in enforcing and applying

Economic aspects. The contribution of theforest sector to GDP is around 1%a. An estimated250,000 jobs are generated directly by forestryb

activities, over 50% of them in the Peruvian Amazon .
The forest industry and small- to medium-sizedenterprises are mostly located in Lima, Trujillo,

regulations and planning instruments in the
country’s vast Amazon forests.

Key points•

Chiclayo, Cuzco, Iquitos, Pucallpa and Tarapoto andemploy more than 82,000 people. The contributionof forestry, however, is not only made through direct

potential for sustainable management.
•

The PFE comprises an estimated 24.6 million
hectares of natural production forest,

employment but also through the provision of a200,000–300,000 hectares of plantations

wide range of goods for consumption, handicrafts

and 16.3 million hectares of protection forest.

and small commerce. Fuelwood collection is still

A further 19.1 million hectares of forest havethe main extractive use of the country’s natural

not yet been allocated.

forests. Small-scale logging is important both
economically and socially in the Amazon; nearly

Peru has a large forest resource with good•

At least 560,000 hectares of production PFE

all forest areas close to the main rivers have been

and 1.54 million hectares of protection PFE areheavily harvested.

being managed sustainably. Moreover, large areasof the protection PFE, even if not formally underLivelihood values. Many NWFPs are used and traded

SFM, are under no imminent threat due tolocally, such as fruits and vegetables like Mauritia

their remoteness.

ﬂexuosa (aguaje), camu-camu and palmito, local
bamboo (Guadua angustifolia), palms and ﬁbres.

•of protein throughout the Amazon.

59,600 hectares of natural forests have beencertiﬁed in indigenous territories.

Wildlife, particularly ﬁsh, is an important source•

The deforestation rate of about 269,000 hectares

Social relations. The Peruvian Amazon remains a

per year is one of the highest in the region; it isfrontier for settlers from other parts of Peru, manycaused largely by the inﬂux of settlers to theof whom engage in small-scale and often illegal

Amazon region and subsequent clearance for

logging. The social impacts of the new concession

agriculture.

system are unknown. Illegal harvesting of thetwo most important species, caoba and cedro,•

were approved in 2000/2001, a national forest

is widespreadc. Logging by outsiders of indigenous

strategy was adopted in 2004 and a nationaland community lands can cause intra-community
conﬂicts, including over the distribution of payments.
Narcotic crops, particularly coca, are planted byreforestation plan was prepared in 2005.
•

will probably require substantial investments incthe forest .

Over the past three years, Peru has taken signiﬁcantsteps towards integrating the forest sector into thebroader macroeconomic objectives of sustainable
development. The new forestry and wildlife law

272

SFM TROPICS

The forestry and wildlife law is a bold initiative
to promote SFM; its effective implementation

shifting cultivators in ﬁelds and small openings in

Summary

A new forestry and wildlife law and its regulations

human resources in both the public and private
sectors.
•

Among other things, the new law sets out theparameters of a new concession system.

•

An independent forest control and supervisionagency has been created to oversee theimplementation of this new system.

•The ﬁnancial viability of SFM will depend in large
measure on the prices that can be obtained fora range of lesser-known species.

•

There are many informal forest operations,especially linked to caoba and cedro, but these
species are becoming economically scarcer.
Harvesting pressure for such timbers isincreasing both in protected areas and inforests belonging to indigenous communities.

•

The capacity to implement SFM at the ﬁeld levelis low, although considerable efforts are being
made to address this through training andtechnical assistance.

FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003a. Estado actual del sistema de información forestal. Internal report. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2003b. State of Forestry in the Latin
American and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO
Regional Ofﬁce for Latin America and the
Caribbean, Santiago, Chile.
FAO 2005a. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005b. Yearbook of Forest Products 2003.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
Ferroukhi, L. (ed) 2003. Municipal Forest

References and other sourcesa

INRENA 2002. Informe Nacional sobre
Criterios e Indicadores para la Ordenación
Submitted to ITTO, March 2002. Instituto

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

Nacional de Recursos Naturales, Lima, Peru.

org (accessed December 2005).
Government of Peru 2000. Informe de Progreso

ITTO 2003. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000

para Lograr el Objetivo del Año 2000 de la

and Sustainable Forest Management in Peru.

OIMT. Submitted to ITTO, October 2000.

Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented

Unpublished.

Tropical Timber Council, November 2003.
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
Information derived from the report of, anddiscussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators,
held 17–22 November 2003, Pucallpa, Peru,
attended by 40 people from government, civilsociety and the private sector.
d

FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide.
FSC International Center & Working Group,at the thirty-ﬁfth session of the InternationalcBogor, Indonesia.

Sostenible de los Bosques Tropicales Naturales.

Unpublished.
bManagement in Latin America. CIFOR/IDRC,

ITTO estimate

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).

INRENA website. http://www.inrena.gob.pe(accessed November 2004).
ITTO 2006 in prep. Annual Review and Assessmentof the World Timber Situation 2005 (draft).
ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

273

SURINAME
Forest types. Three major forest types can be
distinguished, corresponding to the three major
biogeographical zones: (i) the hydrophytic forestsin the north, which comprise swamp forests,
mangroves and ridge and marsh forests; (ii)xerophytic savanna forests in the savanna belt;
and (iii) the predominant mesophytic moistbforest types of the Guyana Shield .
Dynamics of forest resource change. Suriname
does not face the population and migration pressuresthat have led to deforestation in other countries;
FAO (2005) estimated the rate of deforestation in
1990–2000 to be virtually zero. More than 400,000
hectares of swamp and savanna forests are degraded
due to poor-quality logging and mining operationsb.
Occasional forest ﬁre is considered to be the mainpresent threat to forest resources.

*For legend see page 58

Forest resources

Permanent forest estate. A ﬁrst attempt was madeto establish a PFE (Table 1) following the enactment

The Republic of Suriname has a land area ofof the Forest Management Act in 1992; the total

16.3 million hectares and an estimated population

PFE is estimated to be 11.3 million hectares,of 400,000 people. A lowland region and theof which 6.89 million is allocated to production.

southern highlands account for 80% of the land

ITTO (2003), however, estimated the accessiblearea and form part of the pre-Cambrian Guyana
Shield that straddles Suriname, Guyana and French
Guiana. In contrast to neighbouring Guyana, however,sandstone mountains are conﬁned to a few areas
and only rise as high as 1,280 m above sea level.
Along the northern edge of the shield lies a savanna

production forest to be 4.5 million hectaresb.
Planted forests. An estimated 52,347 hectaresof planted forest once existed in Suriname, but
only about 7,000 hectares remain todayb.

belt, beyond which is a narrow swampy coastal plain

Institutional arrangements

where 90% of the population is concentrated.

Forest tenure. According to the 1987 consti-

Estimates of forest area include 14.1 million
hectares (FAO 2005), 14.8 million hectaresb
and 13.6 million hectares (UNEP-WCMC 2004).

tution, all forests, except those on privately owned
land, belong to the state. The constitution does
not provide for collective rights or the collective

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)d
Estimated total

Total closed naturalforest area, range(million hectares)

forest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted13.6–14.8

14,1006,890*

7b

Production

Protection

Total

4,430**

11,327* Estimate based on Republic of Suriname (2000)** The protection PFE includes protection forest, special protected forest and nature conservation forest. Not all this area has beenformally designatedb

274

SFM TROPICS

use of land, but Amerindian and Maroon people

Control (Stichting voor Bosbeheer en Bostoezicht –(the latter being descendants of slaves of African

SBB), which was established in 2001, is responsible

origin) claim these rights.

for forest management and the monitoring andSFM policy framework. The Forest Management
Act (1992) provides criteria for the sustainable useof forest resources. In addition, the government
plans to develop national C&I for SFM as part of
the Amazon Cooperation Treaty initiative. A recent
ITTO diagnostic mission to Suriname proposed theestablishment of a forestry database that would
include: the classiﬁcation of the potential of forest
land; a national forest inventory; an assessmentof forest industry with economic analyses; a surveyof the wood-processing industry; and an update ofb

the concession database .

control of logging; it derives its mandate fromthe forest service (Lachtwet en BosBeheer – LBB).
The LBB is in charge of nature conservation andthe management of nature reserves in collaboration
with the Foundation for Nature Conservation(STINASU)b. Preparations are now being madeto establish a single forest authority (see above),which will also be responsible for nature conservation.
Some research and development related tosustainable management is conducted by SBB,
partly implemented with international support. This
includes a study on the promotion of the efﬁcientuse of forest resources through management

Forest policy and legislation. The Forest

planning, the issuance of forest licences, guidelines

Management Act covers the sustainable andfor forest inventory, and the rehabilitation of therational use of forest resources, taking into

forestry training centre for vocational training.

account the interests of forest-dwellers and theconservation of nature and biological diversity.
Its provisions cover: the classiﬁcation of forests for
production, protection and conservation; regulations
for forest management and harvesting to stimulate
the sustainable use of timber; and regulations forforest transport and the processing industry.

National environmental NGOs are weak, but theinﬂuence of international environmental organizations
in various aspects of natural resource management
is high. The Amazon Conservation Team is working
on the use of NWFPs and participatory land-use
mapping involving local communities and thegovernment (Tropenbos International 2004).

Rules for the implementation of the act wereprepared between 1997 and 2000 with technicalassistance from FAO and funding from theNetherlandsb. A new national forest policy was
adopted in 2003 that lays down guidelines for

Status of forest management
Forest for production

achieving SFM. The Forest Management Act is

In 1993, Suriname invited international investors

now being revised to provide more coherence into establish logging concessions in the country.

the legislation, clearer management prescriptions

The requirements for management plans address

for SFM and, eventually, to establish a single

criteria or methods for SFM in only a limited way,forest authority. The national forest policy has

and management plans appear to serve as an

been described as a balanced policy conducive toadministrative tool for charging levies and fees

achieving SFM, although in the view of two stake-rather than providing guidance in SFM. There areholder groups it is not yet concrete enough andseveral systems for timber licensing, including

may leave too much room for manoeuvringb.

concessions, communal wood-cutting permits

A draft environmental act is also being discussed
in Parliament. This will have important proceduralconsequences for the issuance of timber licences
and the installation of timber-processing units. In theabsence of agreed national C&I, the environmental
impact assessments described in this act will beessential for monitoring progress towards SFM.
Institutions involved in forests. The semi-autonomous
Foundation for Forest Management and Forest(houtkapvergunningen – HKVs) and ‘incidental
cutting licences’ (ICLs). The procedures for granting
concessions and licences were not transparent in
the past. Concessions vary in length between one
and 20 years, but it is now proposed by the forest
authority that this should be increased to 25 years.
As of late 2003, 67 concessions had been
allocated over a total area of 1.74 million hectares.
Thirty-three licences are for areas smaller than

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

275

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species forbindustrial roundwood (2001-2003)

more than 600 tree species have been described.
Some 50 species are known as class A commercial
species and about 100 as class B. The species listed

Timber species

in Table 2 are harvested in the highest volumes.
International markets particularly seek Tabebui

Dicorynia guianensis (basralocus)

serratifolia (groenhart), Peltogyne venosa

Virola spp (baboen)(purperhart), Dicorynia guianensis (basralocus),Hymenae courbaril (rode locus) and Ocotea rubra

Qualea rosea (gronfolo)(wana)b. The Celos Management System – anGoupia glabra (kopie)

experiment in polycyclic silviculture to sustain
timber production by RIL and post-harvesting

Ocotea rubra (wana)silvicultural treatments – was applied in Suriname
on a limited scale in the 1980s and 1990s.

