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Balancing Conservation and Economic Sustainability: The Future of the Amazon Timber Industry

Environmental Management volume 44, pages 395–407 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Logging has been a much maligned feature of frontier development in the Amazon. Most discussions ignore the fact that logging can be part of a renewable, environmentally benign, and broadly equitable economic activity in these remote places. We estimate there to be some 4.5 ± 1.35 billion m3 of commercial timber volume in the Brazilian Amazon today, of which 1.2 billion m3 is currently profitable to harvest, with a total potential stumpage value of $15.4 billion. A successful forest sector in the Brazilian Amazon will integrate timber harvesting on private lands and on unprotected and unsettled government lands with timber concessions on public lands. If a legal, productive, timber industry can be established outside of protected areas, it will deliver environmental benefits in synergy with those provided by the region’s network of protected areas, the latter of which we estimate to have an opportunity cost from lost timber revenues of $2.3 billion over 30 years. Indeed, on all land accessible to harvesting, the timber industry could produce an average of more than 16 million m3 per year over a 30-year harvest cycle—entirely outside of current protected areas—providing $4.8 billion in returns to landowners and generating $1.8 billion in sawnwood sales tax revenue. This level of harvest could be profitably complemented with an additional 10% from logging concessions on National Forests. This advance, however, should be realized only through widespread adoption of reduced impact logging techniques.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been generously supported by (in alphabetical order) the Blue Moon Foundation; the Brazilian Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment (through a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil; the David and Lucille Packard Foundation; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; the National Science Foundation; the U.S. Agency for International Development; and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. We wish to thank Peter Schlesinger for his participation and work early in the development of this model and Maria Bowman for excellent editing and research support. Opinions and errors are the authors’ alone.

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Affiliations

  1. The Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA, 02540-1644, USA

    Frank Merry & Daniel Nepstad

  2. Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), Belém, Brazil

    Frank Merry & Daniel Nepstad

  3. Centro de Sensoriamento Remoto, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Britaldo Soares-Filho & Hermann Rodrigues

  4. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Gregory Amacher

Authors
  1. Frank Merry
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  2. Britaldo Soares-Filho
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  3. Daniel Nepstad
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  4. Gregory Amacher
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  5. Hermann Rodrigues
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Frank Merry or Britaldo Soares-Filho.

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Merry, F., Soares-Filho, B., Nepstad, D. et al. Balancing Conservation and Economic Sustainability: The Future of the Amazon Timber Industry. Environmental Management 44, 395–407 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9337-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9337-1

Keywords

  • Brazilian Amazon
  • Timber industry
  • Economic model
  • Forest policy
  • Logging