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CIRAD, a major player in global forest research

01/02/2011 - Press release

To mark the UN's launch of the International Year of Forests on 2 February 2011, CIRAD presents below its main research projects in the field of forests. The aim is to preserve forests and integrate them into landscapes and different production systems.

The main research projects are listed under the following headings:

Towns, public policy

Supplying towns with fuelwood

In central Africa, the Makala project is testing various ways of ensuring sustainable fuelwood supplies to the 10 million people living in the cities of Kinshasa and Kisangani, while reducing the impact on forests: enriching degraded forest plots, setting up smallholder plantings, and improving charcoal production techniques.

Managing production forests sustainably

One of CIRAD's specificities as regards forest research is that it influences management policies, particularly sustainable management of production forests. For instance, in the Central African Republic, the PARPAF project to support the introduction of forest management plans is helping the authorities and forestry firms draft and then implement management plans for all the forest concessions in the country. The project was launched in 2000, and every forest concession is now covered by a management plan.

Developing forest product supply chains

In Madagascar, since the start of the 2000s, the Gelose (secure local management) law has allowed the State to decentralize natural resource management in favour of local communities. Under two projects, Gesforcom and Cogesfor, CIRAD and its partners in Madagascar are supporting the communities, villages and regions concerned, to enable them to implement this new policy and develop forest product supply chains: timber, charcoal, raphia and essential oils.

Industry

Generating energy from biomass

On an industrial scale, the Gasifier for Access to Energy in Emerging and Developing Countries project is working to develop a gasifier to run on lignocellulose biomass (mainly wood), suited for countries in the South, for local electricity generation. There are four partners in the project: two industrialists and two research centres, including CIRAD.
On a local scale, the Bioenergelec project will be installing steam power plants in six villages in Madagascar, to generate electricity using either agricultural waste (rice husks or maize cobs) or sawmill waste.
See also a selection of recent results in the field of biomass energy

Producing charcoal by pyrolysis

Pyrolysis involves heating wood to more than 350 degrees, in an oxygen-free atmosphere. It produces a liquid charcoal suitable for various industrial applications. CIRAD and its Brazilian partners are working on eucalyptus wood, to establish the links between wood characteristics, pyrolysis parameters, charcoal yield and product quality.
See also a selection of research results in the field of forest species

Integrating agriculture and forests

Cultivating land without clearing the forest

In Brazilian Amazonia, farmers regularly clear the forest to find more fertile soils and maintain yields. Preserving the forests thus also means changing the agricultural techniques practised on family farms. The Floagri project is testing alternative crop management sequences along the Transamazonian highway, in Peru and in Ecuador, with a view to establishing sustainable agriculture on limited areas.
See also Floagri, when family farming protects the Amazonian rainforest

Agroforestry

Domesticating trees in agroforestry parks in arid and semi-arid zones

CIRAD is committed to domesticating agroforestry species that produce fruit, such as argan in Morocco or shea nut in Africa. Various vegetative propagation methods have been used successfully to clone old argan trees selected by locals for the quality of their fruit. Local shea nut varieties have also been identified and selected for the properties of their oil.

Paying agroforest coffee farmers

The Cafnet project is working in central America, East Africa and India to boost incomes among coffee growers who grow their coffee in the shade of trees, thus preserving high-biodiversity systems. It facilitates their access to worthwhile markets and to payment for the environmental services rendered. The project involves researchers, producers, nongovernmental organizations and the major buyers in the coffee supply chain.

Natural forests

Predicting the effects of climate change on biodiversity

The Coforchange project set out to explain and predict the changes in the forests of the Congo Basin as a result of climate change and human pressure. It is backed up by an ecological study of 4 million hectares of forests and a historical analysis of the climate and human activity over the past 4000 years. The aim is to make public policy and biodiversity conservation programmes more effective.

