The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

In-Depth Analysis of Impacts 85installing processing facilities that use a wider range of species more efficiently), byfostering market changes that increase the value of “secondary” species (Karsentyand Gourlet-Fleury 2006), and by adapting the silvicultural strategy over timeWhat about carbon stocks in a managed forest? From a carbon standpoint,experimental results in the Congo Basin tend to indicate that aboveground carbonstocks recover within 25 years after a high-intensity cut (for Africa) of four treesper hectare and damage associated with extraction. Although the higher harvestintensity leads to greater carbon dioxide emissions during logging, it boosts therecovery of biomass and reduces the time necessary for full aboveground recovery.Carbon stocks are not the same as stocks of commercially valuable timber.What about other aspects of sustainability? Different groups of stakeholdersdefine sustainability in different ways, and their definitions have particular socialas well as economic and ecological dimensions. Social sustainability—the effectsof long-term forest management on local communities as well as forest industryemployees—can be a concern. For example, a 2006 study by GTZ of a sample of20 management plans showed that only half complied with the minimum legalrequirements and that most showed weaknesses with respect to social and biodiversityissues (GTZ 2006). The report noted that government oversight on the qualityof management plans remains wanting. The increasing number of firms that meetthe requirement of the most demanding forest management certification schemes,however, suggests that the quality of management is likely to improve despite governmenttolerance of substandard plans. Greenpeace (2007) has contended thatthe management plans simply conceal widespread deforestation, although REMfound that illegal logging has been reduced in managed production forests.Does third-party certification guarantee sustainability? To gain third-partycertification, companies are required to meet detailed social, environmental, andeconomic criteria, but certification does not resolve the debate over what exactlyconstitutes sustainable forest management. For example, Cameroon requires thatforest management plans ensure that the most commercially exploited speciesrecover to a minimum of 50 percent of their former level after 30 years. Certifierssometimes require companies to attain a higher recovery rate (85 percent in thecase of one company), although no serious scientific grounds exist to justify thealternative thresholds. Yet as rigorous as these certification schemes tend to be,they do not guarantee sustainability. The Forest Stewardship Council, for example,does not pretend thatDeliveredits Principlesby TheandWorldCriteriaBank(FSCe-library2002) definesto:“sustainable forestThe World Bankmanagement” and carefully refers IP to : “stewardship” 192.86.100.34rather than “sustainability.”Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:18Source: Authors; Fredericksen and Putz 2003; Karsenty and Gourlet-Fleury 2006.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank