Title: Corredores ecológicos en el ámbito del Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro (Minas Gerais, Brazil): Evaluación de los métodos de restauración forestal

Authors: Medeiros Alves, Luciana; Orli De Oliveira Cordeiro, Alba; Venâncio Martins, Sebastião; Gonçalves Salimena, Fátima

Thema: 1. Forests and biodiversity
Subtheme: 1.3 Restoration and rehabilitation of forest ecosystems

Abstract of the paper: Desde el comienzo de la colonización brasileña, la relación del ser humano con la naturaleza se ha basado en su uso predatorio y no sustentable, que ha venido dejando su huella en la sociedad hasta la actualidad. La devastación de enormes áreas para dar lugar a la expansión de plantíos y asentamientos urbanos evidencia la falta de valoración de los beneficios ambientales proporcionados por la cobertura forestal. La substitución del bosque nativo por áreas agropecuarias es la principal responsable de la fragmentación forestal, donde el paisaje compuesto por vegetación maciza y contínua toma nuevas características, y forma mosaicos diferenciados de uso y ocupación del suelo y la vegetación nativa queda aislada. La fragmentación forestal es la amenaza más grave a la biodiversidad y una de las responsables más grandes por la crisis de extinción actual, pues aisla especies e impide su expansión. La conservación de comunidades biológicas es el modo más efectivo de preservación, sea a través del establecimiento de áreas protegidas o a través de la restauración de ambientes degradados, pues incluso en áreas alteradas todavía hay remanentes de la biota original y la restauración puede presentar resultados favorables. Este estudio realizado en el ámbito del Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro, en Minas Gerais, evaluó áreas de restauración forestal, ocupadas anteriormente por pastizales formados de Brachiaria decubens y de Melinis minutiflora. Estas áreas fueron restauradas en el Proyecto de Recomposición del Bosque Altántico (PROMATA) con el objetivo de formación de corredores ecológicos entre fragmentos forestales en la zona de amortiguación de la Unidad de Conservación, contribuyendo así a su protección y restablecimiento del hábitat para la fauna y flora nativa. El proceso de restauración empezó en el 2004 y fueron utilizadas tres metodologías distintas: regeneración natural, enriquecimiento de vegetación secundaria y plantación de especies nativas. Cada metodología se definió a partir de la evaluación de cada ambiente, resiliencia y proximidad de remanecientes forestales. Las áreas evaluadas totalizan 3 hectáreas, donde fueron establecidas 20 parcelas de 25 m2. En estas áreas se identificaron todos los especímenes con más de 30 cm de altura, se midieron la altura y circunferencia de la base. Con estos datos se realizaron los estudios fitosociológicos, a partir de los cuales fueron hechas inferencias sobre cada método y el efecto de estos sobre la restauración de cada ambiente.

Email: lmedeiros.alves@gmail.com, albacordeiro@gmail.com, venancio@ufv.br, fatima.salimena@ufjf.edu.br

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Title: Cortina forestal para un feed lot en la provincia de San Luis (Argentina)

Authors: Gómez, Mirta; Eizmendi, Roberto; Corral, Amalia

Thema: 2. Producing for development
Subtheme: 2.8 Trees outside forests and other wooded lands

