Part I
REGIONAL SYNTHESIS (continued)

Chapter III
FOREST RESOURCES OF TROPICAL ASIA (continued)

1. PRESENT SITUATION (continued)

TABLE 5a - Areas of established plantations estimated at end 1980
Industrial plantations
(in thousand ha)

TABLE 5b - Areas of established plantations estimated at end 1980
Non-industrial plantations
(in thousand ha)

TABLE 5c - Areas of established plantations estimated at end 1980
All plantations
(in thousand ha)

Industrial plantations of softwood species are largely confined to Indonesia, Viet Nam, India, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Nepal and Philippines in that order of decreasing importance. Together these 7 countries account for 98% of the region's total up to 1980. Indonesia alone has some 430 000 ha of industrial plantations of softwood species which is 71% of the region's total. The major species tried are the pines (P. caribaea, P. oocarpa, P. kesiya, P. merkusii, P. elliottii, P. excelsa, P. patula, P. roxburghii, P. wallichiana) and Araucaria spp. (Papua New Guinea, Malaysia).

Non-industrial plantations account for nearly one third of the total plantation effort in the region up to 1980. However, there is a gradual shift in emphasis in recent years in view of the growing need for fuelwood by rural populations.

During the period 1976–80 the accent is more on growing non-industrial wood (e.g. fuelwood) plantations as opposed to industrial plantations which dominated the earlier period. During 1976–80 out of a total of some 2 million ha more than 40% were non-industrial plantations (P..2) compared with only 24% in the period up to 1976. Except in Indonesia and Philippines where non-industrial plantations of softwood species (PS.2) constituted part of the plantation programme, in all other countries mainly fast-growing hardwood species (PHH 2) were favoured. The five countries of the region each with over 100 000 ha of non-industrial plantations are: India (532 000 ha), Indonesia (472 000 ha), Philippines (235 000 ha), Pakistan (160 000 ha), and Viet Nam (127 000 ha). Together they account for nearly 95% of the region's total up to 1980 under this category (P..2).

Efforts into non-industrial plantations in recent years was a logical response to a regionwide concern over the dwindling supply of fuelwood, building poles, fodder and other forest produce on which the rural populations are dependent. Meeting explicitly the needs of local communities together with the larger aim of securing for forestry an enhanced role in rural development (e.g. employment generation) have emerged as crucial concerns, and systems of raising plantations are being tailored to fit these concerns. The location, design, choice of species and the technology involved in raising non-industrial plantations is getting visibly altered. There is an ever increasing emphasis on raising of village wood lots, agro-forestry (including taungya), silvi-pasture and multiple product forestry. For example: in Indonesia, Perum Perhutani has intensified the practice of tumpangsari (taungya with fertilizers), is raising elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) as an agroforestry crop to provide fodder to village cattle and is interplanting mulberry for rural based silk industry. While choosing species for fuelwood most countries are favouring short rotation species with ability to coppice vigorously and produce dense wood of high calorific value. The species chosen for fuelwood are usually managed on a rotation of 8 to 10 years with indications that for some species it may even be reduced to 5 years (e.g. Calliandra calothyrsus and Sesbania grandiflora).

In addition to fuelwood species trees for fodder, fruits, nuts, tannins, gums, medicinal plants and those yielding various kinds of minor forest produce are also grown in non-industrial plantations.

The more important species raised in non-industrial plantations of the region are: Acacia auriculiformis, A. leucophloea, Albizia falcata, A. lebbek, Alnus jorullensis, Anacardium occidentale, Artocarpus spp., Azadirachta indica, Calliandra calothyrsus, Cassia siamea, Casuarina equisetifolia, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. citriodora, E. deglupta, E. grandis, E. microtheca, E. saligna, E. tereticornis, Eugenia jumbos, Gliricidia maculata, Inga edulis, Leucaena leucocephala, Mangifera indica, Melia azedarach, Pongamia glabra, Salix humboldtiana, Samanea saman, Sesbania grandiflora, Syzygium cumini, Tamarindus indica.

In the arid and semi-arid regions the following species have been extensively tried: Acacia arabica, A. auriculiformis, A. brachystachya, A. cambagei, A. cyanophylla, A. cyclops, A. decurrens, A. holosericea, A. mollissima, A. nilotica, A. raddiana, A. seyal, A. tortilis, Albizia lebbek, Anogeissus pendula, Azadirachta indica, Cajanus cajan, Cassia siamea, Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. citriodora, E. gomphocephala, E. microtheca, E. occidentalis, E. tereticornis, E. viminalis, Melia azedarach, Parkinsonia aculeata, Pithecellobium dulce, Prosopis juliflora, P. spicigera, Ziziphus jujuba.

