STATE OF 111E ARI REl^ORI ON IMPROVEDFORESTHARVESTING AND REDUCED IMPACT LOGGING IN ASIA PACIFIC REGION PRE-PROJECT PPD 19/99 REV. itF) STRENGTHENING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENTOF NATURAL FOREST IN ASIA-PASIFIC , Cover page: Skidding 45, Reduced Impact Logging Activities, " Berau Forest Management Project (BMFP) " Location: Petak 29, Swakelola Labanan, East Kalimantan, PT. In hutani I STATE OF 11/1E ARI REPORT ON IMPROVEDFORESTHARVESTING AND REDUCED IMPACT LOGGING IN ASIA PACIFIC REGION PRE-PROJECT PPD 19199 REV. I (F) STRENGTHENINGSUSTAINABLEMANAGEMENTOF (^)^ NATURAL FOREST IN ASIA-PASIFIC o ITTO I FOREWORD The Indonesia Ministry of Forestry, in its capacity as Task Manager for the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission's Ad Hoc Working Group on Sustainable Forest Management, with support from the International Tropical Timber Organization has implemented a pre-project focused on the application of the code of practice for forest harvesting in Asia- Pacific. The development objective of the pre-project PPD I 9199 Rev. , (F); "Strengthening Sustainable Management of Natural Forest in Asia-Pacific" is to promote the contribution of forest harvesting to sustainable management of tropical forest in Asia-Pacific countries. It is expected that after the pre-project completion the awareness of improves forest harvesting practices will have been significantly raised and political support for the implementation of the Code secured. To implement a comprehensive training programme and to operationalize demonstration sites for RIL implementation there is a need to understand the status of forest management particularly state of the art on forest harvesting in each Asia Pacific country. This state of the art report was prepared by Dr. Supriyanto, who worked closely with staff of the pre-project has reviewed available papers and references related with implementation of RIL in Asia- Pacific region, I wish this report could be utilized as basic information for designing proper training programmes and other planning process for the implementation of RIL in support to the achievement of sustainable management of natural forests in Asia-Pacific. Project Manager PPD 19/99 Rev, I (F) \ ^ DR. IG. ,,. TANTRA , I PREFACE This paper on State-of-the-art report on improved forest harvesting and reduced impact logging conforms to the ITFO Year 2000 Objectives. It is also one of the outputs of the Pre-Project PPD 19/99 Rev. I (F): Strengthening Sustainable Management of Natural Forests in Asia-Pacific. Timber extraction always creates a negative environmental impact, but an acceptable level of environmental impact should be met to minimize the risk. Reduced-impact logging is one of the ways to minimize the environmental impact and in accordance with Sustainable Forest Management Principles. Awareness of forest stakeholders in Asia-Pacific region to implement the reduced impact logging technique is encouraged, In December 1995, ITrO and FAO jointly organized a regional consultation on the implementation of sustainable forest management in Asia and the Pacific regions , in Bangkok, Thailand. Two key recommendations emerging from that consultation were: . a call for the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) to establish an ad hoc Working Group on Sustainable Forest Management, and . a suggestion to develop a regional code of practice for forest harvesting. At its 16'' Session in January 1996, the APFC subsequently established an ad hoc Working Group on Sustainable Forest Management and appointed Ministry of Forestry Indonesia as task manager with a priority mandate to develop the recommended regional code. Between I996 and 1998, the APFC ad hoc Working Group on Sustainable Forest Management, developed the Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting in Asia-Pacific, through an exhaustive participatory process involving various stakeholders. Technical and financial support for developing the code was provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the governments of Australia, Japan (through the Japan International Forestry Promotion and Co-operation Center, JIFRO). and the United States of America (through the Us DA Forest Service). The code is intended to complement the 1770 Crtteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests and InO Criteria and Indibators for Sustainable Management of Natural ,.. 