Mitigation Analysis

Mitigation Policies

There is a considerable potential in Venezuela for reducing CO2 emissions by slowing the rate of loss and degradation of existing forests. As mentioned above, the average annual deforestation rate for the country during the last decade was estimated to be 517,000 ha. Roughly, around 100,000 ha per year of forest degradation as a result of unsustainable timber production could be reversed if sustainable management practices were encouraged on those forest lands. In this case, a large fraction of their carbon would be conserved. One third to one half of this forest area is state owned, which would in theory facilitate the adoption and implementation of forest policies that foster sustainable timber production. Management practices would be promoted in wood lots that are smaller, on average, than the large commercial forest concessions that have typically been granted for timber production.

The management of native forests for sustainable timber production in large protected areas has increased significantly in the last 10 years. From a contribution of no more than 10% at the beginning of the 1980s, managed forests have been contributing almost 50% of national timber production in the last few years. Despite some doubts about the silviculture systems used to ensure sustainability of the managed forests, preliminary estimates of carbon flux from these areas have shown that these management options still represent a net carbon sink. Considering that about 18 million ha have been already designated by the national government as forest reserves and other protected area for sustainable timber production, policies designed for timber harvest concessions would a play a crucial role in the implementation of mitigation options that promote a more efficient use of both forests and forest products.

Maintenance of already existing biomass in natural forests should obviously be the first priority of forest measures to reduce the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere. In the evaluation of forestry projects to sequester carbon in several developing countries, protection of standing forests appears to be the cheapest and most effective alternative (Faeth, P. et al, 1994). In this sense, and from the policy perspective, Venezuela has already developed a good basis to conserve its forest cover since the country has significantly expanded protected areas, which include large areas of native forest for biodiversity conservation.

However, although about 50% of Venezuela«s land surface has been legally preserved for various purposes, this form of protection has not provided practical solutions for halting forest degradation. More than 20 million hectares of such protected areas are covered by different types of native forests. Effectively protected, these areas would at least maintain the same carbon pools, but many of them have experienced high land use pressure, which is traditionally a result of agricultural and urban development, and contributes to a still undetermined fraction of land clearing nationwide. Recently, mining activities have added significant pressure in some national parks and forest reserves, and have contributed to the deforestation problem in these protected areas. In addition, land tenure and political issues have played a key role in the country«s deforestation problem. Such a wide range of technical aspects and political interests makes what may seem to be one of the most readily available options very difficult to implement.

A recent law established tighter regulations for controlling deforestation and unsustainable timber production by forcing individuals who request permits for forest clearing or harvesting to establish plantations on specific areas previously selected by the Forest Service, preferably using commercial native species. This law does not seek to stop deforestation of native forests, but rather to balance loss of these forests by establishment of plantations and to ensure that timber production in the near future will rely mainly on plantations instead of native forests.

Almost 20 million ha of non forested lands were identified as suitable for protection and commercial plantation in Venezuela, based primarily on general physical and ecological characteristics of the areas (MARNR, 1991). Land tenure and ecological characteristics at a more local level are considered to be key factors that would influence the actual availability of land for this purpose. In addition, due to the complex nature of land use decisions, the total area that is potentially available is less than the amount that is physically capable of sustaining forest plantations. In fact, a more recent study has estimated that when taking other factors into consideration approximately 9 million ha is a more realistic estimate of the land that could be theoretically allocated for commercial plantations on a long term basis.

A presidential decree has given priority to these lands for a national forest plantation program (Gaceta Oficial, 1992). In many cases, these plantations have been considered the only productive option, mainly on degraded and damaged lands that cannot sustain agriculture or pasture activities. Although these degraded areas could also pose problems for plantation development, especially for commercial purposes, most of these plantations in Venezuela have been established on marginal lands, with average productivity lower than 10 m3/ha year (caribbean pine plantations for pulp production). Other industrial plantations located on more productive land, plant eucalyptus, gmelina, teak and, to a lesser extent, some native hardwoods species.

Agroforestry systems have not been adopted on a large scale in Venezuela. Most experiences are limited to combining pasture activities and tree planting in a rather informal way and have not been consistently studied or documented. The last vegetation inventory recommended performing an analysis of the potential for about 10 million ha of degraded forests (open forests) to sustain agroforestry practices with the objectives of avoiding further degradation of the remaining forest cover, promoting tree planting, and increasing land productivity. However, such a study was never performed and no information is available on the land area that is suitable for agroforestry systems. Given that agriculture and pasture activities are considered to be the leading cause of forest clearing, policies designed with the objective of reducing land use conflicts and promoting land use practices that would both include trees as a important component of agricultural systems and avoid the expansion of agricultural lands at the expense of forest areas (e.g. more intensive farming).

Index    Next
If you have any questions or comments please contact us at VEBHM7SL@IBMMAIL.COM.