Mangroves are specially favoured for fuelwood and charcoal and plantations of mangrove species are gaining increasing importance. The most extensive effort so far has been in Bangladesh. The more important mangrove species raised in plantations of the region were: Avicennia spp., Bruguiera spp., Rhizophora apiculata, R. candelaria, R. mangle, and R. mucronata.

1.2.3 Plantation characteristics

The opportunity for establishing plantations in tropical Asia are particularly favourable in many parts of the region from the viewpoint of soils and climate. Rapid rates of growth are attainable, especially in the warm and humid tropics (e.g. insular southeast Asia). However the region also encompasses some areas with prolonged dry periods and arid and semi-arid conditions (e.g. parts of India and Pakistan) where establishing plantations can be an uphill task. Furthermore a host of biotic factors - fires, human pressure, excessive grazing - plague some of these areas making plantations establishment a risky proposition. In recent years, a very rapid rise in the area under plantations in some countries (e.g. India, Indonesia) with insufficient maintenance, protection and follow-up has resulted in either low survival percentages or even large scale failures. Funds allocated and the amount of attention paid to a plantation during the first year of its existence are seldom followed up. There is always a rush to raise new plantations. Often they are scattered in very small patches. Lack of both adequacy and continuity of staff together with physical spread and paucity of funds for maintenance are major inhibiting factors which need to be surmounted to ensure greater success.

Plantation establishment techniques evolved over time and varied widely depending on the characteristics of species, provenances, sites, soils, ecology and object of management. A broad general statement applicable to nearly all the countries of the region is that in recent years there has been a phenomenal improvement in the selection of seeds, trials of provenances, nursery techniques, and introduction of species as a result of worldwide research and accumulation of field experience which was quickly disseminated among countries. The same, however, is not true of either techniques of land preparation, planting methods or subsequent successful management of plantations. Very few changes in these aspects appear to have taken place over time. In a majority of the countries and over large areas, planting in pits/trenches/ridges at a given spacing followed by appropriate number of weedings and soil workings is still the most common practice. The use of inputs like water, fertilizers and pesticides is minimal.

In the case of teak, the most common industrial plantation species in the region, the general practice is to plant one year old “stumps” with 15 to 25 cm of root and 2 to 3 cm of shoot. In the Indian subcontinent stumps are prepared just before planting time and are planted out without any storage. In Thailand, however, teak stumps are prepared in February–March, stored in underground stores filled with fine cool and dry sands for 3 to 4 months and then planted out. Stored stumps were found to perform better. Teak plantations were raised at a spacing of 1.8 m × 1.8 m, 2.6 m × 2.6 m, or 3.6 m × 3.6 m. A thinning cycle of 3, 6, 10, 18, 30 and 44 years and a final rotation of 70 years is generally adopted. The mean annual increment (MAI) ranges from 3 to 6 m³/ha in several parts of India.

Among the fast-growing hardwood species, Eucalyptus (various species), Albizia falcataria, Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena leucocephala are the most widely planted; they all coppice vigorously and need not be replanted for 3 to 4 rotations. A rotation of 8 to 10 years is normal.

Growth figures (mean annual increment) of more important species compiled from various sources ¹ are listed below and serve an indicative purpose:

• Acacia auriculiformis:

  India (West Gengal): 2 to 6 m³/ha/year assuming 1 000 trees per ha;

  Indonesia: 16.8 m³/ha/year at 10 years;

  Sabah: 16.8 m³/ha/year at 12 years;

• Albizia falcataria:

  Philippines: in concession areas 25 m³/ha/year on a 10-year rotation; in private farms 30 m³/ha/year on a 8-year rotation;

• Anthocephalus cadamba:

  Indonesia: data from Java give 10 to 20 m³/ha/year from 4 to 11-year old plots; the highest figure is 28 m³/ha/year;

• Araucaria cunninghamii:

  Papua New Guinea: 20 m³/ha/year on a 40-year rotation;

• Dalbergia sissoo:

  Pakistan: 6 to 13 m³/ha on a 20-year rotation (irrigated);

• Eucalyptus camaldulensis:

  lower Burma: 10 m³/ha/year on a 10-year rotation;

  central Burma (dry zone): 6 m³/ha on a 12-year rotation;

• Eucalyptus deglupta:

  Philippines: 18–20 m³/ha/year on a 16-year rotation;

  Papua New Guinea: 25 to 40 m³/ha/year at 10 years;

• E. grandis:

  Burma: 18 m³/ha/year on a 10-year rotation;

  India: 20 to 35 m³/ha/year on a 10-year rotation;

• E. tereticornis:

  India: 3 to 5 m³/ha/year on a 15-year rotation;

• Pinus caribaea:

  Philippines: 10 m³/ha/year on a 15-year rotation;

• Tectona grandis:

  Bangladesh: the total volume per ha in 10-year old teak plantations varied from 49 m³ to 108 m³ depending on site class; at age 60 the figures were 141 m³ to 265 m³;

  India: 3 to 6 m³/ha/year;

  Papua New Guinea: 14 m³/ha/year on a 40–60 year rotation.

