Abstract
Tropical rainforests disappear at an alarming rate causing unprecedented losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services (Hughes et al. 1997, Noble & Dirzo 1997, Tilman et al. 2001, Achard et al. 2002) with Southeast Asia showing the highest rates of deforestation of any major tropical region (Sodhi et al. 2004). Despite an increased recognition of the value of these goods at national and international levels, rainforests continue to be seriously threatened by various forms of encroachments such as low-intensity harvesting of non-timber forest products by the rural poor, large-scale plantation forestry by the state or private actors, and the conversion of forested land by smallholder farmers. Transformation of ecosystems and changes in land use affect important ecosystem services and ultimatively human well-being (Robertson & Swinton 2005).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Achard F, Eva HD, Stibig H-J, Mayaux P, Gallego J, Richards T, Malingreau J-P (2002) Determination of deforestation rates of the world’s humid tropical forests. Science 297: 999–1002
Balmford A, Bruner A, Cooper P, Costanza R, Farber S, Green RE, Jenkins M, Jefferiss P, Jessamy V, Madden J, Munro K, Myers N, Naeem S, Paavola J, Rayment M, Rosendo S, Roughgarden J, Trumper K, Turner RK (2002) Economic reasons for conserving wild nature. Science 297: 950–953
Bawa KS, Kress WJ, Nadkarni NM, Lele S, Raven PH, Janzen DH, Lugo AE, Ashton PS, Lovejoy TE (2004) Tropical Ecosystems into the 21st century. Science 306: 227–228
du Toit JT, Walker BH, Campbell B M (2004) Conserving tropical nature: current challenges for ecologists. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 12–17
Foley JA, DeFries R, Asner GP, Barford C, Bonan G, Carpenter SR, Chapin FS, Coe MT, Daily GC, Gibbs HK, Helkowski JH, Holloway T, Howard EA, Kucharik CJ, Monfreda C, Patz JA, Prentice IC, Ramankutty N, Snyder PK (2005) Global consequences of land use. Science 309: 570–574
Hughes JB, Daily GC, Ehrlich PR, (1997) Population diversity: Its extent and extinction. Science 278(5338): 689–692
Laurance WF (2001) Future shock: forecasting a grim fate for the earth. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 531–533
Maertens M, Zeller M, Birner R (2006) Sustainable agricultural intensification in forest frontier areas. Agricultural Economics 34(2): 197–206
Matson PA, Parton WJ, Power AG, Swift MJ (1997) Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science 277: 504–509
Müller D, Zeller M (2002) Land use dynamics in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: a spatial model combining village survey data and satellite imagery data. Agricultural Economics 27(3): 333–354
Noble IR, Dirzo R (1997) Forests as human-dominated ecosystems. Science 277: 522–525
Perfecto I, Vandermeer J, Mas A, Pinto LS (2005) Biodiversity, yield, and shade coffee certification. Ecological Economics 54: 435–446
Robertson GP, Swinton SM (2005) Reconciling agricultural productivity and environmental integrity: a grand challenge for agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3: 38–46
Schulze CH, Waltert M, Kessler PJA, Pitopang R, Shahabuddin, Veddeler D, Mühlenberg M, Gradstein SR, Leuschner C, Steffan-Dewenter I, Tscharntke T (2004) Biodiversity indicator groups of tropical land-use systems: comparing plants, birds, and insects. Ecological Applications 14: 1321–1333
Sodhi NJ, Koh LP, Brook BW, Ng PKL (2004) Southeast Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 654–660
Steffan-Dewenter I, Kessler M, Barkmann J, Bos M, Buchori D, Erasmi S, Faust H, Gerold G, Glenk K, Gradstein SR, Guhardja E, Harteveld M, Hertel D, Höhn P, Kappas M, Köhler S, Leuschner C, Maertens M, Marggraf R, Migge-Kleian S, Mogea J, Pitopang R, Schaefer M, Schwarze S, Sporn SG, Steingrebe A, Tjitrosoedirdjo SS, Tjitrosoemito S, Twele A, Weber R, Woltmann L, Zeller M, Tscharntke T (2006) Socioeconomic context and ecological consequences of rainforest conversion and agricultural intensification. (submitted)
Tilman D, Cassman KG, Matson PA, Naylor R, Polasky S (2002) Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418: 671–677
Tilman D, Fargione J, Wolff B, D’Antonio C, Dobson A, Howarth R, Schindler D, Schlesinger WH, Simberloff D, Swackhamer D (2001) Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change. Science 292: 281–284
Totten M, Pandya SI, Janson-Smith T (2003) Biodiversity, climate, and the Kyoto protocol: risks and opportunities. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 1: 262–270
Tscharntke T, Klein AM, Kruess A, Steffan-Dewenter I, Thies C (2005) Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity-ecosystem service management. Ecology Letters 8: 857–874
Vosti SA, Reardon T (eds) (1997) Sustainability, growth and poverty alleviation: a policy and agroecological perspective. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tscharntke, T., Leuschner, C., Zeller, M., Guhardja, E., Bidin, A. (2007). The stability of tropical rainforest margins, linking ecological, economic and social constraints of land use and conservation — an introduction. In: Tscharntke, T., Leuschner, C., Zeller, M., Guhardja, E., Bidin, A. (eds) Stability of Tropical Rainforest Margins. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30290-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30290-2_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-30289-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-30290-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)