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Overview
The
beauty and mystique of Brazil lies in the diversity
of its natural resources, its electric culture, and
eclectic population. The nation's immense area is subdivided
into different ecosystems, which together sustain some
of the world's greatest biodiversity. Home to the Amazon
basin, Brazil's northern region is renowned for having
both the world's largest tropical rainforest and river.
High temperatures and ample rainfall typify this equatorial
location- a hospitable habitat for myriad species. Amazonia
gradually gives way to the Cerrado, a more open area
of savanna-like vegetation with a semi-arid climate.
In the Southwest, the Pantanal offers a conflux of marshlands,
mangrove swamps, and sand dunes-the winter home for
many North American birds. The Atlantic Coastal Forestal,
a ribbon of forest in the South, and the desert of Caatinga,
in the northeast, make up the other two major Brazilian
ecosystems.
Threats
to the Forest
Environmentalists, scientists, politicians, businessmen,
and local populations understand the value of Brazil's
natural resources, often with competing interests. Indigenous
peoples and a great number of species subsist on the
forests, which are threatened by expanding urbanization,
agriculture, and pollution. Agriculture, fire and logging
conversions have been primarily responsible for rapid
deforestation. Consequently, Brazil's environmental
problems have alarmed global audiences. Continued deforestation
of one of the world's largest carbon sinks can have
grave consequences: higher emission of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere, extinction of numerous flora and
fauna, and destruction of ecologically important areas,
such as the Pantanal.
Why
Does the US Forest Service Work in Brazil?
Since 1991, Brazil has worked with the United States,
which has provided technical assistance on forestry
related concerns. Funded by the US
Agency for International Development, the US Forest Service has managed an extensive portfolio
of natural resource activities, in partnership with
several organizations: the Brazilian
Institute for the Environment, the Brazilian
Space Agency, the University
of Brasilia, and the Fundaçao
Floresta Tropical. The US Forest Service lends
scientific and technical expertise to Brazil on several
key issues, including fire and environmental change,
sustainable forest management, habitat management, and
forest health.
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Sustainable Forestry Practices
We
have had long history of technical assistance in sustainable
natural forest management in Brazil. In the Amazon,
the Forest Service links research, training and technical
assistance to sustainable forestry practices. By partnering
up with the Brazilian
Ministry of the Environment, the Institute
for the Environment (IBAMA) and a variety of Brazilian
non-governmental organizations and the newly created
Centro de Apoio Florestal (CENAFLOR), the USFS delivers
technical assistance with a particular focus on Brazil's
National Forest Program.
Working
with partners at the national level, the Forest Service
facilitates discussions and technical assistance on
important policy issues such as forest concessions,
monitoring and control schemes, and the administration
and management of national forests. In order to support
policy issues, we are also playing a role by improving
science information and knowledge on the effects of
timber harvesting through the INPE/NASA Large-Scale
Biosphere Atmosphere Project. The Forest Service has
played an important role in facilitating the training
and demonstration efforts of the Fundação
Florestal Tropical, which has made significant strides
in promoting sustainable forest management practices
throughout the Amazon.
Current
collaboration on forestry issues include:
A)
Tapajos National Forest
The
US Forest Service, the
Brazilian Institute for the Environment, and the
World
Bank's G-7 Pilot Program work in the Tapajos National
Forest (located near Santarem in the State of Para)
to research and implement sustainable forestry practices.
Work in the Tapajos National Forest currently focuses
on effects of harvesting and means to reduce its impact.
Past activities include recreation and ecotourism development,
non-timber forest production, environmental education,
and strategies to inform and involve community members
in forest management. Project activities have expanded
and strengthened, as a result of additional funding
from the World
Bank, the National
Science Foundation, and NASA.
The research and management practices implemented in
Tapajos National Forest have been incorporated into
other research and forest management plans in the Amazon.
