Lower deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon. Supporting farm forestry

Since 2004, thanks to a monitoring and repression policy, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has decreased substantially. If this trend is to continue, smallholder farmers need support to enable them to take advantage of their forest resources and to develop ecologically intensive agricultural systems

Modelling aboveground biomass dynamics in Amazonian selectively logged forests

Large areas (2 million hectares per year) of Amazonian forests are selectively logged in a polycyclic harvest system. Modeling the post-logging dynamics of these production forests is thus of primary importance to assess their future carbon storage capacity as well as the structural and dynamic features of the forest that will be found in the next logging cycle. In this study, we used a network of 100 permanent sample plots in 10 sites spread across the Amazon basin to model three post-logging biomass fluxes (recruitment, growth and mortality). The temporal evolution of these biomass fluxes (recruitment, growth and mortality) for surviving trees and recruits and their relative importance in explaining biomass recovery through the Amazonian basin were modeled taking into account spatial as well as temporal autocorrelation in a mixed model framework. Incorporating both the environmental variability and the logging characteristics in the developed model indicate that the two key drivers of post-logging biomass fluxes are the relative biomass loss due to logging and the initial aboveground biomass. Overall, environmental factors had little additional weight in explaining the Amazon-wide variations of post-logging biomass fluxes. Our results stress the importance of developing specific modelling frameworks to account for the peculiar carbon cycle in managed tropical forests in order to better recognize their key role for climate regulation at the global scale. (Texte intégral

The main challenges of sustainable forest management in the Amazon: why sustainable forest management in the Amazon should be reinforced?

Since the last 50 years, tropical natural forests have been intensively logged in the tropics to supply the increasing demand of tropical timber. Unplanned logging operations caused forest degradation leading to their conversion due to the loss of their commercial value. Today, natural forests remain a major source of timber and tropical production forests worldwide are estimated to cover around 400 million ha Studies carried out on the long term impact of logging on timber yield showed that at best about only 50% of the timber volume extracted during the first harvest will be available for the subsequent cycles. We estimated the potential of natural production of the Amazonian forest to supply the future wood demand using more than 200 pem1anent plots for monitoring the long term response after logging of the TmFO network. Our results clearly show that natural forests alone will not be able to supply the increasing demand of tropical timber in the region and that significant efforts in forest restoration through plantations as well as intensive silvicultural practices such as enrichment planting in gaps and liberation, must be initiated immediately. Although natural forests will not be able to supply alone the timber market demand, they will play a major role in environmental services (including biodiversity protection and conservation, climate change mitigation rather than solely for timber provision while they will continue to provide necessary income to forest communities that depend on the forests for their livelihoods

Can timber provision from Amazonian production forests be sustainable?

Around 30 Mm3 of sawlogs are extracted annually by selective logging of natural production forests in Amazonia, Earth's most extensive tropical forest. Decisions concerning the management of these production forests will be of major importance for Amazonian forests' fate. To date, no regional assessment of selective logging sustainability supports decision-making. Based on data from 3500 ha of forest inventory plots, our modelling results show that the average periodic harvests of 20 m3 ha−1 will not recover by the end of a standard 30 year cutting cycle. Timber recovery within a cutting cycle is enhanced by commercial acceptance of more species and with the adoption of longer cutting cycles and lower logging intensities. Recovery rates are faster in Western Amazonia than on the Guiana Shield. Our simulations suggest that regardless of cutting cycle duration and logging intensities, selectively logged forests are unlikely to meet timber demands over the long term as timber stocks are predicted to steadily decline. There is thus an urgent need to develop an integrated forest resource management policy that combines active management of production forests with the restoration of degraded and secondary forests for timber production. Without better management, reduced timber harvests and continued timber production declines are unavoidable

Current knowledge of general patterns of biomass dynamics after logging in Amazonian forests

Sustainable management of tropical forests for timber production has been proposed as a potential tool for the conservation of large areas of tropical forest. The key is to identify practices that promote repeated extraction of forest goods (timber and non timber forests products) without compromising important forest services (e.g., biodiversity and carbon). Currently, 350 million hectares of tropical moist forests worldwide are designated as production forests, about a quarter of which is managed by rural communities and indigenous people. Yet general management guidelines remain elusive, in large part because not only harvesting practices but also forest types vary broadly both within and among regions. For example, the Amazon region shows a strong east-west gradient in both floristic composition and forest dynamics. This paper presents a literature review of our present knowledge of the biomass dynamics of tropical forests in the Amazon after logging. The objectives are (i) to disentangle the mechanisms behind different types of responses in different forests; and (ii) to propose research priorities to improve forest management guidelines so that they better reflect the gradient of forest types across the region. (Résumé d'auteur

Durabilité écologique et économique de l'exploitation forestière pour la production de bois d'oeuvre et pour le stockage du carbone en Amazonie

L'évaluation de la durabilité écologique et économique d'une exploitation forestière dans le contexte amazonien est l'objectif de ce travail. Deux sites ont été utilisés : 1)le site de Paracou en Guyane française sur lequel la dynamique forestière est suivie depuis 1984; 2) une forêt privée située au Pará, Brésil, offrant des données sur l'impact de l'exploitation et ses coûts et recettes. Premièrement, ce travail a consisté à améliorer le simulateur de la dynamique forestière Selva. 11 modèles spécifiques aux processus de mortalité et de recrutement ont été élaborés. Les processus de mortalité sur pied et par chablis utilisent respectivement des variables biologiques de l'arbre et des variables descriptives du peuplement. Des variables décrivant la structure et la composition floristique du peuplement ont permis de modéliser le recrutement de 30 espèces, surtout des pionnières/héliophiles. L'incorporation de ces modèles a permis d'intégrer 92 stratégies de vie dans le simulateur. La forêt virtuelle générée montre une structure et une diversité spécifique proches d'une forêt primaire. Dans le cadre de la législation brésilienne préconisant des cycles de 25-35ans, la simulation montre qu'il est possible d'exploiter 4 tiges/ha/cycle en maintenant une surface terrière 20% inférieure à l'originale. Si l'exploitation forestière engendre des bénéfices variant entre 147 et 239 US$$/ha/an, la déforestation produit des bénéfices légèrement supérieurs (295 US$$/ha/an). Un schéma de compensation financière de changement d'un système émetteur de carbone (déforestation) pour un autre (exploitation forestière) représenterait un coût d'abattement de la tonne du carbone supérieur à US$$ 10

Publicidade paga ou parte do roteiro: o Product Placement em Mad Men

Este artigo versa sobre o product placement em Mad Men, série que retrata a atividade publicitária da época na década de 60. Durante os episódios, várias marcas, como Cadillac, Hilton Hotéis, Kodak, Lucky Strike, Honda, Heineken, entre outras, são apresentadas e tem importância fundamental no decorrer da narrativa. Com este estudo buscamos analisar o Product Placement como ferramenta de divulgação e posicionamento mercadológico, além de refletir sobre seu impacto no roteiro da série