Asia-Pacific forest resources in world perspective
Historical patterns of land-use change
Deforestation and changes in forest type and quality
Status and trends in forest resources
Current status of forest management
Potential for supplying forest products and services
Despite covering one-quarter of the world's land area, the Asia-Pacific region contains only 15 percent of the world's forest and other wooded land (FOWL). It consequently has the lowest FOWL cover of all the world's regions, at only 28 percent, and less forest per capita than any other region (Table 4.1).
Table 4.1: Forest area statistics by broad geographical region (million ha)
|
Region |
Natural forest (1995) |
Plantations (1995) |
Other wooded land (1990) |
Total FOWL |
FOWL cover(%) |
FOWL per capita (ha/person) |
|
Asia-Pacific |
478 |
74 |
255 |
807 |
28 |
0.25 |
|
Africa and the Near East |
528 |
5 |
606 |
1,139 |
31 |
1.18 |
|
Latin America and the Caribbean |
942 |
8 |
292 |
1,242 192 |
62 41 |
2.58 0.38 |
|
Europe |
146 |
46 |
|
|
| |
|
North America |
457 |
293 |
750 |
41 |
2.56 | |
|
Former USSR |
816 |
187 |
1,003 |
46 |
3.43 | |
|
World |
3,454 |
1,669 |
5,123 |
39 |
0.90 | |
Source: FRA 1990 (FAO, 1995) updated to 1995 (FAO, 1997).
Note: Separate plantation areas are not available for the three developed regions.
Despite the low relative percentage of FOWL in Asia and the Pacific, FOWL remains the second largest land-use category in the region, after permanent pasture. There remains about twice as much FOWL as arable land in the region (Figure 4.1).
The Asia-Pacific region leads the world in the development of tropical and semi-tropical forest plantations, with over 80 percent of the plantations established in developing countries. Plantations account for a relatively high proportion (11 percent) of the total forest area in the region (8 percent of the FOWL area). As these plantations are potentially very productive, they are likely to play an increasingly important role in supplying the wood needs of the region in the future.
Figure 4.1: Land use in the Asia-Pacific region, 1995 (million ha)
Source: FAOSTAT (1997) updated with the results of FRA 1990 (FAO, 1997).
33 Four data sources have been used in this analysis of land-use change: time-series statistics on land use from FAOSTAT; forest area and change statistics collected in FRA 1990 (FAO, 1995 and 1997); and forest area data collected for the Global Fibre Supply Study (GFSS). Due to different measurement conventions, data sources and dates of collection, these statistics do not match in many countries. FAOSTAT figures show trends back to 1961 and have been used in Figure 4.1, but comparison with FRA 1990 suggests that large areas of other wooded land have been misclassified as other land in FAOSTAT. Therefore, current status and projected future trends of FOWL have been based on FAOSTAT trends, adjusted to take into account the results of FRA 1990. Comparison with the GFSS also suggests that some areas of other wooded land reported in FRA 1990 might actually be forest and vice-versa, so forest area data from the GFSS has been used in preference to that from FRA 1990 wherever these differ, because this information is more recent.
Figure 4.2 shows the broad changes in land use that have taken place in the region since 1961. The area of land used for agriculture has increased about 170 million hectares since 1961 (or just over 13 percent in total). Most of this increase is due to the expansion of permanent pasture, which has expanded about 125 million hectares (15 percent) over the period. The area used for arable crops has increased by 30 million hectares (about 7 percent), and the area of permanent crops has increased by about 15 million hectares.
Although the area of permanent crops has only expanded by 15 million hectares in absolute terms, this represents a remarkable 60 percent increase over 1961 levels. This phenomenon has major implications for forestry because many of the crops being planted are tree crops (e.g. rubber, oil palm, etc.) that could potentially supply fibre to substitute for traditional timber.
Figure 4.2: Trends in land use in the Asia-Pacific region, 1961-1994
Source: FAOSTAT (1997).
About two-thirds of the expansion of agricultural land (or 115 million hectares) has come from the cultivation of previously unused or barren land (i.e. "other land" under the FAO land-use classification system). The remaining 55 million hectares has come from the conversion of FOWL to agricultural use. The average loss of FOWL in the Asia-Pacific region over the entire period 1961 to 1994 can be calculated at about 1.6 million hectares per year. In comparison, the Forest Resources Assessment of 1990 (FRA 1990) estimated an annual loss of about 0.8 million hectares of FOWL during the 1980s, suggesting that the rate of deforestation may have declined since the 1960s and 1970s.
The changes described above have not occurred equally across all countries in the region. Table 4.2 shows the average long-run changes in land use that have taken place in the various Asia-Pacific sub-regions and the long-run trend in FOWL conversion to other uses (from FAOSTAT). It also shows more recent changes (1980-1990) in FOWL area (reported by FRA 1990). The area of FOWL is increasing in North and South Asia, mostly due to large afforestation programmes in India and the People's Republic of China, while most major losses of FOWL are occurring in Southeast Asia.
Table 4.2: Average past land-use changes in the Asia-Pacific region (1,000 ha)
|
Country group |
Long-run average annual changes in land-use areas over the period 1961-1994 from FAOSTAT (1997) |
1980-1990 av. annual change in |
|||||
|
Arable land |
Permanent crops |
Permanent pasture |
FOWL |
Other land |
Trend in FOWL change |
FOWL area (FRA 1990) |
|
|
AIEs |
+433 |
+20 |
-467 |
-11 |
+24 |
Initial loss recent gain |
-4 |
|
NIEs |
-5 |
+2 |
+2 |
-17 |
+18 |
No trend |
-1 |
|
North Asia |
-313 |
+60 |
+4,244 |
-816 |
-3,175 |
Initial loss recent gain |
+882 |
|
Southeast Asia |
+263 |
+398 |
+36 |
-1,151 |
+454 |
Decreasing loss |
-2,266 |
|
South Asia |
+471 |
-31 |
-69 |
+382 |
-753 |
Decreasing gain |
+596 |
|
Pacific Islands |
+4 |
+6 |
+3 |
-4 |
-9 |
No trend |
-45 |
|
Asia-Pacific |
+854 |
+454 |
+3,749 |
-1,617 |
-3,441 |
Decreasing loss |
-838 |
Source: FAOSTAT (1997) said FAO (1995).
Causes of deforestation and forest degradation
Effects of deforestation and forest degradation
Between 1980 and 1990, about 4.4 million hectares of natural forest were lost each year in Asia and the Pacific (Table 4.3). Most of these natural forests were converted to non-forest land uses (1.6 million hectares per year) and to other wooded land (2.2 million hectares per year). The establishment of forest plantations (2.7 million hectares per year) partially offset the loss of natural forests, resulting in a net loss of total forests of about 1.6 million hectares (just under 1 percent) per year.34 Overall loss of FOWL in the region was about 0.8 million hectares per year during the period.
34 Excluding the AIEs where data separated between natural forests and plantations are not readily available.
Table 4.3: Forest changes in Asia and the Pacific, 1980-1990
|
Type of change |
Amount of change 1980-1990 |
||
|
% of 1980 forest area |
(million ha) |
||
|
Total |
Annual equivalent |
||
|
Deforestation |
|||
|
1. Forest area in 1980 |
100 |
509 |
|
|
Less losses: |
|||
|
2. Natural forest - Other wooded land |
-4.1 |
-22 |
-2.2 |
|
3. Natural forest - Non-forest land |
-3.3 |
-16 |
-1.6 |
|
Plus forest gains: |
|||
|
4. Non-forest land - Plantation |
+4.3 |
+22 |
2.2 |
|
Equals: |
|||
|
5. Forest area in 1990 |
97 |
493 |
|
|
Change in forest type |
|||
|
6. Natural forest - Plantation |
1.0 |
5 |
0.5 |
|
Degradation of the natural forest |
|||
|
7. Increase in fragmentation |
1.1 |
6 |
0.6 |
|
8. Closed forest - Open forest (net) |
0.2 |
1 |
0.1 |
Source: FRA 1990 (FAO, 1995).