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B)
Effects of Harvesting on the Tapajos National Forest
and Other Areas:
Brazil
is initiating an ambitious national forest plan to encourage
both natural and plantation forest management. One of
the questions regarding natural forest management in
the Amazon region is whether forest productivity without
post-harvest silvicultural interventions is sufficient
to support repeated timber harvests on 30 year cycles.
Today we are working in partnership with Brazilian institutions
to develop understanding and knowledge to answer this
question. The following research activities are currently
taking place in the Tapajos National Forest.
Harvesting
Systems and Silviculture
This
collaborative research project will describe and evaluate
the efficiency and cost (including environmental costs)
of harvesting systems and compare the relative efficiency
and costs of reduced-impact versus conventional logging.
Choosing and implementing a harvesting system is an
important component of forest management for timber
based commodities. Consequently, pre- and post-harvest
measurements are ongoing at the Tapajos National Forest,
while regular sampling of litter fall, fine roots, and
soil solution chemistry are underway on both sand and
clay soils. Graduate students are also conducting day-to-day
samplings and lab work, including comparing greenhouse
gases, nitrous oxide and methane fluxes from logged
versus intact forest.
With
the help of the Fundação
Florestal Tropical, researchers have treated reduced
impact demonstration areas, an activity that includes
liberation thinning. Constant monitoring of permanent
plots is planned for the following five years, while
monitoring of tree growth in commercial and pre-commercial
size classes will take place annually for commercial
and potentially commercial species.
Effects
of Harvesting on Biophysics and Biogeochemistry in Forests
Harvesting large number of trees- and subsequent damages-
causes large changes in the forest's microclimate. The
US Forest Service, the Brazilian
Ministry for the Environment, and NASA-funded
researchers measure these changes before and after to
quantify: a) the effects of timber harvest on microclimate
and b) the atmospheric exchange of energy, water vapor,
and carbon.
Although timber harvest may cause damage, it can also
remove a large amount of forest biomass that could result
in the deterioration of remaining stands. Also, it can
change the cycling of carbon and nutrient elements.
The US Forest Service and its partners are measuring the
disruption and recovery of nutrient cycles. Along with
studies of carbon and nutrients, the study of trace
gas exchange, which establishes the links between the
forest ecosystem and the chemical composition of the
atmosphere, is taking place.
In cooperation with the Brazilian - Large-scale Atmosphere
Biosphera (LBA) Project (NASA sponsored), researchers
have established permanent plots for studying biophysics
and biogeochemistry. In 1999, plots and equipment were
installed, and towers to access forest canopy were constructed.
US Forest Service investigators have conducted measurements
of productivity (above and below ground) as well as
nutrient cycles in undisturbed forest and on sand and
clay soils. Initial trace gas measurements indicate
that logged forest produces significantly more greenhouse
gases than undisturbed forests.
Researchers
continue to monitor nutrient and trace gas effects of
harvesting. A second survey was completed on sandy-clay
soil. Preliminary indications are that timber harvesting
increases nitrous oxide and methane emissions measurably.
However, when these emissions are extrapolated to a
wider area, the effects of harvesting on trace gases
(expressed as a Global Warming Potential) are far smaller
than the effects from the carbon loss.
Wildlife
and Biodiversity
Timber
harvest also affects wildlife and biodiversity. For
example, birds and bats play important roles as predators,
pollinators, and seed dispersers. Studies of under story
bird and bat populations inform researchers of the influence
of forest disturbance on the abundance and function
of forest fauna. As part of the research, mist nets
survey birds and buts in control sites that have had
little impact from logging. The survey indicates that
317 bird and 45 bat species inhabit those sites. Although
both avian and bat diversity is very high, most species
are rare. This poses a challenge for managers concerned
with conserving biodiversity in timber producing forests
in the Amazon.
