Conserving Biological Diversity in Managed Tropical Forests IUCN – THE WORLD CONSERVATION UNION IUCN – The World Conservation Union brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organisations in a unique world partnership: some 650 members in all, spread across 120 countries. As a union, IUCN exists to serve its members - to represent their views on the world stage and to provide them with the concepts, strategies and technical support they need to achieve their goals. Through its six Commissions, IUCN draws together over 5000 expert volunteers in project teams and action groups. A central secretariat coordinates the IUCN Programme and leads initiatives on the conservation and sustainable use of the world's biological diversity and the management of habitats and natural resources, as well as providing a range of services. The Union has helped many countries to prepare National Conservation Strategies, and demonstrates the application of its knowledge through the field projects it supervises. Operations are increasingly decentralised and are carried forward by an expanding network of regional and country offices, located principally in developing countries. IUCN - The World Conservation Union seeks above all to work with its members to achieve development that is sustainable and that provides a lasting improvement in the quality of life for people all over the world. THE IUCN COMMISSION ON ECOLOGY The IUCN Commission on Ecology (COE) serves as the Union's source of technical advice for translating knowledge of ecological processes into practical action for conservation, sustainable management and restoration, in particular of areas degraded by human action. The IUCN programmes on Forest Conservation, Marine Conservation, and Wetlands are under the umbrella of the Commission on Ecology. Commission members serve on advisory committees and in working groups associated with these programmes. THE IUCN FOREST CONSERVATION PROGRAMME The IUCN Forest Conservation Programme coordinates and reinforces activities of the IUCN members and Secretariat which deal with forests. The Programme focuses on the conservation of species and ecological processes, and on investigating and promoting sustainable use of the resources of these forests. The Programme includes international and national policy initiatives and strategies as well as field projects addressing selected problems in managing the world's most biologically significant tropical forests. These selected projects put the World Conservation Strategy into action by reconciling the requirements of conservation with national development and the needs of people living in forest areas. Special emphasis is given to the development of compatible uses for buffer zones around national parks and reserves. IUCN develops its positions and policies on the basis of the concerns and information communicated by members, trends identified by monitoring activities, and the feedback from numerous field projects. Data on species of plants and animals, and on forest sites which are important for biological and ecosystem conservation, are held by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, UK. This series of publications from the Forest Conservation Programme, in conjunction with regular meetings, enables IUCN to communicate policies and technical guidance to governments, major international institutions, development planners, and conservation professionals. The Programme works closely with development assistance agencies, governments and NGOs, to ensure that conservation priorities are adequately addressed in their activities. The Forest Conservation Programme receives generous financial support from the Government of Sweden. The IUCN Forest Conservation Programme Conserving Biological Diversity in Managed Tropical Forests Edited by Jill M. Blockhus, Mark R. Dillenbeck, Jeffrey A. Sayer and Per Wegge Proceedings of a Workshop held at the IUCN General Assembly Perth, Australia 30 November -1 December 1990 IUCN / ITTO 1992 Published by: IUCN, Gland. Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK in collaboration with ITTO. IUCN and ITTO are grateful to the Governments of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Japan, who contributed to the cost of this study. Copyright: 1992 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior permission from the copyright holder. Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: IUCN (1992). Conserving Biological Diversity in Managed Tropical Forests. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xi + 244 pp. ISBN: 2-8317-0101-5 Printed by: Unwin Brothers Ltd. Woking, Surrey, UK Cover design by: James Butler Cover photo: Timber elephants in the Pegu Yomas National Park in Burma/Myanmar: Jeffrey A. Sayer. Produced by: The IUCN Publications Services Unit, Cambridge, UK. Available from: IUCN Publications Services Unit 181a Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DJ, UK or IUCN Communications Division Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland The designations of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN or ITTO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views of the authors expressed in these proceedings do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, ITTO or the other participating organisations. The text of this book is printed on Reprise 80 gsm recycled paper. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface vii List of Contributors viii Glossary of Acronyms xi Biological Conservation Issues in Forest 1 Management, by Jeffrey A. Sayer and Per Wegge Proposed Guidelines for Conserving Biological 5 Diversity in Production Forests ITTO and the Conservation of Biological . 13 Diversity, by Ronald H. Kemp Country Studies: Asia 29 India 31 Indonesia 39 Malaysia 49 Nepal 55 Papua New Guinea 63 Philippines 69 Thailand 75 Asia Overview 79 Country Studies: Latin America 111 Bolivia 113 Brazil 121 Colombia 127 Ecuador 131 Honduras 137 Panama 143 Peru 149 Trinidad and Tobago 155 Latin America Overview 161 Country Studies: Africa 175 Cameroon 177 Congo 183 Cote d'lvoire 187 Gabon 193 Ghana 197 Togo 203 Zaire 207 Africa Overview 213 Annex: Comparative Charts by Region 231 Asia 233 Latin America 237 Africa 241 v PREFACE At its 8th session in Bali, Indonesia, in 1990, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) adopted the target of ensuring that all tropical timber marketed internationally should, by the year 2000, come from forests that are managed sustainably. It is now generally accepted that the term "sustainable" must apply not just to the maintenance of timber yields, but to the maintenance of all the goods and services provided by the forests. One of the most important services to be maintained in tropical forests is the provision of habitat for the exceedingly rich fauna and flora of the biome. This biological diversity conservation function is primarily served by national parks and equivalent totally protected areas. However, such areas only cover a small proportion of the biome and they alone are insufficient to conserve the full range of diversity of the forests. A recent study by The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources/The World Conservation Union (IUCN) (Whitmore and Sayer in press) shows that deforestation, forest fragmentation and degradation are likely to cause the extinction of a large portion of the biodiversity of tropical moist forests in the future. The study also shows that the risks of extinction could be diminished if extensive areas of near-natural forest were to be managed for sustainably to produce timber and other forest products. However, this would only happen if the forests were managed in an ecologically sensitive way. The present study is an attempt to determine whether the member countries of the ITTO have a legal and administrative basis for managing their production forests in ways which will allow these forests to contribute to biological diversity conservation. The study also attempts to assess the extent to which such biodiversity-friendly management is already applied on the ground. For each member country, studies were commissioned on the situation of production forests, their spatial relation to the totally protected area system and the extent of knowledge of the impacts of present management on biological diversity. These country studies were presented at a workshop held during the IUCN General Assembly, in Perth Australia, in December 1990. The workshop was attended by about 200 tropical forest specialists from all over the world. The country papers were presented and discussed in three sub-sessions covering the three main tropical regions. Subsequently regional reviews based on the conclusions of these sessions were presented to all workshop participants. These reviews are reproduced here along with country studies for the respective regions. On the basis of the workshop, a set of guidelines were prepared on ways in which the management of production forests could be improved so as to favor the conservation of the biological diversity of these forests. These guidelines were subsequently sent for review to several international specialists in forest management and conservation.