Sustainable plantation forestry in South-East Asia: reports on country visits to Sumatra, Indonesia and Sabah, Malaysia

[摘要] South-East Asia has more than seven million hectares of eucalypt and acacia plantations, mostly established during the last two decades and managed on short rotations (five to eight years). They are an important and expanding natural resource primarily for wood production, supporting value-adding local industries. They are managed mostly by corporate growers but, in some countries such as Vietnam, small plantations owned and managed by individual households comprise a significant proportion of theplantation area.Despite the importance of these plantations, there is no systematic analysis of their productivity and the challenges for sustainable wood production. Partly because of this, concerns about sustainability are periodically raised in local and international forums. The Australian Centre for International AgriculturalResearch (ACIAR) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) therefore supported Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to undertake a review of the prospects for sustainable wood production over multiple short rotations of acacia and eucalypt plantations in SE Asia. It is not an analysis of sustainability in the holistic sense, integrating economic, social and environmental values; it focuses on sustainable wood production, which is a foundation of sustainableforestry.This report presents the findings from country visits to Sumatra, Indonesia, and Sabah, Malaysia, where we visited plantation forests with managers and researchers and discussed management practices and challenges. Significant investments have been made in developing and deploying genetically selected and improved planting materials. This technology has helped to reduce losses from some diseases and pests. However, the extent to which use of improved genetic material increases estate-wide productivity is uncertain and seldom quantified. Breeding objectives should prioritise the development of varietiesresistant to serious pests and diseases, rather than raising expectations of unrealistic increases in growth rates. Establishing large areas of plantations using only one or two ‘superior’ clones, and transferring selected genetic materials across ecosystems and planting them operationally without rigorous local testing, have both led to serious plantation failures.As plantation forestry has expanded, threats from new diseases and pests have increased. A striking case is the threat to acacia plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia in recent years. In response to widespread damage by diseases causing root rot and stem canker/wilt, and damage by monkeys and squirrels in someareas, companies in Sumatra and Sabah are changing species from Acacia mangium to eucalypts. This is a timely response and mirrors a similar transition in Vietnam in the late 1990s when Eucalyptus camaldulensis, which suffered from leaf diseases, was replaced by acacia hybrid, which was more productive and disease resistant. The need for systematic vigilance and the importance of coherent national and international policies supporting research, quarantine and surveillance to preempt andmanage these risks cannot be over-emphasised.Well-developed plantation management is central to production in both the short and long term. The inter-rotation phase from harvest to replanting and stand establishment is a critical period of risks and opportunities which determines the success of short-rotation forestry. There is unambiguous evidence that strategies to conserve soil and site organic matter and minimise site disturbance are key to sustaining production.Companies in Indonesia have adopted practices that are helping to conserve site resources. In Sabah, Malaysia, some current management practices are likely to degrade sites and threaten sustainability of short-rotation tropical forestry.There is as yet very little quantitative understanding of how landscape factors, soils and management determine productivity. These issues...

[发布日期] 2014-01-01 [发布机构] CSIRO

[学科分类] 地球科学(综合)