From the Taipei Times, By Chiu Yu-Tzu
Forest management should take sustainability into account, in line with a trend in many other countries to value biodiversity conservation and native species restoration, forest researchers involved in government-sponsored projects said yesterday.
For decades, the goal of much planting has been to produce large diameter trees with a high timber value. At a workshop on Managing Forest Plantations for Biodiversity Conservation held yesterday at the Nantou-based Lienhuachih Research Center, a branch of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture, ecological researchers agreed that in the 21st century, when sustainable development is increasingly a focus across the globe, Taiwan's priorities have to be changed.
King Hen-biau (金恆鑣), director of the institute, said the priority should be to manage existing plantations by adopting adaptive management approaches that take into account the impact of climate change and the threat of a loss of biodiversity.
"Forestry in most countries has faced a dilemma of preserving ecosystems or promoting economic productivity," King said. "However, at present, if it doesn't take flourishing environmental and ecological awareness into account, forestry might fail to meet ecological, social and political expectations."
In Taiwan, 420,000 hectares of plantation account for about 14 percent of the nation's total forest cover. As of the end of 1980, about 80 percent of plantations consisted of introduced species. Afterward, it was gradually replaced by native species. Currently, about 70 percent of plantation consists of native species. However, the plantation averages less than 45 years old and is considered too young and uneconomical for timber harvesting.
King stressed that because of Taiwan's entry into the WTO and the Kyoto Protocol's taking effect in February, the nation's heavily relying on importing wood products and timber would soon face international pressure to apply a carbon tax. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming aims to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide.
To offer better strategies for managing existing plantations, the institute promotes the collaboration of experts in diverse fields, including life sciences, agricultural chemistry, forestry and ecology, to study existing plantations of Chinese fir near the Lienhuachih Research Center.
Yesterday, ecologists searched for plots that include typical characteristics of ecosystems of the plantation of Chinese fir. Ideally speaking, each plot covers a one-hectare area.
Those trees were grown about fifty years ago for the sake of economic productivity. Normally, reforestation follows immediately after harvesting.
Harvesting natural forests has been banned since 1991 by forest policy and management regulations. Hence, few reforestation programs were conducted after 1991.
Scientists said that nutrients in soils, fungi, invertebrates and the restoration of native species needs to be further studied at such plots. A real-time camera recording animal activities and weather monitoring stations collecting data on radiation, temperature, humidity and other factors will have to be established soon.