Abstract of the paper: Numerosas investigaciones sugieren que las cortinas forestales colocadas alrededor de las instalaciones de engorde de ganado pueden reducir con eficacia los olores emitidos por el estiércol hacia las propiedades vecinas. En la provincia de San Luis, la empresa Cactus Argentina S. A, radicada en Villa Mercedes desde mil novecientos noventa y ocho, se dedica al hospedaje y engorde de ganado, a corral. Villa Mercedes es la segunda ciudad en importancia de la provincia de San Luis. En el año dos mil ocho, la empresa Cactus se vio en la necesidad de implantar una cortina forestal para mitigar la emisión de olor a estiércol, ya que cuando las condiciones son favorables, los mismos suelen llegar a varios kilómetros del lugar de emisión, provocando molestias en la comunidad. Con el objetivo de reducir ese movimiento de los olores hacia fuera del sitio de producción de ganado, se establecen cortinas forestales, donde los árboles pueden ser puestos a trabajar. Para construir una cortina forestal que cumpla con las expectativas es preciso comprender los criterios que influyen en la eficacia de la misma. La porosidad, la altura, la longitud, el ancho y la orientación, son algunos de los principales. Al final de la estación fría del año anterior, se implantó una cortina forestal en el predio de Cactus Argentina S.A. Se trabajó con especies caducas y perennes, con árboles y arbustos, tratando de lograr eficiencia en la disminución de olores y diversidad en la forma y composición de la cortina. La instancia actual de este proyecto es la evaluación del comportamiento de las distintas especies utilizadas. Si bien el uso de cortinas vegetales alrededor de establecimientos agrícola-ganaderos no es nuevo, existen beneficios adicionales que siguen siendo investigados, como la disminución de ruidos y polvo atmosférico y el ocultamiento de visuales negativas, entre otros.

Email: mgomez@fices.unsl.edu.ar, REizmendi@cactus-argentina.com.ar, acorral@fices.unsl.edu.ar

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Title: Costa Rican Network of Private Natural Reserves: Carbon Sequestration Potential and Opportunities

Authors: Sandí, Carlos L.; Russo, Ricardo O.

Thema: 7. People and forests in harmony
Subtheme: 7.3 Participatory management and processes

Abstract of the paper: Costa Rica has an area of 51,100 km2, the equivalent of only 0.001% of the earth surface, but holds approximately 500.000 species, or 4% of all the living organisms on the planet. In addition, the country has an enormous bank of information and research of its rich biodiversity and an extensive road network providing access to all areas. This is complemented by a variety of lodging and restaurant services, communication technology, friendliness of its people, and great scenic beauty. Costa Rica´s immense biological wealth is found principally in its primary forests – rainforest, dry forest, and cloud forest; - which still cover approximately 25% of the country. Many of these forests are protected by the Costa Rican government as national parks and biological reserves. Nevertheless, a great percentage of primary forests belong to private landholders who have dedicated lands as private nature reserves. A Private Natural Reserve is any property consisting of natural areas and whose owner preserves and/or sustainable uses these areas and assures their conservation. Natural areas are: primary and secondary forests, alpine meadows and paramo (highland grassland), wetlands, natural forests sustainable managed and subject to the extraction of only fallen trees and forests planted exclusively with native species in order to increase diversity. The Costa Rican Network of Private Natural Reserves was established as an initiative to group an important number of Costa Rica´s private nature reserves. These reserves are involved in a number of activities, including: research, ecotourism, environmental education, bioprospection, sustainable non-timber forest products, and tropical forest conservation. We attempt to describe the achievements reached by this organization that currently counts with 180 affiliated private nature reserves and protects almost 140.000 hectares of land, and we visualize the opportunities that the organization has due to its carbon sequestration potential and the contribution that would be able to do to climatic change mitigation.

Email: clsandi@earth.ac.cr, r-russo@earth.ac.cr

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Title: Cost-benefit analysis of Sardinian red deer conservation

Authors: Casula, Paolo; Murgia, Andrea; Mandas, Lucio; Masci, Alberto; Secci, Dionigi; Casula, Antonio; Nudda, Graziano; Riga, Francesco

Thema: 1. Forests and biodiversity
Subtheme: 1.6 Wildlife associated with forests