A meaningful assessment of the extent of change in forest cover requires a clear understanding of terminology and definitions. Key definitions are summarised in Box 4.1.
|
Box 4.1: DEFINITIONS RELATED TO FOREST COVER Deforestation: Complete clearing of tree formations (closed or open) and their replacement by non-forest land uses. Deforestation involves alienation of forest land to a state where it has less than 10 percent forest crown cover. Degradation: Until now, no clear and specific definition for forest degradation has been widely adopted. In general, degradation refers to loss of quality and functions including, for example, reduced stocking, fragmentation, changed species mix, displacement by scrub, lighter or more open crown cover, etc. Forest. Land with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent and an area of more than 0.5 hectares (ha). The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 metres at maturity in situ. Forests may be either closed forest formations, where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground; or open forest formations with a continuous vegetation cover in which tree crown cover exceeds 10 percent. Young natural stands and all plantations established for forestry purposes that have not yet attained a crown density of 10 percent or tree height of 5 metres are included in the definition of forest. Areas normally forming part of the forest area that are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention or natural causes, but which are expected to revert to forest, are also considered forest. Plantation: Forest stands established by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation. They can be either: · introduced species (all planted stands), or · intensively managed stands of indigenous species that meet all the following criteria: one or two species at the time of planting; even age class; regular spacing. Plantations do not include stands that were established as plantations, but which have been without intensive management for a significant period of time. These are considered semi-natural forests. Other wooded land: Land either with a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of 5 to 10 percent of trees able to reach a height of 5 metres at maturity in situ; or a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent of trees not able to reach a height of 5 metres at maturity in situ (e.g. dwarf or stunted trees); or with shrub or bush cover of more than 10 percent. Other land: Land not classified as forest or other wooded land as defined above. Other land includes (a) agricultural land, of which the components are (i) arable land, which refers to land under temporary crops, temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow or lying idle; and (ii) land under permanent crops, which refers to land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest (e.g. cocoa, coffee, rubber, fruit trees, etc.); (b) permanent meadows and pastures, which refers to land used permanently (five years or more) for herbaceous forage crops, either cultivated or growing wild (i.e. wild prairie or grazing land), with woody vegetation covering less than 10 percent of the ground; and (c) other land, which includes unused but potentially productive land, areas with built structures, wasteland, parks, ornamental gardens, roads, lanes and barren land. Source: FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (January 1998) and FAO Forestry Paper 124. |
Over the 10-year period from 1980 to 1990, a total of about 5 million hectares of natural forest was converted to plantations. Another 22 million hectares of natural forest had so much tree cover removed that it can now be classified only as "other wooded land." Other qualitative changes that took place include an increase in the fragmentation of the forest area and, more subtly, an increase in the proportion of forest that can only be classified as open forest (due to its low tree cover) rather than closed forest.
Deforestation and forest degradation are often caused by a combination of actions and influences. Some causes are natural (e.g. fire, disease and weather-induced stress), but more often they result from human activities (e.g. land clearing for agriculture, overgrazing, over-extraction of timber and harmful logging practices). Natural influences are often exacerbated by human activities (e.g. poor logging practices, atmospheric pollution and the use of fire to clear land).
The direct causes of deforestation and degradation obscure the underlying causes, which include poverty, inequitable resource tenure, population pressures, greed, corruption, misguided policies, and institutional failures. Experience has clearly shown that when these underlying problems are adequately addressed, deforestation and forest degradation decline dramatically.
Within the Asia-Pacific region, the major direct cause of deforestation is the clearing (both planned and unplanned) of forests for permanent cropland (including tree crops) and pasture. Poor forest harvesting practises are the cause of considerable forest degradation and the construction of forest roads for harvesting facilitates the encroachment by immigrants who often subsequently destroy the remaining forest.
In recent years, fires have caused serious damage to forests in the region. Fire problems are widespread in India (where it is reported that fires affect some 53 percent of the forest area, or about 35 million hectares, each year), the People's Republic of China (average of 890,000 hectares burned annually), Mongolia (more than 3 million hectares burned in 1996), and Indonesia (3.2 million hectares burned in 1982-1983; 160,000 in 1994; and large areas in 1997-1998), and several other countries in the region. Fires are often started by people who want to clear forests cheaply in order to use the land for other purposes.
Shifting cultivation and overgrazing cause widespread degradation of forests in the region, and even complete deforestation in extreme instances. Estimates of the number of people involved in shifting cultivation in the region vary, but the number is generally believed to be between 25 million and 40 million. Fuelwood collection is not a major cause of deforestation in the region, but excessive fuelwood collection in some areas causes forest degradation and some localised deforestation where fuelwood demand is particularly high.
The costs and negative effects of deforestation are generally well known. Where deforestation occurs in an unplanned and wasteful manner, the economic losses can be substantial, particularly from the loss of timber and other commercial resources. At more subsistence levels, deforestation causes severe hardships and social disruptions for forest-dwelling and forest-dependent people.
Both forest degradation and deforestation can lead to major reductions in agricultural productivity on neighbouring lands, and the siltation of rivers and reservoirs has significant negative implications for irrigation and hydropower. In highly sensitive areas, deforestation and forest degradation can lead to springs drying up and to desertification.
Another serious negative impact of deforestation and degradation is the loss of wildlife habitat. Many countries in Asia and the Pacific have lost 70 to 90 percent of their original wildlife habitat, and the populations of many species are dwindling.
While the effects of deforestation are relatively simple to identify, the effects of forest degradation are more subtle. Degradation can lead to host of problems including loss of soil fertility and nutrient recycling capability, reduced productivity and growth, a decline in species richness, erosion of genetic diversity, a decline in stock density and crown cover, reduced economic value of timber crops, and decreasing wildlife populations.
Distribution of forest resources within the region
Importance of forest resources to individual countries
Current uses of forest resources within the region
Status and trends related to protected areas
The increasing importance of plantations in the region
Status and trends related to trees outside forests
The distribution of forests within the Asia-Pacific region is shown in Table 4.4. The first three groups are mainly comprised of temperate countries (the exceptions being Singapore and parts of the People's Republic of China and Australia). Thus, roughly 40 to 45 percent of the forest in the region is located in temperate areas. Temperate countries also have at least 60 percent of the plantation resource in the region (probably much more considering that the area of plantations in the AIE countries is not included in these calculations). Plantations account for at least 16 percent of the forest area in the temperate zone (10 percent of FOWL), while they currently account for only 7 percent of the forest area (5 percent of FOWL) in tropical countries.
Southeast Asia is particularly important with respect to natural forests as it has 40 percent of the region's total. Southeast Asia, alone, has as much natural forest as all of the region's temperate countries combined.
Table 4.4: Area of forest and other wooded land in the Asia-Pacific region, 1995
|
Country group |
Area of forest and other wooded land (million ha) |
|||
|
Natural forest |
Forest plantations |
Other wooded land |
Total |
|
|
AIEs |
61 |
13 |
105 |
179 |
|
NIEs |
8 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
|
North Asia |
112 |
35 |
34 |
181 |
|
Temperate zone |
194 |
37 |
139 |
370 |
|
Southeast Asia |
194 |
9 |
86 |
289 |
|
South Asia |
62 |
15 |
24 |
101 |
|
Pacific Islands |
42 |
0 |
6 |
48 |
|
Tropical zone |
298 |
24 |
116 |
438 |
|
Asia-Pacific |
478 |
74 |
255 |
807 |
Source: FRA 1990 (FAO, 1995) updated to 1995 (FAO, 1997).
The importance of forest resources in each of the countries of the region is shown in Table 4.5. Six countries (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia) have substantial forest resources in absolute terms as well as percentage and per capita terms. These countries have already developed or have the potential to develop significant forest industries and will have a particularly important role in the future of forestry in the region.
Table 4.5: Current importance of forest resources in countries and territories of Asia and the Pacific
|
|
More than 10m ha of forest in total |
Less than 10m ha of forest in total |
||
|
More than 40% forest cover |
Less than 40% forest cover |
More than 40% forest cover |
Less than 40% forest cover |
|
|
More than 0.6 hectares of forest per person |
Indonesia; Papua New Guinea; Malaysia; Myanmar; Laos; Cambodia |
Australia |
Solomon Islands; Vanuatu; Bhutan; Brunei; Fiji; Samoa |
New Caledonia; Mongolia; New Zealand |
|
Less than 0.6 hectares of forest per person |
Japan |
PR China; India; Thailand |
Korea DPR; the Republic of Korea |
All other countries and territories |
Another four countries (Japan, the People's Republic of China, India and Thailand) have large areas of forest but also large populations. Australia has a large absolute forest area but a relatively low percentage of forest cover. Interestingly, some countries where forest industries are locally important (e.g. some of the Pacific Islands and New Zealand) have only modest forest resources relative to the rest of the region.
Approximately 300 million hectares of natural forests and plantations in the region are currently used for timber production purposes (Table 4.6). About 100 million hectares of forest are legally protected and are theoretically off-limits to timber production (i.e. IUCN categories I and II). Another 136 million hectares are inaccessible, given current levels of technology and prices, due to steepness of slope, remoteness or poor stocking of currently commercial species.35
35 J-L. Blanchez, (1997). Forest Resources and Roundwood Supply in the Asia Pacific Countries: Situation and Outlook to the Year 2010. Document APFSOS/WP/17. FAO, Rome/Bangkok.
About 72 million hectares of forests in the tropical countries are under protected status. This represents about 20 percent of the total forest area in these countries. In the temperate countries, only 28 million hectares, or 14 percent, of forest area is legally protected.
Just over 70 percent (214 million hectares) of the production forests in the region have already been logged at least once or are in areas designated to be converted to other land uses. Some 43 million hectares of natural production forests, almost entirely in the tropics, have not yet been logged.
