Post-boom logging in Amazonia

Recent analyses of timber exploitation in Amazonia conclude that a variety of socioeconomic and ecological factors in the region make a stable and pro fitable logging industry virtually impossible. Most of these studies focus on large-scale timber industries and their dependence on over-exploitation of a small number of high-value timbers. In this article we discuss the eco nomic, ecological, and social aspects of Amazonian logging in a region wher e the timber industry appeared to have collapsed after stocks of high-value timber were exhausted. We show that forestry in a post-boom phase, current ly found in many areas of Amazonia, differs from the better-described "boom " period in its scale of operations in the range of timbers cut, in managem ent practices employed, and in the costs and benefits of production. Result s of a seven-year study show that when sawtimber, poles and firewood are pr oduced in a management system that combines forestry and agriculture they c an provide significant additional income for Amazonian smallholders.