5,000 hectares in size, ten between 5,000 and
10,000 hectares, and eight are large, foreignowned concessions between 100,000 and
150,000 hectares totalling 1.09 million hectares.
Of the latter, 740,000 hectares have been
considered idle or non-compliant and are waiting
for ﬁnal withdrawal noticeb. HKVs are granted
to Amerindian or Maroon communities on stateowned lands; approximately 435,000 hectares offorests have either been granted as HKVs or, since
the Forest Management Act of 1992, have been
allocated as ‘community forests’ to such commu-

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.
The predominant planted species for industrial
purposes is Pinus caribaea – about 58% of theplantations. The rest are planted with broadleaved
species and are more of an experimental nature.
The principal indigenous species are Cedrela spp,
Cordia alliodora and Simaruba amara; the main
exotic species are eucalypts. Some of the forest
plantations are mature enough to harvest, butmany have not yet been thinned. There is little
information about standing volume, growth rates
or current condition.

nities. Community forests are for local use only,

Forest certiﬁcation. There are no certiﬁed forests

and not for commercial purposes. ICLs are granted

in Suriname. An FSC National Working Group was

to individuals for subsistence purposes and are

established in June 1998; this evolved into a working

used generally for converting forest to subsistencegroup on forest certiﬁcation in 2002 under the

agriculture. HKVs are usually negotiated between

auspices of SBB and WWF, which is an initiative tothe community chief and a logging enterprise andadvance the institutional, policy and – if needed –may bring little beneﬁt to the community as alegal framework in Suriname for the introduction

whole. About 200 small- and medium-sized logging

of forest certiﬁcationb.

companies are active, with an annual production
capacity of up to 500,000 m3 (with present
equipment)b. About 40% of logs come from
regulated forest concessions; the remainder isbderived from HKVs, ICLs and illegal sources .
Budgetary constraints make it difﬁcult for thegovernment to fund law enforcement.
Planned oil-palm plantations and clearcutting forgold and bauxite mining (if continued) will lead to a
substantial increase in salvage timber in competition
with the output of selective logging, with the likely
effect of depressing timber prices and decreasing
the incentive to achieve SFM.

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for production. The accessible productive
forest area is about 4.5 million hectares; thepresent net productive area is considered to be
2.5 million hectaresb. Only one concession has afully developed forest management plan. The totalsustainably managed forest area is therefore
probably close to zero.
Timber production and trade. The annual productionof industrial roundwood increased from 183,000 m3
to 250,000 m3 between 1997 and 1999; sawnwood
increased from 41,000 to 50,000 m3 and plywood
from 7,800 to 8,000 m3 (ITTO 2003). Since 2000,

Silviculture and species selection. The forestsofﬁcial production has remained stable at about

are characterized by a high variety of species;

160,000 m3 per year (ITTO 2005). There are 68

276

SFM TROPICS

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagement
plans

6,890

1,740

73

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed

0

0

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

7

70

sawmills with an estimated installed capacity of

reptiles, two amphibians and 27 plants are listed

500,000 m3 of roundwood; the present recovery

as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerablebrate is about 40% . The use of wood for fuel ison the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,

negligible. Suriname is a net timber exporter but it

ﬁve mammals, two amphibians and one plant arealso imports wood products such as particleboard,

found in forests (IUCN 2004). Suriname has listed

ﬁbreboard and, to a certain extent, plywood. In

two plant species in CITES Appendix I and 41 in

2003, Suriname exported logs and sawnwood

Appendix II; none is a timber species (CITES 2005).

valued at US$495,000 and US$1.89 million

The country has started to explore the possibility ofrespectively (ITTO 2005).

biodiversity prospecting: a Surinamese pharmaceutical

Non-wood forest products. As in neighbouring
Guyana, Euterpe oleracea (palm heart, manicole) isa major export. Nibi and cufa (rattan-like Heteropsis

ﬁrm and the National Herbarium have establisheda partnership with Conservation International andbothers to look for anti-HIV and anti-cancer compounds .

ﬂexuosa and Clusia spp) are used locally for furniture-

Extent of protected areas. According to UNEP-

making and exported to the Caribbean. Fibres of

WCMC (2004), an estimated 1.39 million hectares

Mauritia ﬂexuosa (mauritia palm) are used to makeof forest are contained within protected areas

baskets, mats and other items for export. Other

classiﬁed in IUCN protected-area categories I–IV,

products include latex from Manilkara bidentata,

including 1.15 million hectares of lowland

Bixa orellana (annatto dye) and Carapa guianensis

evergreen broadleaved rainforest.

(crabwood oil).

Forest for protection

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably
managed for protection. Insufﬁcient data wereavailable to estimate the area of protection PFE

Soil and water. About 22% of the total forest

being managed sustainably. However, most of thearea has been classiﬁed as protection forest andprotected area is intact due to a lack of development

conservation areas (3.27 million hectares) to protectpressure.

water and soils and to conserve biodiversity.
Suriname’s forests are generally intact but threats
do exist. For example, river pollution is a problem:
some waterways are contaminated with mercury
as a result of uncontrolled gold mining, and riversiltation and soil erosion are prevalentb.

Socioeconomic aspects
Economic aspects. Forest-based activities contributed
2.5% to GDP in 2000 and provided direct employment in logging and the wood-processing industry
for around 4,500 people (4.5% of the entire work

Biological diversity. Suriname has large intact

force)b. There is also considerable informal andforest ecosystems of global signiﬁcance and theunrecorded employment and economic activity

forest area has extremely high conservation andin the sector. Government revenue from forest

ecological value, particularly in the swamps andconcessions and other logging activities in theon the Guyana Shield. No biological inventory was

past was practically zero; an exception has been

available for this report, but the richness of thethe revenue from export taxes on forest products.

forest is not in doubt and it is certain that much

Stumpage fees and export fees recently increased

remains to be discovered. Twelve mammals, six

signiﬁcantly, and forest charges may be further

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

277

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

4,430

1,390

1,160

n.d.

n.d.

increased under revisions of the Forest Management

introduction of SFM in a commercial sector that

Act. Log production in Suriname is probably as muchhas materialized only in the last decade or so.

as 50% more costly than in Brazil (for example) due

In addition, insecure tenure and recent difﬁcult

to low yields, poor access, a lack of management

economic circumstances jeopardize thecapacity and a shortage of trained people at all

implementation of SFM.

levels. Capital investment in forestry is low andinterest rates are high (20% or more), making
credit unobtainable for small- and medium-scale
investors.
Livelihood values. Subsistence from the forest isa lifeline for most Amerindians and Maroons; about

Key points•

and very little deforestation is taking place.
•

The PFE comprises an estimated 6.89 million
hectares of natural production forest and40,000 people from these tribal communities

4.43 million hectares of protection forest.

make their living in the rainforest areab. Forest

A further 2.59 million hectares of forest

resources are important to them for medicines,

have not yet been allocated.

building materials and ﬁbres, but particularly forwild animals, fruit, seeds and nuts, which are

More than 80% of Suriname is forested,•

As of late 2003, 67 logging concessions had

major food sources. More than a thousand plantbeen allocated over a total area of 1.74 million

and animal species are known to be used in one

hectares.

form or another (van Andel et al. 2003). Some
communities have also undertaken small-scale•

under development, and the 1992 forest

timber extraction for commercial use.
Social relations. Suriname’s people comprisea racial mix of Amerindians, Creoles, Hindus,
Maroons, Javanese, Chinese and Caucasians.
About 10% of the population is Amerindians andlaw is currently being revised.
••sustainable management. Nevertheless, mostof the PFE is intact due to a lack of development

consultation and participation are urgently needed

pressure.

to resolve conﬂicts over land tenure, which occur•

forest area. A recent report by the Inter-American

Suriname’s forests produce an estimated160,000 m3 of industrial roundwood per

Development Bank (IDB 2005) found that logging

year; the sector is a signiﬁcant employer.

concessions have been granted on indigenous andthe communities concerned.

No area of either production or protection
PFE has been identiﬁed in this report as underincluding to forests. Mechanisms for structured

community lands without prior consultation withCurrent requirements for forest management
plans do not have a strong focus on SFM.

Maroons, who claim collective land-use rights,

particularly in the coastal zone and in the northern

A coherent forest policy and legislation is

References and other sourcesb

ITTO 2003. Achieving the Year 2000 Objective

Summaryand Sustainable Forest Management in Suriname.

Suriname has a large forest resource base thatat the thirty-ﬁfth session of the International

Report of the Diagnostic Mission. Presented

contains a sizeable growing stock of valuable

Tropical Timber Council, November 2003. ITTO,

hardwood timber. However, its forest-management
institutions are not yet equipped to oversee the278

SFM TROPICS

Yokohama, Japan.
d

ITTO estimate

van Andel, T., MacKinven, A. & Bánki, O. 2003.

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theCommercial Non-timber Forest Products ofWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,

the Guiana Shield: An Inventory of Commercial

Japan.

NTFP Extraction and Possibilities for Sustainable
Harvesting. The Netherlands Committee for
IUCN, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
European Forestry Institute 2003. Certiﬁcation
Information Service. Country Report Suriname.
Available from: http://www.eﬁ.ﬁ (accessed
April 2004).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.

IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
Republic of Suriname 2000. Progress Report toAchieve the ITTO Year 2000 Objective. Submitted
to ITTO, September 2000. Unpublished.
Sizer, N. & Rice, R. 1995. Backs to the Wall in
Suriname: Forest Policy in a Country in Crisis.
World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
Tropenbos International 2004. Issues Paper:
Information Issues in the Suriname Forest
Sector. Tropenbos International Suriname
Programme, Paramaribo, Suriname.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

IDB 2005. Republic of Suriname – Country

within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

Environment Assessment. Draft report,

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

February 2005. IDB, Washington, DC, USA.

2004 (see Annex 1).

ITTO 2003. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2002. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

279

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
two main canopy species, Carapa guianensis (crappo)
and Eschweilera subglandulosa (guatecare). Tropicalevergreen submontane and montane forests occur
in the mountains of the northern range. Some swamp
forests remain (17,000 hectares), as well asamangrove relicts around the coast .
Dynamics of forest resource change. The annual
deforestation rate between 1990 and 2000 was an
estimated 2,000 hectares, or 0.8% of the forest
area (FAO 2005). In 2000, secondary forests
accounted for about 17,000 hectares of theforest estatea. Fires and occasional hurricanes
are the main natural hazards affecting the forests.
Permanent forest estate. Of the 192,200
hectares of state-owned forest, 131,500 hectares
are designated as ‘proclaimed forest reserves’ and*For legend see page 58

11,700 hectares as ‘unproclaimed forest reserves’.

