Forestry and the conservation of plants and animals in the tropics

Abstract

With some important exceptions the most pressing problems of conservation facing foresters occur in the humid tropics. For this reason the paper is concerned principally with tropical forest ecosystems bothe natural and man-made though the principles discussed have general application.The greatest constribution that the forestry profession can make to conservation in the tropics at the present time is to ensure that as large an area as possible of representative natural forest ecosystems is brought under management. The continued existence of utilized, managed natural forest ecosystems surrounding strict natural reserves, and linking national parks and game reserves could be a major beneficial factor in conservation in the tropics. Indeed it is increasingly obvious that the flora and fauna of many national parks and game reserves surrounded by large areas of densely populated land almost devoid of natural vegetation are increasingly endangered. In effect they represent systems of islands which on establishment contain more species than can be maintained in equilibrium, and in the absence of management become ecologically unstable. Thus rational land use patterns in areas bordering national parks and games reserves, which take into account the broad objectives which lead to the establishment of these parks and reserves, are of major importance in conservation in the longrun.A second major contribution, closely related to the first, that the forestry profession can make to conservation is to expand very substantially its programmes of exploration, utilization and conservation of forest gene resources to include at leas a portion of the vast array of tropical tree species which have value for purposes other than wood production. A major development in this diresction would push forestry practice out of receding enclaves of forest reserves into large areas of partially logged land outside forest reserves (e.g., 400 000 ha annually in the Ivory Coast), and integrate it with farming systems. Such a development would result in the long run in the creation of ecologically stable agroforesty ecosystems and allow a less rapid transition between the ecology of reserves and the surrounding countryside. Moreover, it would bring forestry practice closer to actual traditional land use patterns in the tropics, and closer to the needs of people, than is presently the case.Conservation measures conceived independently of general trends in land use likely to be less successful than those which take them into account. Furthermore, as far as forestry practice is concerned conservation must in the long run be viewed as an integral part of management, and formally incorporated in the educational and training programmes of professional foresters and forest technicians. It is so viewed in this paper which is directed to the practising forester and seeks to determine a feasible course of action for him after than to contribute to the general discussion on biological conservation.