Improved forest harvesting practices, with due consideration of the forest environment, are considered an important step towards sustainable forest management, particularly in tropical regions.
The present case study has been carried out with one of the numerous small concession holders operating in the "Forest Belt" of Suriname. It could be demonstrated that even with a minimum effort in planning of harvesting operations, a significant advantage of meeting not only economic but also environmental objectives can be achieved.
Although an individual case study is just a snapshot, it is hoped that this case study, together with others in this series, will contribute to raise interest in introducing sustainable forest management practices in natural tropical forest within the country and elsewhere.
The Forest Products Division wishes to express its appreciation to the FAO Project GCP/SUR/001/NET and to the Foundation for Forest Management and Production Control (SBB) in Suriname for their kind support throughout the implementation of this study.
The field studies summarized in this publication have been carried out by Norbert Winkler and Martin Nöbauer, both consultants for FAO, in co-operation with Fritz Horsten, CPA of the FAO-implemented project GCP/SUR/001/NET, and with the support of Mr Iwan Krolis, General Manager, Mr Rene Somopawiro, Deputy Manager, Mr Roy Hilgerink, Manager, and all other forest staff members of SBB who contributed to the field work of this study. Norbert Winkler and Martin Nöbauer prepared the report. FAO Forestry Officer Joachim Lorbach managed the study and the preparation of the report for publication in the FAO Forest Harvesting Case-Study Series. Editing and final layout for publication were done by Dennis Dykstra.
This case study was made possible through a special contribution by the Austrian Government for the FAO programme on environmentally sound forest harvesting to sustain tropical forests.