Considering Background Condition Effects in Tailoring Tropical Forest Management Systems for Sustainability

Abstract

Systems devised for managing tropical forests sustainably have yet to prove successful. In many instances, they have fallen short of initial prospects, but the reasons for these shortfalls are often not apparent. Here, we explore factors that can shape the likelihood of success, collectively referred to as background conditions, which are not always adequately considered prior to selecting a suitable management system. We examine the ability of one background condition, geologic terrane, to explain crude spatial variation in a number of trailing indicators of varying forest land use. Forest areas on Precambrian and Phanerozoic terranes show significant differences in production of fossil hydrocarbons, gold, and tropical roundwood, among other indicators, even after considering regional effects. Background conditions are considered to be factors capable of quantifying spatial variation in the likelihood of achieving management success given predefined benchmarks of sustainability. A number of avenues for further exploring and discriminating spatial variation of background conditions are discussed.

Sustainable Forest Management in the Tropics: Is Everything in Order but the Patient Still Dying?

“…Attempting to accommodate varying environmental, economic, social, and political conditions, many of them outside the reach of forest management, is another. Some key influences on both forest productivity and human affairs, such as a region's geology and continental location, create background conditions that management cannot circumvent (Hammond and Zagt 2006).…”

“…This was given further support through the introduction of certification, designed to assure consumers that the products being purchased were being produced sustainably, equitably, and with appropriate management (Upton and Bass 1995). The limited success of MUF and SFM (Gong 2002, Hammond andZagt 2006), seen against the backdrop of ongoing tropical deforestation, led in turn to the need to look beyond the forests and to consider the integrated management of land, water, and living resources. This approach, variously called "the ecosystem approach" or "integrated natural resource management (INRM)," was designed to achieve both conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way at the landscape level.…”

Avoiding deforestation in Panamanian protected areas: An analysis of protection effectiveness and implications for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

“…Extrapolating from prior experience in ecosystem management and our case study, finding the appropriate mé lange of PA management and resource conservation techniques requires consideration of the historical and political-ecological milieu in which the PA exists or will exist (Hammond and Zagt, 2006;Bates and Rudel, 2000;Swetnam et al, 1999;Yaffee, 1999). For Cerro Hoya, where land tenure is secure and deforestation is near absent, limited state-presence and relinquishment of stewardship to local communities have been key factors in this PA's effectiveness.…”

Multiple use management of tropical production forests: How can we move from concept to reality?

“…The reality, however, is that spatial planning for long-term forest production is generally disregarded across the tropics. For example, timber concessions are sometimes gazetted with little or no attention to factors such as degree of soil fertility, forest types or floristic composition (e.g., Hammond and Zagt, 2006;Salo and Toivonen, 2009). In turn, NTFP concessions, more often than not, include vast quantities of commercially valuable timber often prompting uncontrolled extraction by third-party loggers (e.g., Cossío-Solano et al, 2011).…”