Preliminary
studies show that low impact logging has few effects
on bird populations. In fact, avian frugivores and small
avian omnivores have actually increased in the reduced
impact loggings sites, relative to those in the control
group. However, most of the bird populations in other
diet groups have remained unchanged. Personnel from
Museu Goeldi have conducted sampling four times per
year, and the US Forest Service has completed gathering
samplings from the forest and are currently reviewing
data.
| Related
Publications: |
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For
study results on the bird populations in the Tapajos
National Forest please refer to:
|
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C)
Fundaçao Floresta Tropical and Reduced-Impact
Harvesting
As the Brazilian government expands it's national
forest system and there is a increased use of timber
from public lands, more forest practitioners are needed.
Today there is a shortage of forest practitioners from
woodmen to forest managers. Coupled with a growing acceptance
of the need for improved management by the forest industry,
new forest policies and guidelines along with shifting
market pressures have created a shortage of qualified
forestry practitioners.
In
collaboration with the US Forest Service, the Tropical
Forest Foundation and its Brazilian subsidiary,
the Fundação Floresta Tropical, teach forest technicians,
managers and supervisors how to apply forest management
principles and reduced-impact logging methods in the
Brazilian Amazon. In the past few years, workshops for
multiple-use management training and technical education
were coordinated to support efforts in the Tapajos National
Forest and the private fazenda, Cauaxi. In addition,
practical training courses in inventory, data processing,
map making, planning, and low-impact harvesting techniques
are offered to workers from local communities and private
timber companies.
The
Fundação continues to provide a variety of training
to forest managers. The courses are two weeks in length
and target a variety of audiences from foresters to
decision makers to sawyers. The trainers also provide
extension and technical assistance to communities and
large companies adopting reduced-impact logging practices.
Today the focus is on establishing a permanent training
center in the Amazon.
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D)
Cost-Benefit Analysis
A study by the US Forest Service and Tropical
Forest Foundation examined costs and benefits of
reduced-impact harvesting, versus conventional logging
practices, in the Brazilian Amazon. Funded by the US
Agency for International Development, the analysis
includes a literature review of case studies in Latin
America and development of a financial cost-benefit
model for sites in Brazil. The Foundation hopes to develop
a powerful spreadsheet to aid landowners and forest
managers by predicting the financial costs and returns
of using reduced-impact methods under a variety of conditions.
The
analysis demonstrates that while conventional logging
operations extract more volume of wood, the alternative
plots were more efficient in volume harvested per tree-
due to careful felling, bucking, and skidding operations.
Reduced-impact logging stands will regenerate faster
due to reduction in ground area disturbance. Total costs
were also lower per volume and per hectare (but not
per tree) because the gain in efficiency from skidding
and log deck operations more than offset the increase
in cost due to planning.
Reduced-impact
logging is more effective than conventional operations,
and if the latter were constrained to harvest the same
number of trees, the former would also generate larger
net revenues per hectare. The results suggest that future
economic and ecological benefits provided by residual
forest stands will be greater where reduced-impact logging
techniques are used.
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E)
Big-leaf Mahogany in Southeast Para: Its Life History
and Management
Cooperative research with the US Forest Service, the International
Institute for Tropical Forestry, the Institute
for Man and the Environment in the Amazon and the
US Agency
for International Development is generating new
information on the life history of mahogany. How fast
mahogany grows, how it reproduces, and how and where
it regenerates provide important information for policy
makers, a wide range of forest managers, trained foresters
in the logging industry, smallholder agriculturalists
and rubber-tappers, who encourage mahogany replacements
after extraction.
The Mahogany Project in Brazil now has research and
management objectives in two geographical regions within
Amazonia: southeast Pará, where studies of mahogany's
growth and regeneration ecology have been on-going since
1995, and the western Amazonian state of Acre, where
both basic and applied research were initiated in October
2001. In Acre, management recommendations derived from
field research in Pará for mahogany's sustained-yield
production from natural forests are being tested as
part of a pilot management project implemented within
a private land-holding of approximately 8000 hectares
located near Sena Madureira.
Field
activities since April 2002 at three southeast Pará
sites focused on recensusing diameter increment and
fruit production by nearly 500 adult and sub-adult trees
monitored annually since 1996. As well, natural and
artificial regeneration at the study's principal research
site, Marajoara, was recensused for survivorship.
