Forest management for timber production and forest landscape restoration in the amazon: The way towards sustainabulity

Sist, Plinio; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Calles, Juan; Derroire, Géraldine; Kanashiro, Milton; Ortega, Karen; Piponiot, Camille; Roopsind,Anand; Veríssimo, Adalberto; Vidal, Edson; Wortel, Verginia, Putz, Francis E. Forest management for timber production and forest landscape restoration in the amazon: The way towards sustainabulity. The Amazon We Want, 2023. https://www.theamazonwewant.org/spa_publication/policy-brief-2023-forest-management-for-timber-production-and-forest-landscape-restoration/

Key Messages 

(i) Current guidelines for legal timber harvests from natural forests in the Amazon (around 20 m3 ha-1 of timber harvested every 15-35 years) are not sustainable.

(ii) Timber yields from managed natural forests can be substantially enhanced by the application of cost-effective silvicultural treatments that increase stocking and growth of timber trees.

(iii) Growing interest in tropical forest restoration offers opportunities to promote the management of secondary and degraded forests for timber, and mixed plantations with native species. Timber yields from these restored areas would reduce pressure on natural forests – allowing larger areas to be set aside for protection and reducing harvesting intensity in natural forests.

(iv) Community-based forestry could substantially increase the area of production while promoting rural development.

(v) Efforts to promote sustainable forest management are constrained by unfair competition from illegal logging as well as the lack of specialized markets that recognize the added value of timber from responsibly managed natural forests.

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