Code of Practice for Forest Operations – Timber Sales Agreement and Wood cutting License Holders
May 2013
INTRODUCTION
“Its overall purpose is to promote harvesting practices that will improve standards of utilization, reduce environmental impacts, help ensure that forests are sustained for future generations, and improve the economic and social contributions of forestry as a component of sustainable development.” (FAO Model Code of Forest Harvesting Practice, 1996).
1.1 Forests and their multiple functions Forestry no longer focuses exclusively on the production of commercial timber. The importance of forests for biological diversity, non‐timber products, cultural values and environmental services is now recognized worldwide, and as a result forestry has become a more complex, more demanding discipline. One consequence of this increased complexity is that it is now more difficult to plan and carry out forest harvesting operations, as these must be designed and implemented in ways that accommodate and, if possible, enhance the multi‐resource character of the forest. To accomplish this, foresters, planners and logging operators require guidance on the practices that society is willing to accept and on the outcomes that are required in connection with forest harvesting operations.
Forests perform a number of functions that are important to our planet and to the survival of human communities and of many other organisms whose continued existence is in our interest. These functions are essentially ecological, socio‐economic, and socio‐cultural…Click here for more information