Creating timber harvest guidelines for a Reduced-Impact Logging Project in Malaysia

Forests in the tropics have been severely mismanaged for the most part. Logging activities have damaged residual forests and reduced the value of crop forests. Most of the harvesting practices currently being utilized are widely recognized as unsustainable. In Malaysia, a power company and a forest concessionaire have combined forces to develop more effective and less destructive forest management strategies. The partnership was effective in establishing a pilot carbon-offset project designed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases from uncontrolled logging activities. A brief history of the Reduced-Impact Logging Project, which was initiated in 1992, is presented. The project received funding from New England Electric Systems, MA. Techniques used to reduce the impacts of logging are detailed.