Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Wildlife boost in African forests certified for sustainable logging

Is there a conservation benefit if tropical forests that are affected by logging gain certification from the Forest Stewardship Council? An analysis of the biodiversity outcomes in such tropical forests provides answers.
  1. Julia E. Fa

    1. Julia E. Fa is in the Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK, and at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-ICRAF), Bogor, Indonesia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Tropical forests stand out as being the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems1. They provide essential ecosystem services, such as supplying wild meat for consumption by millions of forest dwellers2, and they sequester carbon — some estimates suggest that tropical forests store 25% of global carbon and host 96% of the world’s tree species3. Despite their ecological importance, tropical forests face severe threats as a result of human activities, including deforestation by small farmers, the conversion of forest to industrial agriculture and unregulated commercial logging. Writing in Nature, Zwerts et al.4 provide insights into the consequences of managing timber from tropical forests in a sustainable manner through a certification process.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 628, 503-505 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00878-z

References

  1. Pillay, R. et al. Front. Ecol. Environ. 20, 10–15 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Fa, J. E., Funk, S. M. & Nasi, R. Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Subtropics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Poorter, L. et al. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 24, 1314–1328 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zwerts, J. A. et al. Nature 628, 563–568 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Blaser, J., Sarre, A., Poore, D. & Johnson, S. Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011. ITTO Technical Series No. 38 (International Tropical Timber Organization, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Asner, G. P., Rudel, T. K., Aide, T. M., Defries, R. & Emerson, R. Conserv. Biol. 23, 1386–1395 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Laporte, N. T., Stabach, J. A., Grosch, R., Lin, T. S. & Goetz, S. J. Science 316, 1451 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ripple, W. J. et al. R. Soc. Open Sci. 3, 160498 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Greenpeace International. Destruction: Certified (Greenpeace, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Two Junior Research Group Leaders (f/d/m) for Photonics

    Friedrich Schiller University is a traditional University with a strong research profile based in the heart of Germany. As a University covering al...

    07743, Jena (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • PhD Researcher Positions (f/m/d)

    Yeast Synthetic Biology

    Germany (DE)

    Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

  • Reporter, Nature

    Reporter, Nature Location: London, UK - Hybrid office and remote working Closing date: 13th May 2024   Nature, the world’s most authoritative scien...

    London (Greater) (GB)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Vice-Chancellor and President

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong Vice-Chancellor and President The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is conducting a worldwide search for t...

    Hong Kong (HK)

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • ERC-funded PhD and Postdoc Positions in Comparative Genomics

    We are looking for two PhD and/or PostDoc candidates for the 6 years ERC-funded grant project "BATPROTECT" in Frankfurt a.M., Germany

    Frankfurt am Main, Hessen (DE)

    Senckenberg Society for Nature Research

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links