Abstract

Indonesia has an estimated 114 million hectares of forest designated for different. Over 59 million hectares of forest are intended for timber production. The Dipterocarpaceae family is the most important type of timber for trade. All timber concessions are required to practice silviculture as stipulated by the Ministry of Forestry, which has defined different silviculture regimes since the 1970s. In 2005, a new approach has been introduced, called ―SILIN‖ or intensified silviculture. Through this system, the Ministry of Forestry seeks to intensify forest management activities to achieve higher yields per hectare based on three main assumptions: reduction of the minimum diameter felling limit from 50 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) to 40 cm dbh, systematic line planting requirements, reduction in the rotation cycle from 35 to 25 years. Six target timber species have been selected for SILIN: Shorea leprosula, Shorea parvifolia, Shorea platyclados, Shorea johoriensis, Dryobalanops lanceolata, Shorea macrophylla. This article presents lessons learned from several silviculture systems in Indonesia by evaluating SILIN implementation in several concession models, documenting and analyzing the rationale behind the large-scale adoption policy and comparing SILIN with previous silviculture systems. We found that new regulations have significantly overestimated the growth potential of the planted stocks, left unaddressed the residual forest between the planted lines and do not account for costs that might undermine implementation. Further implications are discussed including logging damage, industrial concerns and policy adjustments over the long term. Keywords : intensified silviculture, timber harvesting, Dipterocarpaceae, Indonesia

Published in

Book title: Research Priorities in Tropical Silviculture: Towards New paradigms?
Publisher: International Union of Forest Research Organizations

Conference

IUFRO International Conference: Research Priorities in Tropical Silviculture: Towards New paradigms?

Authors' information