Forest resources
The country of Trinidad and Tobago consists of two

These – and some other protection forests –constitute the PFE (Table 1); only state forests
are counted, since the permanency of private

main islands and a number of small islets; it has aforest is unreported.

total land area of 513,000 hectares and a population

Planted forests. The total planted forest isof 1.3 million people. Trinidad, the much larger
island, is traversed by three ranges of hills running
more-or-less east to west with a highest point in thenorthern range of 936 m. These ranges separate
two areas of lowland terraces, alluvial plains andswamps. Tobago has a central ridge running for
two-thirds the length of the island and rising toestimated to be about 15,400 hectares, comprising
9,100 hectares of Tectona grandis (teak, introduced
from Myanmar in 1913), 4,200 hectares of Pinus
caribaea (Caribbean pine) and other pine species,and 2,100 hectares of mixed hardwoodsb.

576 m; the southern and western parts of theInstitutional arrangements

island are relatively ﬂat. FAO (2005) estimated theForest tenure. Most forested land is owned andforest area to be 259,000 hectares in 2000;

administered by the state. State-owned forest

another estimate (for 2003) is 248,000 hectaresb.

accounts for 192,200 hectares, including all

Forest types. The most widespread forest

the PFE; the remainder is in private hands.

formation is semi-evergreen seasonal forest (about

SFM policy framework. Trinidad and Tobago

100,000 hectares), characterized in the lowlands by

has long had a systematic approach to SFM; for

Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total
forest area, range(million hectares)

Total closed naturalforest (’000 hectares)

0.248–0.259

250

Source: FAO 2001

Production
NaturalPlanted

127d

15.4b

Protection

Total

59.1b,*

201.5* Includes forested area above 90 m contour (where logging is not permitted), wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves and windbelts within reserves.

280

SFM TROPICS

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood
Timber species

Remarks

Tectona grandis (teak)

From plantations, most valuable timber,
25% of all logs useda

Pinus spp

From plantations, 34% of all logs produceda

Swietenia macrophylla

From plantations

Cedrela mexicana

From plantations

Cordia alliodora (cypre)

From plantations

its operational capacityb. In 2001, a new strategic

example, its block management and shelterwoodbsystems have been applied for more than 60 years .

plan was developed for the Division for the period

However, it lacks a system of C&I suited to its

2001–2005 and this was approved in principle

needs, which would be an important part of anby the government. It was expected that this plan

SFM policy framework.

would enable the Division to be more effective andForest policy and legislation. Trinidad and Tobago
adopted its ﬁrst forest policy for the sustainable
management of its PFE in 1942. A revision wasmade in 1981 to take into account the signiﬁcantsocial, economic, political and technological changes
that had taken place in the country since 1942,
but it was never adopted by government. A further
revision took place in 1998 and while the cabinet
has approved this revision it has not been formally

efﬁcient in delivering goods and services demandedby new and emerging challenges. Apart from a
restructuring of the existing professional staff,
several specialist positions are now being sought tomeet the challenges of added roles and responsibilities. In Tobago, forests are under the jurisdictionof the Assistant Conservator of Forests, who reports
to the Secretary of Agriculture, Land Marketingand the Environmentb.

adopted. There is an absence of an agreed strategy

There is no direct involvement by civil-society

and policy in the forest sectorb. Two major pieces

organizations in forest management.

of legislation have been revised and amended: theForests Act (revised 1999) and the Sawmills Act(revised 1999). The 1998 policy revision proposedsustainability within two pillars of forest management:(i) the regulation of yield of all types (recreation,
wildlife, timber, aesthetics, water, etc); and(ii) the improvement of the quantity and qualityof stock.
Institutions involved in forests. In Trinidad, theForestry Division of the Ministry of Public Utilities
and the Environment (MPUE) is the state’s solemanagement authority for the sector, being
responsible for forestry, watershed management,

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Both natural forests and particularly planted forests
are actively managed. About 75,000 hectares ofnatural forests are regarded as intensively managed
and have management plans. All the forest reserves
and the external boundaries of the PFE have been
fully demarcated. However, the boundaries are notproperly maintained and there are frequent incursions/
encroachmentsa. The police force participates inforest patrols to help control illegal activities.

wildlife, parks, utilization, research and services

Up to the 1980s, management plans for forest

in support of the private forestry sector. Speciﬁc

reserves were written and followed. Subsequently,

user rights (fuelwood gathering, use of NWFPs)

working plans have not been revised in some cases

are guaranteed by law for people living adjacentand the prescriptions have not been followed into the forests. However, the absence of an agreed

others. Harvesting is conducted in accordance withstrategy and policy for the forest sector is a sourcea block system in which areas are opened up for saleof uncertainty for the Forestry Division and weakens

on a polycyclic basis. The management of natural

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

281

b,d

Table 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural
Allocated toconcessions/
under licence

Total
127

75

With
management
plans

PlantedCertiﬁed

75

0Sustainably
managed
d

15

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

15.4

15.4

0

forests has followed a form of selection known asthat some 1,240 hectares of teak and mixed species

the ‘open range system’. Several variations of thishave been raised by farmers in private farmlands

have been introduced from time to time, known(Ramnarine & Jhilmit 2003). Forest ﬁres are thevariously as silvicultural marking in blocks, themost signiﬁcant threat to planted forests. Trees

periodic block system and the tropical shelterwood

outside natural and planted forests are probably

system. Because forest resources are limited, there

important as a source of fruit, nuts, fuelwood andare no forest concessions: individually licensed

timber for local use, but no data on this areloggers are allowed to cut a speciﬁed number ofavailable.

trees or volume as deﬁned by the Forestry Division.
In many cases this has amounted to a ‘logger’s
selection system’, uncontrolled by the Forestry

Forest certiﬁcation. So far no forests have beencertiﬁed.

Divisionb. Some 400 private loggers (mainly wood-

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

workers) are registered (licensed) by the Forestry

managed for production. Of the natural forests,

Division and allotted marked trees for extraction and15,000 hectares have been managed for many

useb. Illegal encroachment and illegal logging certainly

years according to management plans which conformoccur in the PFE, although their extent is unknown; theto basic principles of SFM and are harvested

police-assisted patrols no doubt reduce their preva-

according to the periodic block system, which islence . In the case of plantations, particularly teak,considered generally consistent with sustainabilityb.

coupes to be clearfelled are sub-divided into ﬁve-

The balance of production forest has been managed

hectare units, and coupes to be thinned are sub-divided

under the open-range system and is now consideredbinto ten-hectare plots for allocation to licensees.

to be degradedb.

Silviculture and species selection. A large part

Timber production and trade. Trinidad and Tobago

of timber is derived from planted forests (Table 2).

produces modest quantities of industrial timber

Enrichment planting in natural forests is still practisedand depends mainly on imports to cover its needs

in depleted and poorly stocked forest to improve thefor sawnwood, plywood and paper products;

growing stock and thereby support multiple use

its net timber import bill in 2001 amounted

and sustainability.
Planted forest and trees outside the forest. The
total industrial plantation area of about 15,400
hectares is stable, with felled plantations replacedwith new plantations and no new areas being
planted. Besides the major species of teak andCaribbean pine, a number of other species havebeen planted on a limited scale in both pure andmixed stands, including by enrichment planting;these include Cedrela odorata (cedar), Cordia
alliodora (cypre), Swietenia macrophylla (mahogany)
and Tabebuia rosea (apamate). All plantations are
owned by the state, although it has been reported

282

SFM TROPICS

to US$106 millionb. Total industrial roundwood
production in 2003 was 70,000 m3 (ITTO 2005).
Plantation areas to be thinned or clearfelled areallocated to sawmillers and woodworkers on aquota system. Annual blocks to be thinned or
clearfelled are notiﬁed for sale; sawmillers are
expected to indicate their interest in working inparticular areas. In 2000, there were 85 licensed
sawmills whose combined input capacity was
100,000 m3 per year. These ranged in size fromtypical family enterprises to large companies andprocessed both the domestic supply of timber andimports of round logs and squares from neighbouring Guyana and Suriname. In 2000, there were

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

59.1

29.2

n.d.

12

n.d.

113 registered and several unregistered furniture

Extent of protected areas. A system of 61 national

factories that processed the lumber into ﬁnishedparks and other protected areas was proposed in

products for domestic use and for exportsa.

1980, about 40 of which have been establishedand are managed by the Forestry Division; two are

Non-wood forest products. Little information
was made available for this report on the domestic
production of the country’s major NWFPs. Bamboo
is grown as a commercial crop. Some NWFPs areimported from Venezuela and the countries of the
Guyana Shield. Edible products such as wild tubers,
wild meat, honey, beeswax and thatching grass arebeing developed with funds from the IDB. According
to UNEP-WCMC (2004), 29,300 hectares offorest are in protected areas that conform to
IUCN protected-area categories I–IV, including
11,900 hectares of semi-evergreen moist
broadleaved forest.

used extensively by rural communities. The value

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

of forest products used for subsistence in 2000

managed for protection. Insufﬁcient information

is estimated to be about US$825,000a.

was available to estimate the area of sustainably
managed protection PFE (Table 4). Some protection

Forest for protection

forests are covered by management plans and are

Soil and water. There are about 2,000 hectaresaof protection plantations in the coastal regions .
It is generally recognized that there is a need towidely used for ecotourism.

Socioeconomic aspects

reforest and rehabilitate critical watersheds, but

Economic aspects. Forests cover most requirements

land outside the forest is generally occupied. Somefor fuelwood and some of the nation’s timber needs.

efforts are being made to rehabilitate degraded land

At present, about 10,000 people are employedthrough tree-planting in parts of the islands. Somein local forestry-related jobs and many others are

37,000 hectares of forest are reportedly managed

indirectly linked to forestryb. The Tourism Mastera

primarily for the protection of soil and water .
Biological diversity. Trinidad has surprising biodiversity for its size, brought about by its proximity toother Caribbean islands and, particularly, to conti-

Plan aims to make Trinidad and Tobago theforemost tourism destination in the Caribbean.
This will involve ecotourism, in which forests willundoubtedly play a substantial role.

nental South America. More than 2,280 species

Livelihood values. Forests do not generally provide

have been recorded, 215 of them endemic. There

the living area of the poor but they provide important

are over 100 mammals (the richest in the Caribbean),subsistence products for many people. There is420 birds and 70 reptiles. One mammal, four birds,

no direct conﬂict between timber-harvesting andﬁve reptiles, nine amphibians and one plant are listed

livelihood interests, but forest is still being cleared

as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable

for agricultural and other purposes.

on the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,
three birds and eight amphibians are found in forests(IUCN 2004). Trinidad and Tobago has listed 49 plant
species in CITES Appendix II (CITES 2005).

