Usar p⁄gs xvii-134 - ResearchGate

It is possible that imports of some wood products (such as plywood and veneers) could rise in thefuture. Wood product imports from Brazil and Peru appear to be cheaper and of higher quality thanwood products produced in Venezuela. For example, to construct the new Caruachi dam in southernVenezuela, wood products have been imported from Brazil, and the demand for veneer is increasinglysatisfied by imports from Peru. 44 The significance of this trend at a national level is not yet clear.Venezuela’s overall wood production declined in the last twenty years and an increasing share comesfrom plantations.Sawnwood comes from both plantations and natural forest concessions. Concessions also providewood for plywood and veneer. Pine plantations currently provide pulpwood for production of hardboard,and plans are in place to produce particleboard and medium density fibreboard for globalexport. An oriented strandboard project is also being developed to use this same resource. 45 Analysisof wood production in Venezuela reveals that:• Industrial wood production has declined since 1980, although production peaked in 1992(see Figure 12).• In the period from 1993 to 1998, wood production from plantations increased nearly 2.5times, while production from cutting licenses declined by more than half (see Figure 13).Government policy has shifted away from promoting wood production from unregulated cuttinglicenses, also known as “deforestation” licenses, to production from loggingconcessions. 46 However, these figures do not reflect illegal logging that occurs sporadicallythroughout the Guayana region. 47• As of 1998, plantations covered approximately 729,000 hectares, of which nearly 75 percentare managed by state-owned companies (e.g., CVG-Proforca, Conare) 48 (see Table 6). Mostplantations are located outside of natural forests.• In 1998, Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea), which is produced solely on plantations, comprisedmore than half of national roundwood production. 49 This suggests that plantationscould be a viable alternative to logging in natural forests. However, it is too early to assess thesustainability of plantations in Venezuela, given that most have not completed more than onerotation.38