Sustainable forestry in the tropics: panacea or folly?

12 The profitability of uncontrolled logging can be a significant obstacle to sustainable forest 13 management, especially in the tropics. Rice et al. (1997) have argued that not only does 14 traditional selective logging provide higher returns but also incurs less damage to forests than 15 sustainable forest management systems that involve harvesting of many species and the creation 16 of large gaps in the forest canopy to foster regeneration of light-demanding species. They 17 claimed that protected areas were the only viable way to conserve forest ecosystems and 18 proposed that loggers be allowed to log forests selectively once, after which the forests should 19 become parks. Here we respond to the challenge posed by Rice et al. by exhaustively reviewing 20 the evidence regarding the viability and desirability of sustainable forest management in the 21 Pearce, Putz & Vanclay Sustainable Forestry Page 2 of 43 tropics. Following Rice et al., we use the term conventional timber harvesting to refer to existing 1 practice, which typically pays little attention to maintaining long-term timber supply. 2 Sustainable timber management implies taking steps to ensure forests continue to produce 3 timber in the longer term, while maintaining the full complement of environmental services and 4 non-timber products of the forest. 5 Empirical studies tend to confirm the conclusion of Rice et al. (1997) that although sustainable 6 timber management sometimes provides reasonable rates of return, conventional timber 7 harvesting is generally more profitable. This implies that without additional incentives, one 8 cannot expect companies to adopt sustainable management. The shortsightedness of many 9 loggers, the slow rise in international timber prices, political uncertainty, and tenure insecurity 10 simply reinforce this tendency. However, we reject the claim that sustainable timber 11 management generally damages forests more than conventional logging. Rice et al. base their 12 conclusion largely on the particular case of mahogany extraction in Bolivia, and even there it 13 may not hold. In many cases, sustainable timber management performs better in terms of carbon 14 storage and biodiversity conservation than conventional logging approaches, as well as 15 producing more timber. If new carbon markets emerge, sustainable forest management might 16 compete effectively with conventional timber harvesting. Timber certification systems may also 17 provide a sufficient incentive for sustainable forest management in certain circumstances. 18