Relevance of secondary tropical forest for landscape restoration

• Published in: Forest ecology and management Vol. 493; p. 119265
• Main Authors: Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange, Souza Oliveira, Maïri, Roda, Jean-Marc, Boissière, Manuel, Hérault, Bruno, Guizol, Philippe, Villalobos, Roger, Sist, Plinio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: administrative management; Agricultural sciences; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; deforestation; Ecology, environment; economic valuation; Ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; Environmental studies; forest damage; forest management; Global Changes; Humanities and Social Sciences; humans; Increased timber demand; landscape restoration; Life Sciences; Natural regenerating tropical forests; Secondary dynamics; Silvicultural interventions; Silviculture, forestry; Sustainable wood production; tropical forests; tropical wood; Vulnerable forest ecosystems; Natural regenerating tropical forests; Silvicultural interventions; Sustainable wood production; Vulnerable forest ecosystems; Secondary dynamics; Increased timber demand; écosystème forestier; forêt tropicale; services écosystémiques; Costa Rica; production du bois; restauration du paysage forestier; El Salvador; forêt secondaire; sylviculture; aménagement forestier; production forestière; Guatemala; Honduras; gestion forestière durable
• ISSN: 0378-1127; 1872-7042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119265

•Tropical timber demand is increasing resulting in degradation and deforestation.•Secondary forests (SFs) may be alternative sources of wood production.•Wood production in tropical SFs involves major limitations.•Restoration for wood production may sustain SF dynamics and related environmental services.•Enhancing timber production in SFs should reduce pressure on the remaining tropical forests. Tropical Secondary Forests (SFs) are vulnerable forest systems growing in areas that have been subject to unsustainable human activities leading to deforestation. SFs account for swathes of tropical forest landscapes that have lost their capacity to provide a high level of goods and services. They are also located in highly dynamic and human-pressured landscapes and are vulnerable to natural and human-induced catastrophic events, such as hurricanes or fires. Without appropriate silvicultural management to increase their economic value and restore their ecological functions, they often become degraded and are sometimes cleared for more short-term economically productive activities. Given the increasing demand for tropical timber in recent decades that will continue in the near future, we suggest that active restoration geared towards wood production is an opportunity for SF conservation. Promoting sustainable wood production -i.e. associated with other environmental services- in these disturbed forest ecosystems is also a way to reduce logging pressure on the remaining intact primary tropical forests, indeed, this may be the most important reason to enhance active restoration aimed at wood production in tropical SFs worldwide. Future research in forest ecology and management should produce experimental evidence of enhanced production of wood and ecosystem services in SFs through appropriate silvicultural experimentations.