Tropical rain forests

More than 400 colour pictures illustrate typical natural ecosystems and cultural landscapes. The focus is on the ecological conditions and characteristics that have a particularly strong influence (e.g. fire as an ecological factor, human use of natural resources, physiological adaptations). The aim of the book is to develop a causal understanding of the individual habitats.

Tropical forests are threatened world-wide. Therefore, there is a search for ways to use the forests in a sustainable way, as this could assist in the conservation of these special ecosystems. Non-timber products collected from trees in tropical forests are often mentioned as examples of sustainable exploitation. Their collection causes far less disturbance to forest structure and functioning than the felling of trees for timber.

The Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) consortium was formed in 1992 by a group of concerned national and international research institutions to address the global and local issues associated with this form of agriculture. With contributions from agronomists, foresters, economists, ecologists, and anthropologists, this book synthesizes the first decade of ASB's work.

Globally rainforests are under threat on numerous fronts, yet they have a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and providing other ecosystem services. Rainforests are also attractive tourist spaces and where they have been used as a tourism resource they have generated significant income for local communities. However, not all use of rainforests as a tourism resource has been sustainable.