Table 4.6: Area of forest by management type and status, 1994
|
Country group |
Area of forest (million ha) |
|||||
|
Natural forest used for production |
Forest plantation |
Forest not currently used for production |
||||
|
Logged areas |
Unlogged areas |
Conversion areas |
(Used for production) |
Inaccessible areas |
Protected areas |
|
|
AIEs |
23 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
25 |
13 |
|
NIEs |
4 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
North Asia |
74 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
23 |
14 |
|
Southeast Asia |
61 |
33 |
25 |
7 |
34 |
59 |
|
South Asia |
26 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
24 |
11 |
|
Pacific Islands |
2 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
29 |
2 |
|
Asia-Pacific |
189 |
43 |
25 |
42 |
136 |
100 |
Source: GFSS (FAO, 1998).Note: The above figures do not match those presented earlier because the plantation figures are only for industrial plantations, and some forest areas with particularly low stocking have been reclassified as other wooded land in the GFSS.
In the temperate countries, only 28 million hectares, or 14 percent, of the forest area is in legally protected areas where production is forbidden. The remaining 178 million hectares is potentially available for production.
The Asia-Pacific region has almost 3,000 protected areas in total, covering nearly 9 percent of the land area (Table 4.7).36 Protected areas are generally divided into six categories according to the objectives of management and the restrictions placed upon economic activities in these areas.
36 Protected areas include more than just forest, although it is likely that in many Asia-Pacific countries a large proportion of protected areas is forest of some sort.
IUCN has suggested that 10 percent of every country's land area should be protected in some way. Eleven countries in the region do not meet this target and it would require an additional 75 million hectares of protected areas to do so. Protected area coverage is even less adequate if distribution by eco-floristic zones is considered. Only 5 of the 39 eco-floristic zones of South and Continental Southeast Asia have more than 10 percent protected area coverage. Eleven of the 39 are less than 1 percent protected, and 4 zones have no protection whatsoever. In the 17 eco-floristic zones of Insular Southeast Asia, only 8 have more than 10 percent of protected area coverage. Australia has the largest area of protected areas and Bhutan has the largest percentage of land in protected status.
Table 4.7: Protected areas in the Asia-Pacific region37 (not necessarily all forested)
37 For further details, see Paine et al. (WCMC) (1997). Status, Trends and Future Scenarios for Forest Conservation including Protected Areas in the Asia-Pacific Region: Document APFSOS/WP/04. FAO, Rome/Bangkok.
|
IUCN category |
Type of protected area |
Number |
Area |
Proportion of total land area |
|
|
Description |
(1,000 ha) |
(%) |
(%) |
||
|
I |
Strict Protection (natural reserves, wilderness areas) |
330 |
67,263 |
27 |
2.35 |
|
II |
National Parks (ecosystem, conservation, recreation) |
788 |
63,620 |
26 |
2.22 |
|
III |
National Monuments |
106 |
1,664 |
1 |
0.06 |
|
IV |
Habitat/Species Management |
1,074 |
45,095 |
18 |
1.57 |
|
V |
Protected Landscape or Seascape |
192 |
55,435 |
22 |
1.94 |
|
VI |
Managed Resource Protected Area |
445 |
15,436 |
6 |
0.54 |
|
Total |
|
2,935 |
248,513 |
100 |
8.86 |
Source: Paine et al. (1997).Note: As is evident from the breakdown, protected areas are not necessarily forested.
Future opportunities for protection in the classical sense are decreasing. Particularly in South Asia and in the heavily populated lowlands elsewhere, new and innovative ways are needed to combine conservation objectives with people's livelihoods (Box 4.2). Innovative funding arrangements are also needed. Several funding initiatives in the region suggest promising opportunities. Samoa, for example, imposes a tax on tourists to generate conservation revenue; Bhutan has a conservation fund to which donors are encouraged to contribute; New Zealand has an elaborate set of grants, covenants and other ways to finance conservation on private land (Box 4.3).
|
Box 4.2: INDIA - TOWARD MORE COMPATIBLE COEXISTENCE OF PEOPLE AND CONSERVATION? India's protected area network represents roughly 4.5 percent of the country's geographical area and about 19 percent of its forest area. The coverage, however, does not fully represent the various biogeographic zones and biomes. Efforts are therefore being made to declare more protected areas. Establishment of conventional protected areas such as national parks and sanctuaries in a densely populated country like India, however, is not an easy proposition. Therefore, proposals are currently being finalised to amend the Wildlife Act to provide for the creation of two additional categories of protected areas. The first category is Conservation Reserve, which would be declared on lands owned by the government, but would not impose the same restrictions on people's activities, resource-use rights and livelihoods as with national parks and sanctuaries. The other category is Community Reserve, which can be declared on community or private lands when the communities or individuals in the area are in agreement. Source: M. F. Ahmed (1997). Document APFSOS/WP/26., |
|
BOX 4.3: CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION OF FORESTS ON PRIVATE LAND -THE NEW ZEALAND APPROACH In New Zealand, several options are available for providing assistance to landowners in conserving or protecting their natural forest or forest remnants: · The Queen Elizabeth II National Trust Open Space Covenants sometimes provide financial assistance from the Trust in exchange for agreeing to an open space covenant to be registered on the land title although the land ownership remains with the owner. · The Forest Heritage Fund, established in 1990, is funded annually by the government. It is serviced by the Department of Conservation and so far has protected over 100,000 hectares of natural forest. It operates by: (a) directly buying forests or contributing to purchases by local authorities and other agencies prepared to manage the forests under the Reserves Act 1977; (b) covenanting, so that owners can still own the land, with some help for survey and legal costs; and (c) providing anti-grazing fencing assistance. The Fund focuses on sites that: (a) are representative of original ecosystems or natural landscapes; (b) have the potential to provide sustainable natural values in the long term; (c) contribute to integrity of the original landscape; and (d) contribute to water and soil protection and a range of recreational values. · Department of Conservation or Local Authority Covenants are agreements with landowners for specific forest areas. · Heritage Covenants are concluded between the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and forest owners to protect historic or cultural sites. · Rates Remission for Covenants are a mechanism by which all local authorities can choose to remit or postpone rates on land that has been voluntarily protected for conservation purposes. · Nga Whenua Rahui is a government fund serviced by the Department of Conservation under which Maori landowners (indigenous New Zealanders) get help to retain tino rangitiratanga (ownership and control) particularly for traditional uses and cultural views of forest, sometimes with provision for public access. Alternatively, it supports Maori reservations, usually for smaller forests with restricted public access or "management agreements" which set out agreed conservation objectives. · Protected Private Land provisions allow landowners that prefer not to have a covenant to instead have their land declared protected private land under the Reserves Act 1977. Source: Abbreviated from D. Morrison (Personal communication, March 1998). |
While estimates of the actual area of plantations in the Asia-Pacific region range widely (Table 4.8),38 it is evident that plantations are a major factor in forestry in the region and are increasing in significance. The net area of plantations (i.e. taking into account replanting and plantation failures) appears to be about 80 percent of the gross area planted. This suggests that the total area of plantations in the region (excluding AIEs) is about 60 to 65 million hectares. About 40 million hectares of plantations in the region (all countries) are intended for industrial purposes; the remainder has been planted for environmental purposes in conservation and protection areas.
38 Part of the problem stems from inconsistent definitions (e.g. some countries include agricultural tree crops in forest plantation statistics). In some countries, the information is simply unreliable because little effort is spent collecting it. A major statistical problem is that countries rarely report separate data for new planting versus replanting of felled or previously failed plantations.
The People's Republic of China and India have the most extensive plantation programmes in the region. Much of China's planting is oriented toward wasteland reclamation and land stabilisation. The country has plans to plant 26 million additional hectares of forests in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins by the year 2030. India plants around 1 million hectares annually, mostly on wastelands and degraded scrub and forest areas.
Table 4.8: Recent estimates of forest plantation area and planting rates (million ha)
|
Source |
Year |
Temperate |
Tropical |
Total |
Planting rate |
|
m ha |
m ha |
m ha |
m ha/yr |
||
|
FRA 90 - excl. AIE countries (FAO, 1995) |
1990 |
37 |
18 |
55 |
2.7 |
|
FRA 90 - excl. AIE countries (FAO, 1997) |
1995 |
37 |
24 |
61 |
1.2 |
|
Country reports (Chandrasekharan, 1997) |
1995 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
70 |
3.0 |
|
Pandey - net (FAO, 1995)1 |
1990 |
n.a. |
23 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
|
Pandey - net (FAO, 1997) |
1995 |
222 |
19 |
42 |
3.3 |
|
GFSS - industrial only (FAO, 1998) |
1995 |
28 |
14 |
43 |
1.5 |
Notes:
1 Tropical countries only.
2 Includes only subtropical areas of China and Australia.
In addition to reclaiming wastelands, the high rate of plantation establishment in the region reflects policy commitments in several countries to make plantations the principal source of wood and fibre products. This is being done with a view toward relieving pressure on natural forests and developing reliable sources of industrial raw material for the future. Several countries are thus pursuing plantation development in tandem with policies of withdrawing natural forests from production.
