Study performed in two states found over 40 million adult pink and yellow lapacho trees. Result shows importance of sustainable forest management, which counteracts deforestation by conserving forests and generating jobs and income. A symbol for Brazil, the tree provides hardwood and has special economic importance in the Amazon states. Results of the study can inform analyses and decision-making on management regulations for lapacho species An extensive study, held in forest areas under sustainable management in the states of Acre and Mato Grosso, mapped 40 million adult trees of the species Handroanthus serratifolius (yellow lapacho) and Handroanthus impetiginosus (pink lapacho). The broad incidence recorded shows that lapachos are safe from extinction and reinforces the importance of sustainable forest management. According to the researchers involved, the mapped amount did not consider young trees or seedlings. “Considering the (past and current) population, area of occurrence, growth and structure, carrying capacity (see box below) and supply of the natural forests under management, reproductive maturity, and other factors, we understand that the two species are not in vulnerable conditions”, asserts the Embrapa Forestry researcher Evaldo Muñoz Braz. The results are presented in the publication “Ocorrência e crescimento de Handroanthus spp. na Amazônia, nos estados de Mato Grosso e Acre, como subsídio para a elaboração de normativas de manejo florestal e avaliação de risco de extinção” [Occurrence and growth of Handroanthus spp. in the Brazilian Amazon and in the states of Mato Grosso and Acre, in order to inform the elaboration of regulations for forest management and extinction risk assessment]. The study brings fundamental information and data that contribute to recent debates in the forestry sector regarding the placement of lapachos in the list of endangered flora species. Understand the terms Carrying capacity is the population density that the local environment can continuously and sustainably support. Forest structure is the number of trees in each class of diameter. As a convention, this study used 10-centimeter diameter classes. During the year 2020, the researchers worked in-field in remaining native forest areas located in Acre and Mato Grosso states, where other research projects on sustainable forest management had been in place, with the goal of surveying the current level of lapacho occurrence and growth. On top of the field work, the study also compared the forest structure of the samples with old records from Radambrasil (Brazilian forest knowledge database implemented in the 1970s), in order to estimate the number of trees and the full forest structures. It assessed 41,000 hectares in Acre and 54,000 ha in Mato Grosso, all of which had been subjected to forest management plans. That included mapping the occurrence of the species, identification, description of the trees, and assessment of growth in diameter. “When we extrapolate the lapacho representation found in the study to the areas available for management in those states, it is possible to assert its widespread occurrence”, Braz states. In Acre alone, 2020 data by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) point to 8.8 million hectares of areas that can be managed within the 12.5 million hectares (ha) of native forests. That estimate disregards trees that are protected in 3.5 million ha of indigenous reserves, Full-Protection Conservation Units, and also excludes permanent preservation areas. Meanwhile in Mato Grosso, 2019 data show 17.6 million ha in areas that can be managed out of 25 million ha of Amazon Forest in the state, and with protected areas in 8 million ha in indigenous reserves and Full-Protection Conservation Units. New methodology assesses occurrence, structure and diameter growth The methodology used to perform this study involves cross-referencing and studying different information and field research. The scientists gathered several forest databases and specialized literature, in an attempt to cover a representative range of all the subtypologies of the Amazon biome present in Acre and Mato Grosso and identify their occurrence. The dataset was composed by forest inventories from Sustainable Forest Management Plans (SFMPs) that had been approved and supplied by the Acre Institute of the Environment (Imac-AC) and by the Mato Grosso State Secretary of the Environment (Sema-MT). The inventories included “census”-type ones, which have data on all the trees with diameters at breast height (DBH) above 35 cm. In this category, 20,000 Handroanthus spp. trees were recorded in an inventoried area of approximately 100,000 ha. The study also took to the fields to perform an inventory-diagnosis that identified the number of trees with DHB above or equal to 10 cm from a sample. The researchers measured diameters and heights, which allowed the inclusion of trees with structure below the diameter classes included in the census and thus, the obtention of the full forest structure. Another part of the work analyzed species growth data through the study of the growth rings of the lapachos in the sampled areas. With information about the species' reproductive maturity from the scientific literature, it was possible to determine that the reproductive cycle of the trees under SFM was guaranteed, ensuring forest conservation. “What we did was to exhaustively assess such forest structure. We concluded that forest structures with lapacho, in areas that are under management, did not change in time. That is, in the areas with management, we observed that the structure of the species remains similar to the primary forests' recorded in Radam Brazil and to other maps that we used, and that was observable even in areas that had already been legally