Towards Sustainable Forest Management of Tropical Forest in West- and Central Africa

The tropical forests of West and central Africa are valuable renewable resources. In a guest contribution, Prof. Dr. Franz Schmithüsen describes the way to the long term sustainable forest cultivation of these tropical forests.

By Prof. Dr. Franz Schmithüsen, Departement Forstwissenschaften, ETH Zürich

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Principle of sustainable forest management

The principle of sustainable forest management implies to protect large-scale forest ecosystems and to use them in such a manner that they can fulfill important social, economic and cultural needs of people on a permanent basis. This refers to the preservation of bio-diversity of fauna and flora, to the conservation and increase of productivity of forest stands, and to regeneration and maintaining the vitality of forests.

Wood utilization as economic factor

The tropical forests in West- and Central Africa are valuable renewable resources which contribute substantially to economic growth and to the development of a modern industrial sector. Wood utilization is the basis for the creation of jobs, for providing income to the population, and for generating considerable export earnings. It has to be determined which forest areas are available on a long-term basis for economic and profitable forestry practices. It also requires decisions with regard to those areas which due to their uniqueness, have to be preserved as protected areas and national parks.

Sustainable forest management as economic incentive

Development of a sustainable forest and wood economy is an economic and social incentive for the population to maintain the forest cover. The selective logging regime allows us to develop sustainable forest management in a manner which corresponds to the ecological and economic conditions of production forest in West- and Central Africa. A decisive factor is that government regulations as well as economic measures of private companies of the forest and wood industry are based on properly defined, realistic and implementable forest management plans. On the side of the industry, the knowledge has gained ground that such plans are a pre-condition for sustainable use of renewable natural resources. They are also an important prerequisite for an increase of economic efficiency in wood utilization.