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[Anual Report 96 :
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Buying Carbon to Promote Reduced-Impact Logging

Environmentally sound forest harvesting and transport operations are essential components of sustainable forestry. For the most part, technologies for harvesting industrial timber in environmentally sustainable ways are well understood and have been mandated in the forests of industrialised countries for many years. In spite of this, such technologies have not been widely adopted in tropical countries. Logging operators in the tropics argue that they cannot find workers and supervisory personnel with the necessary skills to utilise such technologies, and that reduced-impact logging is more costly than "conventional" logging and would thus put them at an economic disadvantage compared to competitors.

To successfully promote reduced-impact logging (RIL) for tropical forests four key questions require answers:

• Is it possible to develop simplified procedures that can be readily understood and applied by less-skilled personnel while retaining most of the benefits associated with environmentally sound logging systems?
• Can reduced-impact logging technologies be applied in ways that reduce overall logging costs (or at least minimise the increase in costs) compared to conventional logging?
• Can policies or other instruments be developed which would provide economic incentives sufficient to encourage loggers to adopt reduced-impact logging technologies?
• To what degree do factors external to the forest sector influence the selection and application of logging technologies?

To answer these questions, CIFOR research partnerships in seven countries are collaborating in inter-related studies. One study, which has been under way in Sabah, Malaysia, since 1993, investigates the potential for using carbon-sequestration payments to promote the adoption of reduced-impact logging. Other studies (one in Cameroon and two in Brazil) began in 1996. The remaining three (one in Bolivia, one in Indonesia at the Bulungan Research Forest, and one involving field work in both Tanzania and Zambia) are expected to start in 1997 or 1998.

In Sabah CIFOR is collaborating with Rakyat Berjaya Sdn. Bhd. (RBJ), an industrial subsidiary of the Sabah Foundation, whose contract logging crews do the field work. The New England Power Company of Massachusetts, USA, funds these activities as a carbon-sequestration project. In the United States, such projects are used by power companies to pay for the sequestration of carbon in forests as an offset to the carbon released into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity. In this particular case, New England Power pays RBJ for the increase in sequestered carbon resulting from RBJ's use of reduced-impact logging techniques. These techniques leave behind significantly more living trees and other vegetation (and therefore sequestered carbon) than does conventional logging. CIFOR teams (including scientists from the University of Florida) measure the difference in carbon sequestration from reduced-impact logging as compared to conventional logging. They are using field assistance from foresters and technicians at RBJ with policy-level involvement by the Sabah Forestry Department. The Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and the Rainforest Alliance, a non-governmental organisation based in New York City, help carry out annual environmental audits of the logging operations.

Harvesting with reduced-impact logging techniques does increase significantly the quantity of carbon stored in living biomass compared with areas harvested using conventional logging techniques. One year after harvesting, the RIL area in this study held about 100 tons/ha more total living biomass and 42 tons/ha more carbon than the conventionally logged area (see figure below). This difference will increase dramatically during the first 10-15 years after logging because of the large number of trees severely damaged by logging (and expected to die) in the conventionally logged area. Reduced-impact logging retains significantly more carbon in living plants and in the soil than does conventional logging. It reduces damage to residual trees and other vegetation during the harvesting operation, and limits the amount of soil disturbance resulting from the operation. In this study, 41 per cent of the unharvested trees smaller than 60 cm in diameter at breast height were severely damaged by conventional logging. In the RIL operation only 15 per cent of these trees were similarly damaged.

In addition, 17 per cent of the conventionally logged area was covered by roads, skidtrails and landings as compared to only 6 per cent on the RIL area. Furthermore, skidtrails in the RIL area were less severely disturbed than those in the conventionally logged area. The proportion of skidtrails with subsoil disturbance in the RIL area was less than half that in the conventionally logged area. The guidelines for RIL techniques have been revised based on experiences in the field with loggers. The most difficult aspects are related to the construction and maintenance of skidtrails and roads.

The study in Sabah demonstrates clearly that reduced-impact logging can substantially increase the quantity of carbon sequestered over time in managed natural forests. Carbon-offset projects thus provide one potential way to pay any additional costs associated with the application of reduced-impact logging in tropical forests. CIFOR is currently involved in negotiations within Indonesia to undertake a similar study to further investigate potential methods for paying any additional costs at the scale of a full timber concession. Detailed economic analysis will be necessary to estimate the minimum contribution needed (through carbon offsets or any other type of incentive) to encourage the adoption of reduced-impact techniques.

CIFOR has a key role to play in promoting the use of RIL in those countries with forests of high biodiversity, and where people rely significantly on forest resources for their welfare. Preservation of a maximum level of undisturbed forest cover while maintaining commercial use of the timber can satisfy a broad range of demands extending from the local to the international arenas.

Dennis Dykstra