Schmidt-Vogt, D. (Heidelberg)
Management of secondary tropical forests: A new perspective
for sustainable use of forests in Asia
Pages 52 - 66
The decline of primary forests in the tropics is leading
to a reassessment of the role secondary forests might play within the
contextof tropical forest management. Recent research has shown that secondary
forests in the tropics can be both rich in species and complex in terms
of stand structure. There is, moreover, a growingrecognition of the importance
of secondary forests for traditional subsistence economies in the tropics
and of their economic potential for land use systems in the future. Management
of secondary forests in Asia as an alternative to the extraction of timber
from primary forests but lso as one among other options to intensify traditional
land use systems has a potential for the future especially because of
the existence of vast tracts of valuable secondary forest cover, and because
of the store of traditional knowledge that can still be found in tropical
Asia.
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