Segunda parte
(Second part - Deuxième partie)

RESUMENES POR PAIS

(COUNTRY BRIEFS - RESUMES PAR PAYS) (continuar)

BRAZIL (continuar)

Open broadleaved forests (productive - NHc/NHO1)

The productive woodlands - NHc/NHO1 - excludes the low density and/or scrub types of cerrado (“campo cerrado”, “cerradinho”) and woodland areas disturbed by agriculture. The following figures have been found:

An overall average estimate of 50 m³/ha for the volume over bark for all trees more than 10 cm DBH (VOB) has been selected conservatively for the brasilian productive woodlands (NHc/NHO1), which is lower than the one given in (33), since the proportion of cerradão given in this document (60% of the total cerradão + cerrado) seems somewhat over-estimated.

Coniferous forests

Documents (8) (10) and (39) provide useful figures on stocking of Parana pine forests which are summarized below:

Weighted averages of 350 m³/ha for the volumes over bark of all trees with DBH≥ 10 cm will be used respectively for productive and unproductive Araucaria stands.

The total growing stock VOB and volumes actually commercialized VAC for the closed forests and productive woodlands of Brazil are estimated as follows:

Growing stock estimated at end 1980
(totals in million m³)

Logged-over areas (NHCf1uc) have been estimated at 5 million ha in the amazonian forests and at 7 million ha in the closed hardwood forests outside Amazonia (“south”)

Increment figures

For unmanaged mixed tropical hardwood forests, increment depends first on the succession stage at which a given forest stands. When it is a primary or old secondary forest - as in the case of most of the amazonian forests where there has been no or very little interference - increment is negligible, growth being traded off by mortality. No valuable set of figures were found in the literature for those brasilian braodleaved forests disrupted by logging or other human interference.

(22) gives an average increment of 2.5 m³/ha/year for a 21-year cerrado stand (“campo cerrado” to “cerradão”) protected from fire, grazing and cutting.

(8) and (10) provide increment figures for Araucaria stands ranging from 0.85–1.00 m³/ha/year for logged-over stands to 2.15 m³/ha/year and 4.80 m³/ha/year for undisturbed stands (volumes without bark).

1.2 Plantations

1.2.1 Introduction

Brazil has most of its natural forest resources in the northern part of the country (those in the southern part are being subject to rapid conversion for agriculture), while most of the population and of the industries are located in the south. It is therefore in the southern part, more particularly in the state of São Paulo, that forest plantation activities with Eucalyptus species were initiated. Specimens of eucalypt species were planted already in the nineteenth century (14) but the first large-scale plantation was established in the year 1910 by a railway company (Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro) to supply fuelwood, sleepers and posts (6). It is at that time that Navarro de Andrade “the father of Brazilian plantation forestry” started the first mass trials of a wide range of eucalypts (14).

Later on, in the late 40's - early 50's, large-scale planting of Eucalyptus species started to supply with charcoal the iron industry in Minas Gerais which had relied before entirely on wood from the cerrado formations. Large-scale plantation of conifers started later than eucalypts, first with species like Araucaria angustifolia, Cryptomeria lanceolata, and then pines: the first plantation of Pinus elliotti was established in 1949 at Capao Bonito in Paraná. By end 1965 total planted area amounted already to some 500,000 ha, of which 400,000 ha were eucalypts, 25,000 pines, 45,000 “other conifers” and 30,000 “other broadleaved” (6).

Law No. 5.106 of 2/8/6 6 regulating the fiscal incentives granted to forestry ventures¹ and decree-law No. 1.134 of 16/11/70, amended or complemented by subsequent decrees and decree-laws, served as foundation of a unique fiscal incentive programme for afforestation which ranks Brazil the fourth country in the world for total area planted behind only China, Russia and the U.S.A. (46). Almost all planted areas since 1967 have been established using the fiscal incentive machinery, with a regular increase from a reported total of 35,000 ha in 1967 to 469,000 ha in 1976 and 345,000 ha in 1977 (46). Rates of survival/success and yields are also reported to have increased regularly during this period. The growing requirements of charcoal for the iron industry and of raw material for a booming pulp and paper industry and lately for energy sources, allow to think that forest planting in Brazil has potential for further development. Very few plantations are established outside the fiscal incentive programme, the most important being those of Jari florestal (some 60,000 ha of Gmelina arborea and 25,000 ha of pines at end 1978), another example being that of “Amapa celulose” (pines).

¹ Deduction of money invested in afforestation or reforestation for companies up to 50% of income tax due (or up to 50% gross taxable income for individuals)

1.2.2 Areas of established plantations (end 1980)

Industrial plantations¹

The following table gives the estimated areas of industrial plantations at the end of 1980, rounded off to the nearest thousand ha (a better accuracy would be illusory as can be understood from the explanatory comments).

