Towards integrated natural resource management in forest margins of the humid tropics: local action and global concerns

Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being. However, integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfilment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can-in a global partnership for sustainable development. Much of the international debate on natural resource management in the humid tropics revolves around forests, deforestation or forest conversion, the consequences it has and the way the process of change can be managed. These issues involve many actors and aspects, and thus can benefit from many disciplinary perspectives. Yet, no single discipline can provide all the insights necessary to fully understand the problem as a first step towards finding solutions that can work in the real world. Professional and academic education is still largely based on disciplines – and a solid background in the intellectual capital accumulated in any of the disciplines is of great value. If one wants to make a real contribution to natural resource management issues, however, one should at least have some basic understanding of the contributions other disciplines can make as well. Increasingly, universities are recognising the need for the next generation of scientists and policymakers to be prepared for interdisciplinary approaches. Thus, this series of lecture notes on integrated natural resource management in the humid tropics was developed for use in university and professional training at graduate level. The lecture notes were developed on the basis of the experiences of the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) consortium. This consortium was set up to gain a better understanding of the current land use decisions that lead to rapid conversion of tropical forests, shifting the forest margin, and of the slow process of rehabilitation and development of sustainable land use practices on lands deforested in the past. The consortium aims to relate local activities as they currently exist to the global concerns that they raise, and to explore ways by which these global concerns can be more effectively reflected in attempts to modify local activities that stabilise forest margins. The Rio de Janeiro Environment Conference of 1992 …