Search

This article discusses the ecosystem rehabilitation in the tropics. Half of the world's forests, as well as the largest area of mature forest in the world, are located in the tropics. Tropical lands are, on average, 42 percent forested and support the world's most complex ecosystems. It is very difficult to control with certainty the direction of a rehabilitation project. This is particularly true of complex tropical ecosystems, where there are a staggering number of possible states and species compositions. Damage to tropical forestland can be derelict, deforested, or impoverished, and annual rainfall can vary tremendously among different areas, as can mean temperature and nutrient levels in soils. One model describing rehabilitation options in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada included four alternative pathways that also apply to tropical conditions. Restoration implies a return to the original state; further degradation involves a do-nothing approach by which the land continues to suffer chronic human and natural stress and replacement is independent of the original state and might lead the system further away from the original state, perhaps by adding desirable human-made features and suppressing undesirable ones. INSETS: Strategies for rehabilitating tropical forests.;A Model of Ecosystem Rehabilitation.