¹ Sources include an unpublished study by R. Fenton, R.E. Roper and G.R. Watt (1977) “Lowland tropical hardwoods: an annotated bibliography of 21 species with plantation potential” (External Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wellington, New Zealand, 1977).

2. PRESENT TRENDS

2.1 Natural woody vegetation

2.1.1 Deforestation

A major matter of concern in the region is the rate of removal of closed forest cover due to various reasons which vary from one country to another. The term deforestation, as distinct from degradation, is used in this study to designate transfer or alienation of forest lands for non-forestry purposes. Thus logged over areas in tropical forests which still contain woody vegetation even of a secondary nature and which are not either subjected to shifting cultivation or have been encroached upon for practice of agriculture do not fall within the ambit of the term “deforestation”. Forest areas considered deforested include:

• shifting cultivation areas;

• forest areas encroached upon in an unorganized manner by lowland village communities and converted into agriculture fields;

• forest lands converted legally or through “state” support for organized forms of settlement e.g. permanent agriculture, plantations, transmigration, refugee rehabilitation, etc;

• forest lands transferred to other uses to meet the requirements of planned development, e.g. water storage reservoirs, hydro-electric schemes, roads, urbanization, mining, etc.

Deforestation for a multiplicity of reasons cited above has taken its toll in terms of foregone goods and services provided by forests across the region of tropical Asia - from the Himalayas and surrounding foothills to the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Except in isolated cases where other forms of land use (e.g. oil palm and rubber plantations, settled agriculture) may have proved to be a more efficient form of land use, in general the wide-spread loss of forests due to deforestation is followed by several adverse effects on land and water resources and on ecology and environment.

As a consequence of deforestation, soils were impoverished and lost their water holding capacity; the succession of floods and droughts increased; the carbon cycle of the biosphere was affected; the radiation balance and the global and regional weather patterns changed; the gene pool for further plant and animal evolution was reduced; the habitat of wildlife was endangered; and finally and more importantly the consequences for indigenous forest communities in terms of loss of their source of food, medicines and a multitude of services became very grave.

The consequences of loss of tropical forest cover are now a matter of worldwide concern giving rise to the need for quantifying the extent of deforestation. The estimates provided in tables 6a to 6d attempt to fulfill this need in tropical Asia and are based on the nethodology explained in part I of this report. In most countries it has been possible to arrive at an acceptable estimate of the present deforestation rates. However, for a few of them, and particularly in Indonesia which accounts for an important proportion of deforestation, the corresponding estimates need to be refined though the order of magnitude is deemed to be the correct one.

The major conclusions that can be singled out from tables 6a to 6d are:

• during 1976–80 the total closed forest area deforested was 9 million ha, some 1 815 million ha every year. On a region basis, this is expected to level off (1 826 million ha per year during 1981–85). If this trend is projected into the future, by the year 2 000 some 36 million of closed forest area would have been converted to non-forestry uses. This represents a decrease in the closed forest area of the region from 306 million ha in 1980 to 270 million ha in 2000, a reduction of 12% of the closed forests;

• the average annual rate of deforestation of closed forests in the region is 0.60%;

• deforestation is most wide-spread in logged-over productive forests and is the least in unproductive closed forests. This is because logged over areas are more easily accessible, topographically more suitable for cultivation (gentle slopes) and it requires less effort to convert them into agriculture fields. In some countries a few concessionaires have actually helped and paid for transporting shifting cultivators from “virgin” forests into recently logged over sites in order to safeguard the timber value in unlogged forests. Unproductive forests are least affected by deforestation because these are either inaccessible and unsuitable for cultivation (steep slopes) or more stringently protected (national parks, wildlife sanctuaries). The distribution of “deforestation” among the various categories of forests in the region during 1976–80 was as follows:

TABLE 6 a - Average annual deforestation
Closed broadleaved forests (NHC)
(in thousand ha)

¹ Of which 2(000) ha of managed forests (NHCf1m)
² Of which 90(000) ha of managed forests (NHCf1m)
³ Of which 14(000) ha of managed forests (NHCf1m)
⁴ Of which 15.5(000) ha of managed forests (NHCf1m)