explored. However, areas that had been set for other land uses lost their original structure, biodiversity, sustainability, etc.”, the researcher Patrícia Póvoa de Mattos reports while assuring that the occurrence of the species has been maintained. Moreover, it is also important to account for the trees that are in full-protection areas, that is, trees that are untouched. Information and data used in the study The assessment and systematization of information were based on: - Past forest inventories. - Current management plans. - New field surveys. - Survey of data from herbarium databases (speciesLink). - New botanical collections. - Measurements of permanent parcels. - Growth ring studies. - Studies of species density, distribution and carrying capacity. - Matrix simulations. Economic importance of lapacho Lapacho is one of the main species that are sources of hardwood, a product that is highly valued abroad - a market with increasing requirement of certificationd and approval by environmental agencies. In Brazil, data by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources (Ibama) indicate that the lapacho wood chain moves about R$ 70 million a year, and is one of the main products of the economy of Brazilian states like Mato Grosso, Acre and Rondônia. Including lapacho in the list of vulnerable species could breach the trust of international buyers, who would consequently suspend the purchase of such wood and other species that are in a similar situation. “This work came in a good time to elucidate this issue, as once the species is placed in the list of endangered species, it is no longer traded in the exports market. This would have an impact on many cities that follow the law and technical criteria, which have such wood as their main product and depend on this type of activity, as they have established chains of production, processing, industry and specialized exploration, on top of enormous generation of jobs”, explains Erich Schaitza, head of Embrapa Forestry. The discussions about including lapacho in the list of endangered flora species tend to confuse deforestation, which fully slashes the forests, with forest management. According to Annual Report of Deforestation in Brazil (RAD) 2021, by MapBiomas, 98% of all deforested areas result from activities to related to agriculture or animal farming. To those ends, the whole forest is cleared, and burning often precedes such deforestation. Meanwhile under sustainable forest management, exploring lapacho and other species for timber occurs in a planned way, according to technical criteria, and has generated income and conservation of the species. According to Ibama, 98% of the explored lapacho wood is exported and sourced from law-abiding logging companies, which use wood from forest management plans, with areas that are compulsorily sampled and monitored. In order to implement SFM, it is necessary to perform a forest management and cutting plan and file it in the responsible environmental monitoring agencies, in addition to satisfying other requirements that ensure the permanence of the forest. What is sustainable forest management? Sustainable forest management (SFM) is a forest use that maintains soil cover while safeguarding forest biodiversity and environmental services. SFM, in essence, is the removal of trees that are either stagnant in growth or aging. Such removal is planned so as to keep over 85% of the original forest. In addition, this type of management helps the forest's own renewal by making more light come in, so that new plants can grow. Sustainable management keeps the forest standing Timber is a highly sustainable product, and under forest management regulations, it is a renewable good. A managed forest is not only sustainable from an environmental point of view, but also generates income and sequesters carbon. The scientific study also simulated management scenarios in the different typologies and under different extraction conditions, and provided evidence of their sustainability. There are national and international initiatives that encourage forest management as opposed to deforestation practices, which cause land use and cover change. The United Nations (UN) considers forest management the path towards sustainable development and forest conservation. “Sustainable management is the best way to conserve the forest without eliminating it, as keeping the forest standing generates income. When it is sustainably managed, there is no loss of the species under forest management, and it is possible to have new harvests in the same place, since after 30-35 years, it will be productive again”, Schaitza states. “In light of the potential that managing natural forests in the Amazon offers as an alternative sustainable economic activity, efforts should be concentrated in optimizing the development of the activity, ensuring the supply of quality tropical wood from renewable sources. For this purpose, it is necessary that the activity is planned, based on the vast knowledge about the commercial species and the forest dynamics as a whole”, Braz advises. In addition to lapachos, the researchers are extending the analyses to other species of commercial interest, such as Apuleia leiocarpa, Hymenolobium spp., Astronium spp., Peltogyne spp. and Amburana acreana in Mato Grosso. “The forest is a renewable good that needs to be conserved. The conclusion that we have reached in this study is that sustainably managing the forest, and more specifically lapacho, is the best solution to maintain the forest, as it generates income to the local population involved and ensures that only a small part of it is removed, maintainging the forest life cycles. We also recommend that the areas under management increase, to generate jobs and income with forest conservation”, Schaitza concludes.