THINKING beyond the canopy

Can we manage for timber andbiodiversity in the Congo Basin?

Workshop “Managing wild species andsystems for food security”

Robert Nasi

World Conservation Congress, Jeju, 08/09/2012

THINKING beyond the canopy

Logging concessions,management and biodiversity

THINKING beyond the canopy

LandDesignatedforprotection

Designatedforlogging

Countries Area(km2)Area(km2)

%Area(km2)

%

Cameroon 465,445 37,450 8.05 60,935 13.09CentralAfricanRepublic 620,152 76,743 12.37 34,293 5.53Congo 342,766 35,993 10.50 147,127 42.93DemocraticRep.ofCongo 2,328,225 261,063 11.21 248,276 10.66EquatorialGuinea 26,730 5,104 19.09 14,375 42.93Gabon 262,538 28,620 10.96 90,375 34.60CONGOBASIN 4,045,856 444,973 11.00 595,381 14.72

Landuse km2

“Ordinarylands” 448,801

Loggingconcessions 595.381

Communityforests ≈11.000

Protectedareas 444,973

Source:Nasietal,2011

THINKING beyond the canopy

Selective logging in the CongoBasin

Timber remains the sole managed commodity Highly selective, few individuals (less than 2) of few

commercial species (less than 5) represent more than75% of the volume harvested (less than 10m3/ha)

Rotation cycles of about 25-30 years; Minimum cuttingdiameter rules; No post-harvest silviculture

The area under proper management and certification isincreasing:

Year 1995 2008

Managed 0 11.3Mha

Certified 0 >3Mha

Managedinprep. 0 21.4Mha

Nasi et al. 2006; OFAC, State of Forest 2008

THINKING beyond the canopy

Harvestingintensityandresidualstands

Nasi&Forni,2006

543210

Are

a im

pact

ed (%

)

30

20

10

0 Rsq = 0.9427

Numberoftreesharvested/ha

THINKING beyond the canopy

Impactofcertificationonharvestintensity

Ceruttietal.2011

Certified concessionshave a significantlyreduced harvestingintensity

THINKING beyond the canopy

Graphique symétrique

(axes F1 et F2 : 54.36 %)

GroupeIndépendant

International

Aménagement en cours

Aménagé

Certifié

Non aménagé

2

3

4 5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

20

21

22

23

26

1

-1.5

-1

-0 .5

0

0 .5

1

1.5

-1.5 -1 -0 .5 0 0 .5 1 1.5

F1 (44.24 %)

F2

(1

0.1

2 %

)

Variables supp. Observations

- Actions concrètes +

+

D

iffic

ulté

s r

encontr

ées

-

- Ni les méthodes

- Ni les capacités

actuellement

- Malgré

quelques actions

- Vise la certification

- Souhaite maintenir

ses efforts

- > 30 essences

exploitéees

Pas encore

de résultats

More Biodiversity activities ++

Mo

re p

rob

lem

s

ex

pre

ss

ed

++

Sust. Mangt Plan under way

No Plan

With PlanCertified

No methodsNo capacitiesLimited activities

Basicintentions,Limited results Activities limited to

legal requirementLimited results

Motivated CEO andsome staffLong term effortsEffective field activities

Billand et al. 2009

Pro-biodiversity activities in loggingconcessions

Only certifiedconcessionsshow significantactivities in favorof biodiversity

THINKING beyond the canopy

Managing for timber andwildlife

THINKING beyond the canopy

Estimates of the value of thebushmeat trade range from US$42to US$205 million per year inWest-Central Africa.

Current harvest in Central Africaalone may well be in excess of 5million tons annually, couldrepresent more than 20 million hadeforested for pasture!