Abstract of the paper: Biodiversity provides important ecosystem services and economic benefits to local communities and is globally considered a key resource for sustainable development. However, conserving and improving biodiversity implies both direct and indirect cost and benefits. To evaluate the values provided to and perceived by local communities it is important to find tools to perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of conservation objectives. Understanding the cost-benefit ratio it is, also, a key step to assess the attitude of human social context toward conservation projects. Here, we attempt to measure direct and indirect costs and benefits of the conservation of Sardinian red deer, a subspecies endemic to Sardinia and Corsica, listed in the Italian International Red List, and with strong cultural and economic impact on local communities. At the beginning of 1980 the Sardinian red deer, Cervus elaphus corsicanus, was seriously threatened to extinction with an estimated population of few hundred individuals and a strong negative trend mainly due to unregulated hunting and habitat loss. A series of conservation measures and reintroductions allowed the population to recover, and now, based on rutting males census and direct counts, it is estimated in more than 1000 rutting males and possibly more than 5000 individuals. The population is still very localised and fragmented but in some areas local populations reach very high densities (up to 26 deer/Km2). Such densities are reassuring from a conservation standpoint. On the other hand, in these localities local communities are starting to experience the economic cost of red deer conservation as direct damages to agriculture and forestry, and road collisions. In this study we evaluate costs of deer conservation and reintroductions based on resources employed in implementing conservation (e.g. reintroduction program) and in managing damages caused by the species (refunding, prevention activities, etc.), and we attempt to value the economic benefits as tourism income and perceived values of deer sighting - presence - conservation. A simulation of population trajectories in relation to realised and planned reintroductions and conservation actions is also performed to predict related temporal variation of costs and benefits. In particular, the implications of increased deer density for agriculture, forestry and hunting will be studied: whereas a strongly viable red deer population might increase costs for forestry and agriculture, it might as well increase incomes from ecotourism and sustainable hunting.

Email: pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it, pcasula@enteforestesardegna.it

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Title: Costos ocultos de la cosecha de árbol completo: el caso de Pinus radiata en Chile

Authors: Gerding, Víctor; Thiers, Oscar; Schlatter, Juan E.

Thema: 2. Producing for development
Subtheme: 2.6 Forest utilization practices

Abstract of the paper: En Chile se talan anualmente 50 mil hectáreas de plantaciones de Pinus radiata mediante la tradicional cosecha de fustes (CF = madera con corteza), manteniendo en el sitio los residuos (copa y mantillo). Actualmente existe la creciente tendencia a la cosecha de árbol completo (CAC) para fines industriales (madera) y energéticos (corteza, copa y mantillo). Con esto último se ha diversificado el negocio de estas plantaciones y se han disminuido los costos de establecimiento de la rotación siguiente, aspectos que se difunden como ventajas de la CAC. Sin embargo, no se han considerado todos los impactos ambientales de la CAC, entre los cuales la pérdida de elementos nutritivos del suelo puede ser un factor decisivo para la sostenibilidad de la producción en rotaciones sucesivas. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron cuantificar las exportaciones de elementos nutritivos (N, P, K) mediante CF y CAC en sitios representativos con Pinus radiata en Chile (33°-40°30` S), y evaluar la sostenibilidad de estas prácticas. En sitios de baja productividad (200 t/ha/año de biomasa aérea), dominados por suelos arenosos y graníticos, la CF genera exportaciones, aproximadas, de (kg/ha): 100 N, 12 P y 115 K; con la CAC estas exportaciones aumentan en (kg/ha): 480 N, 70 P y 230 K. En sitios de alta productividad (400 t/ha/año de biomasa aérea), dominados por suelos derivados de cenizas volcánicas jóvenes y antiguas, esquistos metamórficos y sedimentos marinos, las exportaciones por CF son de (kg/ha): 220 N, 25 P y 230 K; y con CAC aumenten en (kg/ha): 600 N, 70 P y 240 K. La sostenibilidad nutritiva del sitio fue evaluada mediante el índice de reserva de la vegetación (IRV = cantidad de bioelemento en el vuelo y mantillo/cantidad de bioelemento en el suelo). Todos los tipos de suelo presentaron inestabilidad para fósforo y potasio, en tanto sólo los suelos volcánicos y sedimentos marinos, en sitios de alta productividad, mostraron adecuada estabilidad para nitrógeno. El incremento de exportación de NPK debido a la CAC equivale a un costo de fertilizantes promedio de US $ 2.000 por hectárea (5-7 veces el costo de forestación), lo cual no está considerado actualmente en el negocio forestal para mantener la productividad. La mayor extracción de biomasa con la CAC generará desbalances nutritivos que condicionarán la sostenibilidad de la producción en muchos sitios con Pinus radiata en Chile.

Email: vgerding@uach.cl, othiers@uach.cl, jschlatt@uach.cl

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Title: Costs and value of forest legislation

Authors: Nylund, Jan-Erik; Gowda, Juan Haridas

Thema: 6. Organizing forest development
Subtheme: 6.3 Institutional settings, law compliance and good governance

Abstract of the paper: Any legislation that regulates the use of land will imply a change in the relative value of different practices for the private owner. Regulation of the use of forest land may have long-term effects that are difficult to predict because it will not only lead to changes in forest practices but it may also promote replacement of forests by other plant communities following changes in the use of land such as livestock keeping, agriculture of real estate development. In this article, we propose a simple framework for evaluating the potential efficiency of a given forest legislation based on its likely effect on the value of the forest resource to the land owner. We define the value of the resource using two components: Its intrinsic value, defined as the long-term value of products and services that any specific forest can produce. Legislation may increase the intrinsic value of a specific resource by promoting the development of products and services that add value to the forest. Its relative value, defined as the difference of the intrinsic value of any given forest against the net value of alternative uses of land. legislation may increase the forests relative value by adding restrictions to other land use or subsidizing some key forest related costs (e.g. plantation, pruning, road build & maintenance). We suggest that conservation-oriented legislation often reduces the relative value of forest to the owner, and therefore may be inefficient and hard to enforce. In lands with a developed forest sector, laws aiming at developing the long-term forest value under sustainable management will be more efficient in protecting the forest. The real challenge is at hand in places, where a previously unmanaged timber resource offers opportunities of quick returns from unsustainable exploitation. This may explain why so many countries have experienced deforestation before the forest area has started to increase. Under such conditions legislation must be accompanied by technological and promotional packages making sustainable manage possible, while ensuring economic returns to the forest owner and the local communities. We use the forest legislation of various Latin-American and European countries as examples for rules that influence the intrinsic and relative value of forest management. We also present a detailed analysis of the forest legislation of Argentina and Sweden 1948 and today to evaluate the efficiency of the former legislation and predict the effects of the new laws.

Email: Jan-Erik.Nylund@sprod.slu.se, juan.gowda@gmail.com

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Title: Costs of Timber Production Small-Scale in the Brazilian Amazon – Case Study in the East of Amazonas State.

Authors: Koury, Carlos; Viana, Virgílio; Sampaio, Paulo De Tarso

Thema: 2. Producing for development
Subtheme: 2.1 Forest management and dynamics

Abstract of the paper: The forest production small-scale in brazilian Amazon, represents 13% of all consumption of wood in the log, including consumption by communities and little producers (small sawmills). And presented as an alternative to reduce the accelerated process of environmental degradation due to agricultural expansion and predatory exploration of timber, establishing himself as the best option to maintain biodiversity, guarantee the rights and cultures of traditional peoples, garantee of the live forest and improvement of living and income generation in communities of the Amazon. Despite the growing number of small plans of forest management within the Amazon are rare studies on the economic model of timber production. Similarly, the methodologies timber production practices and little has been discussed to facilitate the transfer of technology to small managements. This study determined the operational cost of timber production small-scale, with international certification who engage to timber production of primitive forests in an area of forest concession with cycle of 25 years, with annual production unit of 80ha with a potential average of 1000m³ of wood annually, which uses with equipment and machinery suitable for the activity. The analysis of costs based on the methodology Activities Based Costs (ABC). The analysis of the management community located in low Amazonas showed the average value of $531.85 per cubic meter, and 18.2% of this amount charged by the activity of inventory, felling of timber 15.6%, 35.9% processing 23.9%, 6.5% primary transport and others smaller. The low annual production (12% of the potential of wood for sale ) justifies the high cost of cubic meter of wood benefited because does not allow the dilution of the indirect costs and the depreciation of machinery. The depreciation of machinery and equipment of the production logging community represented 37.5% of total costs of the operation forest, fact that increases the need to efficiency in production and in management of their assets, as too required a correct planning in the use of machinery in forest production. The increase of annual production would represent the largest use of the machines, generating more income for the Association, allowing better maintenance of equipment as well as dilution of the value of depreciation in wood cost, ensuring a reduction of to 39% of operating costs. With these adjustments in the production logging studied, the cost of certified timber production community will be accessible to markets for timber certified and non-certified.

