MANAGING PRODUCTION FORESTS FOR BIODIVERSITY 



Zacharie Nzooh Dongmo', Leonard Usongo', JeffSayer and Eduardo Mansur 



Introduction 



Tropical forests are of enormous importance for the conservation of the world's biodiversity. They contain more 

 species than other biomes and a high proportion of these species are threatened. However, only about 12% of 

 tropical forests are in protected areas and many of these are poorly managed (Lock and Dearden 2005). Nearly all 

 of the remaining 90% of forests are subject to some form of extractive use or are destined for conversion to non- 

 forest uses. A significant proportion of this 90% is, or is likely to be, subject to timber harvesting or to conversion 

 to tree plantations. These managed production forests offer huge potential for biodiversity conservation 

 (Meijaard et al. 2005). A recent lUCN Global Species Assessment states that ". . .for many species the habitat 

 degradation that accompanies selective resource exploitation, or that occurs in habitats next to cleared areas, can 

 have serious negative consequences". However, there is abundant evidence that logged forests can continue to 

 make important contributions to biodiversity conservation objectives. A recent paper in the journal Nature 

 (Meijaard and Shell 2007) was entitled, "A logged forest in Borneo is better than none at all" and argued strongly 

 for the role of logged forests in biodiversity conservation. Various categories of managed production forest are 

 essential for the survival of many species of fauna and flora. Studies by FAO (1995) and IPGRI (2001) have also 

 documented the need to manage tropical forests in ways that maintain the genetic diversity of their tree species. 



Development of Guidelines 



Development of Guidelines 



Since 2004 the International Tropical Timber 

 Organisation and the International Union for 

 Conservation of Nature have been collaborating to 

 elaborate Guidelines for the conservation of biological 

 diversity in tropical production forests. The work 

 involved ITTO members throughout the tropics but in 

 this paper we will focus on the part of the study that took 

 place in the rainforests of central Africa, and more 

 particularly in Cameroon. 



CHAD 



Garoua 



Ngaoiindéré 



CAMEROON 



eou* 



001 _ 





Figure 1 . Sites in Cameroon where the draft guidelines were assessed 



Cameroon has a distinguished history of practical 



measures to conserve forest biodiversity. Its forests are 



the home of significant populations of gorillas, 



chimpanzees, elephants and bongos - forest species of 



global conservation interest. But Cameroon's forests are 



also home to a high diversity of other primates and of 



birds. Cameroon now has the highest proportion of its tropical forests in national parks and wildlife 



reserves of any tropical country - but conservationists working in the field in Cameroon were quick to 



realize that for many species of wildlife the managed production forests were at least as important as the 



parks and reserves. Indeed, for gorillas and elephants studies have shown that the disturbance caused by 



selective logging favours a rich understory of gingers {Zingiber spp) and species of the arrowroot family 



(Marantaceae), which are favourite food sources of both gorillas and elephants (Morgan and Sanz 



2007). Bongos and other forest antelopes also thrive in areas where logging has opened up the canopy and 



allowed the development of the rich undergrowth that provides them with shelter and food. 



lUCN and ITTO worked closely with colleagues from the Worldwide Fund for Nature in Cameroon to study the 

 ways in which logging operators could modify their practices in order to favour the maintenance of biodiversity 

 in their concessions. Detailed studies of the numbers of elephants, bongos and primates were conducted both in 

 the logging areas and in adjacent national parks (see Table 1). 



WWF. Cameroon 

 " WWF. Cameroon 



' Scienee Adviser. lUCN, Rue de Mauverney, 1 1% Gland, Switzerland 

 " ITTO, Yokoham a 



Nature & Faune Vol. 23, Issue 1 



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