30 to 80% of the protein intake ofmany rural populations

Bushmeat huntingin Congo Basin

THINKING beyond the canopy

Main barriers Specific solutions

Bad governance, influence ofelites and corruption

Sensitisation at the level of elites

Strenghthen local governance

Strengthen law enforcement capacity

Lack of motivation fromsmall or economically

unstable logging companies

Create incentives to encourage the pricvatesector to engage in taking wildlife into

accountStrengthen technical capacities at the level of

national services and the private sectorUnclear definition of

responsabilities amongstakeholders

Clarify and formalize roles andresponsabilities

Barriers and solutions

(TRAFFIC workshop, Libreville, June 2010)

THINKING beyond the canopy

Main barriers Specific solutions

Additional costs are incurredto consider wildlife in

management

Allocation of a specific budget for wildlifeisssues

Logging revenus (taxes etc..) should also beallocated to support wildlife management

effortsPartnerships among stakeholders are crucial

External funding is needed

High demand of bushmeatfrom external urban areas

and little control/knowledgeabout the market chain

Sensitization of urban consumers

Better knowledge of the market chain

Lack of largely validatedscientific methods and

protocols to monitor wildlife

Develop research and coordinate thevalidation of monitoring methods

Barriers and solutions

THINKING beyond the canopy

Beyond boundaries:Landscape scale considerations

THINKING beyond the canopy

Why a landscape approach?

High mobility of wildlife (migration, dispersal, extensiveterritories…)

Conserving protected areas alone will not be enough toconserve large sized/highly mobile species with hugeranges (e.g. elephants) or locally rare plant species

The contribution of production forests to biodiversityconservation is increasingly recognized (e.g. North Congo wheregorilla densities are higher in logging concessions than in the neighbouringnational park)

THINKING beyond the canopy

Protected areas and loggingconcessions : surprisinglyclose neighbors

OFAC, State of Forest 2008

THINKING beyond the canopy

NationalParks

LoggingConcessions

Huntingareas

Parks, Concessions, Hunting areas : where are flagship species ?Some surprising assessments

Numberofapenests/km2

OFAC, State of Forest 2008

THINKING beyond the canopy

Integratedproduction /

conservation territory

Combine (at least) two major landuse types (e.g. a loggingconcession and a protected area)

with community-based managedareas

in one land-use management unitthat could become an integratedproduction/conservation landscape

Billand & Nasi 2006

THINKING beyond the canopy

Environmentalservices

Localincomes

Taxes,fiscalrevenues

SustainruralpopulationMixedarea:protectedareaand

conservationenterprise

ProtectedArea

Certifiedlogging

concession

Communityforest

Municipalforest

Agro‐industry

Hunting,Gathering,Informalsectors

Urban,socialspace

Billand & Nasi 2006

THINKING beyond the canopy

Realize the economic potential of theconservation side

Manage informal sectors like hunting, fishing orNTFP extraction for local livelihoods

Use part of the income generated by theindustrial production side for the conservationarea for reciprocal benefits

Foster certification (not limited to timberconsiderations)

Basic rules

THINKING beyond the canopy

Enabling conditions

Starting funds are needed to cover initial transactioncosts

The willingness of the production sector to engageinto certification or other biodiversity friendly practices

The willingness of the conservation community tocollaborate, share experiences and support theprivate sector in integrating conservation concerns inmanagement practices

A proactive political support (creating specific land-use units with specific instances for decision making)or, at least, neutral (no undue interference from theState).

THINKING beyond the canopy

The Congo Basin has identified 12 Landscapes designed for sharedproduction and conservation management of forests

Actors (public,private sectors)are aware aboutthe necessity toimprovecollaboration forconcerted orintegratedmanagement

But experiencesat field levelremain limited

Source : Carpe

THINKING beyond the canopy

THINKING beyond the canopy

We believe that management for bothtimber and biodiversity is possible in theCongo but it requires new thinking interms of land-use types and strongerprivate–public partnerships associatingproduction and conservation parts of thelandscape and a renewed long-termsupport from the international donorcommunity.

To conclude…

Nasi,R.,etal.ManagingfortimberandbiodiversityintheCongoBasin.ForestEcol.Manage.(2011),doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.04.005

THINKING beyond the canopy

Please visit us at www.cifor.orgPlease visit us at www.cifor.org