Concern about the destruction of the world’s forests, and in particular tropical forests, has grown considerably in the past two decades and has resulted in various initiatives to reverse this trend and to develop strategies and actions for sustainable forest management. Within this context, policymakers, researchers, forest practitioners, and advocacy groups have tended to focus on large tracts of tropical primary or pristine forests, while the conservation value and development potential of
degraded and secondary forests1 have been neglected. If properly managed, restored, or rehabilitated, degraded and secondary forests have the potential to generate significant environmental and livelihood benefits. Under certain conditions, they can mitigate pressure on primary forests through their ability to produce both wood and non-wood forest products. Furthermore, they can often provide environmental functions and make valuable contributions to biodiversity conservation. Human activities, exacerbated by poverty and population pressure on the one side and human greed on the other, are by far the dominant causal factors in forest degradation. Degraded primary forests result from the unsustainable use of primary or managed primary forests, either through the over-harvesting of wood and/or the uncontrolled extraction of other forest products. Secondary (second-growth) forests are, often, an integral part of subsistence agricultural systems. Degraded forest lands may remain degraded for long periods of time because of continuing misuse. They are generally a result of overuse on sites where persistent physical, chemical, and biological barriers limit the capacity of trees and forests to regrow.
