Do timber plantations contribute to forest conservation?

Pirard, Romain; Secco, L.; Warman, Russell

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2015.12.010

Cited by 101 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The level of agricultural rents is a key determinant of the impacts of forest plantations on the conservation of natural forests [25]. In Costa Rica's case, the higher profits that can be derived from large-scale export-oriented agriculture compared to tree planting increased the opportunity cost of reforestation, as it can also do with regard to nature conservation [112].…”

Section: Unexpected Feedbacks Of International Trade On Costa Rica's mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two of the most important prerequisites highlighted in the literature [25,97] to achieve this objective were not completely met in Costa Rica. First, logging was not the main cause of deforestation, but instead it was agriculture.…”

Section: Use Of Plantations For Pallet Production: Competition With Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given their faster growth and higher average productivity compared to natural forests, plantations have long been assumed to relieve logging pressure on tropical natural forests [25]. Drawing a parallel between forestry and agriculture, the potential conservation effect of plantation forestry is an example of land sparing [25]. Yet, there is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding the impacts of plantations on natural forests [26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ambivalent effects of establishing forest plantations as a substitute source of wood to natural forests has been widely discussed [25][26][27]. In the absence of plantations, Costa Rica would have further relied on imports of pallets or wood, or on wood from its natural forests and agroforestry systems.…”

Section: Use Of Plantations For Pallet Production: Competition With Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tree plantations have become a major land use globally and have also taken an increasing share in the provision of wood products, accounting for 46.3% of the global supply of industrial roundwood in 2012 [22][23][24]. Given their faster growth and higher average productivity compared to natural forests, plantations have long been assumed to relieve logging pressure on tropical natural forests [25]. Drawing a parallel between forestry and agriculture, the potential conservation effect of plantation forestry is an example of land sparing [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unexpected Interactions between Agricultural and Forest Sectors through International Trade: Wood Pallets and Agricultural Exports in Costa Rica

Jadin

Meyfroidt

Pereira

et al. 2016

Land

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International market forces have played an increasingly important role in shaping land use dynamics through complex supply chains. In Costa Rica, the shift from a net loss to a net gain in forest cover was facilitated by forest plantations and the replacement of extensive cropland and pastures by export-oriented, high-yielding crops. However, agricultural intensification generated several feedbacks affecting forests. We analyzed the interactions between Costa Rica's agricultural and forestry sectors associated with the use of wood pallets for commodity exports over 1985-2013. Wood pallets for growing agricultural exports created a demand for domestic tree plantations. The annual land demand for tree plantations to produce these wood pallets increased by 669%, reaching 17,606 ha in 2013 and representing 28% of the increase in demand for cropland for agricultural exports over 1994-2013. Wood supplied from plantations failed to fully substitute for wood from natural forests, only allowing for a relative substitution and preventing a major sparing of these forests. The dominant use of wood from plantations for production of low-value pallets de-incentivized investments in sustainable plantations. We showed that, beyond the typical interactions between agriculture and forestry through direct competition for land, international trade generated unexpected feedback where agricultural activities and supply chains affected forestry by triggering new demand and profound changes in forestry management. Land systems behave as complex systems, calling for integrated approaches to study the outcomes of forest conservation, reforestation programs, and development of land-based businesses.

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Section: Unexpected Feedbacks Of International Trade On Costa Rica's mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Use Of Plantations For Pallet Production: Competition With Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Use Of Plantations For Pallet Production: Competition With Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Unexpected Interactions between Agricultural and Forest Sectors through International Trade: Wood Pallets and Agricultural Exports in Costa Rica

Jadin

Meyfroidt

Pereira

et al. 2016

Land

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Conservation and production responses vary by disturbance intensity in a long‐term forest management experiment

Kroll

Springford

Verschuyl

2020

Ecological Applications

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Reductions in management intensity are often proposed to support a broader range of beneficial ecosystem responses than traditional management approaches. However, few studies evaluate ecosystem responses across approaches. Also, managers lack information about how species traits mediate responses across management approaches, a potentially substantial source of spatial and temporal variation in population and community responses that if ignored may hinder effectiveness of management programs. We used data collected over eight years from a manipulative experiment to test how four forest management strategies influenced avian community composition and wood production. After harvesting, we evaluated responses to three levels of plant cover suppression (Light, Moderate, and Intensive herbicide applications) in relation to a control without herbicide. We predicted the Moderate and Intensive treatments would exert strong negative effects on leaf-gleaning insectivores, including species of conservation concern due to long-term population declines. However, given high forest productivity, we expected temporal duration of effects to be short. Richness of leaf-gleaning bird species was reduced by 20-50% during the first four years post-harvest (when herbicide treatments were ongoing), but the effect size declined over the next four years once treatments were completed (13-20% reduction). Effect sizes were substantially smaller for the non-leaf-gleaner group during years 1-4 (19-27%) and disappeared during years 5-8 (2-3%). However, in our final year of observation, we did find an average of five fewer non-leaf-gleaner species on Light vs. Control units. In the last two years of observation, turnover probabilities for the leaf-gleaner species remained higher on all treatments compared to the Control (0.11-0.21), indicating that new species continued to colonize treatments. Planted conifers were 40-44% taller and 74-81% larger in diameter in the Moderate and Intensive treatments compared to the Control, leading to substantial gains in wood biomass. Current practices provided more balance between two ecosystem responses, avian diversity and wood production, compared to less intensive alternatives. When short-term negative effects occur, the spatial distribution of harvesting and regeneration regionally indicates that habitat is often available locally to support leaf-gleaning and non-leaf-gleaning bird populations while releasing other portions of the region for high priority conservation objectives including late-successional forest reserves.

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Forest Resources of Jharkhand, Eastern India: Socio-economic and Bio-ecological Perspectives

Kumar

Saikia

2020

Environmental Science and Engineering

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Do timber plantations contribute to forest conservation?

Cited by 101 publications

References 39 publications

Unexpected Interactions between Agricultural and Forest Sectors through International Trade: Wood Pallets and Agricultural Exports in Costa Rica

Unexpected Interactions between Agricultural and Forest Sectors through International Trade: Wood Pallets and Agricultural Exports in Costa Rica

Conservation and production responses vary by disturbance intensity in a long‐term forest management experiment

Forest Resources of Jharkhand, Eastern India: Socio-economic and Bio-ecological Perspectives

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