In addition, proposals for sustainable management
as a response option invariably
presume that the timber management system is
not only sustainable in silvicultural terms but is
also sustainable in practice-rather than serving
as the first step in the process of deforestation.
Were analysis of timber management to
include realistic probabilities of the system being
perverted to deforestation (probabilities that
most likely have values closer to one than to
zero), the result would be very large net releases
of carbon. The problem lies in fundamental
contradictions between maximizing financial
return to the primary actors in implanting
forestry management for timber, and the criteria
applied by those interested in promoting
sustainable systems for other reasons, including
carbon benefits.6
.