At
the Acre site, inventory and preparation for the 2002
logging season continued until the Fundação
Floresta Tropical (FFT) field personnel arrived from
Belém and Cauaxi to train an Acrean field crew
in reduced-impact logging techniques appropriate to
highly dissected local terrain. In 2002, only 100 ha.
were logged, but this year 450 ha. are expected to be
harvested.
Through
its affiliation with the Instituto do Homem
e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia (IMAZON), the
Mahogany Project is making a direct contribution to
forest policy in the Brazilian Amazon through various
public fora and publications. IMAZON researchers were
invited by the Regional Commission on Environmental
Legislation, an advisory board convened by the Ministry
of the Environment, to sit on a Technical Working Group
drafting legislation that will govern the sustainable
management of mahogany in primary forests. Also, the
Imazon publication "Mogno na Amazônia
Brasileira: Ecologia e Perspectivas de Manejo"
or "Mahogany in the Brazlian Amazon: Ecology
and Perspectives on Management," by Grogan,
Barreto & Veríssimo, was translated into
English, and both are available in electronic and booklet
forms.
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Fire Management
Fire
is one of the most dangerous threat to the Amazon and
Cerrado ecosystems. It increases carbon dioxide emissions
into the atmosphere and destroys large tracts of habitat.
Working with our partners, the US Forest Service provides technical assistance and
training in fire prevention and suppression. Specifically,
the Agency collaborates with the Brazilian
Institute of the Environment to strengthen the country's
fire strategies and policies.
In
1990, when this collaboration began, very little information
was available on fire behavior, intensity, spread, emissions,
and impact on the ecosystem. Today, the collaboration
has enhanced researcher and practitioners' ability to
estimate the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions from
fire in Brazil, to regulate the use of fire in agriculture
and other land use practices, to manage fire, and to
support strategies for conservation and sustainable
development of tropical ecosystems. In addition, progress
has been made in estimating biomass consumption and
emissions factors, flammability thresholds, and fire
spread and intensity. Additional emphasis on applied
research is still necessary to consolidate the results
and produce a comprehensive fire assessment for Brazil
that could serve as a model for the rest of the world.
To
learn more about our collaborative work on fire science
and management please read our synthesis of 14 years
of work in Brazil.
For
a historical perspective and the results of the collaborative
program please refer to the following report both in
Portuguese and English.
-
English
report
- Portuguese
report
Current
fire management activities in Brazil include:
A) Photo Series
In order to address wildfire issues, the US Forest Service has been working with several partners
in Brazil for the past nine years on the Fire and
Environmental Change in Tropical Ecosystems program.
Specifically, the US-Brazil team has focused on developing
a component of this large-scale research-the Stereo
Photo Series for Quantifying Cerrado Fuels in Central
Brazil. A tool for assessing biomass loading and
flammability in the Cerrado, or the Brazilian Savannah,
the photo series can also be used as a quick and cheap
way to evaluate different fuel and vegetation conditions.
The first volume is available in Portuguese and English.
| If
you are interested in ordering the Stereo Photo
Series for Quantifying Cerrado Fuels in Central
Brazil, please contact either Dr. Heloisa Miranda
at the University of Brasilia (hmiranda@unb.br)
or Roger Ottmar at the US Forest Service (rottmar@fs.fed.us).
Currently, a project is underway to photograph and
collect data for a second Cerrado photo series volume
to represent other Cerrado type vegetation. |
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Forest Health/Invasive Species
The
rate of afforestation of exotic pines in Brazil has
dramatically increased in the last two decades. Presently,
these pine plantations- Pinus taeda and Pinus
elliottii- cover over two million hectares, which
has been relatively pest-free. However, in 1998, the
Sirex Wood Wasp was discovered in southern Brazil. This
exotic pest- native to Europe, Asia and Northern Africa-
has wreaked widespread havoc in New Zealand and Australia,
while infested plantations in Brazil have suffered a
60% rate of tree mortality. Since the United States
imports large amounts of wood from Brazil, this pest
poses a devastating threat to our domestic forests.