Social relations. Although there are no signiﬁcantsocial conﬂicts associated with the managementof the country’s forests, the current forest policy
proposes increased involvement of local communities

Protective measures in production forests.

in forest managementb. Some ten sites have been

Forest management plans prescribe measures

earmarked for recreation and are visited by

to protect riverbanks, rare plants and wildlife inapproximately 300,000 people annuallya.

production forests.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

283

Summaryb

and Sustainable Forest Management in Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago’s strong tradition in forest

and Tobago. Report of the Diagnostic Mission.

management means that SFM has a good footing

Presented at the thirty-fourth session of thein the country; however, signiﬁcant institutional

International Tropical Timber Council, May

and policy weaknesses could see the deteriorationof this tradition unless remedial measures aretakenb. Both natural forests and plantations areaffected by over-harvesting, encroachment, ﬁresand other forms of damage, although the extent
of these has not been quantiﬁed and police patrols
probably help reduce illegal activities. There appear
to be few social conﬂicts over forest use, andstronger community involvement in forest
management has been foreshadowed.

Key points•

The PFE comprises an estimated 142,000
hectares of production forest (including justover 15,000 hectares of plantations) and
59,000 hectares of protection forest.

•

Most timber production derives from planted
forests; the main species are teak andCaribbean pine.

•

At least 15,000 hectares of natural-forest
production PFE are being sustainably managed.

•

The country has yet to develop a workable setof C&I for SFM suited to its special needs.

•

Individually licensed loggers are able to cut aspeciﬁed number of trees or volume as deﬁned
by the Forestry Division. In many cases this may
have amounted to a ‘logger’s selection system’.

•Trinidad and Tobago imports round logs andsquares from neighbouring Guyana and Suriname
for local processing; it is a net importer of timber.

ITTO 2003. Achieving the Year 2000 Objective

2003. ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.
d

ITTO estimate

CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome,
Italy.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).
MPUE 2000. Overview on Progress towards
ITTO Year 2000 Objective. Submitted to ITTO,
March 2000. Ministry of Public Utilities andthe Environment, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Unpublished.
Ramnarine, S. & Jhilmit, S. 2003. Teak in Trinidad& Tobago. In: Bhat, K.M., Nair, K., Bhat, K.V.,
Muralidharan, E., & Sharma, J. (eds) Quality
Timber Products of Teak from Sustainable
Forest Management. Conference proceedingsof the International Conference on Quality
Timber Products of Teak from Sustainable
Forest Management, 2–5 December 2003,
Peechi, Kerala, India. Kerala Forest Research

References and other sources

Institute, Peechi, Kerala, India/ITTO,a

Yokohama, Japan.

MPUE 2003. Response to Reporting
Questionnaire for Indicators at the National

UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests

Level. Submitted to ITTO, May 2003. Ministry

within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEP-

of Public Utilities and the Environment, Port of

WCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,

Spain, Trinidad. Unpublished.

2004 (see Annex 1).

284

SFM TROPICS

VENEZUELA
species are Couroupita guianensis, Ceiba pentandra,
Coumarouna punctata, Erisma uncinatum andCarapa guianensis. Tropical mountain forest isfound in three mountain zones: the Merida range,
the coastal range by the Caribbean and the eastern
massif in Sucre and Monagas states. Cloud forest
forms in the misty climate of the Andes between
500 and 2,000 m; valuable timber species foundthere include Cedrela mexicana, Guarea spp, Roupalamontana, Terminalia spp, Virola sebifera, Rollinia
fendleri, Calophyllum brasiliense and, in higher areas,
species of Podocarpus. The Orinoco Plain was once
covered by llanos but this has been mostly converted
to agriculture and pasture. Once-common species
in these forests include Swietenia macrophylla(caoba), Tabebuia pentaphylla and Ceiba pentandra.
Dynamics of forest resource change.

*For legend see page 58

Deforestation in the period 1982–2000 was an

Forest resources

estimated 261,000 hectares (0.6%) per yeara;

Venezuela has a land area of 91.2 million hectares

deforestation of 218,000 hectares between 1990

and a population of 25.7 million people. It can bedivided into three main biogeographical regions:(i) a narrow coastal area; (ii) the Andean mountain
range, which reaches 5,000 m above sea level andsupports dry, humid-mountain and cloud forests; and(iii) the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. The
Orinoco Plain, 20% of the country, is mainly coveredby heavily degraded evergreen and semi-deciduous
forests (llanos). The Guayana region (the states of
Bolivar and Amazonas) occupies about half of thecountry and contains 70% of its forests. Estimatesof forest area vary from 49.5 million hectares(FAO 2005) to 55 million hectaresa.
Forest types. Tropical moist forest, Venezuela’s mostextensive forest type, is present in the Orinoco delta,
the Guayana region and in small areas south andsouthwest of Lake Maracaibo; the most common

FAO (2005) estimated an average annual rate ofand 2000. In the past, deforestation was highest
in the llanos; for the last 15 years it has been
highest in the dry, northwestern Zulia region,
which has lost almost two-thirds of its forest
cover. Deforestation has also been relatively high(36,000 hectares per year) in the state of Bolivar
in the tropical moist forest region, which is also
the most important forest development area ofthe country. Only small areas of secondary forests(purmas) remain, since deforested areas have mostly
been transformed into pasturelands. Uncontrolledforest ﬁres occur regularly, both in natural andplanted foresta.
Permanent forest estate. The entire forest area
is contained within specially designated Areas Bajo
Régimen de Administración Especial (ABRAEs) –Table 1 PFE
PFE (’000 hectares)
Estimated total

Total closed naturalforest area, range(million hectares)

forest (’000 hectares)
Source: FAO 2001

NaturalPlanted49.5–55.0

49,926

13,000d863

Production

Protection

Total

20,600d34,463d

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

285

land managed for special purposes according toForest policy and legislation. The notion of SFM

special laws. As of August 2001, 362 ABRAEs

dates back to the Forest Law of 1966. In 1992,

had been established in 25 different categories

the Penal Law of the Environment came into force,covering approximately 46% of the total land area.

deﬁning offences against the environment. The

It appears that about 13 million hectares of thenational forest policy that applied up to 1998

country’s estimated 29.9 million hectares of closed

was reviewed by the General Board of Forest

forests are allocated for production as part of the

Resources, which concluded that the policy needed

PFE. This is made up of forest reserves (11.8 million

to be refocused in order to better integrate social

hectares) and forest lots (lotes boscosos – 1.2 million

concerns and broader environmental issues into

hectares). Figures for the natural-forest PFE inforest management. The new approach includes

Table 1 are ITTO estimates based on data from thethe use of C&I for assessing SFM and considers the

Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources

recommendations for action made in the United(Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos

Nations Forum on Forests process. A new forest

Naturales – MARN 2000, 2004).

law is being drafted that will legislate for, regulate

Planted forests. There has been a tradition ofofﬁcial and private plantations in Venezuela for morethan 50 years. In 1998, there were an estimated727,000 hectares of planted forests (115,000
hectares being private); 53% of these were industrial plantationsa. The plantation rate has declined
recently, from 30,000 hectares per year several
years ago to less than 5,000 hectares per year;
FAO (2001) estimated the total planted forest area
at 863,000 hectares. By far the most important
plantation species is Pinus caribaea (pino caribe).

and supervise the management of national forests
for single and multiple uses in accordance withprinciples of sustainability, diversiﬁcation in the useof community goods and services, and participation.
In addition, the Organic Environmental Law and
the Organic Territorial Management Law are being
revised and amended. Under a 2001 resolution, thecommercial harvesting from natural forests of caoba,
Cedrela odorata (cedro), Anacardium excelsum (mijao),
Cordia alliodora (pardillo) and Tabebuia spectabili(pau d’arco) has been banned for six years.
The domestic timber trade is regulated by the 1966

Institutional arrangements

Forest Law for Soil and Water (Ley Forestal deForest tenure. It is estimated that more thanthe Fiscal Law (Ley de Timbre Fiscal). The latter

90% of the forest is owned by the statec. There

Suelos y de Aguas) and the international trade byincludes tariff instruments for the control of imports

are private forest lots in both natural and planted

and exports and stipulates that logs harvested

forest areas, but their extent is not known. The 1999

from natural forests cannot be exported. Industrial

constitution recognizes the right of indigenous people

logging (since 1978; Decree 269) and mining

to the collective ownership of forest territories,(since 1989; Decree 2,552) are prohibited byaccess to resources and rights to cultural uses,

legal regulations in the state of Amazonas, thebut there is no demarcation or formal recognition

second-largest state after Bolivar.

process in place. The extent to which local communities have the right to administer, conserve andmanage timber resources in ABRAEs remains
unclear.

Institutions involved in forests. Forests areunder the jurisdiction of MARN, which was createdunder the Organic Environmental Law in 1999.
Nevertheless, and particularly in the forest area

SFM policy framework. Venezuela has a longsouth of Orinoco, there is a lack of clarity in the

tradition of forest management and professional

relative roles and responsibilities of various institu-

foresters are involved at all levels of forest production

tions, in particular between MARN, the Ministry

and conservation activities. The country subscribesof Agriculture and the Ministry for Energy andto the Tarapoto Process, which developed C&I for

Mining (Ministerio de Energía y Minas). MARNSFM for the eight Amazon countries, but also plans

has established the General Directorate of Forests

to develop its own C&I based on the latest revision

to look after the administration, classiﬁcation andof ITTO’s C&Ic.

286

SFM TROPICS

sustainable management of forests. The Directorate

is tasked with developing action plans for strength-

Two kinds of permits for timber production areening the classiﬁcation of areas for permanent forest

available: forest concessions, granted for areas

production and the control of timber production.

of more than 5,000 hectares, and annual logging

Decentralization is a process that was proposed in
the Law of Decentralization in 1989 and reinforced
by principles embodied in the 1999 constitution.
However, natural resource management and, inparticular, forest management, remain under thecontrol of a centrally organized forest service –with the exception of urban forestry, which ismanaged directly by the municipalities.

permits, for areas smaller than 5,000 hectares.
Forest concessions are granted for 20–40 years inforest reserves and forest lots, the latter establishedby MARN. Forest lots are special FMUs designatedfor long-term forest management in those parts ofthe country where forest reserves have not beenclassiﬁed in the past. The forest concession policy
lacks clarity; concessions are ofﬁcially granted at
public auction, but information about the process

The Association of Forest Engineers, the forestry

is not publicly available and the criteria for awarding

university in Merida and other professional organi-concessions are not transparentc. Concessionaires

zations play important roles in the monitoring

often struggle to comply with the forest law, but

of forest resources. The Venezuelan Association

there is no public information on how and to what

for the Conservation of Natural Areas (Asociación

extent they fail to complyc.