A wide array of incentives is used to promote plantation establishment in Asia and the Pacific. The Philippines is one example where both large- and small-scale industrial plantations attract support (Box 4.4). India provides free seedlings and other extension services. Indonesia offers tax concessions and enters into joint ventures between the state forest enterprises and private-sector investors.
|
Box 4.4: INCENTIVES FOR INDUSTRIAL PLANTATIONS - THE PHILIPPINES In 1991, the Philippines prohibited all logging within old-growth forests, areas above 1,000 metres and on sites with slopes greater than 50 percent. At the same time, many commercial logging concessions were cancelled and annual allowable cuts were reduced. Emphasis was given to plantation development with the expectation that they would supply the bulk of future wood needs. A variety of incentives were provided to encourage private investors to engage in plantation development. Industrial Forest Management Agreements (IFMAs) have been established to combine natural forest management objectives with industrial plantation establishment. Qualified investors are given the responsibility to manage and protect remaining residual natural forests, while converting deforested and degraded areas into plantations of timber species, rattan, rubber and bamboo. Under the programme, the following incentives are provided: · income tax exemption for three years after the start of commercial harvest; In August 1996, the Socialized Industrial Forest Management Programme (SIFMP) was launched. It provides for Filipino individuals, families, co-operatives or corporations to engage in plantation establishment ranging from 1 to 500 hectares. SIRMP incentives include: · the right to harvest, sell and utilise plantation crops; · the right to export logs, lumber and other forest products harvested from the SIFMA in accordance with the government allocation system; · exemption from payment of forest charges; · entitlement to appropriate and reasonable compensation for the developments in the area, in case of cancellation of the SIFMA without cause or for public interest; and · technical assistance should SIFMA holders wish to confederate into a larger organisation. Source: Country Report- the Philippines: Document APFSOS/WP/33. |
In many countries, trees outside forests are an important source of wood and other benefits (Box 4.5). Such trees include roadside and canalside plantings, scattered trees in the landscape, trees planted in and around fields, trees in homegardens, windbreaks and agricultural tree crops. These trees play a disproportionately important role in meeting rural people's needs and are becoming increasingly important in supplying commercial needs. Unfortunately, few countries have reliable data on tree resources outside forests.
A number of fruit trees such as jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), jamun (Syzygium jambolana) and mango (Mangifera indica) also provide beautiful and valuable timber and are commonly sawn for furniture and other purposes after fruit production declines. Bamboo is also commonly planted on non-forest land.
|
Box 4.5: IMPORTANCE OF TREES OUTSIDE THE FOREST In Bangladesh, trees outside the forest, primarily around homesteads, cover an area of about 1 million hectares and supply 5 million cubic metres (about 60 to 65 percent of the country's total wood production). About 80 percent of all bamboo is also produced outside forests. Some of the best household plots in Bangladesh are intensively managed and carry a growing stock of about 200 cubic metres per hectare with potential annual yields of 10 cubic metres. Successive evaluations carried out in 1981 and 1992 indicate that these sources are sustainably managed. In India, village wood lots, wind belts and shelter belts, agroforestry and farm forestry plots and small block and line plantations currently cover over 6 million hectares. In addition to these, there are also other sources of wood from trees outside the forest, including rubber, coconut, cashew, mango and other estate crops. These sources together produce about 50 percent of India's wood supply and probably an equal or larger share of India's NWFPs. There are also many small private nurseries meeting the local demand for tree seedlings. In Pakistan, trees on farms account for 23 percent of all timber growing stock in the country. In Punjab, farm trees account for an astounding 86 percent of the province's growing stock. The average growing stock of wood on agricultural land nation wide is estimated at 3.42 cubic metres per hectare. Even in Indonesia, despite the vastness of the country's forests, some 20 percent of total wood consumed comes from trees outside the forest. This pattern is increasing because of the concentration of people on Java, where forests are limited. In Java alone, some 60 percent of fuelwood consumed in rural areas comes from non-forest sources. |
Throughout the region, but especially in Southeast Asia, there has been a dramatic increase in the establishment of agricultural tree crops (i.e. rubber, oil palm and coconut plantations and fruit orchards). Agricultural statistics indicate that the area of agricultural tree crops being harvested in the region has tripled from about 12 million hectares in 1961 to 35 million hectares in 1997 (Figure 4.3). Given that such crops are not productive until several years after planting (e.g. rubber trees are not harvested until they are about 10 years old), the total area of agricultural tree crops is currently estimated to be about 47 million hectares.
For certain countries, tree crops are far more significant than forest plantations. Malaysia is a case in point.39 At present, Malaysia has only 0.19 million hectares of forest plantations, but 4.82 million hectares of tree crops (rubber, oil palm, coconut, cocoa). Tree crops are particularly important in many of the smaller Pacific Islands, where coconut comprises the most important wood resource available. Even in countries with substantial forest resources, tree crops are increasingly being viewed as an important source of raw material for industrial purposes (e.g. rubberwood and oil palm in Malaysia).
39 Country Report: Document APFSOS/WP/07.
Figure 4.3: Area of agricultural tree crops harvested in the Asia-Pacific region
Source: FAOSTAT (1997).
Forest management objectives
Management of natural forests
Management of plantations
Management of non-wood forest products (NWFPs)
Efforts to achieve sustainable forest management
Forest management objectives are dependent on the nature of forest resources with which countries are endowed, development priorities and societal demands. Objectives tend to be more diverse for natural forests, but are also significant for plantations.
In the past, a primary objective of forest management has been the production of wood products. In recent years, partly due to the influence of agreements at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), greater emphasis has been focused on overall sustainable forest management with multiple objectives.
In general, most natural forest in the region is in public ownership.40 The exception among developing countries is in the Pacific Islands, where indigenous people and local communities own most forests under customary law. Ownership of forest plantations varies. In AIEs and NIEs, plantations are usually privately owned. In the countries previously under central planning systems, most plantations remain in public ownership, although some plantation operations are now being privatised. In other countries, ownership patterns are mixed.
40 Japan is a major exception. Of its 25.14 million hectares of forests, some 14.6 million hectares (58 percent) are privately owned, the rest are in various categories of public ownership or stewardship. (APFSOS/WP/15, 1998)
Much of the publicly owned forest in the region is de facto managed by the private sector through leases or forest concession agreements. These usually give concessionaires the right to cut specified volumes of timber on condition that levies are paid and that certain management prescriptions are followed (Box 4.6).
|
Box 4.6: THE APPLICATION OF SUSTAINED YIELD PRINCIPLES IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA Indonesia: Natural forest in Indonesia has been logged since the 1930s but, until relatively recently, was logged very selectively, with relatively little disturbance or destructive impact on the forest. For example, until 1966, annual industrial log production did not exceed 2.6 million cubic metres. In 1967, large-scale exploitation of Indonesia's forests began as the government commenced issuing forest concessions. Concessionaires were obliged to follow the Indonesian Selective Cutting System, but by the 1980s it was realised that most were only complying with the minimum felling diameter limit and ignoring the other requirements of the system (e.g. residual stand inventory, post-harvest tending and enrichment planting). In 1989, Indonesia introduced the Indonesian Selective Cutting and Planting System or TPTI, placing greater importance on natural regeneration and enrichment planting. This system is supplemented on a limited scale, and wherever appropriate, by a system of clear cutting with natural or artificial regeneration. Experience indicates that a large number of concessionaires still do not implement the system correctly even though there are provisions to take legal action against delinquents. Malaysia: The Malaysian Selection System is one of the oldest forest management systems used in the tropics and has served as a model for many other countries. However, with the increasing utilisation of lesser known species and greater mechanisation, harvesting in the natural forest has started to result in forest degradation. This is often due to poor harvesting techniques. Model codes for forest harvesting and prescriptions for low impact logging have been introduced in several cases. For example, in Sarawak, helicopter logging has been introduced on a pilot scale and has indicated the potential for adoption in similar locations and situations. The environmental benefit of helicopter logging has also been shown in many ways (e.g. less impact on water quality than harvesting using a tractor). |
An increasing trend in the region is for greater involvement of NGOs, community organisations, and local people in managing public forests. This is reinforced by the widely held view is that the public sector is not particularly efficient in managing publicly owned forests. Under a range of collaborative forest management mechanisms such as Joint Forest Management in India and management by forest user groups of Nepal, local people are increasingly being given full or partial forest management responsibilities. Local people generally have the right to collect NWFPs for their own use at no cost. When NWFPs are collected for sale, fees and licensing are common.
Only a fraction of natural forests and woodlands are actively managed in Asia and the Pacific. Given that many forests are not under formal management, responsibility for protection from fires, diseases and pests is unclear and receives only partial attention.
In the forest-rich countries of the humid tropics, most natural forests are managed at varying degrees of intensity for timber production under selective felling systems. The aim of selection systems is to allow the harvesting of some timber while maintaining forest cover for protection and regeneration. Under these systems, the volume and type of trees harvested are also supposedly regulated so that removals do not exceed growth increments and the yield or productive capacity of the forest is maintained (i.e. the sustained-yield principle).
