The stability of rainforest margins has been identified as a critical factor in the preservation of tropical forests, e.g., in Southeast Asia, one of the world's most extensive rainforest regions. This book contains a selection of contributions presented at an international symposium on "Land Use, Nature Conservation and the Stability of Rainforest Margins in Southeast Asia," in Bogor, Indonesia, October 2002. It highlights the critical issue of rainforest preservation from an interdisciplinary perspective, comprising input from scientists in socio-economic, biological, geographical, agrarian and forestry disciplines. The contributions are based on recent empirical research, with a special focus on Indonesia - a country with one of the highest and, at the same time, most endangered stocks of rainforest resources on earth.

Klappentext

Southeast Asia constitutes one of the world's most extended rainforest regions. It is characterized by a high degree of biodiversity and contains a large variety of endemic species. Moreover, these forests provide a number of important and sin­ gular ecosystem services, like erosion protection and provision of high quality wa­ ter, which cannot be replaced by alternative ecosystems. However, various forms of encroachment, mostly those made by human interventions, seriously threaten the continuance of rainforests in this area. There is ample evidence that the rainforest resources, apart from large scale commercial logging, are exposed to danger particularly from its margin areas. These areas, which are characterized by intensive man-nature interaction, have been identified as extremely fragile systems. The dynamic equilibrium that bal­ ances human needs and interventions on the one hand, and natural regeneration capacity on the other, is at stake. The decrease of rainforest resources is, to a sub­ stantial degree, connected with the destabilization of these systems. Accordingly, the search for measures and processes, which prevent destabilization and promote stability is regarded as imperative. This refers to both the human and the natural part of the forest margin ecosystem.

Inhalt

Policy Options for Stabilising the Forest Frontier: A Global Perspective.- Forest Margin Protection and Community Involvement.- Historical Impacts on Use and Management of Natural Resources in the Rainforest Margins of Central Sulawesi.- Robo and the Water Buffalo: The Lost Souls of the Pekurehua of the Napu Valley.- Orang Kampung and Pendatang: Analysis of Demographic Structure and Migration in Two Forest-Margin Villages, Central Sulawesi.- "Revolusi cokelat": Social Formation, Agrarian Structure, and Forest Margins in Upland Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Traditional Land Tenure among the Black Thai and its Implication on the Land Allocation in Yen Chau District, Son La Province, Northwest Vietnam.- Local Ethnic Minority Networks for Sustainable Resource Management: The Pang Ma Pha Hilltribe Network Organization in Northern Thailand.- Creating Political Capital to Promote Devolution in the Forestry Sector - A Case Study of the Forest Communities in Banyumas District, Central Java, Indonesia.- Does Technical Progress in Agriculture have a Forest Saving or a Forest Clearing Effect? Theory and Evidence from Central Sulawesi.- Encroachments on Primary Forests: Are They Really Driven by Despair?.- Rain Forest Margins and their Dynamics in South-East Ethiopia.- Forest Resource Use by People in Protected Areas and its Implications for Biodiversity Conservation: The Case of Bandhavgarh National Park in India.- Land-Use Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in West Kalimantan.- Tree Composition in Secondary Forest of Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Effects of Land Use on Butterfly Communities at the Rain Forest Margin: A Case Study from Central Sulawesi.- Losing Ground but Still Doing Well - Tarsius dianae in Human-Altered Rainforests of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Home Range, Diet and Behaviour of the Tonkean Macaque (Macaca tonkeana) in Lore Lindu National Park, Sulawesi.- Predicting Losses of Bird Species from Deforestation in Central Sulawesi.- The Effects of Rainforest Conversion on Water Balance, Water Yield and Seasonal Flows in a Small Tropical Catchment in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Water Tenure in Highland Watersheds of Northern Thailand: Tragedy of the Commons or Successful Management of Complexity?.- Growth and Phosphorus Nutrition of Maize in Pot and Field Experiments as Affected by other Plants Grown in Association or in Rotation.- Adaptability Analysis and Risk Assessment of N Fertilizer Application to Maize in the Napu Valley of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.- Characterisation of Biodiversity in Improved Rubber Agroforests in West-Kalimantan, Indonesia: Real and Potential Uses for Spontaneous Plants.- Traditional Forest Gardens in Central Sulawesi: A Sustainable Land Use System?.- Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Forest Plantations and Secondary Rainforests: The Functional Role of Biodiversity.- The Use of Models to Assess the Impact of Land Use Change on Ecological Processes: Case-Studies of Deforestation in South-East Asia.- Agricultural Intensification, Population Growth and Forest Cover Change: Evidence from Spatially Explicit Land Use Modeling in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.- Between Difference and Synergy: Cultural Issues in an International Research Scheme.