Venezolana para la Conservación de Areas Naturales– ACOANA), the Foundation for the Defence of
Nature (Fundación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza –FUDENA) and other conservation NGOs, as well asorganizations such as the Federation of Indigenous
People and Bioguayana, are national bodies with strong
links to international NGOs such as Conservation
International, The Nature Conservancy and WWF.
They are becoming increasingly engaged in theforest debate.

Status of forest management
Forest for production
Timber harvesting in natural forests is done ona relatively small scale in Venezuela and there is
still a great deal of experimentation with forest
management regimes. Under the new national
forest policy, the integrated co-management offorests will involve multiple land-uses and the

Because nearly all forest reserves north of the
Orinoco River are deforested, all forest concessions
are now south of the Orinoco in the Guayana region.
As of mid 2003, 14 forest concessions wereoperating in forest reserves and in forest lots overa total of 1.21 million hectaresc. All concessionaires
are Venezuelan nationals. Concession management
is based on fully-ﬂedged forest management plans(planes de ordenación y manejo forestal – POMFs)
that include an inventory of commercial timber
species; high-grading, in which only the mostvaluable species are extracted, is commonplace(GFW 2002). By law, all concessions must be
managed by professional forest engineers andtrained foresters. Harvesting in concessions iscarried out on the basis of an annual cutting plan
approved by MARN. Concessionaires are required toestablish line enrichment planting after harvestingat a distance between strips of 30–50 m. Annual
logging permits require a simpliﬁed management

production of timber, NWFPs and environmental

plan prepared by a forest engineer.

services. This new approach is being tested throughSilviculture and species selection. The minimum‘integrated community forest management programs’

cutting diameter for all cutting permits in natural(programas de manejo integral comunitario delforests is 40 cm at breast height. At least 20

bosque) in forest reserves such as Ticoporo andspecies are harvested from natural forests in

Caparo in the Llanos region. Under the term

volumes exceeding 50,000 m3 per year; some‘territorial management of forest areas’ (manejoof the most commonly harvested species include

territorial de areas forestales) SFM for timber

those shown in Table 2. Others include Copaifera

production is being tested in the Imataca Forestofﬁcinalis (aceite), Tabebuia rosea (apamate),

Reserve in the Guayana region.

Hymenaea courbaril (algarrobo), Catostemma
commune (baramán), Sterculia apetala (camoruco),

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

287

c

Table 2 Some commonly harvested species for industrial roundwood (2001–2003)
Timber species

Remarks

Pinus caribaea (pino caribe)

From plantations, 53% of the total harvest

Pithecellobium saman (samán)

From open forests, about 13% of total harvest

Bombacopsis quinata (saqui saqui)From the Llanos region, about 10% of total harvest

Erisma uncinatum (moreillo)

From the Guayana region, about 9% of total harvest

Hymenaea courbaril (algarrobo)

From the Guayana region, about 8% of total harvested

Carapa guianensis (carapa), cedro, Simaroubaof pino caribe – was derived from sustainably managed

amara (cedro blanco), Ceiba petandra (ceiba),

sources and therefore met the ITTO Year 2000

Brosimum alicastrum (charo), Pterocarpus ofﬁci-

Objective. The estimate of sustainably managed

nalis (drago), Hura crepitans (jabillo), Qualea dinizii

natural-forest PFE given in Table 3 is more conser-(guarapo), Spondias mombin (jobo), Nectandra spp

vative and corresponds to timber concessions that(laurel), Anacardium excelsum (mijao), Mora excelsa

have been managed according to forest management(mora), Erisma uncinatum (moreillo), Piptadenia spp

plans for more than 20 years. Detracting from the(palo blanco), Cordia alliodora (pardillo), Manilkara

overall status of forest management is the generally

bidentata (purguo), Tabebuia serratifolia (puy) andweak enforcement of forestry regulations, particularly

Peltogyne pubescens (zapatero). Pithecellobium

given that commercial logging is far from the centres

saman (samán) and Bombacopsis quinata (saquiof control; illegal logging, hunting and encroachment

saqui) are the main species remaining from theare reportedly widespread (GFW 2002).

scattered forests north of the Orinoco region.

Timber production and trade. Nearly the entire

Planted forest and trees outside the forest.

volume of timber production serves the domestic

Plantations were mainly established in the 1980s;

market. Total industrial roundwood production in

today the management of existing planted forest

2003 was 1.06 million m3, of which 638,000 m3

is more important than the establishment of newcame from conifers (ITTO 2005); in 1999, conifers

plantations. Pino caribe plantations provide moreaccounted for 910,000 m of the 1.66 million mthan 50% of the country’s total roundwood produc-

total log production (ITTO 2004). In the last decade,tionc. Besides these and various tropical eucalypts

there has been a shift in production from naturaland teak, hardwood species are planted mainly inforest to plantations and to regulated forest

natural forest in enrichment lines using, among

concessions with POMFs. In 1993, nearly 55% ofothers, teak, moreillo, pardillo, mijao, cedro andproduction came from cutting licences in natural

caoba.

forests, 35% from forest concessions and 15%

Forest certiﬁcation. As of December 2005,
Venezuela had one certiﬁed planted forest of pinocaribe; this covered an area of 139,650 hectares
and belongs to the multinational Terranova Company(FSC 2005). Natural-forest certiﬁcation has not yet
attracted much interest because the entire production
is used to satisfy the high-price domestic market,
which is not demanding certiﬁed timber at this point.

33

from plantations; in 2000, 40% of wood production
came from plantations, 40% from concessions andonly 20% from cutting licencesa. Production ofsawnwood is between 240,000 m3 and 300,000 m3
per year. The bulk of industrial roundwood production(about 65%) is used for pulp and paper. Exports ofprimary timber products are negligible, but importsof forest products have grown to over US$20 million
per year recently, mostly comprising sawnwood,

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

plywood and particleboard. Hardwood from Roraimamanaged for production. MARN (2000) estimatedstate in the Brazilian Amazon is increasinglythat 77% of the volume of timber harvested – 40%

important because of a new and well-maintained

from areas under POMFs and 37% from plantations

road system.

288

SFM TROPICS

c,dTable 3 Management of the production PFE (’000 hectares)
Natural

Total

Allocated toconcessions/
under licenceWithmanagementplans

13,000

3,120

1,480

PlantedCertiﬁed

Sustainably
managed0480

Non-wood forest products. Between 30 and 50

•

Total

With
management
plans

Certiﬁed

863

727

140

environmental rehabilitation and protection

NWFPs are important and used at local, regional

areas (áreas de protección y recuperación

and national levels. Among them are different palmambiental): 2,350 hectaresa.

products for food, construction, medicine andhandicrafts, including the fruits of Bactris gasipaes(pejibaye), Mauritia ﬂexuosa (moriche palm) and
Dipteryx odorata (sarrapia). Other products are
pepper, cinnamon, bamboo, nutmeg, aniseed, cumin,
ginger, cucumber and resins. Many of them enter
the national market and, ultimately, international
trade. Mamure, a local liana (Heteropsis spruceana),
has been used for a long time as a raw material

Forests in the Guayana region help to regulate
the ﬂow of water for the Guri Dam, which provides
70% of the nation’s electricity. The most extensive
protected areas are located in the Andean mountainbelt, where forest is important in watershed
protection. Some attention has recently been
accorded to payments for environmental services,
but so far there has been no real action.

for furniture but is now threatened by overuse.

Biological diversity. Venezuela harbours a signiﬁcant

Palm heart (palmito) from Euterpe oleracea is an

portion of the world’s biodiversity, ranking in theimportant export product; it is now increasingly

top 20 countries in the number of endemic plants,

planted. The value of palm hearts exported inbirds, amphibians and reptiles. More than 8,000a2002 exceeded US$150,000 .

plant species have been recognized as endemic, as
have some 122 amphibians, 66 reptiles, 40 birds

Forest for protection
Soil and water. A signiﬁcant area of forest is set
aside for the protection of soil and water within the
ABRAEs. These forests are classiﬁed under ‘normative
protection’ (protección normada) and include:••on the IUCN red list of threatened species; of these,
14 mammals, 21 birds, 61 amphibians and one
plant are found in forests (IUCN 2004). Six plants
are listed in CITES Appendix I and 221, including
Swietenia macrophylla and S. humilis, in Appendix II

watershed reserves (reservas hidráulicas):reserves for dams and reservoirs (zonas
y embalses): 7,800 hectares;
protected areas for public infrastructure(áreas de protección de obras públicas):133,400 hectares;•

as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable

12.7 million hectares;de reserva para construcción de presas•

13 reptiles, 68 amphibians and 69 plants are listed

protection zones (zonas protectoras):

1.17 million hectares;•

and 15 mammals. Twenty-eight mammals, 25 birds,

critical areas for restoration (áreas críticas
con prioridad de tratamiento): 4.5 million
hectares; and(CITES 2005).
Protective measures in production forests. The
draft new forest law would require that 10% of
the managed production forest be protected as apreservation zone, with emphasis on areas alongwatercourses and swamps. So far, there are noprescriptions for RIL.
Extent of protected areas. The estimated total
area contained in reserves compatible with IUCN
categories I–IV is 17.9 million hectares, as follows:•

national parks (parques nacionales):13.6 million hectares;

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

289

Table 4 Management of the protection PFE (’000 hectares)

Total

Attributed to IUCN
categories I–IV

Allocated for soil
and waterWith management
plans

Sustainably
managed

20,60020,6001,740

7,210*

n.d.

* Extrapolation based on the estimated 35% of protected areas in IUCN categories I–IV that have management plans or instructions foruse (Bevilacqua et al. 2004)••

natural monuments (monumentos naturales):Livelihood values. NWFPs are essential for the

4.27 million hectares; andlivelihood of all indigenous peoples living in the

wildlife refuges (refugios de fauna silvestre):
53,500 hectares; (Bevilacqua et al. 2004).

Guayana and Amazon regions. Wildlife and ﬁshstill supplement the protein needs of a largepart of the population in the states of Bolivar andThis area amounts to about 20% of the national

Amazonas. Wildlife also provides raw material for

territory, making Venezuela one of the world’s

handicrafts and medicine. Intensiﬁed hunting andleading conservation nations. Aside from forests,

ﬁshing with new techniques and in-migration into

it includes high mountain ecosystems and other non-frontier areas may well increase pressure on

forested areas. UNEP-WCMC (2004) estimated thesome animal species.

total area of forests in protected areas conforming
to IUCN protected-area categories I–IV to be
20.6 million hectares (even higher than theBevilacqua et al. 2004 estimate of the total area
in such reserves), of which 14.0 million hectares
are lowland evergreen broadleaved rainforest.

