The tree that held up the forest: Shihuahuaco (Dipteryx spp.) and the Chinese timber trade
Item
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Title
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The tree that held up the forest: Shihuahuaco (Dipteryx spp.) and the Chinese timber trade
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:71f3c1f3550f:11003
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identifier
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10548
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Creator
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Putzel, Louis,
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Contributor
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Christine Padoch
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Date
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2010
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Botany | Natural resource management | Geography | Chinese Timber Trade | Economic Botany | Forest Management | Logging | Peruvian Amazonia
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Abstract
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Extending over an area of more than 5 million km2, the forests of Amazonia are a repository of 25% of terrestrial biodiversity and play a vital role in regulating regional and global ecological systems. In addition to the direct damages caused by logging, timber extraction entails important collateral impacts on forests, including facilitating access for conversion of land to agriculture and pastureland. Over 650,000 km2 (>12%) of the Amazon forest area is located in Peru. Unlike Brazil, where timber exports have declined in recent years, Peru's volume of annual timber exports increased 180% between 2004 and 2008. Mexico and the United States were long Peru's largest importers of timber. By 2006, however, China's imports had surpassed those of the US.;Although only a relatively small percentage of China's total timber imports originate in Peru, since 2000, there has been an exponential increase in the wood trade between the two countries. Using a multi-disciplinary approach combining forest ecology, economic botany, and political economy this research identifies the species which represents 80% of China's imports from Peru, i.e. shihuahuaco (Dipteryx spp.), and then follows the supply chains of that species along rectilinear transects in the Amazonian forest and back through the highly non-linear Peruvian industrial milling centers and export market.;Forest ecology methods are employed to assess the effects of logging on the regeneration of shihuahuaco, and the potential for local people to mitigate those effects and accelerate the reestablishment of shihuahuaco stands. Analysis of the Peruvian export market, broken down by species, illustrates the rapid increase of exports of shihuahuaco following intentional promotion by conservation-oriented programs and the emergence of the Chinese market. Finally, a dynamic commodity network analysis uncovers the connections between Chinese shihuahuaco traders located within the Amazon forest region and shows how these connections are evolving in unexpected ways in response to efforts to regulate the global timber trade.;Key findings include: 1.) In areas logged for shihuahuaco, regeneration will be greatly reduced by the removal of seed trees; however, since post-logging conditions and treatments by local residents favor the recruitment of saplings, there is an opportunity for recovery of the resource. 2.) In response to extraction of shihuahuaco, a number of smallholder farmers living within and around logging zones manage residuals, transplant residual seedlings into their agricultural fields, and collect seeds to germinate in nurseries. 3.) Exports of shihuahuaco to China have increased more than three-fold over the past 5 years, and now represent over 50% of Peru's timber exports. 4.) While Chinese shihuahuaco exporters, like the majority of Peruvian timber exporters, continue to be supplied by the informal market, new vertically integrated supply chains owned by Chinese processing companies have obtained international certification. This certification enables them to increase their global market share, but the ecological and social impacts in Amazonia are unknown.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Biology
