The study was carried out in the tropical natural forest of the Amazon near Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Precious Woods Company Ltd. initiated the project to demonstrate the economic viability of sustainable forest management integrated with a wood-processing industry. This, as an alternative to the timber exploitation usually carried out in the Amazon region of Brazil. The objective of this study was to thoroughly document and establish data on "environmentally sound forest harvesting associated with careful planning of each phase of the harvesting operations in tropical natural forests of the Amazon in Brazil" as an alternative to the "traditional logging systems" generally used in the Amazon-region in Brazil. The study documents each phase of the environmentally sound forest harvesting system as applied by Precious Woods and compares its efficiency and environmental impacts with those of the traditional logging systems generally used in the Amazon region. In summary, the results of the study show that environmentally sound timber harvesting is not necessarily more expensive than timber harvesting done in the traditional way. The advantage easily goes to the environmentally sound forest harvesting system when it comes to meeting other economic, social, and environmental objectives.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
FAO

Region
Americas

Biome
Tropical

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
Production