Technologies to Sustain Forest Resources
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Technologies To Sustain Forest Resources March 1984 OTA-F-515 NTIS order #PB92-182104 Recommended Citation: Technologies to Sustain Tropical Forest Resources (Washington, D. C.: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, OTA-F-214, March 1984). Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-601018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 Foreword The United States has a stake in the sustained economic development of tropical nations for humanitarian, political, and economic reasons. To a great extent, the development of these nations depends on increasing production from their poten- tially renewable soil, forest, and water resources. But tropical forest resources, which cover nearly one-half of the tropical nations’ land, are being consumed at a rate that may make them nonrenewable. They are exploited for timber and cleared for pasture and cropland with little regard for their abilities to produce—in a long- term sustainable fashion—important goods, maintain soil productivity, regulate water regimes, or regenerate themselves. Much of the recent deforestation occurs where the new land uses cannot be sustained and it causes productivity losses that tropical nations and the world can ill afford. International recognition of the importance of tropical forests, and efforts to sustain the productivity of these resources, have increased significantly in the last decade. In 1980, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sub- committee on International Organizations, held hearings on tropical deforestation. The committee then requested the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to con- duct a more thorough assessment of the problem, the technologies that could help sustain tropical forest resources, and possible options for Congress. The Subcom- mittee on Insular Affairs of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution of the Senate Committee on Public Works endorsed the request. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources asked that the assessment specifically address forest resources of the U.S. insular territories in the Caribbean and western Pacific. The report and its two background papers (Reforestation of Degraded Lands and U.S. and Interna- tional Institutions) identify and discuss in-depth some of the constraints and op- portunities to develop and implement forest-sustaining technologies. OTA greatly appreciates the contributions of the advisory panel and workshop participants assembled for the study, the authors of the commissioned technical papers, and the many others who assisted us, including liaisons from other Govern- ment agencies. As with all OTA studies, however, the content of the report is the sole responsibility of OTA. iii Technologies to Sustain Tropical Forest Resources Advisory Panel Leonard Berry, Panel Chairman Center for Technology, Environment, and Development Clark university Eddie Albert Jan Laarman Conservationist Department of Forestry North Carolina State University Hugh Bollinger Vice President Charles Lankester Native Plants, Inc. U.N. Development Programme Robert Cassagnol Robert Owen Technical Committee Chief Conservationist (retired) CONAELE Trust Territory of the Pacific IsZands Robert Cramer Christine Padoch Former President Institute of Environmental Studies Virgin Islands Corp. University of Wisconsin Gary Eilerts Allen Putney Appropriate Technology International ENCAMP West Indies Lab John Ewel Department of Botany Jeff Romm University of Florida Department of Forestry University of California Robert Hart Winrock International John Terborgh Department of Biology Susanna Hecht Princeton University Department of Geography University of California Henry Tschinkel Regional Office for Central American Programs Marilyn Hoskins Agency for International Development Department of Sociology U.S. Department of State Virginia Polytechnic Institute John Hunter* Michigan State University Norman Johnson Vice President, North Carolina Region Weyerhaeuser Co. *Resigned in July 1982. iv OTA Staff on Technologies to Sustain Tropical Forest Resourses H. David Banta* and Roger Herdman, * * Assistant Director, OTA Health and Life Sciences Division Walter E. Parham, Program Manager Food and Renewable Resources Program Analytical Staff Susan Shen, Forester Alison Hess, Resource Economist Chris Elfring, Science Journalist Eric Hyman, Environmental Planner*** Denise Toombs, Resource Policy Analyst*** Jim Kirshner, Resource Policy Analyst*** Bruce A. Ross-Sheriff, Geographer, Project Director Administrative Staff Phyllis Balan, Administrative Assistant Nellie Hammond, Secretary Carolyn Swarm, Secretary OTA Publishing Staff John C. Holmes, Publishing Officer John