Merry Frank, Soares-Filho Britaldo, Nepstad Daniel, Amacher Gregory, Rodrigues Hermann
The Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA 02540-1644, USA.
Environ Manage. 2009 Sep;44(3):395-407. doi: 10.1007/s00267-009-9337-1. Epub 2009 Jul 28.
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 m(3) of commercial timber volume in the Brazilian Amazon today, of which 1.2 billion m(3) 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 m(3) 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.
伐木一直是亚马逊地区边境开发中备受诋毁的一个方面。大多数讨论都忽略了这样一个事实，即在这些偏远地区，伐木可以成为一种可再生、环境友好且广泛公平的经济活动的一部分。我们估计，如今巴西亚马逊地区约有45亿立方米（正负13.5亿立方米）的商业木材量，其中12亿立方米目前采伐有利可图，潜在立木总值达154亿美元。巴西亚马逊地区一个成功的林业部门将把私人土地、未受保护和未开垦的政府土地上的木材采伐与公共土地上的木材特许权结合起来。如果能在保护区之外建立一个合法、高效的木材产业，它将与该地区的保护区网络协同产生环境效益，我们估计后者在30年内因木材收入损失而产生的机会成本为23亿美元。事实上，在所有可采伐的土地上，木材产业在30年的采伐周期内平均每年可生产超过1600万立方米的木材——完全在当前保护区之外——为土地所有者带来48亿美元的回报，并产生18亿美元的锯木销售税收入。这一采伐水平可以通过国家森林伐木特许权额外增加10%来实现盈利补充。然而，只有广泛采用减少影响的伐木技术，才能实现这一进展。
