This document discusses managing forests in the Congo Basin for multiple uses. It notes that timber extraction currently dominates management but that forests also provide non-timber forest products, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Managing forests actively for some combinations of these uses is possible, though there may be tradeoffs. An integrated landscape approach that combines different land use types like protected areas, logging concessions, and community forests may help balance multiple objectives. Research is needed to better understand interactions between different forest uses and how to implement multiple-use management.

1. Can we manage forests for
multiple uses in the Congo
Basin?
Robert Nasi, Alain Billand, Manuel Guariguata
Yaoundé, 22/05/2013

2.  Timber
•
RIL and beyond…
 + Biodiversity
•
Use ecology, life history, consider
wildlife…
 + Non Timber Forest Products
• Trade-offs but possible
 + Ecosystem services
•
Trade-offs but possible; appears in
certification schemes (HCV); serious
accountability issues…
 + Carbone
•
Several risks, trade-offs and issues
 …Against threats?
•
Climate change, invasive species, land
conversion….

3. The “Compatibility Continuum”
Inactive
Active
Coincident
Timber management
tools mitigates
damage to other uses
(roads, skid trails,
timber inventorying)
Timber extraction
benefits other values
(logging gaps,
directional felling)
Explicitly manage for
both timber and NTFP
values

4. Modes of Interaction
 Independent (spatially segregated, or when there is
no conflict of use for tree species with NTFP value)
 Competitive—e.g., extraction of tree species with
both NTFP value for different stakeholders or
exclusion of a given group of stakeholders
 Complementary—e.g., logging enhances
growth/regeneration of NTFP (all else being equal)

5. Main Issues
 Many tropical tree species have both timber and
non-timber values that accrue to different
stakeholders
 Current certification schemes diverge for timber
and NTFPs
 Forestry education and training biased towards
timber
 Legal and regulatory frameworks dictated
separately for timber and NTFPs
 Best harvesting practices/management protocols
for NTFPs have little validation

6. Multiple-uses in the Congo
Basin

7. 75,446
17,664
Production Wood energy
(x000 m³)
3,200
1,315
190
Wood
1,070
OFAC, State of Forests 2010

8. Other goods
Piper guineensis
Carpolobia lutea, Carpolobia albea
Baillonella toxisperma
Kigelia africana
Cinchona spp.
Beekeeping: honey
Rauvolfia vomitoria
Tetrapleura tetraptera
Garcinia lucida
Beekeeping: bee wax
Garcinia kola
Cola acuminata
Ratan
Cola nitida
Voacanga africana
Ricinodendron heudelotii
Pausinystalia johimbe
Dacryodes edulis
Raphia spp.
Bushmeat
Prunus africana
Acacia senegal, Acacia polyacantha
Irvingia gabonensis, Irvingia wombulu
Gnetum africanum, Gnetum…
Fuelwood (wood, charcoal and chips)
Fish (catfish and other species)
78.9
5,911
11,868
18,000
31,500
61,105
94,803
124,489
171,175
244,420
249,938
269,083
284,013
430,639
585,586
730,325
847,182
989,504
1,574,661
2,799,330
2,874,928
4,040,000
8,089,580
12,197,503
378,641,309
613,600,000
1
10
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
100,000,000 1,000,000,000
$
Source: OFAC, State of Forests 2010

9. Timber, management and
biodiversity

10. Land use
km2
“Ordinary lands”
448,801
Logging concessions
595.381
Community forests
≈ 11.000
Protected areas
444,973
Source: Nasi et al, 2011
Source: Mégevand, 2013

11. Selective logging in the Congo
Basin
 Timber remains the sole managed commodity
 Highly selective, few individuals (less than 2) of few
commercial species (less than 5) represent more than
75% of the volume harvested (less than 10m3/ha)
 Rotation cycles of about 25-30 years; Minimum cutting
diameter rules; No post-harvest silviculture
 The area under proper management and certification is
increasing
Nasi et al. 2006; OFAC, State of Forest 2008, 2010

13. Impact of certification on harvest intensity
Certified concessions
have a significantly
reduced harvesting
intensity
Cerutti et al. 2011

14. Harvesting intensity and residual stands
Area impacted (%)
30
20
Nasi & Forni, 2006
10
0
Rsq = 0.9427
0
1
2
3
Number of trees harvested/ha
4
5

15. Pro-biodiversity activities in logging
concessions
Graphique symétrique
More Biodiversity
(axes F1 et F2 : 54.36 %)
- activities
Actions concrètes +
Sust. Mangt Plan under way
Basic
Aménagement en cours
1.5
Only certified
concessions
show significant
activities in favor
of biodiversity
++
intentions, Limit
ed results
Pas encore
de résultats
Activities limited to
legal requirement
Limited results
1
2
23
More problems
expressed
F2 (10.12 %)
20
3
4
International
5
0
No methods
- Ni les méthodes
No capacities
- Ni les capacités
Limited activities
actuellement
7
Indépendant
9
- Malgré
quelques actions
-0.5
14
11
Groupe
Certifié
13
Vise la and
Motivated --CEOcertification
Souhaite maintenir
some staffses efforts
- > 30 essences
Long term exploitéees
efforts
Effective field activities
Non aménagé
22
No Plan
-1
10
1
26
Billand et al. 2009
Certified
8
With Plan
Aménagé
21
+
Difficultés rencontrées
12
6
0.5
++
-1.5
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
F1 (44.24 %)
0.5
1
1.5

