Economic Benefits
An Economic Case for Reduced Impact Logging
The Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF) has been involved in several cost-benefit analysis studies surrounding the effectiveness of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) in delivering economic benefits to tropical regions, timber organizations and trade communities. In 2000, in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, TFF demonstrated that the cost of RIL in tropical forests is 12 percent less than the Conventional Logging (CL) method and the land disturbed by RIL is nearly half that of land disturbed by CL.
The study, Financial Costs and Benefits of Reduced Impact Logging in the Eastern Amazon, which was completed by TFF under the direction of Dr. Thomas Holmes at the USDA Forest Service, compared cost efficiencies and economic returns of RIL with CL practices at TFF’s on-site projects in the Brazilian Amazon and marked the first of several in-depth studies completed by TFF’s partners.
Studies have shown:
Wood wasted in CL operations represents about 24 percent of the recovered harvest volume, compared to only 8 percent in RIL operations
For every 100 trees felled on a CL block (100 hectares), 38 trees (commercial or potentially commercial) were fatally damaged, compared to only 17 trees in a RIL block
Ground area disturbed per tree harvested was about 60 percent greater on the CL block relative to the RIL block
Tractor and log storage productivity increased dramatically for the typical RIL operation and led to a 37 percent reduction in cost relative to CL operations
Better recovery of potential marketable timber volume on the typical RIL site decreased direct cost associated with waste by 78 percent and decreased stumpage costs by 16 percent
The Brazil program’s success in demonstrating the economic benefits of RIL resulted in an expansion of TFF programs in Brazil over the past eight years. TFF is also working on sites in Guyana, Indonesia and across Southeast Asia, as well as TFF’s newest project in the Congo Basin. Thanks to the efficiencies of RIL, the yield of timber is higher, meaning the economic returns are greater.
Additional research about the economic benefits of Reduced Impact Logging
Advance Sustainable Forest Management
Reduced impact logging: does it cost or does it pay?
Wulf Killmann*, Gary Q. Bull, Olaf Schwab and Reino E Pulkki
Financial assessment of reduced impact logging techniques in Sabah, Malaysia
John Tay, John Healey and Colin Price
Financial indicators of reduced impact logging performance in Brazil: case study comparisons
Thomas P. Holmes, Frederick Boltz and Douglas R. Carter