Social relations. The development of natural forests
has a great social effect in the Guayana region,
characterized by a relatively small and mainly indigenous population. The two main economic activities
are logging and mining for gold and diamonds. These
have brought improved health and education services

Although the declared protected area is huge,

to local people and induced a trend towards

only about 15% has land-use and zoning plans.

settlement. Logging and mining have also brought

In addition, many conservation sites are subject

non-indigenous settlers (colonos) into the region,

to unresolved land claims by indigenous groups

who use natural resources to supplement their

who may have been living there before thesubsistence needs and cash income. This has

reserves were ofﬁcially declared.

increased the likelihood of conﬂicts and pressure

Estimate of the area of forest sustainably

on the existing forest resources, especially along

managed for protection. Of the 265 special areas
with protection status, 70 have a forest management
plan (Bevilacqua et al. 2004). Thirty-ﬁve per centof the protected areas in IUCN protected-area
categories I–IV have a management plan or instructions for its use (reglamentos de uso) (ibid.); however,insufﬁcient information was available to estimate

access roads and around settlements. North of
the Orinoco River, particularly in the Province ofBarninas bordering Colombia, nearly all forest
reserves have been encroached by colonos. It is
not yet clear how such illegal occupation will behandled or if the concept of forest reserves inthese areas will be abandoned.

the area of protection PFE sustainably managed(Table 4), although a large part of the estate is
intact and faces little development pressure.

Summary
Venezuela still possesses vast unexploited forest

Socioeconomic aspects

resources in its two largest states of Bolivar andEconomic aspects. Forests provide less thanand cutting permits have been granted over the

0.5% of GDPa. Data on the number of people
employed in the forest sector were not available
for this report.

290

SFM TROPICS

Amazonas. Relatively modest logging concessions
past 35 years. Instead of increasing the harvestingof natural forests, plantation forestry has beendeveloped for many years. Today, much of thedomestic need for industrial wood is met by planted•

The long-term viability of the protection PFE

forest. The country’s forest-related laws containdepends on the continuous provision of ﬁnancial

strong environmental provisions, and a large

resources and acceptance by local stakeholders.

proportion of its territory is in designated protectedareas (although in some places under tenurial disputeby indigenous communities). However, there is a gap
between the legal provisions and their implementation

References and other sourcesa

MARN 2004. Encuesta de Información parain the ﬁeld. SFM for production and conservation

Indicadores a Nivel Nacional. Submitted tohas not yet been fully achieved; the enforcement

ITTO, August 2004. Prepared by Encinas, O.

of forestry regulations is considered to be far from& Zambrano, T., Ministerio del Ambiente y de

optimal, and illegal logging, hunting and encroachment

los Recursos Naturales, Caracas, Venezuela.

are reportedly widespread. Nevertheless, a basis has

Unpublished.

been laid for the development of SFM and effective

cforest conservation.

discussions with participants at, a training
workshop on ITTO criteria and indicators, held

Key points•

30 August – 4 September 2004 , Cuidad
Bolivar, Venezuela, attended by 47 people fromThe PFE comprises an estimated 13 million

government, civil society and the private sector.

hectares of natural production forest and20.6 million hectares of protection forest.
There is also a substantial plantation estate(about 863,000 hectares).
•

It is estimated that at least 480,000 hectaresof the natural-forest production PFE is managed
sustainably; insufﬁcient information was available
to estimate the extent of the protection PFE somanaged.

•The forests north of the Orinoco River are heavily
degraded and encroached. South of the Orinoco
River, Venezuela still has extensive and timber-richforest resources with good potential for SFM.

••

The monitoring of forest resources and imple-

Bevilacqua, M., Cardenas, L., Flores, A., Hernandez,
L. & Lares, E. 2004. Las Areas Protegidas en
Venezuela: Diagnóstico de su Condición para el
Período 1993-2003. ACOANA, IUCN Venezuela,
Fundación Polar and Conservation International,
Caracas, Venezuela.
CITES 2005. CITES-listed Species Database. Available
from: http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/
species.html (accessed September 2005).
FAO 2001. Global Forest Resources Assessment
2000. FAO Forestry Paper 140. FAO, Rome, Italy.

deﬁcient, particularly in more remote areas.

and Caribbean Region 2002. FAO Regional

There is a lack of clarity in administrative roles

and the Ministry for Energy and Mining.
The new national forest policy is not yet

Ofﬁce for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Santiago, Chile.
FAO 2005. State of the World’s Forests 2005.
FAO, Rome, Italy.
FSC 2005. FSC – Certiﬁcates Worldwide. FSC

ﬁnalized or backed up with effective legislation,

International Center & Working Group,and the forest concession policy lacks clarity.

Germany. Available from: http://www.fsc-info.

Wood production is shifting from natural forest
to plantations and to regulated forest concessions with management plans.

•

ITTO estimate

FAO 2003. State of Forestry in the Latin American

between MARN, the Ministry of Agriculture•dmentation of forest management are bothand responsibilities for forests, in particular•

Information derived from the report of, andDespite regulations to the contrary, logging inorg (accessed December 2005).
GFW 2002. The State of Venezuela’s Forests:
A Case Study of the Guayana Region. WRI,
Washington, DC, USA.

natural forests concentrates on the mostvaluable timber species.

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

291

ITTO 2004. Annual Review and Assessment of the

MARN 2000. Informe de Progreso para Lograr elWorld Timber Situation 2003. ITTO, Yokohama,Objetivo del Año 2000 de la OIMT. Submitted toJapan.

ITTO, April 2000. Ministerio del Ambiente y de

ITTO 2005. Annual Review and Assessment of theWorld Timber Situation 2004. ITTO, Yokohama,Japan.
IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Available from: http://www.redlist.org(accessed September 2005).

los Recursos Naturales, Caracas, Venezuela.
Unpublished.
UNEP-WCMC 2004. Spatial analysis of forests
within protected areas in ITTO countries. UNEPWCMC, Cambridge, UK. Data prepared for ITTO,
2004 (see Annex 1).
ARP website. Venezuela – Sector Forestal. http://
www.areas-protegidas.org/venezuela_sector_
forestal (accessed October 2005).

292

SFM TROPICS

ACRONYMS
A&D

Alienable and disposable Philippines

ATO

African Timber Organization

AAC

Annual allowable cut

BFD

Bureau of Forestry Philippines

ABRAE

Area Bajo Régimen de

BOSCOM

Proyecto Fortalecimiento Forestal

Administración Especial (landMunicipal y Comunal (communal

managed for special purposes

forestry program) Guatemala

according to special laws) Venezuela
ACCA

Asociación para la Conservaciónde la Cuenca Amazónica (Amazon
Watershed Conservation

C&I

Criteria and indicators

CAR

Central African Republic

CAT

Convention d’aménagement etde transformation (managing andAssociation) Peru
ACOANA

Conservación de Areas Naturales

ADB

processing agreement) Congo

Asociación Venezolana para la
CATIE(Venezuelan Association for thede Investigación y Enseñanza

Conservation of Natural Areas)(Tropical Research and Higher

Venezuela

Education Centre) Guatemala

Asian Development Bank

CBFM

Estado-Corporación Hondureña de

CBFMA

ANAFOR

ANAM

forest certiﬁcation system)
CFAD

des Forêts (National Agency forconcession under sustainable

Forestry Development) Cameroon

development) Gabon

Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente

CFC

Community forest committee Ghana(National Environmental Authority)

CIB

Congolaise Industrielle des Bois

Asociación Nacional para la

Congo
CIEF

of Nature) PanamaÁrea natural protegida (protectedarea) Mexico
Agrupaciones sociales del lugar

Forestry Information) Peru
CIFOR

Association TechniqueInternationale des Bois Tropicaux(International Technical Tropical
Timber Association)

Center for International Forestry
Research

CITES

Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species of Wild(local social groups) Bolivia
ATIBT

Centro de Informacion Estrategica
Forestal (Center for Strategic(Association for the Conservation

ASL

Concession forestière sousaménagement durable (forest

Conservación de la Naturaleza

ANP

Certiﬁcação Florestal (Brazilian

Agence Nationale de Développement

PanamaANCON

CERFLORArrêté ministériel (ministerial
decree) DRC

Community-based forest
management agreement Philippines

Desarollo Forestal (State Forestry
Administration) Honduras

Community-based forest
management

AFE-COHDEFOR Administración Forestal delAM

Centro Agronomico TropicalFlora and Fauna
CNIAF

Centre National d’Inventaire etd’Aménagements des Ressources
Forestières et Fauniques (National
Inventory and Forest Management
Centre) CongoSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

293

CNPN

Conseil National des Parcs
Nationaux (National Council for
National Parks) Gabon

COMIFACDRC

Democratic Republic of Congo

DRE

Direction des Ressources en Eau(Directorate for Water Resources)

Commission en Charge des Fôrets
d’Afrique Centrale (Commission in
Charge of Forests in Central

DRC
EMBRAPA

Agropecuária (Agricultural

Africa) CAR
CONAFLOR

Comissão Coordenadora do
Programa Nacional de Florestas

Research Corporation) Brazil
ENRO

CONAFORCONAMACONAPESNABIO

Strategy for Biodiversity
FA

Forestry Administration Cambodia

for the Environment) Brazil

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations

Consejo Nacional de Areas

Corporación Nacional deInvestigación y Fomento Forestal(National Corporation for Forestry

FC

Forestry Commission Ghana

FCFAFranc Communauté Financière
Africaine

FDA

Colombia

FDA

Forest development agency India

Comité Villageois de Développement

FDF

Federal Department of Forestry(Village forest committeee) Togo
Department of Environment andNatural Resources Philippines
DFC

Department of Forestry andWildlife Cambodia

DGEF

Direction Générale des Eaux etDIARF

Fiji Hardwood Corporation Limited

FLONA

Floresta Nacional (national forest)
BrazilFMA

Forest management agreement PNG

FMB

Forest Management Bureau
Philippines
Forest management unit

and Water) Gabon

FOBFree on board

Direction de la Gestion Forestière

FONABOSQUE

Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo(Directorate of Forest

Forestal (National Forestry

Management) DRC

Development Fund) Bolivia

Direction des Inventaires,

FONDEFOR

Fondo de Protección y Desarrollo

des Aménagements et de laForestal (National Fund for Forest

Régénération des Forêts (Directorate

Development and Protection)of Forest Inventory, Management

Panamaand Regeneration) Gabon

294

FHCL

FMU

Forêts (Directorate for Forests

DGF

Nigeria

Direction de la Faune et Chasse(Directorate of Fauna) DRC

DFW

Forestry Development Authority
Liberia

Research and Development)

DENR

Brazilian National Policy andMeio Ambiente (National Council

Protected Areas) Guatemala

CVD

Environmental Protection Agency
GuyanaConama Conselho Nacional doProtegidas (National Council of

CONIF

EPA

Comisión Nacional Forestal (National
Commission for Forests) Mexico

Environment and natural
resources ofﬁce Philippines(Coordinating Commission for the
National Forestry Program) Brazil

Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa

SFM TROPICS

FORIG

Forest Plantation Development
Centre, the Forestry ResearchInstitute of Ghana

FPL

Fiji Pine Limited

FRIM

Forest Research Instituteof Malaysia

FRIN

FRUA

Intercooperation

ICCN

Institut Congolais pour laConservation de la Nature(Congolese Institute for theConservation of Nature)