Current
forest health activities in Brazil include:
Biological Control of Sirex Noctilio in Brazil
The US Forest Service and Brazilian
Agriculture Research Agency (EMBRAPA) are collaborating
to develop an Integrated Pest Management Program for
the exotic woodwasp, Sirex noctilio. This non-native
invasive insect is causing significant damage to the
exotic pine plantations in Brazil as well as other countries
in South America. The insect also poses a serious threat
to native pine forests in the United States.
Several activities are taking place to reduce the pine
losses to the woodwasp. Currently the US Forest Service
provides expertise in remote sensing, aerial survey,
and biological control. The results of the cooperation
and technical assistance will benefit both the US and
Brazil. These results include a host map that identifies
all slash and loblolly pine plantations susceptible
to attack; a database that tracks the distribution and
level of damage due to the Sirex; an operational aerial
detection programs for the detection, quantification
and monitoring of tree mortality; and a technology transfer
program in biocontrol methods and pest detection.
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Migratory Species/Habitat Management
In
2003, the People, Wings and Forests Program sponsored
14 bird conservation projects in the Americas, including:
- Pantanal
- Brazil
- Nariva
Wetland - Trinidad - Tobago
- RESERVA
- Latin America
- Western
Boreal Forest - Canada
- Copper
River International Migratory Bird Initiative
- Sinaloa
Coastal Wetlands - Mexico
- Mexican
Shorebird Plan - Mexico
- Kirtland's
Warbler - Bahamas
- Shortgrass
Prairie Birds - Mexico
- Bicknell's
Thrush - Dominican Republic
- Caribbean/Central
America Fire Management
- Cerulean
Warbler - Andes
- Bird-friendly
Coffee - Colombia
- Mexico
Fire management Plan - Mexico
Various
organizations work together on these projects, designed
for direct enhancement of bird conservation. The US Forest Service International Programs' work inthe Americas
strengthens ecosystem management ensuring the survival
of migratory birds. The US Forest Service's scientific
and management expertise helps improve ecosystem integrity
and biological diversity as well as identify critical
habitats for migratory birds and waterfowl throughout
the Americas.
In
the Pantanal--the world's largest freshwater ecosystem
located in the Upper Paraguay River basin that spans
across parts of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia--the Agency
works with Ducks
Unlimited and The Nature
Conservancy on two separate but linked conservation
management projects. First, Ducks Unlimited and the
US Forest Service recently completed a pilot project-
a conservation assessment- that encompassed the southwestern
most part of the Pantanal ecosystem, a transect that
spans all three countries. The effort integrated the
work of many local partners to standardize geographically-based
data. By analyzing satellite images and existing data,
researchers stratified the information and generated
a shared database, which the public and private sector
institutions can now use to detect ecological changes
and complete impact assessments for use in conservation
planning. The GIS database and the report on the pilot
project, "Upper Paraguay River Basin GIS Database
Project", has been released by Ducks Unlimited,
and is available to the public at www.ducks.org/conservation/latinamerica.asp.
The Forest Service and Ducks Unlimited are now looking
at ways to expand the project into the entire watershed.
Second,
the US Forest Service is lending its expertise to
the The Nature Conservancy- and its eco-regional planning
effort- in order to develop monitoring systems for evaluating:
a) critical biodiversity conservation areas within the
Pantanal and b) threats to those areas.
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Partners
Click
here for other partners and collaborators of the
US Forest Service
International Programs.
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Related Publications
| Related
Publications: |
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Produccion
para America Tropical (Forest Production
for Tropical America), by Frank Wadsworth, is
now available online. To obtain a copy of the
book, please contact:
Ms.
Gisel Reyes
IITF Library
PO Box 25000
Tel: 1-787--766-5335
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