Plinio Sist

Publications of Plinio Sist

• Improved tropical forest management for carbon retention.

  Authors: Francis E Putz, Pieter A Zuidema, Michelle A Pinard, Rene G. A Boot, Jeffrey A Sayer, Douglas Sheil, Plinio Sist, Jerome K Vanclay

  PLoS biology. 07/2008; 6(7):e166.

• Reduced-impact logging in Indonesian Borneo: some results confirming the need for new silvicultural prescriptions

  Authors: Plinio Sist, Douglas Sheil, Kuswata Kartawinata, Hari Priyadi

  Forest Ecology and Management.

  Reduced-impact logging (RIL) and conventional techniques (CNV) were compared in a mixed dipterocarp hill forest in East Kalimantan in three blocks of about 100 ha each. Damage was evaluated usingReduced-impact logging (RIL) and conventional techniques (CNV) were compared in a mixed dipterocarp hill forest in East Kalimantan in three blocks of about 100 ha each. Damage was evaluated using pre- and post-harvesting assessments in 24 one-hectare sample plots. RIL techniques nearly halved the number of trees destroyed (36 vs 60 trees/ha). RIL’s main benefit was in the reduction of skidding damage (9.5% of the original tree population in RIL vs 25% in CNV). Before logging, mean canopy openness in CNV (three plots only) and RIL (9 plots) was similar (3.6 and 3.1%) and not significantly different (χ2=2.73, P=0.254). After logging, the mean canopy openness was 19.2% in CNV (n=9 plots) and 13.3% in RIL (n=8 plots), and the distributions of the canopy class in RIL and CNV significantly different (χ2=43.56, P<0.001). CNV plots showed a higher proportion of measurements in the most open class ≥30% than in RIL. At a larger scale, the area of skidtrail per unit timber volume extracted was halved in the RIL compartment (15 m2 vs 27 m2 m−3 for CNV). However, under high felling intensity (>8 trees/ha), both stand damage and canopy disturbance in RIL approached those recorded in CNV under low or moderate felling regime. Over this felling intensity threshold the effectiveness of RIL in reducing tree damage is limited. In mixed dipterocarp forest where harvestable timber density generally exceeds 10 trees/ha, a minimum diameter felling limit is clearly insufficient to keep extraction rates below 8 trees/ha. Based on these new results and previous studies in Borneo, we suggest three silvicultural rules: (1) to keep a minimum distance between stumps of ca. 40 m, (2) to ensure only single tree gaps using directional felling, (3) to harvest only stems with 60–100 cm dbh. Foresters, policy makers and certifiers should consider these as criteria for sustainable forest management. We emphasise the need to expand harvesting studies to look at impacts and trade-offs across larger forest landscapes, to expand RIL beyond silvicultural concepts and to include the maintenance of other forest goods and services.

• Improved tropical forest management for carbon retention

  Authors: Francis E Putz, Pieter A Zuidema, Michelle A Pinard, Rene GA Boot, Jeffrey A Sayer, Douglas Sheil, Plinio Sist, Elias, Jerome K Vanclay

  Jerome K Vanclay.

  Negotiations leading up to an international climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 have included consideration of reduced emissions due to deforestation and degradationNegotiations leading up to an international climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 have included consideration of reduced emissions due to deforestation and degradation (REDD). This option has figured prominently in the "road map" toward such an agreement that was agreed upon during the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Bali in December 2007 (http://www.unfccc.int/). Most ongoing discussions of REDD focus on tropical deforestation, while the potential carbon saving from reduced forest degradation is mostly disregarded [1,2]. Given that carbon losses due to degradation could be of the same magnitude as those from deforestation, this disregard is worrisome [3,4]. We show here that substantial reductions of global CO2 emissions can be achieved by improving forest management in the tropics, and argue that this cost-effective approach to mitigation should be included in the new climate change agreement....