Cumulative Carbon Fluxes Due to Selective Logging in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Selective logging creates a large amount of wood residues in forests in addition to producing a small amount of sawnwood for use as source of construction materials. Although accounting for carbon fluxes in harvested wood products (HWPs) becomes necessary in the fight against climate change, previous studies focused mainly on carbon fluxes in HWPs in temperate and boreal forests. This report attempts to analyze carbon fluxes in various wood components created by selective logging in production forest in Southeast Asia during a hypothetical period of carbon project implementation between 2015 and 2050 under conventional (CVL) and reduced-impact logging (RIL). Study results suggest that CVL produced about 146.6 (±5.4) million m 3 annually. Logging created annual carbon fluxes of about 0.23, 0.23, 0.20, 0.69, and 0.15 MgC ha -1 · year -1 in sawnwood, wood wastes at sawmills (SWW), wood product wastes due to logging damages remained in the forests (WPW), branches and top logs (BRA), and belowground dead root (BLD), respectively. Cumulative carbon fluxes were estimated at 281.0, 506.6, and 87.4 TgC year -1 in sawnwood, onsite (WPW, BRA, BLD), and offsite (SWW) pools, respectively. Except in SW, cumulative carbon fluxes in onsite and offsite pools showed a decline trend in about 10 years after logging. Switching from CVL to RIL could increase fluxes in sawnwood 60% higher than that under CVL, while reducing fluxes in short-lived onsite and offsite wood residues. Not only RIL can increase carbon fluxes in sawnwood, it can also increase production of sawnwood and retain more carbon in standing forests.