Assessment pine plantations ecuador

CIPSEM - Centre for International Postgraduate Studies in Environmental Management

33rd INTERNATIONAL POSTGRADUATE COURSE ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR DEVELOPING AND EMERGING COUNTRIES

FINAL PAPER

TITLE:

ASSESSMENT OF PINE FOREST PLANTATIONS IMPACTS BASED ON THREE PRINCIPLES OF FOREST STEWARTSHIP COUNCIL (FSC) MR. JULIO RENATO MORA CASTILLO ECUADOR

AUTHOR: COUNTRY:SUPERVISOR: PROF. PRETZSCH DATE: JUNE 2010

ABSTRACT
PROFAFOR Pine Forest Plantation Management has been certified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FSC certification evaluates forest management using a set of 10 principles and associated criteria, which determine the status of ecological, economic, and social conditions of forests. Though the certificate is binding to PROFAFOR and small holders, yetthe accomplishment of these principles is still partial. The responsibilities stated in the legal agreement and intensity of management plan implementation lies more on the side of the smallholders and the agreement was based on other conditions explicitly degraded lands. Therefore, the objective of this research was to carry out an assessment to underpin the root causes of management planimplementation based on three FSC principles, namely Community Relations, Environmental Impact and High conservation Value Forests. In order to achieve this objective, within a precautionary approach favoring both parties, the research was conducted by analyzing publically available information, such as the legal agreement document, Global Facility Audit report (GFA), FSC Surveillance, FSCre-certification public summary, personal communication and literature review. Field visits were made to compare certified with non-certified plantations established on the Sub Paramo ecosystem, which had the same characteristics and similar management conditions upon date afforestation took place. The analysis reveals several inadequacies particularly in areas relating to the PROFAFOR project andcertification process of the selected principles. From the findings it can be concluded that there is no difference between the management of the certified and noncertified pine forest plantation, sustainability of plantations is shaded by legal agreements, pine forest plantations affect the non-forest ecosystems and smallholders are aware of High Conservation Value Areas. The results identify some unresolvedissues and suggest measures for improving the effectiveness and hence making certification an effective tool to help in Sustainable Forest Management. Keywords: Forest management, Intensity, Sustainable Forest Management, Precautionary approach, Sub Paramo ecosystem, Responsibilities, Legal agreements.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper has been reviewed by Dr. Jürgen Pretzsch, Head of theDepartment of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Forest, Geo and Hydro Sciences of the TU Dresden, and by Dr. Rolf Baur, Course Director of the UNEP/UNESCO/BMU International Postgraduate Training Programme on Environmental Management for Developing and Emerging Countries, also thanks to Lisa Behnke who has reviewed the paper. I have benefited substantially from all their comments. I would like toacknowledge CIPSEM staff for their invaluable contributions to make this study possible. In addition, I wish to thank Mr. Kayango Deodatus for his constructive comments, which have further benefited the arguments presented in this paper. The opinions expressed in this paper are my own, however, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Ecuador or of any of the reviewers. Finally I renderspecial gratitude to all CIPSEM professors for their constructive ideas, which have also greatly contributed to the improvement of this research paper.

Any phenomenon that is not measured and reported does not exist politically. Governments, societies, communities and individuals place more value on that which is documented. Paul. F. J. Eagles Professor IUCN, WCPA.

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