ICEM

of Nigeria

ICL

incidental cutting licence Guyana

Forest resources utilization

IDB

Inter-American Development Bank

IFB

Industrie Forestière de Batalimo

FSC

Forest Stewardship Council

FSI

Forest Survey of India

FSP

Foundation for the Peoplesof the South Paciﬁc

CAR
IFMA

IIAP

Amazon Research Institute) Peru
IIFM

Indian Institute of Forest
Management

Fundação Nacional do Indio (Indian
National Foundation) Brazil

Instituto de Investigación de laAmazonía Peruana (Peruvian

Fundación para la Defensa de la
Defence of Nature) Venezuela

Industrial forest managementagreement Philippines

Naturaleza (Foundation for the

FUNAI

International Centre forEnvironmental Management

Forestry Research Instituteagreement Liberia

FUDENAICIMAZON

Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente
da Amazônia (Amazon Institute ofGDP

Gross domestic product

GEF

Global Environment Facility

GFC

Guyana Forestry Commission(National Forest Institute)

GFW

Global Forest Watch

Guatemala

GGMC

Guyana Geology & Mines

People and the Environment) Brazil
INAB

INCRA

Geographic Information System

HKV

Houtkapvergunningen (communal
wood-cutting permit) Guyana

HPH

HPHH

INDERENA

Instituto de Desarrollo de losRecursos Naturales Renovables
Colombia

INPA

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas
da Amazonia (National institute(forest products collection rights)

of Amazonian Research) Brazil
INRENA

Instituto Nacional de Recursos

Hutan tanamaan industri

Naturales (National Institute for(industrial forest plantations)

Natural Resources) Peru

Indonesia
IBAMA

Reform Institute) Brazil

Hak pemungutan hasil hutan
Indonesia

HTI

Colonization and AgrarianHak pengusahaan hutan (forest
concession rights) Indonesia

Instituto Nacional de Colonização
e Reforma Agrária (National

Commission
GIS

Instituto Nacional de Bosques

IPK

Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais
Renováveis (Brazilian Institute ofEnvironment and Renewable
Resources)

Izin pemanfaatan kayu (log
exploitation permit) Indonesia

Instituto Brasileiro do Meio
ITTAInternational Tropical Timber
Agreement

ITTCInternational Tropical Timber Council

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

295

ITTO

International Tropical Timber

Economy, Inland Waters andOrganization

Fishing in Charge of the Environment
and Nature Conservation) Gabon

IUCN

World Conservation Union

JCP

Joint certiﬁcation program Indonesia

JFM

Joint forest management India(Ministry for Environment and

LBB

Lachtwet en BosBeheer (forest

Natural Resources) Togo

service) Guyana
LEI

MERF

et des Ressources Forestières

MINEF

Côte d’Ivoire(Indonesian Ecolabel Institute)
Landowner company PNG

MAE

Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministryof Environment) Ecuador

MAFF

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry

MINEF

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganaderíay Alimentación Guatemala

MARN

Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos
Naturales (Ministry for Environment

and Forests) Cameroon
MINFOF

Ministerio del Ambiente y de losRecursos Naturales (Ministry of
the Environment and Natural

MAVDT

Fauna) Cameroon
MLF

MMA

(Ministry of the Environment, Water
Resources and Amazon) Brazil
MOEF

Ministry of Environment andForests India

MoF

Ministry of Forestry Indonesia

Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda

MPFD

Master plan for forestry
development Philippines

MPUE

Territorial Development) Colombia
MDF

Medium density ﬁbreboard

MEFCPET

Ministère des Eaux, Fôrets, Chasses,Pêches, Environnement et duMinistry of Public Utilities and theEnvironment Trinidad and Tobago

MTCC

Malaysian Timber Certiﬁcation
Council

MTE

Myanmar Timber Enterprise

MTIB

Malaysian Timber Industry Board

Fishing) CAR

NAP

National Afforestation Program India

Ministère de l’Economie Forestière

NCFC

National Committee on Forest

Tourisme (Ministry of Environment,
Water, Forests, Hunting andet de l’Environnement (Ministry ofForestry Economy and Environment)

Certiﬁcation Ghana
NFAP

National Forestry Action Plan Fiji

NFB

National Forest Board PNG

des Eaux, de la Pêche, Charge de

NFC

National Forestry Council Malaysia

l’Environnement et de la Protection

NFDC

National Forestry Development

Congo
Ministère de l’Economie Forestière,de la Nature (Ministry of Forest

Committee Nigeria
NFP

296

Ministerio de Medio Ambiente

Resources) Venezuelaof Environment, Housing and

MEFEPEPN

Ministry of Lands and Forestry
Ghana

y Desarrollo Territorial (Ministry

MEFE

Ministère des Forêts et de laFaune (Ministry of Forests andand Natural Resources) Guatemala
MARN

Ministère de l’Environnement etdes Fôrets (Ministry of Environment

and Fisheries Cambodia
MAGA

Ministère des Eaux et Forêts
(Ministry for Water and Forests)

Lembaga Ecolobel Indonesia

LOC

Ministère de l’Environnement

SFM TROPICS

National forestry policy Malaysia

NFS

National Forest Service PNG

NGO

Non-governmental organization

NLTB

Native Land Trust Board Fiji

NRE

Ministry of Natural Resources

PFA(associated forest license) Gabon
PFE

Permanent forest estate

PINFOR

Programa de Incentivos
Forestales Guatemala

and Environment Malaysia
NRMP

National Resources Management

PLANFOR

Non-wood forest product

ODEF

Ofﬁce de Développement etd’Exploitation des Forêts (Ofﬁce
for Forest Development andPMFS

Ofﬁce National de Développement
des Forêts (National Forestry

management plan) Brazil
PNAE

Organismo Supervisor de losRecursos Forestales Maderables

Plan National d’Action pourl’Environnement (National
Environmental Action Plan) Togo

PNF

Programa Nacional de Florestas(National Forest Program) Brazil

Development Agency) Cameroon
OSINFOR

Plano de manejo ﬂorestal
sustentável (sustainable forest

Harvesting) Togo
ONADEF

Plan de Acción Forestal(forestry action plan) Honduras

Plan Ghana
NWFP

Permis forestièrs associés

PNG

Papua New Guinea

POMF

planes de ordenación y manejo(forest control and supervision

forestal (forest management plan)

agency) Peru

Venezuela

PAFC

Pan-African Forest Certiﬁcation

PPA

People’s protected area India

PAFN

Plan d’Action Forestier National

PROCAFOR

Regional Forest Program for(National Forestry Action Program)
Togo
PAFSI

PAFSU

Central America Guatemala
PRODEFOR

simpliﬁed forest management

Forestal (National Forest

plan Ecuador

Development Program) Mexico

sustainable management area

PRODEPLAN

EcuadorPA.NA.M.A.

(Programme for the Development

Fundación Parques Nacionales yof Commercial Forest Plantations)
Honduras, Mexico

and Environment Foundation)
PanamaPROFEPA

Environmental Protection) Mexico

for the sustainable management

PEA

PEF

PEFC

PTE

Permis de transformation etd’exploitation Côte d’Ivoire

Permis d’exploitation etd’amanagement CAR

RFD

Royal Forest Department Thailand

Périmètre d’exploitation forestière

RIL

Reduced impact logging

SBB

Stichting voor Bosbeheer en(forest harvesting area) Côte d’Ivoire
PEF

Procuraduría Federal de Protección
al Ambiente (Federal Ofﬁce forPrinciples, criteria and indicatorsof African natural forests

Programa para el Desarollo dePlantaciones Forestales Comerciales

Medio Ambiente (National Parks

PCI

Programa Nacional de Desarrollo

Programa Estratégico Forestal

Bostoezicht (Foundation for Forest(Strategic Forestry Plan) Mexico

Management and Forest Control)

Program for the Endorsement

Guyanaof Forest Certiﬁcation Schemes

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

297

SEFONAC

Servicio Forestal Nacional (National

SPIAF

Forest Service) Honduras
SEMARNAT

et d’Aménagement Forestiers(Permanent Service for Inventories

Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y

and Forest Management Planning)

Recursos Naturales de México

DRC(Secretariat for Environment andNatural Resources) Mexico
SERNA

STINASUTCO

Resources and Environment)
Honduras
SFM

Sustainable forest management

SFP

State forest permit Guyana

SGS

Société Générale de Surveillance

SIFMA

Socialised industrial forest

SIFOR/BOL

SINA

TFF

Tropical Forest Foundation

TLA

Timber license agreement Philippines

TPI

Tebang Pilih Indonesia (Indonesian
selective cutting)

TPSA

agreement Philippines
TPTI

Forestal Bolivia

and Planting System)
TPTJ

Cutting and Strip Planting System)

Colombia

Indonesia

Sistema Nacional de Areas

TSA

Timber sales agreement Guyana

TSS

Tropical Shelterwood System Nigeria

protected areas) Peru

TUC

Timber utilization contract Ghana

Sistema de Regulación de

UNCED

United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development

Recursos Naturales Renovables(Renewable Natural Resource
Regulatory System) Bolivia
Selective Management System
Malaysia
SNAP

Tebang Pilih Tanam Jalur (Selective(National Environmental System)

Estado (state system of natural

SMS

Tebang Pilih Tanam Indonesia(Indonesian Selective Cutting

Naturales Protegidas por el

SIRENARE

Timber production sharing

Sistema Nacional de Información

Sistema Nacional Ambiental

SINANPE

Tierras Comunitarias de Origen(indigenous community lands) Bolivia

management agreement
Philippines

Foundation for Nature
Conservation Guyana

Secretaria de Recursos Naturales
y Ambiente (Secretariat for Natural

Service Permanent d’Inventaire

UNDP

Programme
UNEP-WCMC

of protected areas) Ecuador

United Nations Environment
Programme-World Conservation
Monitoring Centre

Sistema Nacional de Áreas
Protegidas (national system

United Nations Development

UNESCO

United Nations Educational,
Scientiﬁc and Cultural Organization

SNBG

Société National des Bois du Gabon

VDF

Vanuatu Department of Forests

SNR

Service National de Reboisement

VFC

Village forest committee India

WCL

Wood cutting lease Guyana

WCS

Wildlife Conservation Society

Development) Côte d’Ivoire

WRIWorld Resources InstituteSouth Paciﬁc Action Committee for

WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature(National Reforestation Service) DRC
SODEFOR

Société de Développement desForêts (Society for Forest

SPACHEE

Human Ecology and the Environment

298

SFM TROPICS

ANNEXESSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

299

ANNEX 1
UNEP-WCMC methodology for spatial
analysis of forest representation withinprotected areas in ITTO countries
Analysis incorporated four data sources:
1) World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA,

the GFM forest polygons. These parts of the forest
remained unclassiﬁed and formed an extra class(Type 20 in Box 2).
Nationally designated protected area (PA) data weresplit into separate layers, according to IUCN category(Box 6) and were overlaid separately for each

