montagnini - tropical forest ecology (springer, 2005)

[...]... environmental and social services of tropical forests are as important or more important than activities that degrade the forest structure such as heavy logging or excessive ecotourism In order to manage the forest to sustain environmental and social services, we must understand the ecology of the tropical forest, in other words, how it works The understanding of the ecology of tropical forests is essential for... and Montagnini 2004) 1.3 Environmental Services 1.3.1 Reserve for Biodiversity Estimates of numbers of species in tropical forests vary However, statements that tropical forests harbor a great bulk of the Earth's species are relatively common For example, Erwin (1988) and Wilson (1992) stated that while cov- 9 10 Chapter 1 Importance of Tropical Forests ering just 6% of the Earth's land surface, tropical. .. 281 XI Importance of Tropical Forests 1.1 Functions of Tropical Forests The functions of tropical forests can be productive (timber, fiber, fuelwood, and non-timber forest products), environmental (climate regulation, carbon sequestration and storage, reserve of biodiversity, and soil and water conservation), and social (subsistence for local populations and cultures) Forests serve a combination... Climate Change (IPCC 2000) are listed in Table 1.2 Tropical forests are by far the largest carbon (C) stock in vegetation, while boreal forests represent the largest C stock 1.3 Environmental Services Table 1.2 Global carbon stocks in vegetation and soil carbon pools to a depth of 1 m (IPCC 2000) Biome Tropical forests Temperate forests Boreal forests Tropical savannas Temperate grasslands Deserts and... African rain forests The people of the tropical rain forests of the world are very varied They differ in their effects on the forest and on the ways in which the forest affects them Today hunter-gatherer societies still live in all three rain forest regions, living off the wild plants they collect and animals they hunt However, these are a vanishing minority Many more people living in the rainforest participate... 251 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Introduction Tropical Forest Classification Tropical Deforestation Management of Tropical Forests Plantations and Agroforestry Systems Political and Economic Development Strategies for Sustainable Forest Development ... encouraging agroforestry on land cleared for agriculture (Cairns and Meganck 1994) Carbon conservation is regarded as having the greatest potential for slowing the rate of climate change In contrast, carbon sequestration is a slow process 13 14 Chapter 1 Importance of Tropical Forests Recovery of a tropical forest with maximum carbon content can take hundreds of years (Montagnini and Nair 2004) Some tropical. .. and Brazil nut, Bertholletia excelsa In Costa 5 6 Chapter 1 Importance of Tropical Forests Fig 1.4 A 9-year-old plantation of Euterpe edulis palm at a CEPLAC (Center for Cacao Research and Extension) station in Una, Bahia, Brazil (Photo: F Montagnini) Rica, the palm Bactris gasipaes, which used to be cut from forest for palm-heart, is now planted commercially in extensive monocultures The fruit of... fell trees, plant crops, and make a living from forest resources, thus strongly impacting the forests 1.4 Social they dwell in Also there are those who may not live in the forests themselves but whose lives depend on forests, through managing large forest enterprises or otherwise transforming the forests in a variety of ways Thus people who rely on the rain forest differ greatly in their understanding... agree that forests must be preserved or re-established Forestry-based carbon sequestration is based on two approaches: active absorption in new vegetation and preservation of existing vegetation The first approach includes any activity that involves planting new trees (such as afforestation, reforestation, or agroforestry) or increases the growth of existing forests (such as improved silvicultural practices) . of tropical forests, both commer- cial and non-market values, that will disappear if tropical forests become ex- tinct. To ensure that these values are not lost, we must make sure that tropi- cal. h0" alt="" Tropical Forestry Florencia Montagnini ´ Carl F. Jordan Tropical Forest Ecology The Basis for Conservation and Management With 56 Figures and 24 Tables 12 Dr. Florencia Montagnini Professor. of the for- est. The top-down approach to development is contrasted with bottom-up ap- proaches. Case studies where community forestry has been successful at im- plementing sustainable forest management