Why Poor Logging Practices Persist in the Tropics

Abstract: Despite abundant evidence that both the environmental damage and the financial costs of logging can be reduced substantially by training workers, pre-planning skid trails, practicing directional felling, and carrying out a variety of other well-known forestry practices, destructive logging is still common in the tropics. Based on our collective experience with loggers in tropical forests, we discuss seven possible reasons for this seemingly irrational behavior. The principal reason poor logging practices persist is apparently that the widely heralded cost savings associated with reduced-impact logging relative to unplanned logging by untrained crews may not be realized under some conditions. In particular, where compliance with logging guidelines restricts access to steep slopes or prohibits ground-based timber yarding on wet ground, reduced-impact logging may be synonymous with reduced-income logging. Given that under such conditions loggers may not adopt reduced-impact logging methods out of self-interest, fiscal mechanisms for promoting sustainable forest management may be needed.     

Removal of phosphate from water by a highly selective La(III)-chelex resin

A new polymer ligand exchanger (PLE) has been developed for the removal of phosphate in wastewater. This PLE, consisting of lanthanum(III) bound to chelex-100 resin, was prepared by passing LaCl3 solution through a column of chelex-100. Uptake of phosphate from water by this La-chelex resin was investigated in the column mode. The La-chelex resin was able to remove phosphate efficiently from water, and the uptake of phosphate was not affected by the presence of large amounts of anions (0.1M) such as chloride and sulfate. The La-chelex resin was also able to efficiently remove phosphate from seawater to <0.1mg-Pl(-1), and regenerated for reuse by removing the sorbed phosphate by eluting with 6M HCl.     

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