111 Tropical Forests. It focuses on practical field-oriented approaches to improving forest management. The 29-member country APFC formally endorsed the code at its 17 Session in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 1998. In endorsing the code. the APFC called on member countries and supporting international organizations to implement it. Published in early I 999, the code serves as an expression of the Asia-Pacific region's commitment to sustainable forest management. The code is a model and, as such, assists all countries in the development of national codes that need to be appropriateIy modified to reflect national circumstances. The code represents best practice procedures and is riot a legally binding document. The APFC is facilitating an email list server known as R!LNET for a better flow of information about RIL in the region. Such initiatives as the international conference on the Application of RIL to Advance Sustainable Forest Management, held in Kuching, Malaysia from February 26 to March I, 2001, are conducive to an eXchange of ideas and information on sustainable forest management and RIL practices throughout the Asia-Pacific region. All international institutions made a unanimous declaration on the commitment to increase RIL implementation through increased efforts in RIL training at the operator level. Therefore, a paper on State of the art report on improved forest harvesting and reduced impact logging is made. IV Table of contents Page FOREWORD PREFACE 1/1 TABLE OF CONTENTS V I. INTRODUCTION I. I . Siniculture System 1.2. Harvesting Techniques 3 1.3. The Needs of RILin SFM 5 11. IMPROVED FOREST HARVESTING AND 9 REDUCED IMPACT LOGGING IN ASIA PACIFIC REGIONS 2.1. Australia 9 2.2, Bangladesh 14 2.3. Bhutan 18 2.4. Cambodia 20 2.5. China 23 2.6. F1i 27 2.7. France (New Caledonia) 29 28. India 31 2.9. Indonesia 33 2.10. Japan 38 2. I I . Korea, Republic of 40 2.12. Laos 43 2.13. Malaysia 46 2.14. Maldives 49 2.15. Mongolia 51 2.16, Myanmar 53 2.17. Nepal 56 2.18, New Zealand 59 2.19. Pakistan 62 2.20. Papua New Guinea 63 2.21 . Philippines 65 2.22. Portugal (East Timor) 68 2.23. Samoa 69 2.24. Solomon Islands 71 2.25. Sri Lanka 75 2.26. Thailand 78 2.27. United States of America 82 2.28. Vanuatu 85 2.29. Vietnam 87 1/1. GENERAL PROBLEM ' 91 IV. CONCLUSION 93 REFERENCES 95 V PRE-PROJECT 1909 REV, I (F) She, ;9thoningJ'"st"trad6fo!It@"^emu"t orgy'@tnnzfrotestsIn/asi"4'"cmc I. INTRODUCTION I. ,. Silviculture System Forest formation is defined by the climatic (temperature, precipitation, altitude, latitude) and edaphically conditions (soil type, microorganisms). The vast climatic and soil variations. within the tropics produce an extraordinary diversity of forest types, differing in composition, structure and commercial value. Forest dynamic occurs rapidly if the condition is maintained naturally, and finally the climax condition is achieved. The climax formation can be achieved if the forest ecosystem is healthy. Forest ecosystem is healthy if they are productive. biologically and structuralIy diverse, large and not fragmented, balance in class distribution and resilient to stressors (Supriyanto at a1. 2001). Healthy forest ecosystem should be managed in sustainable way. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is the process of managing forest to achieve one or more clearly specified objectives of management with regard to the production of a continuous flow of desired forest products and services without undue reduction of its inherent values and future productivity and without undue undesirable effects on the physical and social environment (ITF0, , 994, I 998). In this case, continuous flow of the desired products and services should be monitored continuously to know their status, changes and trends if the forest conditions (stressors) are continued. Demand for demonstrating sustainable forest management is being driven at international and regional levels by a number of factors including international government-to~government agreements, national environmental legislation, real and perceived market demand for a "green" image to investors ( Dyck and Skinner, 1988). Forest management needs to be ecological Iy, socially, and economicalIy sustainable. Ecological or environmental sustainability is difficult and expensive to determine directly. Monitoring variables which are accepted as indicators of sustainable ecosystem response to management practices have been recommended by the forest industry and international agreements, such as the Montreal Process. To achieve the goal of sustainable forest management, an appropriate Silviculture system in a given ecosystem should be considered carefully. The silviculturist look upon the forest as an ecosystem, and see their tasks as being those of guiding all of its life processes within the context of an ecologicalIy stable forest and of shaping the creation and propagation of such forest system in such a _I PRE-PROJECT 19/99 REV. I (F) Strengthening SIrst@fir@61^ :I^tall^gumt orgy'@turnfF@testsi, ,^sin. @", I^ way that all needs related to them are satisfied in the best way possible, in a sustained, continuous and rational manner (Leibundgut, 1985). Such view is applied