Areas of established industrial plantations estimated at end 1980
(in thousand ha)

The following comments are needed for a better understanding of the above

table:

• “nativas” include such species as Nectandra mollis (canela prêta or “black cinnamon”), Ocotea pretiosa (canela sassafras), Copaifera langsdorfii (copahyba), Balfourodendron ridelianum (pau marfim), Phoebe porosa (imbuia), Manilkara spp., Aniba roseadora;

• eucalyptus spp. planted are many; according to Goes ², 32% of area planted is occupied by E. saligna, 18% by E. alba (“alba from Brazil” or urophylla), 14% by E. citriodora, 12% by E. terectiocornis, 9% by E. grandis, 6% by E. paniculata and 9% by other eucalypts (E. baileyana, bicostata, botryoides, camaldulensis, cloeziana, deanei, dunnii, globulus, maidenii, microcorys, nitens, pilularis, propinqua, resinifera, robusta, rostrata, torreliana, viminalis etc.) (27) (14);

• pine species are principally subtropical pines such as Pinus elliottii (var. elliottii, densa), Pinus taeda and Pinus patula, and tropical pines such as Pinus caribaea (var. hondurensis, caribaea, bahamensis) Pinus occarpa and Pinus khasya, planted more recently (27);

• other conifers include mainly Araucaria angustifolia (Parana pine), and other temperate or subtropical conifers such as Cryptomeria japonica, Cunninghamia lanceolata and Cupressus lusitanica;

• the main sources of information have been (i) the statistics as at end of 1965 given in document (6) (the total planted area of 500,000 ha in this document is confirmed in document (16); (ii) the records of the fiscal incentive programmes for the years 1967 to 1977 as reported in -ocuments (23) (26) (32) (33) (31) (38) and (46); (iii) partial similar figures for 1978 indicated in (38) and (49); (iv) forecasts by experts of planted areas with fiscal incentives for years 1979 and 1980; (v) indication by experts on survival/success rates, proportion of eucalypt plantations for charcoal and for wood industries (see below), plantations established without fiscal incentives etc. (51);

• survival/success rates: the conservative figures given in document (6) for areas of established plantations at end 1965 have been used without change. Survival/success rates have been applied to the areas planted with fiscal incentives and recorded in the corresponding statistics. For the years 1967 to 1971 average survival/success rates of 0.65 for eucalyptus, 0.75 for pines and 0.70 for other species have been used. The average value of these rates (say 0.70) for this first period of the fiscal incentive programmes conform with indications given in some documents and with global estimates made by brasilian and foreign experts. For 1972 until now, average survival/success rates of 0.80 for eucalypt, 0.875 for pines and 0.80 for all other species have been selected. An exhaustive inventory of all planted areas will be the only way to check these crude assumptions which are nevertheless necessary to give as realistic as possible assessment of the situation;

• one difficulty has been to differentiate between “industrial plantations” of eucalypts (i.e. mainly for pulp and fiberboard) and other plantations of the same species (i.e. essentially for charcoal). The most recent estimates made by IBDF have been used (49) - they show that two thirds of eucalypt planting from 1967 to 1977 was for charcoal production (or more than one third of the total planting with fiscal incentives during the same period);

• eucalypt plantations are assumed to coppice and therefore their replanting has not been accounted for in the annual planting performance, contrary to what has been done for pines and other conifers (only 6,000 hectares of conifers assumed to be replanted before 1980);

• the distribution between species for the years 1978, 1979 and 1980 has been assumed similar to that of the preceding years, i.e. 60% eucalypts, 25% pines and 15% other species. Eucalypt plantations for charcoal production has been given the same share of total eucalypt planting as in years 1976 and 1977 (75%) (49).

¹ By industrial plantations is meant those plantations the main purpose of which is to provide raw material for wood processing industries i.e. mechanical wood industries and pulp and paper industry. Plantations mainly aimed at production of charcoal, poles and posts, or food - fruit trees, “palimitos” - are discussed later in the paragraph as “other plantations”.

² E. Goes “Os eucaliptos” (Ecologia, Cultura, Produçoes e Rentabilidad)

Other plantations

The following table gives an estimate of the areas of established plantations for charcoal and food production.

Areas of established plantations for charcoal and food production estimated at end 1980
(in thousand ha)

• “Frutiferas” include such species as Psidium guayana (goiaba), Paullinia cupana (guaraná), Bertholletia excelsa (castanha do Brasil, “Brazil nut”), Citrus spp.

• “Palmito” corresponds to the two indigenous palm trees Euterpe edulis and Euterpe oleracea used for their edible heart.

All plantations

The following table results from the summation of the two preceding ones.

Areas of established plantations estimated at end 1980
(industrial and for charcoal and food production)
(in '000 ha)

1.2.3 Plantation characteristics

Some figures are given in the following table with the corresponding sources. Given the wide range of prevailing conditions (ecology, soils, establishment techniques, species, varieties, provenances…) for each species planted in Brazil, these figures cannot be more than crude averages. In the economic studies several “alternatives” or “levels” have been determined (32) (33) (46) (49). Generally speaking there has been improvement in establishment techniques, selection of seed, genetics, which is reflected for instance in the increased yield of eucalypt plantations (23) (31) and the fact that production is estimated higher for 1972–77 plantations than for 1967–71. However results indicated in document (52) shows mean annual increments lower than those generally expected.