**4.1 Locally adapted participatory sustainable forest management system – lapSFM**

The definition and implementation of the "**locally adapted participatory sustainable forest management - lapSFM**" system followed two main steps that are common to both scenarios, encompassing landscapes with both small and large rural properties. The system aims to deliver a Management Plan, as a part of a Roadmap (Figure 2), composed of different stages. The first phase – the *Ecosystem Analysis* – is related to the landscape as a whole, which can be a property, a set of properties, a municipality or a watershed, for example. The main purpose of this phase is to design territory zoning, based on spatially organized available information. For the purpose of this paper the second phase – the *Management Plan* – is related to the rural property and will focus not only on forested areas (forest) but also on forest lands, in which the forest component includes agroforestry, forest plantations and management of native fragments. Other designated zones, such as agriculture, are noted in the lapSFM but not discussed in this paper. The second phase also encompasses the monitoring activities of the implemented silvicultural treatments.

Phase 1: The initial step in the participatory forest management system refers to a broad analysis of the current environmental state of the area under consideration. It can be defined as a territory zoning which is based on the compilation of environmental data obtained from primary or secondary sources and requires initial land-use/land-cover (LULC) mapping. When possible, a landscape (or an ecosystem) approach is always the best way for dealing with large areas because of the managerial possibilities that planning at this level has for natural resource governance (notably SFM). Such a map should locate different land uses and different forest types and can be obtained either from satellite imagery (including Google Earth) or based on available ancillary information. In both cases a field verification of the classification is recommended as a means to update and check the gathered information. Additional cartographic, soil and hydrography layers can also be used and integrated into a GIS platform. The LULC mapping with the goal of creating territory zoning is a participatory process. Different stakeholders, including landowners, local government representatives, environmental agencies and academic institutions, for example, help in defining land use priorities and identifying the consequences of different decisions on the landscape configuration. LULC classes that are defined by environmental law as "restricted use" must also be mapped. For the forested areas or for forest lands, a procedure performed in a GIS platform can define the "forest stands", based on cross referencing the "territory zoning" layer and the "forest sub-typology" layer.

Phase 2: Following the territory zoning and the definition of the areas in which agroforestry (for forest land) and forest management (for forest) will take place either directly or indirectly, we define the techniques to be applied in forest management or other forest-

Sustainable Forest Management in Rural Southern Brazil:

to continued legal, economic and ownership insecurity.

its composition and optimize biomass production with reduced impacts.

variables.

The five MUs are:

Exploring Participatory Forest Management Planning 105

As the classification of land cover into MUs is a participatory process which allows for the inclusion of historical, cultural and economic inputs, its application is not only restricted to a vegetation classification but instead aims at integrating social, environmental and economic

**Forest with Araucaria predominance MU1 –** this MU is a general designation for all places whose canopy is dominated by *Araucaria angustifolia* (paraná-pine) regardless of the forest structure, composition, and current use. However, under this land use classification it is possible to identity different levels of canopy cover which are related to forest dynamic processes, especially for natural regeneration. In situations where the canopy has a higher density (> 70%) of predominantly overmature (remnant) paraná-pine trees, a near absent natural regeneration is observed. This process seems to be related to paraná-pine life cycle (~ 400 years) which creates light conditions on the forest floor below the limits required for seedlings to thrive; this situation is sometimes exacerbated by the presence of *Dicksonia sellowiana* and other species of fern. On the other hand, when a more open canopy is present, the ability for a regular natural regeneration to occur depends on whether bamboo species *Merostachys skvortzovii* and others are present or not as they take advantage of favorable light conditions and form a homogenous stratum that prevents any regeneration. Although both situations might require natural resources management through direct intervention, legal and political factors constrain most initiatives, leading to land abandonment. Such a situation tends to cause a gradual degradation of forest structure and floristic composition as a result of trees senescence and lack of regeneration accompanied with further bamboo spreading. Although current legislation was designed to halt deforestation it also resulted in farmers no longer holding decision-making power over land use. Their reaction was to convert forested areas into other uses (also by illegal means); this counter-productive situation if not tackled will result in more natural resources degradation while contributing

**Structured Forest (Mixed Uneven-aged Forest) MU2 -** Structured Mixed Uneven-aged Forests correspond to secondary forests – regardless of whether or not they contain remnant trees – that have a diversified vertical structure, high tree species richness and in some cases, accumulation of forest biomass and volume. This forest is multi-strata structured with a canopy dominated by shade-tolerant and remnants of intolerant species with one or more additional tree strata. Natural regeneration is abundant with high species diversity, although the development of saplings is severely reduced when the understory is dominated by bamboo. For its structural complexity and the available forest biomass, classical methods of forestry (e.g. group or single-tree selection) may be applied to improve

The MU2 is considered an ideal type for forest management as it has a developed horizontal and vertical structure. Although it is a secondary forest, its management could include the removal of trees for lumber and firewood as a result of the thinning of trees with undesirable characteristics (multiple stems, rotten, broken) as well as removing senescent pioneer trees (e.g. *Ocotea puberula*). The main goal of the management is to provide more light for regeneration and the development of commercial or ecologically important trees. In addition to thinning, controlling bamboo might be necessary as some species commonly find ideal conditions and tend to become invasive. In the early stages of bamboo development, mostly during seed germination following entire population die-offs, it is possible to control the re-population by a manual sapling removal. However, in most

based activities. This step involves the characterisation of forest stands (including areas to be planted or restored) and the definition of specific silvicultural treatments and/or other longterm actions to be put into practice for each stand. The characterization of forest stands is an initial step that aims at creating a rule of thumb for correlating the types of forests found in Southern Brazil and potential uses and management options. In this system, the vegetation present in an area is characterised by its structure, species composition, successional stage, threats and levels of degradation; this information is then correlated with the landowners' views in relation to the area and includes economic expectations and potential management practices. As a result, we can classify the current stage of conservation of most Araucaria Forest into five different vegetation types (discussed further below) which we denominate as Management Units – MUs.

Fig. 2. lapSFM System Roadmap

The broad characterisation of each MU allows for the definition of a set of specific management actions aimed at achieving their pre-defined goals. Each MU is defined by the available information and by in-site checking which confirms the groups and general management actions; in each area (or stand) it is recommended that a rapid forest inventory take place to complement the information on the available resources which will support the actions to be applied. Based on the goals of each MU, general and specific silviculture approaches are proposed. Depending on the MU, different actions are expected to take place, such as thinning (and definition of which plants to be favoured), planting, pruning, removal/introduction of trees or species or no treatment at all. Specific decisions such as plants to be removed or planted are made in the field during designated field visits established in the lapSFM.

As the classification of land cover into MUs is a participatory process which allows for the inclusion of historical, cultural and economic inputs, its application is not only restricted to a vegetation classification but instead aims at integrating social, environmental and economic variables.
