Technologies to sustain tropical forest resources, OTA-F-214
The destruction of tropical forests represents one of those subtle depletions of the earth's resources that humankind usually tends to recognize and bewail only after it is too late. Each year, 11.3 million hectares of tropical forests (an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania) are cleared and converted to other land uses or to unproductive land. Once farmed and then abandoned, the land has lost much of its inherent productivity. This report examines what technologies could be developed or adapted in order to reduce the need to waste tropical land and yet respond to the growing demand for forest products and services within the tropical nations. Changing technologies alone, however, the report points out, will not be enough to sustain the tropical forests because the underlying causes of the deforestation are institutional, social, and economic.
- OSTI ID:
- 6059901
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: From announcement in Science, Technology, and Human Values, Fall 1984
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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