Trends on Silviculture and Zoning Strategy in the Brazilian Amazonia

概要

論文の詳細を見る
International tropical timber trade demonstrated a turning point in the 1990's. Some of the southeast Asian countries such as Philippines and Thailand turned into importers of round-wood, after being big exporters up till 1994. This change reflects the presence of many logging companies of those Asian countries in the Brazilian Amazon in the late 1990's. In this paper, Amazonian timber production and the forest situation of Legal Amazonia (the nine Brazilian states of Amazonia) were studied based on a field-study carried out in August 1997. During the study, it was confirmed that, due to depletion of round-wood resources, international loggers were advancing further into the Amazonian rainforests. To promote the conservation of the Amazonian ecosystem, the Brazilian government has established a zoning strategy in Legal Amazonia, clearly dividing conservation areas and farming areas since 1990. For better understanding of the land-uses in that region, the zoning strategy was examined in the field, mainly in the Amazonas State and in Rondonia State, in August 1997. Also, ITTO's 1997 statistical data on tropical timber trade and Zachow's 1998 data on forest management were analyzed. As a result, it was found that most of that region has no proper control on the forests yet. In Rondonia, depletion of rainforest was observed along the BR-364 highway and adjacent roads, due to lack of infrastructure (supply of electricity and fuel gas). This fact accelerated the forest burning beyond the authorized rate of 20% for each settlers' land, which vary from 100ha to 25ha, depending on their settlement year. In heavily logged stands in Rondonia and Amazonas, there was a luxuriant growth of liana and palm trees, replacing the original (shade-tolerant) species. This kind of alteration clearly shows the induced anthropogenic change in the climax forest. Out of 3,648,000km^2 of Amazonian rainforest, only 26km^2 is under sustainable management treatment. Local people should be assisted more intensively by the government, to plan and implement the sustainable management of the forests. Zoning strategies should be clearly defined all over the region to avoid depletion of the virgin forest and to promote good use of the abandoned lands after burning.

Trends on Silviculture and Zoning Strategy in the Brazilian Amazonia

スポンサーリンク

概要

著者

関連論文

スポンサーリンク