16. Bushmeat hunting
in Congo Basin
 Estimates of the value of the
bushmeat trade range from US$42
to US$205 million per year in
West-Central Africa.
 Current harvest in Central Africa
alone may well be in excess of 5
million tons annually, could
represent more than 20 million ha
deforested for pasture!
 30 to 80% of the protein intake of
many rural populations

17. Why a landscape approach?
 High mobility of wildlife (migration, dispersal, extensive
territories…)
 Conserving Protected areas alone, will not be enough to
conserve large sized/highly mobile species with huge
ranges (e.g. Elephants) or locally rare plant species
 The contribution of production forests to biodiversity
conservation is increasingly recognized (e.g. North Congo where
gorilla densities are higher in logging concessions than in the neighbouring
NP)

18. Protected areas and logging
concessions : surprisingly
close neighbors
OFAC, State of Forest 2008

19. Parks, Concessions, Hunting areas : where are flagship species ?
Some surprising assessments
National Parks
Logging Concessions
Hunting areas
Number of ape nests/km2
OFAC, State of Forest 2008

20. New land-use
types
 Combine several land use

types (e.g. logging
concession, protected area,
CBFM…) in one land-use
management unit that would
become an:
Integrated
production/conservation
landscape

21. Environmental
services
Urban, social space
Local incomes
Certified
logging
concession
Protected
Area
Mixed area : protected area and
conservation enterprise
Community
forest
Municipal
forest
Agroindustry
Hunting,
Gathering,
Informal
sectors
Taxes, fiscal
revenues
Sustain rural
population
Billand & Nasi 2006

22. Basic rules
 Realize the economic potential of the



conservation side
Manage informal sectors like hunting, fishing or
NTFP extraction for local livelihoods
Use part of the income generated by the
industrial production side for the conservation
area for reciprocal benefits
Foster certification (not limited to timber
considerations)

23. Enabling conditions
 Starting funds are needed to cover initial transaction
costs
 The willingness of the production sector to engage
into certification or other biodiversity friendly practices
 The willingness of the conservation community to
collaborate, share experiences and support the
private sector in integrating conservation concerns in
management practices
 A proactive political support (creating specific landuse units with specific instances for decision making)
or, at least, neutral (no undue interference from the
State).

24. Set of key attributes
 Complexity
 Proximity
 Authenticity
 Redundancy
 Continuity
 Resilience
 Heterogeneity
 Uniqueness
Gustafsson, Laumonier, Nasi 2009

25. Management principles
 Maintain landscape heterogeneity
 Maintain large structurally complex patches of






natural vegetation
Create buffers around sensitive areas
Maintain or create corridors and stepping stones
Use appropriate disturbance regimes in
management
Maintain functional diversity
Manage for keystone species
Consider endemic, rare and threatened species

26. The Congo Basin has identified 12 Landscapes designed for shared
production and conservation management of forests
Actors
(public, private
sectors) are
aware about the
necessity to
improve
collaboration for
concerted or
integrated
management
But experiences
at field level
remain limited
Source : Carpe

27. Some implications for tropical
forestry research

28. “Our major disciplines have long ago ceased
to be effective as separate, have in fact
searched for ways of coming together…but
are restrained by institutional resistance and
lack of vision” (Ron Burnett 2005)

29. New disciplines
“CONSILIENCE: the methods and assumptions of any field of study
should be consistent with the known and accepted facts in other
disciplines” E.J. Wilson.
Social
Sciences
Anthropology
Economy
Policy
Sociology
…
Transdisciplinary
Sciences
Landscape ecology
Ecological economy
Political ecology
Land use change
Human ecology
Biological
Sciences
Botany
Ecology
Genetics
Zoology
…

31. Some final comments
 Search for a globally accepted definition of sustainable





forest management is pointless
Management should be defined by societal demands
Outcomes and results should be monitored based on
agreed objectives for management; unrealistic,
unachievable or vague targets are of little use
Good management can never be attained through
bureaucratic procedures alone.
Best practices require able and motivated managers are
available on site to address concerns on a day-to-day basis:
capacity building and training are keys!
Sound judgment remains the foundation of good
management. Data can inform this judgment, but is not an
end in itself

32. Research /Science
 Search for universally agreed definitions is pointless


(forests or sustainability)
Strive for continuous improvement to better outcomes
when the “best” is unachievable
Scale research appropriately to the research question
 Classical forest science has peaked!
 Grainger (2009) calls for a “new global forest science’”
 Burley (2004) believes that forest science can be
“restored” with “new interdisciplinary approaches that
integrate the work of biophysical scientists and socioeconomic researchers”