With respect to wood production, the concept of respecting the annual allowable cut (AAC) remains fundamental (Box 4.7). In many places, however, the principle has not been well respected.
|
Box 4.7: MYANMAR - FAITH IN WHAT HAS WORKED WELL In the current dialogue about sustainable forest management, perhaps not enough attention is paid to long-standing practices that applied principles of ecosystem management. Myanmar has one such system. In that country, the systematic management of the natural forests dates back to 1856. The country adopted an exploitation-cum-cultural system first known as the Brandis Selection System and later modified into the Burma Selection System or Myanmar Selection System (MSS). The experience of over a century has manifested the system's sustainability and environmental friendliness. The system involves felling cycles of 30 years, fixing annual harvest levels based on the Brandis formula, size limits on trees to be felled, girdling to mark exploitable trees and reduce moisture content, enumerating trees left and skidding of logs with elephants. Congested stands are thinned and other species of trees interfering with the growth of teak are removed. Special silvicultural treatments are applied in bamboo-flowering areas. An important attribute is respect for the annual allowable cuts (AAC) based on the principle of sustained yield management in both teak and other hardwood stands. Source: Abbreviated from Country Report-Union of Myanmar: Document APFSOS/WP/08. |
Management of protected areas presents special challenges. Management objectives for protected areas clearly differ from those for other natural forests. In managing protected areas, emphasis is given to maintaining environmental and ecosystem integrity, minimising human impacts, conserving biological diversity and enhancing wildlife habitats. Management of protected areas is of variable levels throughout the region, with generally good management in AIEs and NIEs, and much weaker management in other areas. Many protected areas lack adequate management plans and management resources. Severe conflicts have arisen in many protected areas, as development objectives clash with conservation objectives. A recent phenomenon in some areas is the rapid growth of ecotourism, which has overtaken the ability of many forestry agencies to cope with the influx of tourists.
The objectives of plantation management are usually focused on intensive production of wood using only a few selected tree species (Box 4.8). This makes plantations relatively easy to manage, although they require large investments at the time of establishment and are sometimes susceptible to pests and diseases, soil degradation and similar environmental problems.
Forest plantations are typically managed using a plant, clearfell and replant cycle except where coppicing species (e.g. eucalyptus) are planted. The growth and yield of plantations in the developing countries of the region generally leaves much to be desired. Apart from poor survival rates, growth rates achieved are often far below potential. Many plantations achieve growth rates of only 4 cubic metres per hectare per year, while so-called "fast-growing" species should be attaining at least 10 cubic metres per hectare per year; There are rare cases (particularly in private plantations) where growth rates of 30 to 50 cubic metres per hectare per annum have been achieved, indicating the potential for high volume increment in the region.
|
Box 4.8: MANAGEMENT OF FOREST PLANTATIONS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION Sixty percent of plantations in the region have been established for the production of industrial wood. The trend toward non-industrial plantations, the proportions of which had accounted for 60 percent of planting in 1980 and 64 percent in 1990, appeared to have been reversed and reached only 38 percent in 1995. Hardwood species comprise about 56 percent of the total forest plantation area in the region, with eucalyptus being the leading genera (net area of nearly 4.5 million hectares, or 18 percent of the hardwood area). Over three-quarters of all eucalyptus plantations are in India, followed by Viet Nam (11 percent) and the People's Republic of China (7 percent). The net area of teak plantations is 2.1 million hectares, with most being in India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. Other important hardwood species include Dalbergia sissoo (620,000 hectares), Acacia mangium mainly planted for pulpwood (450,000 hectares), Gmelina arborea (160,000 hectares) and mahogany, Swietenia macrophylla (140,000 hectares).41 The softwood plantation species were mostly pines, of which nearly 2.5 million hectares were fast-growing exotic pines dominated by Pinus radiata mostly in New Zealand and Australia. The People's Republic of China has 6.4 million hectares of the 7.2 million hectares of slower-growing pines; it also has 8.2 million hectares of the 8.9 million hectares total for other softwood species. 41 Reported areas for species used in plantations in 1990 are approximately as follows: Eucalyptus spp. 16 percent; Acacia spp. 10 percent; teak 6 percent; tropical pines 4 percent; and other species 64 percent. The "eucalyptus controversy" of the 1980s, during which the Eucalyptus genus was blamed for a wide range of environmental and social ills and which led to its planting being banned or curtailed in a number of countries, appears to have died down. This is partly due to greater involvement of local people in plantation planning and development and the incorporation of small farmers into "outgrower" systems for industry. A "teak controversy" may be developing, partly due to frustration when impossibly high promised returns fail to materialise, but also for environmental reasons where severe soil erosion occurs under dense, pure plantations of tea, particularly on slopes after litter has been burned. Throughout the region, many fuelwood plantations have been established. Many of these plantations will likely be diverted to other end-uses, however, as fuelwood consumption patterns change and alternative end-uses prove more profitable. In the Republic of Korea, efforts are underway to find social and industrial uses for fuelwood plantations established a few decades ago before rapid economic development made the extensive use of fuelwood obsolete. Source: Abbreviated from J. Ball (Personal communication, December 1997) and prepared largely on the basis of: D. Pandey (1997): Tropical forest plantation areas, 1995. (Draft report). FAO, Rome. Estimates for temperate countries in the region have also been included. |
There is much scope for improving the yields from plantations. Minimum gains of 15 to 20 percent due to tree improvement should be considered normal. Unfortunately, this aspect of plantation forestry has received little attention and most plantation programmes are still using unimproved planting materials.42
42 Traditional tree breeding could probably be accelerated even in forestry: Lange and Biggs (1995) mention that biotechnology may make it possible, for example, to improve forest yields in months or years what before would have required decades of tree improvement.
Plantation management also suffers from a lack of silvicultural tending. For example, in Japan,43 which has more than 10 million hectares of planted forests, the volume of growing stock is increasing steadily. Most forests, however, are poorly tended and need thinning. Unfortunately, the forest and wood industry faces a difficult situation due to declining profitability of forests (as a result of lower prices for timber). Thus, there is little motivation for forest owners to invest in silvicultural treatments. This may eventually reduce the quality of the wood stock although it may not compromise the usefulness of forests for nature-lovers and recreation that are now given greater priority. Indeed, a desire to improve the "naturalness" of forests is among the motive factors for establishing "multi-storied plantations" (Box 4.9).
43 Source: Document APFSOS/WP/15
Among silvicultural treatments, fertiliser and irrigation have large potential. Sewage irrigation has great potential in peri-urban forestry where sewage disposal is needed and tree irrigation could offer a profitable outlet (see Section 6).
|
Box 4.9: ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PLANTATION MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN In general, plantations form single storied and even-aged forests. They can, however, be managed to produce multi-storied plantations that more closely resemble natural forests. A multi-storied condition can develop under natural succession, but usually requires human intervention. This usually takes the form of selective harvesting and replanting to produce mixed stands of various heights and tree species. Multi-storied management is now being promoted in Japan as a low-impact harvesting system that reduces the denudation of mountainsides and maintains the production of a wide range of services currently demanded by the public. The main advantages of multi-storied plantations are: (a) they help to combat or avoid surface soil erosion by reducing runoff; (b) they minimise the loss of soil holding capacity by root networks; (c) they protect the understory from exposure to the elements; and (d) they produce high-quality wood that has narrow annual rings and is knot-free. The main disadvantages are that: (a) they are very expensive and complicated to manage; and (b) they require careful harvesting and intensive tending, pruning and thinning in order to secure sufficient sunlight for understory trees and grasses. Multi-storied management in Japan builds upon more than 100 years of experience. However, most multi-storied forests have been developed in the last 20 years. There are about 120,000 hectares of multi-storied plantations in Japan and 560,000 hectares of natural forests managed in this way. Given that the public, in general, prefers the appearance of natural forests, the government plans to expand multi-storied management to cover over 5 million hectares of the forest resource. A target is to achieve 2.5 million hectares by 2015. Current problems with these forests are that many, established about 20 years ago, are now suffering from overstocking and need immediate thinning. Many have also not been tended enough due to lack of funding. Multi-storied forests may be environmentally friendly but they require strict adherence to management plans to be successful. It makes little sense to start multi-storied management if neglect may later occur because a forest in dense condition without treatment becomes potentially unhealthy and unusable. Maintaining a multi-storied condition should not be an aim in itself but should be adopted in a flexible manner. The most outstanding multi-storied forest in Japan is Imasu Forest in mid-west Japan, established more than 100 years ago. This multi-storied cedar and cypress forest, with trees aged from one year to more than 100 years, yields high-quality logs. To maintain such quality, intensive tending operations, pruning in particular, are carried out. Pruning is done at many stages until trees reach about 15 metres in height to make narrow and even annual rings and knot-free logs. Harvesting girth is prescribed and trees are sold one at a time. In order to minimise the cost of harvest, a high-density forest road network (nearly three times the average) has been developed. Source: H. Ishihara (Personal communication, December 1997). |
Government forestry agencies in Asia and the Pacific have generally paid little attention to the management of NWFPs. In contrast, many local people living in and near forests have developed complex and effective management systems for certain NWFPs (e.g. rattan and damar management in parts of Indonesia). Unfortunately, forestry development officials and planners often overlook these traditional management systems. Moreover, conventional timber production practises are often incompatible with traditional NWFP management systems.
