Improved Forest Management (IFM)
Improved forest management methodologies are designed to facilitate the transition of unsustainably managed forests towards management which reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts from those which would occur under conventional forest management.
IFM activity types include:
- Conversion from conventional logging to reduced impact logging, which reduces carbon emissions during timber harvesting due to:
- reductions in damage to other trees
- improved selection of trees for harvesting based on inventoried knowledge concerning tree location and size
- Conversion of logged forests to protected forests (avoided DE):
- protecting currently logged or degraded forests from further logging.
- protecting unlogged forests that would be logged in the absence of carbon finance - eligible areas for these activities include upland forests, lowland forests and wetland forests
- Extending the rotation age of evenly aged managed forests:
- trees are typically harvested at an economic or optimal rotation age - extending the age at which the trees are cut increases the average carbon stock on the land.
- Conversion of low-productivity forests to high-productivity forests includes:
- the introduction of other tree species with higher timber value or growth rate
- the mitigation of disturbance events
- the adoption of enrichment planting to increase the density of trees