Standing Stock Assets as Critical Criteria for Sustainable Forest Management

Abstract

Sustainable forest management in Perum Perhutani (PP) has been the subject of continued debate as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification continues to evolve despite the certification issues it faced in 1998. This study aims to examine whether an FSC certification can guarantee the feasibility of Sustainable Forest Management of Teak in the Ciamis Forest Management Unit (FMU), Indonesia. Regarding the methodology, the stand structure of a normal forest was used to evaluate and measure the deviation of actual area and teak stand conditions. Harvesting practice was investigated by using the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC). The revenue from harvested timber and the cost of all expenses were used to determine the budget surplus. Findings showed that the present stand structure of teak alone is far from normal forest conditions if teak plus is not taken into consideration. As a result, despite the reduction of the length of forest management rotation to 30 years in 2013, the quantity of harvested timber has been decreasing, while continuing to exceed the AAC level. Furthermore, the teak in Ciamis FMU is insufficient for bridging the annual deficit, and other commercial timber species have to be considered.