Tropical Forests and Selective Logging: Striking a Balance

GAINESVILLE, FL - Responsible forestry in selectively logged tropical forests can provide  economic well-being of forest-dependent communities, says a new study from the University of Florida.

A study published in Conservation Letters, one of the leading conservation journals, offers a fascinating look at the work being done to protect the tropical forests of the world. “Sustaining Conservation Values in Selectively Logged Tropical Forests: The Attained and the Attainable,” is the work of some 12 experts in tropical forest research.

Photo courtesy of the Tropical Forest Foundation Executive Director of the Tropical Forest Foundation, Bob Johnston, said the study is important because it offers the first hard evidence that the integration of conservation and industry can work. “It confirms that forestry practices taught in the Tropical Forest Foundation training centers can provide protection for the tropical forests while providing for the economic well-being of forest-dependent communities,” said Johnston.

Jack Putz, lead author of the study and board member of TFF, is a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. Bronson Griscom is Director of Forest Carbon Science for the Climate Team at The Nature Conservancy and TFF board member. Griscom, wrote on The Nature Conservancy’s blog that the findings in the paper “confirm a critical middle way forward in protecting tropical forests: maintaining the diversity of tropical forest plants and animals, reducing carbon pollution, securing economic opportunities for local communities, and recognizing that the world’s growing population will continue to have significant needs for timber.”

John Robinson, chief conservation officer and executive vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society and member of the Tropical Forest Foundation executive committee, also commented on the study. “The Members of the Tropical Forest Foundation all have different interests, but we are called together by the common vision that sustainable forest management in the tropics is both economically and environmentally viable.”

The study, Sustaining Conservation Values in Selectively Logged Tropical Forests, is courtesy of Conservation Letters.