Different Types of Reforestation

Abstract

Previous chapters have argued there are a number of potential advantages in ­reforesting degraded lands and that such reforestation has the potential to improve human well-being and help conserve biological diversity. But there are different ways of achieving this. In the recent past most large-scale industrial reforestation schemes have relied on even-aged plantations involving a single species. Many of these species were fast-growing exotics used for pulpwood and the rotation lengths used were often less than 10 years. Such plantations can produce large amounts of a homogenous timber product very efficiently and are ideally suited for industrial enterprises. However, they are as useful in situations where landholders have other objectives. For example, some growers might wish to produce higher value timbers that take longer to grow while others, including many smallholders, might wish to produce goods other than timber. Likewise, some government agencies and NGOs may be more interested in forms of reforestation that protect watersheds or provide habitats for threatened wildlife and have no intention of harvesting timber or NTFPs from their plantings. These quite contrasting objectives mean the standard industrial model should not be seen as the only way in which reforestation can be done. Rather, it is simply one of a variety of silvicultural options that might be used depending upon the land owner’s objectives.