Aside from some long-established management systems for NWFPs, as practised by local people, extraction of NWFPs is generally carried out in a haphazard opportunistic manner, without preliminary inventories of resources or appropriate silvicultural practices. The management of bamboo and rattan is a partial exception to this story of neglect. Extraction of these resources is controlled to some extent by prescribing cutting cycles and felling rules. The tapping of pine resins is also regulated by the use of rotation systems in some countries. In general, however, these regulations are difficult to enforce since there are many dispersed collectors.
Commercial harvesting of most NWFPs is controlled by selling the rights to collect them from large units of forests over a specified period (often one to five years). These rights are usually sold for a fixed rate and there is rarely close supervision of the collection after the rights have been assigned.
There has recently been an increasing awareness of the complementary relationship between wood and non-wood forest products. With careful thought, the management of wood and NWFPs can be integrated and so offer a basis for managing forests in a more balanced and sustainable way.
Recently, considerable attention has focused on developing sustainable forest management (SFM). SFM embodies the concept of sustained yield of forest products, but is wider in scope and stresses the need to manage forests for the production and protection of all their outputs and ecosystem functions. Several management criteria for sustainable forestry have been developed as part of the UNCED follow-up process for various categories of forests. These criteria cover conservation of biological diversity, maintenance of productivity, maintenance of forest ecosystem health, conservation of soil and water resources, etc. Countries in the region have participated in several global initiatives to develop criteria and indicators for SFM, including the Montreal Process (for temperate forests) and initiatives of ITTO, which has adopted the goal of achieving trade in sustainably-managed timber by the year 2000.
Recent initiatives for timber certification (with regard to its origin being sustainably managed forest) and labelling for international trade are also expected to enhance interest in sustainable forest management. Some governments in the region are investigating options to accredit timber operations based on the level of sustainability of their operations.
A key issue now facing countries is how exactly to go about implementing SFM in practice. Countries are implementing a variety of approaches ranging from differentiation of forests according to function, such as in New Zealand (Box 4.10), to multiple-objective management of forests. Increasingly, countries are placing natural forests off-limits to timber harvesting and shifting timber production to plantations, or increasing imports to meet needs (Box 4.11). As efforts to define SFM practises continue, it is likely that the Asia-Pacific region will develop new and innovative management strategies that accommodate the special needs arising from high population densities.
|
Box 4.10: THE NEW ZEALAND MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT In international fora, consensus is yet to be achieved as to an encompassing definition of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and especially regarding how it should be implemented. At the broader extremes of forest management perspectives are views that forests should serve almost exclusively environmental roles, and conversely, that forests should be utilised for commercial purposes wherever possible. In the meantime several countries have developed forestry systems that might usefully be adapted in a wider context. The structure of the New Zealand forest estate, for example, with a large exotic plantation resource in addition to indigenous forests has enabled the country to take a pragmatic decision to implement a distinctive approach to SFM. The system of SFM adopted by New Zealand involves a significant separation of functions and specialisation in roles of indigenous versus plantation forests. Management of the indigenous forests is oriented toward conservation functions and management of the plantation is focused on economic roles. The policy objective is that, taken as a system, the two main groups of forests can deliver all the environmental, social and economic roles of forests but on the basis of specialisation. Accordingly, New Zealand's forest resource is divided into two distinct estates: the first, a natural forest estate, is comprised of species indigenous to New Zealand arid consists of either virgin or regenerated forest. It currently covers about a quarter of the country's land area. The second is the "man-made" plantation forests comprised of exotic species growing on some 5 percent of the land area. Although each type of forest can contribute in some measure to all forest roles, management of the plantations is definitely focused on industrial raw material production, while the indigenous forests (which occupy a much larger area) are managed to conserve biological diversity and watersheds, provide habitat for wildlife, and provide destinations for wilderness-based tourism and similar services. Proponents of this dual system argue that specialisation allows a very small area of land to meet all industrial needs and to bear the pressure of harvest rather than having the entire extensive indigenous forest exposed to industrial utilisation and potentially risking the undermining of the other values society cherishes. In this sense, it is argued, that | by taking all the harvest pressure off natural forests, industrial plantations are effectively contributing to environmental conservation. To put this complementary system into effect, New Zealand has separated the biological characteristics and functional dimensions of the resource itself, and has also separated its legal and institutional management. Thus, in 1987, the New Zealand Forest Service was restructured so as to isolate the commercial from non-commercial functions. A New Zealand Forestry Corporation took charge of the commercial aspects of the government's forestry operations, with a clear mandate to operate as a business (this has since been privatised). The conservation, social and other public service functions of the Forest Service were transferred to two new government departments: a Ministry of Forestry (handling policy, research, training, advisory and regulatory functions); and a Department of Conservation (focused on protection of natural forests). The forest plantations that were previously owned by the government have now almost entirely been privatised and plantation forestry is truly focused on commercial ends. Conversely, the bulk of the indigenous forests that remain in government hands, have enhanced protected-area status. Since the separation, legal changes have been made to provide an underpinning to the policy. For example, privately owned natural forests are allowed to be managed for production, but in a way that maintains their natural values. New Zealand now has one of the world's most liberalised trade and investment regimes in the forestry sector and policy-makers expect this to enable the country to achieve world competitiveness. Source: Adapted from Brown (1997). New Zealand In-depth Country Study. Document APFSOS/WP/05. |
|
Box 4.11: CONSERVATION THROUGH WITHDRAWAL OF FORESTS FROM PRODUCTION? Growing pressures arising from environmental concerns and from realisation of the repercussions of past "mismanagement" of natural forests have led some countries to impose logging bans or severe harvesting restrictions in natural forests. The principle behind such policy decisions is that significant or total withdrawal of forests from production will lead to conservation and sustainability of forests. Various countries in the region (e.g. India, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and New Zealand) have pursued such policies. Viet Nam has drastically reduced its harvesting from natural forests and plans a complete ban.44 The People's Republic of China has indicated that it is seriously considering adopting a similar position in the near future. 44 For details, see Nguyen Tuong Van (1997). Country Report - Viet Nam: Document APFSOS/WP/31. FAO, Rome/Bangkok. The case of Viet Nam illustrates some of the motivations for withdrawing or reducing access to forests, while pursuing collateral efforts to maintain the economic contribution of the forestry sector. Facing the current shrinkage of forested area, the Government of Viet Nam has decided to limit timber extraction from natural forests (and is contemplating a full ban) and to ban the export of round and semi-processed timber. At the same time, it has encouraged the manufacturing of high-valued products. Raw materials for wood-based industries will come entirely from man-made forests by 2010. Where bans have been adopted, there has been no systematic assessment as to whether they have been an effective way to achieve sustainability. On the contrary, claims have frequently been made, for example, that bans on logging in Thailand have simply led to higher levels of exploitation - much of it illegal - in neighbouring countries. Thailand's reported imports of wood products rose significantly following imposition of its logging ban, from 1990 when the country imported 1.491 million cubic metres of hardwood sawnwood, to 1995 when it imported 1.779 million cubic metres (the leading importer in the world for hardwood sawnwood). Logging restrictions in Viet Nam appear to also be leading to illegal exports from Cambodia.45 One source46 estimates Cambodian illegal exports of logs and sawn timber (in cubic metres) to Thailand and Viet Nam (1992-1996) as follows: 45 As an example, stockpiles of logs worth an estimated US$130 million were reported despite a December log-export ban by Cambodia in December 1997. Cambodian and Vietnamese behind Cambodian timber liquidation. Phnom Penh. 26 February 1998. Worldwide Forest/Biodiversity Campaign News. http://forests.org/ 46 Table 3 in An outline of the causes of deforestation in Cambodia. N. Kim Phat (Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University), S. Ouk (Department of Forestry and Wildlife, Cambodia), Y. Uozumi and T. Ueki (Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University). March 1998. | |||
|
Destination Country |
1992(M3) |
1995(m3) |
1996(m3) |
|
Thailand |
378,000 |
893,855 |
910,000 |
|
Viet Nam |
250,000 |
No data |
35,000 |
|
Source: Country Report - Viet Nam: Document APFSOS/WP/31. | |||
Current potential wood and fibre supplies from natural forests
Current potential wood and fibre supplies from industrial forest plantations
Current potential wood and fibre supplies from trees outside forests
Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand
Current potential for supplying non-wood forest products and services
A key element of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study has been to estimate the potential supply of forest products and services in the region. Estimation of the potential supplies of roundwood, including sawlogs, could be made with much greater degrees of confidence than for NWFPs and forest services due to the availability of more complete and accurate statistics on timber resources and management practises related to roundwood production.
