ORIGINAL PAPER
The high value of logged tropical forests:
lessons from northern Borneo
Nicholas J. Berry
•
Oliver L. Phillips
•
Simon L. Lewis
•
Jane K. Hill
•
David P. Edwards
•
Noel B. Tawatao
•
Norhayati Ahmad
•
David Magintan
•
Chey V. Khen
•
M. Maryati
•
Robert C. Ong
•
Keith C. Hamer
Received: 17 September 2009 / Accepted: 9 January 2010 / Published online: 22 January 2010

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract The carbon storage and conservation value of old-growth tropical forests is
clear, but the value of logged forest is less certain. Here we analyse[100,000 observations
of individuals from 11 taxonomic groups and [2,500 species, covering up to 19 years of
post-logging regeneration, and quantify the impacts of logging on carbon storage and
biodiversity within lowland dipterocarp forests of Sabah, Borneo. We estimate that forests
lost ca. 53% of above-ground biomass as a result of logging but despite this high level of
degradation, logged forest retained considerable conservation value: floral species richness
was higher in logged forest than in primary forest and whilst faunal species richness was
typically lower in logged forest, in most cases the difference between habitats was no
greater than ca. 10%. Moreover, in most studies [90% of species recorded in primary
forest were also present in logged forest, including species of conservation concern. During
recovery, logged forest accumulated carbon at five times the rate of natural forest (1.4 and
0.28 Mg C ha
-1
year
-1
, respectively). We conclude that allowing the continued regen-
eration of extensive areas of Borneo’s forest that have already been logged, and are at risk
of conversion to other land uses, would provide a significant carbon store that is likely to
increase over time. Protecting intact forest is critical for biodiversity conservation and
N. J. Berry
D. P. Edwards
K. C. Hamer
Faculty of Biological Sciences, Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
O. L. Phillips
S. L. Lewis
School of Geography, Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
J. K. Hill
N. B. Tawatao
Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5YW, UK
N. Ahmad
Faculty of Science and Technology, School of Environment and Natural Resource Sciences, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
D. Magintan
Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Biodiversity Conservation Division, KM 10, Jln Cheras,
56100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
123
Biodivers Conserv (2010) 19:985–997
DOI 10.1007/s10531-010-9779-z

climate change mitigation, but the contribution of logged forest to these twin goals should
not be overlooked.
Keywords Biodiversity
Clean development mechanism
REDD

Tropical forestry
UNFCCC
Introduction
Forestry exports are a vital source of income to developing countries (worth [ US$39
billion in 2006; Miles and Kapos 2008) and SE Asia has been prominent in this respect,
with Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines together exporting more than 80% of all
tropical timber during the latter decades of the twentieth century (Johns 1997; Table 5.2 in
Gale 1998). In some regions, however, the economic benefits from forestry are now
declining, because most forests outside protected areas have already been logged and are
failing to recover sufficiently quickly. As a consequence, logged forests are coming under
increasing pressure for conversion to other more profitable land uses (Laurance 2007).
One proposed mechanism to counter these economic incentives is to compensate
developing countries for preserving carbon stores, through payments for Reduced Emis-
sions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD; Gullison et al. 2007; Canadell and
Raupach 2008). This mechanism could also be widened to include biodiversity benefits of
preserving forests intact, for instance by negotiating a premium for emissions reductions
that reduce biodiversity losses, or through biodiversity agencies contributing funds to help
develop REDD programs that best preserve biodiversity (Bekessy and Wintle 2008; Venter
et al. 2009). However, the manner in which forests already degraded by logging should be
included within such programs is uncertain (Neeff et al. 2006). Arguably, since protecting
intact mature forests from destruction or degradation is the most effective way to both
reduce carbon emissions and protect biodiversity (Venter et al. 2009), REDD funds should
be used to expand protected areas containing mature forest rather than to preserve forest
that has already been degraded (Putz and Redford 2009). Moreover there have been recent
calls for a stricter definition of forests qualifying for credits (Sasaki and Putz 2009) and for
more detailed ground-based information to allow funding to be targeted more effectively
C. V. Khen
R. C. Ong
Sabah Forestry Department Forest Research Centre, P.O. Box 1407, 90715 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
M. Maryati
Institute of Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, PO Box 2073,
88999 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Present Address:
M. Maryati
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Johor, Malaysia
Present Address:
N. J. Berry
Ecometrica, Top Floor, Unit 3B, Kittle Yards, Edinburgh EH9 1PJ, UK
e-mail: nicholas.berry@ecometrica.co.uk
K. C. Hamer (&)
IICB, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
e-mail: k.c.hamer@leeds.ac.uk
986 Biodivers Conserv (2010) 19:985–997
123