Arising initially from a conference, the papers published here have been integrated into book form to provide information on human activities and the tropical rainforest in the past and present, and on the possible future of the rainforest, in a unique way. Other books have considered some, but not all, of these themes; however, none has stressed the continuity of change over time and its possible outcome for the people of the forest as well as for the forest itself.
Because of the approach taken, this book should appeal across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Indeed a prime aim has been to suggest that rainforest, because of its complexity and the complexity of people-rainforest relationships throughout time, deserves study from a broad perspective. This book poses more questions than answers about the rainforest and it is hoped that it will encourage readers to think about the rainforest in a wider way than hitherto.
This book is aimed at geographers (physical and human), social anthropologists, archaeologists, pedologists, foresters and tropical botanists and will be of value to graduates of various disciplines setting out to research the rainforest.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Landscape sensitivity in the humid tropics: a geomorphological appraisal.- 3. Human activity and the tropical rainforest: are the soils the forgotten component of the ecosystem?.- 4. The long-term history of human activity and rainforest development.- 5. Indigenous knowledge of the rainforest: perception, extraction and conservation.- 6. History and destiny of Middle American forests: the inheritors of the Mayan landscape.- 7. Social, economic and political aspects of forest clearance and land-use planning in Indonesia.- 8. Diversity destroyed? The monoculture of Eucalyptus.- 9. Modelling climatic impacts of future rainforest destruction.- 10. Conclusion.