La forêt amazonienne sur sables blancs : un sombre futur ?

Amazonian white-sand forest, a distinctive and fragile type of lowland rainforest, usually occurs on scattered highly oligotrophic soil patches and holds a high number of endemism species. It is neither suitable for agriculture nor for timber production. However, it is a valuable resource for local communities since its small diameter (5-15 cm) straight round wood shows long durability and is widely used for house building. Despite that, local management remains invisible to forestry regulation and it might blacken the future of Amazonian white-sand forests. The purpose of this work is to provide basic knowledge on white-sand forest stand structure and floristic composition, which is essential for sustainable management planning. It shows that, in spite of its fragility, white-sand forests also show some strengths regarding sustainable management possibilities, as compared to other rainforests: the high percentage of valuable species (26 %), the striking dominance of a small set of species most of them (67 %) with commercial interest and the fact that potentially harvestable stems only account for seventeen percent of the total basal area, induce that technical requirements like “Reduced Impact Logging” are not necessary since harvested stems are thin, no machinery is involved and transportation is carried out only on foot and/or by river.