Email: carlosgabriel@idesam.org.br, vimviana@hotmail.com, sampaio@inpa.gov.br

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Title: Coupling of two new methods to optimize water and fertilizer uses in view to preserve groundwater quality under forest tree nursery conditions

Authors: Gagnon, Jean; Girard, Daniel

Thema: 2. Producing for development
Subtheme: 2.2 Planted forests

Abstract of the paper: The rational use of water and the preservation of water quality have become global issues for socio-economic development throughout the world. High levels of water and nitrogen (N) fertilizers applied annually to agricultural crops can lead to important leaching losses of nitrate (NO3-), which in turn can cause high NO3- concentrations in drinking water and be a health hazard (above the 10 mg NO3-N L–1 standards for North America). These high NO3- levels can also contribute to algae growth and eutrophication of surface waters. Although the areas occupied by both horticultural and forest tree nurseries are much smaller than those used in agriculture, irrigation and fertilization practices in nurseries generate annually important leaching losses of water and mineral nutrients. In order to optimize water and fertilizer uses and to preserve groundwater quality, two methods (drainable lysimeter and LessN simulation model) were developed and tested simultaneously in several forest tree nurseries of Quebec, Canada. Since 2002, a total of 40 drainable lysimeters, each containing large undisturbed soil block monoliths of 0.25 m3 (a stainless plate of 0.5 m2 inserted at a depth of 0.5 m), were installed in six nurseries to measure the effects of different nitrogen (N) fertilisation treatments (mineral and organic N applied at different doses, sources and application frequencies) on annual nutrient leaching losses and growth of bareroot seedlings. The software LessN, a mechanistic and stochastic model, has also been developed to simulate the fate of N fertilizers and the mineralization of soil organic nitrogen (SON) in forest nursery. Drainable lysimeters were also used to test the precision of the LessN simulations by comparing measured N leaching losses and SON mineralization to those simulated by this software. The continuous monitoring of nutrient leaching losses with these lysimeters have shown that nitrogen (N) leaching losses varied annually between 60-90 kg N ha-1 and these N losses represented 40-70 % of the mineral N fertilizers applied to bareroot seedlings. The annual mineralization of soil organic N (SON), estimated using a N balance sheet (inputs-outputs), amounted to 60-80 kg N ha-1 per year. This study demonstrates that nitrogen (N) leaching losses in forest nurseries can be substantially decreased by modifying N fertilization practices (e.g. reduction of the N applied annually by : considering N inputs from SON mineralisation, by splitting N applications) without affecting seedling growth. This will permit to preserve the groundwater quality in forest tree nurseries.

Email: jean.gagnon@mrnf.gouv.qc.ca, daniel.girard@mrnf.gouv.qc.ca

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Title: Creation of a FairTrade certified designation for forest products from small-scale community-based operations

Authors: Karmann, Marion; Smith, Alan; N.N., Flo

Thema: 5. Development opportunities
Subtheme: 5.5 Forest certification

Abstract of the paper: Growing environmental awareness and consumer demand for more socially responsible businesses helped third-party forest management certification emerge in the 1990s as a tool for assessing the environmental and social performance of forest operations. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit membership-based organization which develops standards to ensure that timber and other forest products are coming from responsibly managed forests. FSC’s international and nationally adapted standards are widely accepted among a broad cross-section of stakeholders as being consistent with the principles of good forest stewardship and sustainability. Several research papers provide evidence that FSC is recognized as a policy tool that addresses many ecological and economical forestry issues as well as labor issues, but that the progress of certification and FSC’s impact is in some geographical and socio-economical areas not as wide as was hoped. Although it is the fastest growing forest certification scheme in the world, yet FSC has not made as much impact on tropical forest management, small forest owners, community forests, or low intensity managed forests as was initially hoped. Several authors recommend that an additional or joint Fair Trade certification together with FSC certification might be a good way to furthermore develop forest depending communities and their access to markets. The FSC Global Strategy 2007 “Strengthening forest conservation, communities and markets” among others requires complementing programs certification of small and low intensity managed forest management through additional fair trade certification. Nonetheless, the challenges for the certification and improvement of community managed forests remain striking. Since 2007 the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) and FSC were engaged in a research process to explore the potential role of Fairtrade in creating market opportunities for community-based foresters. Based on the findings of a feasibility study about the ‘fit’ between forest products, the Fairtrade portfolio and market acceptance of such a dual certification, it was recommended to undertake a pilot research phase of up to 18 months to further test and develop the concept. The pilot research starts in early 2009. Based on an evaluation of the outcomes of this pilot phase, FLO and FSC will then make a final decision on whether to approve dual certification for timber and other forest products. The authors will discuss the options for small-scale operations to overcome challenges like competitive pressure and inadequate access to capital and represent the findings from the feasibility study, the research design and preliminary findings.

