Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests in Asia Book

The degraded forests discussed in this paper are those that have been so badly damaged they have completely lost their protective or productive functions - but still retain their potential to revive. The paper focuses on the major areas in Asia fitting this description: swidden agriculture areas in moist forests; human-induced extensive Imperata grasslands; repeatedly hacked, low-profile hardwood forests; and overlogged forests. The areas are defined carefully to determine their extent in Asia; key characteristics are described; their impacts on the local ecology are evaluated; the social and economic pressures that prolong the degradation are analyzed; and technical methods for rehabilitating the damaged areas are proposed. Although the paper recognizes that policy interventions are also crucial, it targets a specific audience: governments and agencies that plan and prepare the technical aspects of projects for restoring these important natural resource areas in Asia.