Who Pays for and Who Benefits from Improved Timber Harvesting Practices in the Tropics?

Abbreviations and Acronyms iv Acknowledgements v Summary vi 1. ar arv v v v vest est est est esting in the T ing in the T ing in the T ing in the T ing in the Tr r r r ro o o o opics pics pics pics pics 3 2. ar ariat iat iat iat iatio io io io ion in C n in C n in C n in C n in Costs and B osts and B osts and B osts and B osts and Be e e e ene ne ne ne nefits o fits o fits o fits o fits of f f f f I I I I Imple mple mple mple mpleme me me me ment nt nt nt nting RIL ing RIL ing RIL ing RIL ing RIL A A A A Amo mo mo mo mong D ng D ng D ng D ng Diff iff iff iff iffe e e e er r r r re e e e ent F nt F nt F nt F nt Fo o o o or r r r rest T est T est T est T est Ty y y y yp p p p pes es es es es 22 7. v Acknowledgements Partial funding for this synthesis was provided by a grant to CIFOR from the Global Bureau/Forestry, now the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT), of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), for studies on the Opportunities and Constraints for the Adoption of Sustainable Management Practices. The opinions expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of USAID. vi Although reduced-impact logging (RIL) techniques are well known and generally endorsed by tropical foresters, rates of adoption of RIL by loggers have been less than encouraging. The principal impediment to proper planning of logging operations, training and supervision of forest workers, and the other components of RIL is apparently the belief on the part of loggers that these improvements are costly to implement. Although there are reasons to doubt that many forest managers and forest operators are fully aware of the costs of each component of their timber harvesting operations, it cannot be disputed that there are additional costs of implementing some aspects of RIL for some forest stakeholders over some time periods. It should therefore be …