FOREST PLANTATIONS AND THE PROTECTION OF NATIVE FORESTS IN CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT UNITS IN BRAZIL

Forest certification has expanded in several states in Brazil both in the form of forest plantations and native forests. The main objective of this study was to analyze the contribution that certification of forest plantations has in the protection of native forests in Brazilian states through the systems FSC and CERFLOR. It was consulted the public summaries of certified forest management units in the Brazilian states, both concerning the certification of forest plantations and native forests. It was searched information on the total certified area of forest management unit and for the forest plantations, the effective area of plantations, the area of forest protection and forest area assigned for other uses. The total area of certified native forest is 2.78 million hectares whereas the area of forest plantations is a little over four million hectares. Areas protected in the state of Bahia are the largest by CERFLOR (46.35%) and the second largest by FSC (40.67%), whereas the smallest areas assigned for this use are in the state of Sao Paulo, with 23.33% by CERFLOR and 21.02% by the FSC. States in the Amazon region assign a higher percentage of area for forest conservation. It is concluded that enterprises which have certification of forest plantations have an important role in forest conservation because since in many cases, those enterprises comply with a percentage much higher than that required by law. To choose one or other certification system does not influence the degree of demand with respect to the conservation of native species.