Monitoring tropical forests by satellite

CIRAD uses spatial remote sensing to monitor forests. Satellite images provide numerous sorts of information: an understanding of how forests function, maps of inaccessible zones, measurements of the impact of human activity, and surveillance of the track network and felled areas. In particular, CIRAD and the Office national des forêts have developed an automatic system to track illegal gold panning in French Guiana.

Studying the natural reconstitution of forests after logging

In Amazonia, the Central African Republic and Indonesia, CIRAD has set up permanent equipment to study the growth of natural forest stands. This equipment provides a picture of the conditions under which and the rate at which the stock of economically valuable forest species is reconstituted after logging. Sustainable management rules can thus be drawn up for submission to the authorities and application by industrialists.

Understanding the biology of emblematic species to ensure their conservation

Many tropical forests harbour endemic tree species, ie species that are found in a very limited geographic area. Paradoxically, these species have not been widely studies. In Madagascar, researchers have demonstrated the existence of genetic exchanges between endemic baobab species. They are studying the link between the phenomenon and the baobabs' ability to colonize new areas or to adapt to environmental change. The results will be used to steer conservation strategies for the forest areas where baobabs are found. Similar work is to be done on other species such as shea nut, which is emblematic of the Sahelian grasslands, or angelique, which is found in French Guiana and Surinam.
See also a selection of recent research results in the field of forest species

Planted forests

Boosting the lignin content of eucalyptus for energy production or cellulose content for paper pulp production

Eucalyptus trees with a high lignin content are the most sought after for energy production. CIRAD is working to study the genes responsible for lignin production and identify the trees that contain the most. The eucalyptus trees with the best combinations of genes are then selected. A similar method is being developed to pinpoint the best cellulose-rich eucalyptus trees for paper pulp production.

Improving teak precocity to ensure quality timber

In teak, flowering is terminal, and induces a fork on the main stem and the branches. The most sought after teaks are those that produce quality wood with defect-free trunks, notably no forks below a height of eight metres. Researchers are working to breed trees that produce quality wood, grow fast and flower late, to ensure the longest possible trunks.
See also a selection of recent research results in the field of forest species

Intensifying wood production while minimizing the adverse effects on the environment

A eucalyptus plantation consumes 510 litres of water per kilo of matter harvested, less than many conventional crops, given that all the tree (except its roots) is used. CIRAD is studying consumption of water and minerals in eucalyptus, so as to breed varieties that have less of an impact on the environment.

Wood and charcoal

Boosting carbonization yields

Traditional carbonization methods require 100 kg of wood to produce 10 kg of charcoal. In Mahajanga, northwestern Madagascar, the Gesforcom project is testing improved carbonization methods. The methods tested have proved to double carbonization yields, hence halving the forest areas that need to be logged.

Making wood more durable

With a view to increasing the life span of wooden constructions without using polluting chemical treatments, CIRAD is analysing the biological compounds found in woods that are naturally resistant to fungi and insects (gregorywood, wallaba, teak, juniper, cedar, cypress). Moreover, it is also developing new wood treatments techniques that have little impact on the environment.

Services

Assessing carbon storage by forests

The current aim is to reduce levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere. In French Guiana, the Guyafor network is studying carbon storage by the tropical rainforest, and changes in the amount stored in logged forests. This work should enable them to come up with logging practices that minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

Players

Taking account of local ideas about forests

To understand the importance of human factors in biodiversity conservation more clearly, CIRAD is using a method developed by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), which calls upon the social, ecological and economic sciences. The method measures the importance of natural resources for communities in forests, and makes it possible to take account of local ideas when proposing conservation methods for areas on the fringes of national parks.

Strengthening partnerships between forestry companies and rural populations

In Brazilian Amazonia, the Floresta em Pê project supports partnerships between forestry companies and farming communities. It analyses the conditions under which such partnerships are viable, from an ecological, social and economic point of view.

CIRAD's research is conducted in partnership with the political authorities in the countries concerned, national research centres, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. It is funded by various donors, including France, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank.