A recent study casts doubt on the view that selective logging of high-value, tropical timber—cutting the most commercial species in a manner and intensity intended to ensure adequate forest regeneration—is environmentally sustainable as currently practiced. The study, by two Brazilian researchers with the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, England and published July 13 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, finds that current selective logging of Brazilian tropical hardwoods such as cedar and ipé (Brazilian walnut) is not sustainable. That, it concludes, is because these species take far longer to regenerate than the 30-year harvesting cycles typically allowed in forest management plans. As a result, the researchers say, selectively cut stands in Brazil’s tropics do not recover, and risk disappearing... [Log in to read more]