Bergling Kathie S. Boss Reed Bundy Debra M. Datcher Joe Henson Glenda Lawing Linda A. Leahy Cheryl J. Manning Technology Transfer Workshop Ron Stegall, Chairman Development Consultant Washington, D.C. Anil Agarwal Gerald Murray Centre for Science and Environment Pan American Development Foundation New Delhi, India Haiti Jose Roberto Castillio Gunnar Poulsen Farmer/Businessman Tropical Forestry Consultant Mexico Denmark Merrill Conitz David Richards Agency for International Development Appropriate Technology International Nairobi, Kenya Washington, D.C. Robert Fishwick Skip Stiles World Bank Office of Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Marilyn Hoskins Virginia Polytechnic Institute Blacksburg, Va. Systems Analysis Workshop Donella H. Meadows, Chairwoman Resource Policy Center, Dartmouth College Jeffrey Gritzner John Terborgh Board on Science and Technology Department of Biology for International Development Princeton University National Academy of Sciences Frank Wadsworth Jeff Romm Institute of Tropical Forestry Department of Forestry Puerto Rico University of California vi Chapter Page Introduction . ........... 3 I. Summary . .. .. .. ... ... ... .... 9 Z. Importance of Tropical Forests . 37 3. Status of Tropical Forests . 63 q. Causes of Deforestation and Forest Resource Degradation . 85 5. Organizations Dealing With Tropical Forest Resources . 105 6. U.S. Tropical Forests: Caribbean and Western Pacific. 127 --&. Technologies for Undisturbed Forests . ............... 159 8. Technologies to Reduce Overcutting. 177 9. Forestry Technologies for Disturbed Forests . 195 1O. Forestry Technologies to Support Tropical Agriculture. ., . 219 11. Resource Development Planning . 243 12. Education, Research, and Technology Transfer . 257 13. Forestry Technologies for U.S. Tropical Territories. 275 14. Options for Congress. 301 Appendix Page A. Status of Tropical Forests: Tables . 323 B. Glossary . 332 C. Commissioned Papers . 336 Index . 341 vii Introduction ● Introduction 4 ● Technology to Sustain Tropical Forest Resources Figure I.—Trend of Change Among Tropical Forest Land Uses SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment Figure 2.–Conceptuai Diagram indicating Land Use Changes Typical of Tropical Asia 100 land Crop land, grazing land manmade forest, f-l — Time – SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment. If nothing were done to change the system, of production. The actual equilibrium maybe the point at which the amount of undisturbed delayed until even more undisturbed forest is forest land and unproductive land stabilize for cleared because costs and benefits accrue to a given region would be, in theory, where the different groups of people, skewing both mo- cost of clearing the next acre of undisturbed tivations to invest and to exploit. forest equals the cost of reclaiming an acre of unproductive land. Since that cost is high for Many technologies exist but are not fully known technologies, this equilibrium implies used to prevent conversion of productive land little accessible undisturbed forest, a great deal to unproductive land, to increase yields on in- of unproductive land, and extremely low levels termediate lands, or to harvest from undis- /introduction ● 5 turbed forest without converting it to a less eluding most of the land capable of sus- sustainable land type. There are also social taining continuous agriculture. Further changes both possible and desirable to re- clearing is occurring and technologies to duce the driving forces behind conversion to sustain productivity on these lands gen- unsustainable uses. erally are not applied. ● Countries where emergency measures are Because different countries or regions of required—the ratio of unproductive land countries fall at different points along the to original undisturbed forest is high and curves in figure 2, the actions needed to halt increasing, severe shortages of locally pro- this degradation would be most effective if de- duced forest products are occurring, and signed for the urgency of the situation in each the amount of intermediate land types is country. For example, regions with low rain- declining rapidly because technologies are fall and/or dense populations probably follow not adequately used to sustain land pro- this process more rapidly than countries with ductivity. moist forest and large areas of currently inac- cessible land. Categorization of countries or An improved division of countries into cate- major regions to indicate the urgency for ac- gories might account separately for urgency of tions to address loss of tropical forest resources human needs (e.g., food, fuelwood, materials and degradation of land productivity might for shelter, fodder, etc.) and urgency of ecolog- take the form indicated in figure 3: ical