11 May 2012: Study Calls Selective Logging
Most Realistic Conservation Strategy

A new study says that well-managed selective logging may be the only realistic solution to conserving tropical forests in the face of a rapacious global demand for timber resources. In an analysis of more than 100 studies, researchers at the University of Florida found that while even selective logging has a significant impact on biodiversity in tropical forests and carbon storage capacity, those impacts are “survivable and reversible to a degree” if the forests are given time to recover. In fact, the researchers found that, on average, 85 to 100 percent of animal and plant species present before initial logging were still around after selective logging and that forests retained about 75 percent of their carbon after initial harvest. By contrast, the researchers say, forest loss for the planting of rubber or palm oil plantations is permanent. “We’re not advocates for logging,” said Jack Putz, a professor of biology and lead author of the study published in the journal Conservation Letters. “We’re just acknowledging that it is a reality — and that within that reality, there is a way forward.” According to Mongabay, more than 400 million hectares, nearly 1 billion acres, of tropical forest is under logging concessions worldwide — an area twice the size of Mexico.