Version 6.2, 2004, Maintained by UNEP-WCMC)

category with the forest cover classiﬁed as above.

that includes information on location and conﬁgur-

To estimate the total extent of forest represented

ation of protected areas, classiﬁed accordingly

within protected areas, additional GIS operations

IUCN management categories (see Box 6);

were applied to eliminate overestimation, which is2) Global Forest Map (GFM) developed by UNEP-

typical for ‘simple total’ summarizing operations and

WCMC in 2000, outlining areas (polygons) wheretree cover is predominantly associated with oneof 13 tropical forest types (other ﬁve temperate
forest types identiﬁed within ITTO countries);
3) Global Vegetation Continuous Fields from 500m
MODIS data 2000–2001 Global Percent Tree
Crown/Cover Vegetation Continuous Fields Version:
1.0 (MODIS dataset, University of Maryland:
Hansen, M.; DeFries, R.; Townshend, J.R.; Carroll,M.; Dimiceli, C.; Sohlberg, R. 2003. 500m MODIS
Vegetation Continuous Fields. College Park,
Maryland: The Global Land Cover Facility); and
4) Digital Chart of the World (DCW, Environmental
Systems Research Institute, Redlands, US)layer for country boundaries delineation.

originates from the widespread overlaps in extent ofprotected areas designated for different purpose.
Therefore, subtotals and totals for extent of forest
within PAs in a statistical table are often lower thana simple sum of areas for different PA categories.
This problem does not exist when summarizing
country data because there are no overlaps
between PAs designated by neighbouring countries.
There were no sources allowing evaluation of the
management effectiveness of the PA network at
national or regional levels. The most complete
information relevant to management status isrelated to IUCN management categories. In generalterms, protected areas in IUCN categories I, II, III
and IV have higher protection status in comparison
to V and VI categories, although across different

Analysis involved overlaying the MODIS dataset atcountries details of protection regimes may vary

its original high resolution (500 m) for identiﬁcationconsiderably for particular PAs. An additionalof forest distribution in greater detail than theparameter – extent of PAs within IUCN management

UNEP-WCMC Global Forest Map allowed, in order tocategories I to VI (spatial total) – has been calculatedcompare it against the high resolution data (varying

and presented in a statistic outputs.

from 1:250,000 to 1:1,000,000 in different

Potential future research on the subject of forest

countries). Areas with tree cover density equal toor greater than 30% (threshold used for considering
area as a forest in a process of GFM compilation)
were aggregated into a single class – forest. Total
extent of forest cover by country was calculated on
the basis of overlay of this forest cover with the DCW
country outlines, converted into a 500 m grid.

protection effectiveness require systematic collectionof the information about national legislation related
to protected-area functions and speciﬁcs of forest
protection/management on a case-by-case basis.
Similarly, current satellite-derived data on tree covermight be used as a basis for ongoing monitoringof forest cover changes but still require additional

An intermediate dataset presenting forest cover wascountry-based data to distinguish between various

overlaid with the GFM in order to estimate extent

forest types. It is also very important to collectof forest within areas depicted on the GFM. Forests

information on national deﬁnitions of forest, methods

appearing within particular GFM polygons wereused for national statistic generation, and mapping

assigned to particular GFM forest types (Box 2).

approaches in order to directly compare national

Due to the higher resolution of the MODIS dataset,statistics with information available from uniform

considerable amounts of forest were found outside

global data sources and tools.

300

SFM TROPICS

ANNEX 2
Timber species and their common names by country
AfricaScientiﬁc names

Common names

Aningeria spp

aniegré (CAR)

Aningeria robusta

asanﬁna (Ghana)

Antiaris africana

kyenkyen (Ghana); ako (Togo)

Aucoumea klaineana

okoumé (Congo, Gabon)

Borassus aethiopum

rônier (Congo, Gabon)

Butyrospermum parkii

sheabutter (Nigeria), karité (CAR)

Canarium schweinfurthii

aiélé (Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon)

Ceiba pentandra

fromager (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo); ghe (Liberia)

Chlorophora excelsa

iroko (Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Congo, Nigeria, Togo); kambala (DRC)

Chrysophyllum spp

aniégré (Côte d’Ivoire); alcasa (Ghana)

Entandrophragma angolense

tiama (DRC, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire); edinam (Ghana)

Entandrophragma cylindricum

sapelli (Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Congo); sapele (Ghana, Nigeria)

Entandrophragma candollei

kosipo (DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia); omu (Nigeria)

Entandrophragma utile

sipo (Cameroon, CAR, DRC, Congo); lifaki (DRC)

Gambeya africana

longhi (DRC, Congo, Gabon)

Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum

tola (DRC); agba (Nigeria)

Guarea cedrata

bossé (DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia); guarea (Ghana)Hallea ciliata

bahia (Gabon); abura (Liberia)

Khaya grandifoliolaacajou (Togo)

Khaya ivorensis

acajou (Côte d’Ivoire); mahogany (Ghana); Lagos mahogany (Nigeria)

Lophira alataazobé (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon); ekki (Liberia, Nigeria)

Lovoa trichilioides

dibetou (DRC, Côte d’Ivoire); cedar (Nigeria)

Mansonia altissima

beté (Côte d’Ivoire); bété (Cameroon); mansonia (Ghana); ofun (Nigeria)

Milicia excelsa

iroko (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana)

Millettia laurentii

wengé (Congo, Gabon)

Nauclea diderrichii

bilinga (DRC, Congo)

Nesogordonia papaverifera

kotibé (Côte d’Ivoire); danta (Ghana, Liberia); otutu (Nigeria)

Pericopsis elata

afrormosia (Cameroon, DRC, Congo)

Pterocarpus soyauxii

padouk (Gabon); red wood (Gabon)

Pterygota macrocarpa

koto (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana)

Pycnanthus angolensis

ilomba (Cameroon, Congo); otie (Ghana)

Pycnanthus kombo

ilomba (Côte d’Ivoire)

Tarrietia utilis

niangon (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia)

Tectona grandis

teak (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo)

Terminalia ivorensis

fraké (CAR) ; framiré (Côte d’Ivoire); edo (Nigeria)

Terminalia superba

fraké (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire); limba (CAR, DRC, Congo, Gabon); offam (Ghana);
afara (Nigeria)

Tieghemella heckelii

makoré (Côte d’Ivoire); makore (Ghana)

Triplochiton scleroxylon

ayous (Cameroon, CAR, Congo, Gabon, Togo); samba (Côte d’Ivoire); wawa (Ghana);obeche (Nigeria)

Asia & the Paciﬁc
Scientiﬁc names

Common names

Agathis macrophylla

kauri (Vanuatu)

Agathis vitiensis

kauri (Fiji); dakua makadre (Fiji)

Anisoptera spp

mersawa (Indonesia, Malaysia)

Anisoptera glabra

mersawa (Cambodia, Indonesia); phdiek (Cambodia)

Calophyllum spp

damanu (Fiji), bitanghol (Philippines)

STATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

301

Gonystylus bancanus

ramin (Indonesia, Malaysia)

Hevea brasiliensis

rubber (Indonesia, Myanmar, PNG, Thailand); Malaysian oak (Malaysia)

Intsia bijuga

vesi (Fiji); kwila (PNG); natora (Vanuatu)

Palaquium spp

sacau (Fiji); gutta percha (Malaysia)

Pterocarpus indicus

rosewood (PNG); narra (Philippines); bluwota (Vanuatu)

Santalum spp

sandalwood (PNG)

Santalum album

cendana (Indonesia); sandalwood (Vanuatu)

Santalum austrocaledonicum

sandalwood (Vanuatu)

Santalum yasi

sandalwood (Fiji)

Tectona grandis

teak (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand)

Latin America & the Caribbean
Scientiﬁc names

Common names

Alnus acuminata

aliso (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador)

Amburana cearensis

ishipingo (Peru)

Anacardium excelsum

marañon (Ecuador); espavé (Panama); mijao (Venezuela)

Bombacopsis quinata

ceiba tolúa (Bolivia); cedro espino (Panama); saqui saqui (Venezuela)

Brosimum alicastrum

charo (Venezuela); ramon (Mexico)

Brosimum utile

amapa (Brazil); sande (Colombia, Ecuador)

Bucida buceras

pucte (Guatemala, Mexico)

Calophyllum brasiliense

santa maría (Guatemala, Honduras); leche de maria (Mexico); jacareuba (Brazil);
maria (Panama)

Carapa guianensis

crabwood (Guyana, Suriname); andiroba (Colombia) ; crappo (Trinidad & Tobago);carapa (Venezuela)

Catostemma commune
Cedrela odoratabaromalli (Guyana); baramán (Venezuela)
cedar ( Trinidad & Tobago); cedro amargo (Panama); cedro (Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Venezuela); cedro rojo (Mexico)

Cedrelinga catenaeformis

chuncho (Ecuador); tornillo (Peru)

Ceiba pentandra

kapok (Ecuador); ceiba (Venezuela, Honduras)

Cordia alliodora

vara de humo (Colombia); laurel (Ecuador, Honduras, Panama); cypre (Trinidad& Tobago); pardillo (Venezuela)

Dalbergia retusa

guanciban (Mexico); cocobolo (Panama)

Erisma uncinatum

cedrinho (Brazil); moreillo (Venezuela)

Goupia glabra

kabukalli (Guyana); kopie (Suriname)Hymenaea courbaril

jatobá (Brazil); locust (Guyana); algarrobo (Venezuela);

Hura crepitans

ochoó (Bolivia); catahua (Peru); jabillo (Venezuela)

Lonchocarpus castilloi

machiche (Mexico); manchiche (Guatemala)

Manilkara bidentata

balata (Guyana); purguo (Venezuela)

Mora excelsa

mora (Guyana, Venezuela)

Peltogyne venosa

purpleheart (Guyana); purperhart (Suriname)

Pinus caribaea

Caribbean pine (Trinidad & Tobago); pino costanero (Honduras); pino caribe

Prioria copaifera

cativo (Panama, Colombia)

Quercus spp

roble (Colombia, Guatemala); oak (Panama)

Simarouba amara

marupá (Guyana, Peru); cedro blanco (Venezuela)

Sterculia apetala

sujo (Bolivia); camaruco (Venezuela)

Swietenia macrophylla

mahogany (Trinidad & Tobago); mara (Bolivia, Ecuador); mogno (Brazil); caoba(Panama, Venezuela)(Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela); kobchi (Mexico)
Tabebuia rosea
Tectona grandis

apamate (Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela); oak (Panama); cedro rosado (Colombia)
teak, teca (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama,
Trinidad & Tobago); teca (Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama)

Terminalia amazonia

amarillo (Panama); cumbillo (Honduras)

Virola spp

cumala (Peru); baboen (Suriname)

Virola koschnyi

palo de sangre (Honduras)

Virola surinamensis

virola (Brazil)

302

SFM TROPICSSTATUS OF TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT 2005

303

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