Financial Indicators of Reduced Impact Logging Performance in Brazil: Case Study Comparisons
Abstract
Indicators of financial performance are compared for three case studies in the Brazilian Amazon. Each case study presents parameters obtained from monitoring initial harvest entries into primary forests for reduced impact logging (RIL) and conventional logging (CL) operations. Differences in cost definitions and data collection protocols complicate the analysis, and suggest that caution is necessary in interpreting results. Given this caveat, it appears that RIL can be competitive with or superior to CL in financial returns to initial harvest entries if the financial costs of wood wasted in the harvesting operation are fully accounted for. Standardization of study methods, and replication of studies across different forest types, levels of industrial scale and markets, would allow more rigorous tests to be made of RIL relative profitability. Adoption of RIL techniques as part of a longterm forest management system faces additional challenges related to the opportunity cost of timber set aside to maintain productivity and ecosystem integrity, as well as issues regarding land tenure security.