Email: m.karmann@fsc.org, a.smith@fsc.org, m.karmann@fsc.org

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Title: Crecimiento de grupos sucesionales, en diferentes espaciamientos de plantío, para recomposición forestal en área de foresta Atlántica

Authors: Makhlouta Alonso, Jorge; Dos Santos Leles, Paulo Sérgio; Da Silva Araújo Oliveira, Norton; Bullich Villa, Ester; Ferreira Do Nascimento, Daniel

Thema: 1. Forests and biodiversity
Subtheme: 1.3 Restoration and rehabilitation of forest ecosystems

Abstract of the paper: La foresta Atlántica se encuentra reducida a 7,84% de su área original. Su necesidad de conservación fue reconocida por la Lei nº 11.428/06, de la Constitución Brasileña, que en el Art. 36A dispone sobre los incentivos para su recuperación. El éxito en proyectos de recomposición, depende de investigaciones sobre las técnicas empleadas. Así, el presente estudio tuvo por objetivo evaluar el efecto del espaciamiento de plantío sobre el crecimiento de poblaciones forestales, para recomposición. El estudio fue realizado en el Municipio de Seropédica, Estado de Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. La plantación fue establecida, en 2004, con los espaciamientos 1,0 x 1,0; 1,5 x 1,5; 2,0 x 1,5; 2,0 x 2,0 e 3,0 x 2,0 m, presentando una línea de especies pioneras con otra, intercalando especies pioneras con no pioneras, totalizando 42 especies forestáis. Después de 36 meses de crecimiento, fueron marcadas 4 parcelas en cada espaciamiento, onde fueron evaluados las variables crecimiento en altura, diámetro al nivel del suelo y área de copa. De acuerdo con la literatura, los dados de las especies pioneras y no pioneras fueron separados, siendo realizado, en cada grupo, un análisis de varianza, seguido de un de regresión y otro de correlación simples. Los crecimientos de las especies pioneras respondieron de manera linear al espaciamiento, excepto la variable área de copa, donde el modelo que mejor se ajustó fue el exponencial. En el grupo de las no pioneras la altura no presentó diferencia significativa. Para el diámetro al nivel del suelo el modelo de mejor ajuste, en función del área útil por planta, fue el linear y para el área de copa fue el modelo potencial. En general, fue observado que las plantas tienden a desarrollarse mejor en espaciamientos menos densos. Entre las tres variables, la que presentó mejor correlación con el espaciamiento fue el diámetro al nivel del suelo y la menor correlación fue la altura. También, fue observado que las variables de las especies no pioneras presentaron correlación menor con el espaciamiento de plantación sugiriendo que, inicialmente, responden en menor grado a las variaciones de espaciamiento. Se puede concluir que lo más indicado seria la adopción de espaciamientos de plantación a partir de 2,0 x 1,5 m. Además, se recomienda el uso de otras variables, como costos de implantación y manutención de la población, en conjunto con el crecimiento, para decidir el espaciamiento de plantación mas adecuado.

Email: j_makh@hotmail.com, pleles@ufrrj.br, nortonoliveira@hotmail.com, esterbv@yahoo.com.br, daniel.nascimento@engevix.com.br

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