Co-Benefits of Sustainable Forest Management in Biodiversity Conservation and Carbon Sequestration

Abstract

BackgroundSustainable forest management (SFM), which has been recently introduced to tropical natural production forests, is beneficial in maintaining timber resources, but information about the co-benefits for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration is currently lacking.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe estimated the diversity of medium to large-bodied forest-dwelling vertebrates using a heat-sensor camera trapping system and the amount of above-ground, fine-roots, and soil organic carbon by a combination of ground surveys and aerial-imagery interpretations. This research was undertaken both in SFM applied as well as conventionally logged production forests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Our carbon estimation revealed that the application of SFM resulted in a net gain of 54 Mg C ha-1 on a landscape scale. Overall vertebrate diversity was greater in the SFM applied forest than in the conventionally logged forest. Specifically, several vertebrate species (6 out of recorded 36 species) showed higher frequency in the SFM applied forest than in the conventionally logged forest.Conclusions/SignificanceThe application of SFM to degraded natural production forests could result in greater diversity and abundance of vertebrate species as well as increasing carbon storage in the tropical rain forest ecosystems.

Using lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor tropical forest recovery

“…Estimates of tree height, in conjunction with diameter at breast height and wood specific gravity, can also be used to estimate aboveground carbon accumulation or stock (Chave et al, 2005). Accordingly, these measures can evaluate how a particular site is responding to a restoration intervention , determine if management practices have impacted forests (Imai et al, 2009), or assess how biomass changes in response to a particular pressure such as climate change (Phillips et al, 2011). Collecting these data in the field, however, is time consuming, expensive, and requires skilled field technicians.…”

La ecoagricultura y la agroecología como estrategia tecnológica que potencia los servicios ecosistémicos. una revisión

“…Las causas del hambre, la pobreza y la desigualdad deben ser enfrentadas y solucionadas desde sus orígenes, a fin de permitir eliminar las tensiones entre desarrollo socialmente equitativo y ecológicamente sostenible. Además, no se deben ignorar los problemas relativos a la distribución de tierras, los pueblos indígenas y los derechos de los agricultores, así como los impactos de la globalización en la seguridad alimentaria, y de la biotecnología en las tradiciones de la agricultura (Imai et al 2009). Para entender la relación entre agroecología y ecoagricultura, así como para conocer sus diferencias centrales, es necesario hacer referencia a la agroecología como ciencia, definida como un cuerpo de conocimientos respecto a la realidad de los hechos y fenómenos que en ella acontecen, siendo ésta un quehacer no dogmático, que somete todos sus supuestos a ensayo y crítica (Feenstra et al 1998).…”

The opportunity cost of engaging in reduced-impact logging to conserve the orangutan: a case study of the management of Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia

“…Although the goal of SFM is the co-generation of social benefits apart from income and employment benefits from timber production (Imai et al, 2009), timber extraction in practice acts as the lynchpin justifying this management approach. This is exemplified by the Deramakot case (Radin et al, 2008, p. 6).…”

“…Logging intensity information for conventional logging in Deramakot is available for the years 1959 to 1968, and was 109 m 3 /ha, (Imai et al, 2009), an average towards the lower end of what was typical for logging in Sabah. In 1989, Deramakot's current management system was developed "with the intent of managing all [of Sabah's] commercial forest reserves in a way that mimics natural processes for sustainable production of low volume, high quality, and high priced timber products" .…”