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6 Indicators for Biodiversity of Tropical Forests: Problems and Solutions

K

EITH

R

ENNOLLS

*

¹ AND

K

EITH

M. R

EYNOLDS²

1School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich, Park Row, London, UK;²USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

Abstract

Climate change has been with us for several decades. Some tropical forest tree species will be unable to disperse and will become extinct. Hence biodiversity loss is inevitable and strict sustainable forest management (SFM) is not possible in tropical forests. Some of the main international definitions of SFM consider joint optimization of a mix of competing criteria and indicators (C & I), and hence can only lead to compromise solutions in which further loss of biodiversity resources is inevitable. The complexity and diversity of tropical forest tree species means that any assessment of the state of a tropical forest is very uncertain, and almost impossible to achieve through routine cost-limited inventories. The adequacy of some current international C & I monitoring approaches are evaluated specifically in rela- tion to the diversity of tropical forest tree species, and they are found to be inadequate for this purpose. The main weaknesses lie in the partial adoption of an inappropriate indicator methodology and insufficient consideration of uncertainty issues. It is suggested that the ecosystem approach of the Convention on Biological Diversity enacted within a modern modelling, statistical and scientific framework would enable understanding of the basic change process, and possibly aid in limiting losses of tropical biodiversity at a global scale.

Introduction

The main theme of this book is sustainable (multifunctional) forest management (SFM). The book brings together contributions from experts in four main disci- plinary areas relating to this theme. The first of these disciplinary areas, Science and Policy, may be regarded as overarching because within this domain the most fundamental issues are issues of philosophy and politics at the national, international and global levels, and the general economic issue of how best to make use of the planet’s limited resources. Many of the main concepts and policies relating to SFM have been formulated at the policy and political level,

CAB International 2007.Sustainable Forestry: from Monitoring and Modelling to

Knowledge Management and Policy Science(eds K.M. Reynolds, A.J. Thomson, 103 M. Köhl, M.A. Shannon, D. Ray and K. Rennolls)

*Corresponding author.

with suitable support from scientific and technological disciplines. However, in this process of policy formation for SFM, there needs to be greater linkage between the scientific and technological expertise on the one hand, and policy analysis and discussion on the other.

The other main disciplinary themes of this book may be regarded as part of the supporting scientific and technological disciplines in the SFM area. They are:

● Inventory and Monitoring – concerned with the technology and process of data collection.

● Statistics and Modelling – concerned with methodologies of data collection and data analysis, so that meaningful inferences and knowledge may be extracted from collected data.

● Information and Knowledge Management – concerned with managing infor- mation and knowledge in support of management, decision makers and policymakers.

In this chapter, we cross disciplinary boundaries to provide a critical review and analysis of the general concepts, policies and approaches of SFM, and do so with explicit reference to scientific and technological methodologies and techniques from the above-mentioned supporting disciplines. Inventories designed around criteria and indicators (C & I) have become the main operational means by which progress of the SFM process is monitored, and constitute a primary SFM methodology. It is important therefore to examine these programmes in terms of their efficacy. However, this task is too broad in scope to adequately address in a single chapter. Therefore, we shall focus our considerations on one particularly important issue that lies at the heart of the global SFM endeavour: SFM in tropical forests and the specific issue of conservation of tree species diversity.

This specific theme has been chosen as indicative of the status, progress and problems of the larger SFM endeavour.

Some of the basic concepts of SFM, such as biodiversity and sustainability, have been confused at important policy levels. We have developed new, tighter and more explicit and useful definitions in the Appendix. In our view, the multifunctional framework within which SFM is pursued, while possibly justifi- able from an economic or political perspective, causes considerable confusion of action and policy because of the differing scales to which each of the functionalities relate. Finally, we find that current C & I inventories are not a sat- isfactory means of pursuing SFM objectives, particularly with respect to the con- servation of tree species diversity in tropical forests. We have no simple or easy alternatives to offer: the simple and the easy have already been tried, and are seen to be failing. Rather, we suggest that the only realistic way forward will be rather complex and difficult: the adoption of a model-based ecosystem approach.