Can we really manage tropical forests without knowing the species within? Getting back to the basics of forest management through taxonomy

Considering the pressures on tropical forests from deforestation and the recent expansion of harvesting through forest concessions in the Brazilian Amazon, it is imperative that forest management systems are scrutinized to ensure sustainability. One of the basic problems in forest management is the correct identification of species within the forest stand. While this is a well known issue, little consideration is given to how to mitigate this problem or its affects on management practices and conservation. This paper examines the current practice of forest inventories in the Brazilian Amazon, as part of the mandatory system of reduced impact logging (RIL), using extensive forest inventory verification. The results show that the RIL management plan implemented in the project area was based on a highly inaccurate forest inventory. At least 132 species or 43.5% of all species identified after botanical checking did not appear in the forest inventory and the common practice of matching vernacular names to scientific ones proved to be severely deficient. In contrast, a high percentage of field identifications based on local people's expertise were correct. We suggest changes to current practices, including the training and use of parataxonomists, the collection of samples for verification, and stricter government control over current practices, which will achieve greater accuracy in data collection and forest management planning. Ultimately, we argue that in the current climate of extensive deforestation and forest use, it is essential that all aspects of RIL systems are reevaluated in order to achieve economic and ecological sustainability.