The current maximum wood and fibre supply that could be harvested sustainably from natural forests was calculated on the basis of forest lands available and accessible for harvest, sustainable harvesting intensities, existing volumes of timber in forests, national management policies and other factors. Potential production from "conversion forests" was only calculated for countries that have explicit policies and lands legally designated for conversion.
The total potential sustainable production of roundwood from natural forests in the region at the present time is about 340 million cubic metres per year (Figure 4.4). Southeast Asia and North Asia have the greatest potential for wood production from the natural forest, at 170 million cubic metres and 130 million cubic metres per year, respectively. The other sub-regions combined could produce about 30 million cubic metres per year.
Almost all natural forests in the region are subject to diameter cutting limits that preclude the harvest of small-diameter timber. Thus, with the exception of small-diameter logs that could be harvested from "conversion forests" in Indonesia and Malaysia, most potential production from natural forests is in the form of sawlogs. The total potential sawlog production in the region is currently about 220 million cubic metres per year. North Asia holds most of the potential supplies, and could currently harvest as much as 130 million cubic metres per year. Southeast Asia could produce about 60 million cubic metres.
Figure 4.4: Current potential supply of wood from the natural forests in Asia and the Pacific
Based on the current species mix and increment of existing plantations in the region, it has been estimated that production potential of plantations presently stands at about 90 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 115 million cubic metres of pulpwood and fuelwood per year (Figure 4.5). North Asia currently has the largest potential production of wood from plantations at about 35 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 70 million cubic metres of pulpwood and fuelwood per year. The plantations of the AIEs currently have the potential to produce about 40 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 15 million cubic metres of pulpwood annually. South Asia has the potential to produce about 25 million cubic metres of pulpwood and fuelwood (much of which is being grown in fuelwood plantations). The older well-established teak plantations of Southeast Asia have the potential to produce about 10 million cubic metres of sawlogs per year, but the younger pulpwood plantations in Southeast Asia have yet to produce much timber due to their immaturity.
Figure 4.5: Current potential supply of wood from plantations in Asia and the Pacific
There is currently a huge potential for trees outside forests (including those on "other wooded land") to provide wood and fibre supplies in Asia and the Pacific (Figure 4.6). The potential is particularly high in North Asia, where as much as 80 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 360 million cubic metres of pulpwood and fuelwood could be produced annually. Southeast Asia currently has the potential to harvest about 30 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 175 million cubic metres of pulpwood or fuelwood from outside forests, and South Asia could produce about 35 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 165 million cubic metres of pulpwood or fuelwood. For South Asia, the sawlog production potential of trees outside the forest is very important because the production potential of the natural forests in the sub-region is relatively low.
Agricultural tree crops are a particularly important type of trees outside forests with large potential to produce wood and fibre. These crops are found all across the region, but particularly large areas are located in the People's Republic of China, India, Sri Lanka and the countries of Southeast Asia. Although they represent a potentially large source of wood supply, they are not currently utilised to a major extent except in the case of rubberwood (in Thailand and Malaysia) and cocowood (in India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines).
Overall, agricultural tree crops currently have the potential to produce about 20 million cubic metres of sawlogs and 200 million cubic metres of pulpwood and fuelwood annually. They account for about 25 percent of the total production potential of trees outside the forest. However, in some countries (e.g. Malaysia and Thailand) these crops are even more important than these figures would suggest and far exceed the current importance of industrial forest plantations in overall roundwood supply.
Current potential wood and fibre supply from residues, non-wood fibres and recycled materials
In addition to supplies of wood fibre from land-based sources, fibre can be obtained from forest industries and from outside the forest sector. These materials can be used to complement or substitute for wood supplies. They fall into three broad categories: residues (both forest residues and wood-processing residues); non-wood fibre sources; and recycled or recovered paper.
It should also be noted that estimates of processing residue potentials have been calculated based on current levels of sawlog production. If currently unutilised sawlog production potential were to be used in the future, wood processing residue supply potential would also increase to levels above those given here.
Non-wood fibres are produced by a variety of agricultural crops and by-products and are used in the production of paper in several countries in the region. Given that there are currently many millions of tonnes of fibre produced (as by-products) but not used in agriculture, production potential from this source was assumed to be only constrained by current processing capacity levels, which were found to be highest in North and South Asia. Data for non-wood fibres, which are usually presented in tonnes, were multiplied by 2.5 to arrive at a "wood raw material equivalent." The use of processing capacity to estimate production potential has undoubtedly led to a vast underestimation of the potential for production from such sources. The actual potential could be several times higher but is not precisely known or easy to estimate.
In calculating the potential volumes of recycled fibre in the region, it was assumed that the maximum amount that could be collected and recycled is 70 percent of the paper currently being consumed. This volume was multiplied by 2.5 to arrive at a "wood raw material equivalent."
The total potential wood and fibre supply that could currently be obtained from these non-forest sources is estimated to be nearly 1,000 million cubic metres (wood equivalent) (Figure 4.7). About 70 percent of this potential lies with harvesting residues, with 10 percent from mill residues and the remaining 20 percent from recycled and non-wood fibre. Most of this fibre could only be used as a substitute for fuelwood or pulpwood (the assumption made in this analysis). However, it is possible that a proportion of the harvesting residues could, if recovered, be used as sawlogs. This is particularly true in Southeast Asia where considerable volumes of large timber are frequently left in the forest during felling operations due to high-grading practises or careless removal operations.
As might be expected, the sub-regions with the greatest potential roundwood supply also have the greatest potential to capture additional forest residues. Southeast Asia currently has the highest potential supply with about 380 million cubic metres equivalent, or just over half of the region's total. This is almost equal to the entire potential roundwood supply in this sub-region and is attributable to the difficulties in achieving high harvesting efficiencies in the forests of this sub-region and the current low level of production from plantations. North Asia and South Asia could each potentially capture about 150 million cubic metres equivalent of forest residues. This figure is relatively low compared with potential roundwood production in these two sub-regions because they tend to achieve higher harvesting efficiencies and harvest relatively more wood from plantations.
Southeast Asia also has the potential to supply about 35 million cubic metres equivalent of wood-processing residues, or 40 percent of the region's total. North Asia could supply about 25 million cubic metres equivalent and the AIEs could supply a further 15 million cubic metres equivalent. The potential supplies of processing residues in AIEs could be considerably higher than these estimates because of the large volume of logs that are imported.
In terms of recycled and non-wood fibre supply, North Asia leads the region with a supply potential of about 85 million cubic metres equivalent (or 40 percent of the region's total). Most of this is accounted for by non-wood fibre production in the People's Republic of China. The only other group of countries with significant potential is the AIEs, with a potential to produce about 55 million cubic metres equivalent of wastepaper. This sub-region records such a high wastepaper production potential because its per capita paper consumption is several times higher than the rest of the region.
Taken as a whole, the Asia-Pacific region has an apparently abundant supply of wood and fibre resources, far in excess of current use. However, the availability of wood and fibre varies significantly by sub-region and by product requirements. Even within countries, the distribution of potential supplies is highly uneven, resulting in some areas of surplus and other areas of shortage. In some sub-regions, non-forest sources of wood and fibre are already critical components of the overall supply situation and represent the most promising areas for potential supply increases. In most areas, accessing additional wood and fibre may require substantially more efficient methodologies and practices than those presently used. There are, therefore, interesting implications for the development of the sector in the region, which are explored more fully in the policy and institutions, and outlook sections of this report.
Figures 4.8 to 4.14 compare the estimates of maximum potential supply of wood and fibre presented earlier in this section with the current levels of raw material production presented in the previous section for each sub-region and for the region as a whole (Figure 4.8). The figures reflect the potential of the region and each of the sub-regions to supply sawlogs and other fibre products (e.g. pulpwood, residues, recycled fibre and non-wood fibre) from the following seven sources:47
47 It should be noted that the sum of the first five sources represents the total wood harvest which can be obtained from forest and other land-based sources at current harvesting intensities and levels of increment. The sixth category reflects fibre supply from outside the forest sector and is thus, largely outwith the control of forestry policy-makers. The seventh source reflects the potential for wood from the first five sources to be used again. It is thus, strictly speaking, a double counting of some of the wood already shown under the first five sources.· Natural forests (NF)
· Plantations (PL)
· Other wooded land (OWL)
· Trees outside the forest (TOF)
· Harvesting residues (HRE)
· Recycled and non-wood fibre sources (RNW)
· Wood processing residues (WPR)
Each figure also shows the current estimated levels of production of sawlogs, pulpwood, fuelwood and recycled and non-wood fibre (represented by horizontal lines at the level of estimated current production). Three important features of the potential wood and fibre supply and demand balances in the region can be observed from the figures:
Supply sources in the region are highly diverse. The potential supply of wood and fibre from sources outside forests is particularly impressive - greater in fact than the potential supply from forest sources in all sub-regions. In some countries, particularly those in South Asia where supplies are tight, these non-forest sources of supply are already used to a major extent in the wood processing industry. Although total potential supplies of wood and fibre from non-forest sources are great, in terms of sawlogs most supply potential (about 75 percent) remains in the region's natural forests, and plantations.
