An Ecological, Socio-Economic and Silvicultural Assessment of the Sustainability of Reduced Impact Logging in Tropical Forests

Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) is thought to be the most suitable, but also most politically discussed, method to exploit tropical forest ecosystems for timber. In this review we give an assessment of RIL from biodiversity, silvicultural and socio-economic perspectives. We first place RIL as a potential tool for retaining forest diversity and structure whilst moving towards a forest transition. We then discuss whether RIL is an advancement of traditional tropical logging methods using the three perspectives. We find that RIL offers benefits over conventional logging for biodiversity at species and population levels. However marginal or specialised habitats and species were most affected, suggesting RIL implementation would create species shifts in tropical forests. We discuss whether RIL can provide realistic management outcomes alone or alongside other silvicultural practices. We find that RIL risks high-grading and, sustainable yields may only be possible using additional silvicultural treatments alongside RIL. Finally we consider the socio-economic effects of RIL, how differing guidelines and implementation effect outcomes and how RIL costs compare with conventional logging. We find RIL is incompatible with retention of intact forest at the landscape scale and for many community forests.

Keywords: timber extraction; conventional logging; best practice.