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Management of natural tropical forests in the past and present and projections for the future

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Considering the increasing areas covered by tropical disturbed forests, it is clear that future conservation of biodiversity and tropical forest ecosystems will mostly take place within what we call here "anthropogenic" forests, and only if they are well-managed. The term "well-managed" means that the elastic capacity of a specific forest type is respected and the rules for logging and other forest use practices must be established to guarantee the perpetuation of forests in good conditions so that they provide all the services desired by society. Hence, tropical silviculture will have to play a major role in the future to ensure sustained and sustainable production of forest products. The first part of this chapter presents the concept of SFM of tropical forests, and the silvicultural practices to be implemented in the future in managed production forests. The second part discusses the diversity of actors involved in the management of tropical forests and the need to include these actors in SFM in the tropics. The third part reviews the shortcomings of current policies and discusses the move towards more integrated management perspectives as well as multi-level forest governance approaches. The last part examines the role of forest policies in promoting SFM in the tropics, taking into account the changing perception of sustainability, the technical constraints of tropical silviculture, and the need to involve multiple actors.
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