Forest definition
As pointed out last week, today’s column starts an assessment of Guyana’s non-mineral extractive sector. In coming weeks the focus will be on forestry, a strategic sub-sector. However, in light of ongoing public disputation over Guyana’s forest (and in particular its productive forest), prudence demands that I commence by indicating how the forest is treated in this presentation.
Being prudent is necessary as, I believe, the average non-specialist reader would be astounded to learn, as I was while preparing this column that there are more than eight hundred published definitions of what is a forest! Further, scores of these different definitions are found enshrined in the world’s forest laws and regulations. This wide variation persists among even homogeneous groupings of neighbouring countries and regions, both developed and developing. This multitude of definitions suggests there is a real ambiguity in establishing what a forest is.
More specifically, however, the literature suggests the ambiguity arises from three main considerations. One of these is that, as a purely practical matter, existing forests and their related ecosystems are exceedingly diverse in their structure and nature, particularly when considered at a global level. Second, as societies have evolved worldwide, their approaches to the forest have also differed very widely. And, thirdly, as these factors have evolved over time, analysts have reduced the varying approaches to defining the forest into three broad categories.
These categories were identified by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, 2000 as: 1) the administrative approach, 2) the land use approach, and 3) the land cover approach. The administrative-based approaches to the definitions are dependent on how, in practice, laws and regulations have evolved historically. This approach has led to wide variations in the description of the required vegetative cover on the land. And, strikingly, there are several jurisdictions where there are no trees growing, but yet the area is legally defined as forest! For example, this has occurred 1) where the land previously had trees, but these no longer exist; and 2) where there are no trees, but there is an intent to plant.
The land use-based approach has focused on the primary or principal purpose for which the land is being used. As a rule, this purpose is defined as “timber extraction”. Despite this, buildings, cleared roads and tracks, as well as other infrastructure in these areas, are often also considered as forest.
The land cover-based approach has classified forests as dependent on the type, and density of the vegetation cover. In this instance, fixed measureable thresholds and cut-off points are established for such variables as tree density, canopy cover and basal area of the trees, in order for land to qualify as forest.
FAO definition
To avoid unnecessary controversy, (and for purposes of this discussion), I shall utilize the FAO definition. This is provided in the FAO’s Forest Resources Assessment, 2000. This definition is also employed by the Convention on Biological Diversity, which states: “the FAO definition of a forest [is] the basic one.” It also goes on to observe there are “many other useful definitions of forest, which exist in published form.”
The FAO defines a forest as having the following attributes: 1) the land area is greater than 0.5 hectares; 2) the tree canopy cover is more than 10 per cent; 3) the land is not used for agriculture or other specific non-forest uses; 4) the trees should meet a minimum height of 5 metres; and 5) young stands that have not yet, but are expected to reach the crown density of 10 per cent and height of 5 metres, are included, as well as other temporarily unstacked areas.
The FAO definition includes forests found in protected areas, national parks, and nature reserves; as well as forest nurseries, seed orchards, forest roads, cleared-tracks, and so on. It, however, specifically excludes trees that are primarily established for agricultural or agro-forestry production.
This discussion of how to define a forest, is not theoretical. The appropriate definition of Guyana’s forest is essential to the formulation of a National Forest Policy. Further, as we shall observe in coming columns, a direct consequence of the Guyana-Norway, LCDS Agreement is a consistent definition of the forest for purposes of measurement and monitoring, under that agreement.
Forest specialists tend to distinguish between “two different classes of criteria” used in forest measurement. One of these classes is termed quantitative criteria. Such would include the measurable thresholds, indicated in the FAO definition; (for example, the minimum height of trees, the minimum crown coverage and basal area of trees). The other class is termed qualitative criteria; good examples of these are the treatment of roads, buildings, and non-vegetative items in areas deemed forest.
Conclusion: related definitions
In conclusion I refer readers to three related definitions, which will be employed in coming columns. The first of these is deforestation. Based on the FAO definition, deforestation means 1) the conversion of forest to another land use, or 2) the long-term reduction of the tree canopy cover below the minimum 10 per cent threshold. Clearly this notion implies the permanent loss of forest through the adoption of another land use. It is crucial for readers to recognize that such other land use can only be caused and maintained through human intervention, barring what the FAO describes as “natural perturbation”.
The second related term is forest degradation. This refers to those changes, which negatively affect the structure, function, and species composition of a natural forest. This always results in a reduction of forest productivity; and, once degraded, the forest loses productivity.
The natural forest, as referred to above is defined as being comprised of indigenous trees, which are not in a forest plantation that has been specially established by planting and/or seeding in a process of afforestation or reforestation of the land.
