We are in no doubt that population growth and economic development of any country – wherever located on the globe – will result in increasing forest utilization and conversion of forest areas to other land use.
We contributed our entire professional life to counter the destruction of tropical forests. However, where the economic interests of a minority gain the upper hand, our expertise is helpless and powerless. To create a fair balance between interest groups renders sophisticated levels of knowledge necessary, incorporating disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches. These contradictory and partially existential user interests cannot be denied but need to be addressed in a holistic approach. Population growth and the reduction of poverty and hunger enforce the extension of agricultural areas, and the extreme excess of the politically well-anchored demands for renewable energy and resources may complete to do the rest for the tropical forest resources. The use of timber and subsequent timber processing safeguards income and employment. Wood fuel is the most important source of energy for 70 % of the world’s population.
Ecosystems and their biodiversity have to be protected tropical forests have to be maintained as important drivers of the global climate system and a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Tropical forests find themselves in a field of tension between different user interests. They seem to share the fate of early European forests, but due to modern technology, global markets, and pursuit of profit at a much faster progress, they are destroyed at an alarming pace. Today, tropical forests are one of the top ecological trouble spots in the world. It looks as Europe has been saved by the bell. Forest sustainability was understood as the interplay of different ecological, economic, and social functions and a continuous cover forestry with mixed species stands, layered structures, and selective cutting became the desirable forest practice. At the beginning of the last century, a slow shift of paradigm took place in Europe. They shaped forests according to their interests and later invented treatments to increase their sustainable productivity, which resulted in uniform, single-species stands. Then, humans entered the forests, utilized their timber, and cleared forests for other land use. Our ancestors did not experience those forests as locations of harmony and well-being but as spooky and scary scenes of creepy stories with kidnapped princesses, ruthless witches, and cruel noblemen. Long ago, European forests were wild and undisturbed. We dedicate this Handbook to our Heavenly Father and entrust ourselves to His guidance and protection as we reverently manage His marvelous donation to humanity so that future generations may experience the harmony, peace, and spirit of tropical forests. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. ISBN 978-0-6 ISBN 978-1-3 (eBook) ISBN 978-2-0 (print and electronic bundle) DOI 10.1007/978-1-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015957807 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1993, 2016 This work is subject to copyright. Michael Köhl Center for Wood Sciences Institute of World Forestry University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany Tropical Forestry Handbook Second EditionĮditors Laslo Pancel Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH La Libertad, El Salvador