Employment Consequences of Sustainable Forestry Management

There are several key employment benefits provided by sustainable forestry management and certification schemes. Practicing sustainable forest management means that the forests will be maintained for as long a period of time as there is a market value or legal protections, which provides long-term employment opportunities for rural economies.

A major study by Yale University looked at certification schemes in several developing countries and found that the overall economic and employment consequences of certification were mixed. The outcomes differed by country, but in general the positive outcomes were additional tax revenue, increased wages, improved working conditions, and market transparency, which led to compliance with contracts and less illegal logging. There were varied results with regard to how certification affected the number of jobs. In some cases, there were increased levels of employment, but for others there was an overall decline in the number of jobs. Certification puts limitations on the production of timber, which can lead to a decrease in the number of hectares harvested, and decreased volume can, at least in the short term, reduce the number of jobs

Jobs in the forestry sector should be more broadly defined to include all work that provides income and helps alleviate poverty. These jobs include the formal sector, informal sector, and subsistence workers. Currently, it is unknown how many people are employed in the forestry sector, but a rough estimate of those who are dependent upon forests to some extent for income and subsistence is likely to be between 1 and 1.75 billion.

It is widely accepted that land-use changes in the forestry sector are desperately needed and that these land-use changes will result in economic changes. Due to the lack of information about employment in this sector, it is impossible to give a global quantification of green jobs that might be created through agroforestry, afforestation and reforestation, sustainable forest management (SFM), and avoided deforestation projects. These sustainable land-use changes are likely to have positive long-term impacts on employment measured both in the quality and quantity of jobs. These sustainable land-use changes may, however, have some immediate negative consequences, but sustaining this sector is likely to have a long-term positive effect on employment as jobs are extended over a much longer period of time.

Source:

http://adapt.it/adapt-indice-a-z/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/unep_2008.pdf