Current production of logs is already very close to the maximum potential supplies in some sub-regions. Current log production is nearest to the maximum potential supply in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, where more than three-quarters of the current supply potential is already being exploited. Current harvests are particularly close to the maximum current supply potential in several countries with large wood-processing industries (e.g. Malaysia and Indonesia). This situation is expected to become even more strained as demands increase in the future and harvesting in these sub-regions shifts from old-growth forests (as most will soon have been logged) back to forests that were logged earlier (thus sawlog volumes will generally be much lower).
South Asia apparently has the potential to produce more sawlogs than currently being harvested, but current harvests of fuelwood and pulpwood may already be exceeding the maximum sustainable potential supplies. In terms of log supply, this sub-region appears to have the potential to produce more than twice current requirements (mostly from trees outside the forest), partly reflecting the relatively small size of the wood-processing industry in these countries. In terms of pulpwood and fuelwood, current production could be in excess of sustainable production potential. As most of the demand is for fuelwood, however, it is possible that the extensive use of branches and other non-stem biomass is keeping use within potential sustainable limits (production potential figures are estimates of main stem volume and do not include estimates of non-stem or other biomass volumes). Nonetheless, it is evident that the supply situation is already very tight in some parts of South Asia.
Figure 4.9: Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand in the AIEs
Figure 4.10: Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand in the NIEs
Figure 4.11: Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand in North Asia
Figure 4.12: Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand in Southeast Asia
Figure 4.13: Potential wood and fibre supplies in comparison with current demand in South Asia
Current potential supplies and current production levels of wood and fibre are also shown in Table 4.9. Potential availability and production are shown for sawlogs, pulpwood and fuelwood, and recycled and non-wood fibre. The table also shows the percentage of maximum potential production that is currently being produced for each of these categories of products.
Table 4.9: Potential wood and fibre availability and production in the Asia-Pacific region, 1994
|
Region |
Potential sawlog availability (million m3) |
Sawlog production |
RNW availability |
RNW production |
||||||
|
NF |
PL |
OWL |
TOF |
Total |
(million m3) |
(million m3 EQ) |
(million m3 EQ) |
|||
|
AIEs |
13.5 |
39.2 |
1.3 |
3.9 |
57.9 |
38.0 |
66% |
57.2 |
39.8 |
70% |
|
NIEs |
3.6 |
5.7 |
0.0 |
0.3 |
9.6 |
1.3 |
14% |
18.2 |
11.7 |
64% |
|
North Asia |
131.2 |
36.7 |
3.8 |
78.6 |
250.3 |
52.5 |
21% |
84.0 |
63.8 |
76% |
|
Southeast Asia |
59.8 |
7.3 |
3.4 |
25.4 |
95.9 |
72.8 |
76% |
15.0 |
3.0 |
20% |
|
South Asia |
9.2 |
1.5 |
1.9 |
33.6 |
46.2 |
20.8 |
45% |
12.4 |
3.8 |
31% |
|
Pacific Islands |
4.4 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
0.3 |
4.8 |
4.6 |
96% |
0.0 |
0.0 |
N/A |
|
All Asia-Pacific |
221.6 |
90.3 |
10.6 |
142.0 |
464.5 |
190.0 |
41% |
186.8 |
122.0 |
65% |
|
Region |
Potential pulpwood and fuelwood availability (million m3 EQ) |
Pulp/fuel production |
|||||||
|
NF |
PL |
OWL |
TOF |
HRE |
WPR |
Total |
(million m3 EQ) |
||
|
AIEs |
1.2 |
16.0 |
5.2 |
16.9 |
27.7 |
15.0 |
82.0 |
39.9 |
49% |
|
NIEs |
0.2 |
2.8 |
0.1 |
2.0 |
4.1 |
0.7 |
9.9 |
7.4 |
75% |
|
North Asia |
1.1 |
69.8 |
15.4 |
344.4 |
158.0 |
26.3 |
615.0 |
399.0 |
65% |
|
Southeast Asia |
113.0 |
0.0 |
13.7 |
159.3 |
377.0 |
36.8 |
699.8 |
321.2 |
46% |
|
South Asia |
0.0 |
26.4 |
7.7 |
156.7 |
144.9 |
11.0 |
346.7 |
394.6 |
114% |
|
Pacific Islands |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.4 |
1.4 |
6.5 |
2.7 |
11.0 |
5.9 |
54% |
|
All Asia-Pacific |
115.3 |
115.0 |
42.5 |
680.6 |
718.2 |
92.5 |
1,764.1 |
1,168.0 |
66% |
Note: Percentage figures are production as a percentage of potential availability.
The heterogeneity of NWFPs and forest services makes it difficult to define and collect data on the current supply potential and to match it with utilisation needs. However, some information about specific resources and services in the region is available and is summarised below.
Bamboo. The total estimated area of forests used for commercial bamboo production and collection in Asia and the Pacific is about 11 million hectares. Most production occurs in the People's Republic of China, India and Myanmar. In addition to bamboo collected from forests, huge volumes are produced outside forests. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for about 80 percent of total world production of bamboo.
Rattan. Indonesia is the world's largest rattan producer and rattan is commercially collected from 9.4 million hectares of natural forest and over 30,000 hectares of rattan plantations each year. Indonesia has plans to expand the area of rattan plantations to over 1 million hectares. The second largest producer in the region is the People's Republic of China, where rattan is collected from 30,000 hectares of natural forest and 4,000 hectares of rattan plantations each year. A few other countries in the region also produce rattan on a commercial scale.
Plant extracts. Trees and other forest plants are used for the production of many different plant extracts throughout the region. Two particularly important extracts are resin (from pine trees) and starch (from sago palm). Pine resin is tapped from both natural forests and plantations. The main resin-producing countries in the region are the People's Republic of China (5.3 million hectares of pine plantations), Indonesia (134,000 hectares of natural pine forest and 250,000 hectares of plantations) and India (25,000 hectares of pine plantations). Sago palm is common across parts of Southeast Asia. It is commercially produced mainly in Indonesia, where there are 700,000 hectares of natural sago palm forests and 90,000 hectares of plantations.
Wildlife products. While some specific uses of wildlife, particularly of primates, are controversial, the importance and values of forest fauna as a commercial resource is generally accepted. Apart from supporting national heritage and nature tourism, wildlife also provides several direct contributions in the form of bushmeat, plumes, pelts and other animal products. Wildlife farming (e.g. crocodile, deer, snakes, butterflies) is undertaken as an economic activity in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Several insects such as honey bees, silk worms, lac insects and cochineal insects also support economic activities. However, in most countries, there appears to be no clear comprehensive policies or programmes for their sustainable development. Management and use of faunal resources needs to be undertaken with adequate care to ensure that the balance of nature is not destroyed.
Carbon storage. A major aim of current biomass assessments is to estimate the amount of carbon stored in above-ground vegetation.48 The biomass estimates for tropical Asia (181 metric tonnes per hectare) and the whole Asia-Pacific region (171 metric tonnes per hectare) indicate the luxuriance of the forests in this region when compared with the average biomass estimate for the whole world (131 metric tonnes per hectare). They also highlight the relatively large amount of carbon that is added to the atmosphere when the region's forests are cleared or burned.
48 FAO regularly provides an estimate of biomass, the latest being in the State of the World's Forests 1997. Biomass is defined as the total amount of above-ground living organic matter in trees, expressed as oven-dry weight per unit area. Biomass is estimated in this study by multiplying the growing stock volume by wood density and adding to it a 'biomass expansion factor', representing the weight of other above ground components in trees. This estimation of biomass does not cover herbs, smaller plants, and micro-organisms, many of which are important sources of NWFPs.
Biological diversity conservation. Biological diversity is usually considered at three levels: the genetic diversity within species; the diversity of species within an area and the diversity of different types of ecosystems or habitats within a larger area. The Asia-Pacific region has exceptionally high biological diversity at all three levels. It covers four biogeographical realms including two in their entirety (i.e. the Indo-Malaya realm and the Australia realm). Most of East Asia is in the Palaeartic realm and the Pacific Islands are located in the Oceania realm. It is estimated that there are about 40,400 higher plant species in the tropical rain forests of Asia and the Pacific. There are 7,600 higher plant species in tropical moist deciduous forests; 1,600 species in dry-zone forests; and 13,500 in upland formations. Many are found only in primary forests. Four of the world's 12 "mega-biodiversity countries are located in Asia and the Pacific. Four other Asia-Pacific countries are among the top 20 biodiversity countries.
The range and value of services provided by forests is shown in Section 3 of this report. It is particularly difficult to quantify the "supply potential" for such services; only qualitative statements are generally possible. For certain protective functions, the "supply" of the service is directly dependent on the protection itself being enforced. In practice, governments tend to control access to services such as grazing and hunting on a seasonal or annual basis or according to evidence of overuse. Conversely, management interventions can be made to increase and enhance the ability of forests to provide services. For example, wildlife habitat can be manipulated to increase the numbers of specific species for hunting, or infrastructure can be developed to support additional ecotourism visitors.
