When we look at Reduced Impact Logging versus Primary Forest we find that there is not very much difference in the biodiversity.
We almost can’t detect any impact on the biodiversity.
Dr Jake Bicknell
Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) emphasizes the careful selection of individual trees for harvest rather than clear-cutting, as well as the protection of soil, water, and wildlife habitats during logging operations.
The goal of RIL is to reduce damage to forest ecosystems and to maintain the long-term productivity and ecological integrity of forests.
In Guyana, the result of closely legislated and monitored RIL operations is an almost imperceptible effect on the local biodiversity.
‘There is now an emerging evidence base that suggests that forests harvested using RIL methods maintain forest wildlife communities that are largely indistinguishable to those in undisturbed forests.’
Dr Jack Bicknell
Reducing biodiversity impacts from logging in Guyana. Biodiversity Science. 2011
‘Selectively logged forests are more likely to retain wildlife assemblages that are largely indistinguishable from those in undisturbed forests.’
Dr Jos Barlow
The responses of understorey birds to forest fragmentation, logging and wildfires: an Amazonian synthesis. Biological Conservation. 2006
‘We show that biodiversity impacts are markedly less severe in forests that utilise reduced-impact logging, compared to those using conventional methods.
Accordingly, forest managers and conservationists should advocate practices that offer reduced collateral damage through best practice extraction methods, such as those used in reduced-impact logging.’
Dr Jack Bicknell
Improved timber harvest techniques maintain biodiversity in tropical forests. Current Biology. 2014