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Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics (1993)

Chapter: Part Two: Country Profiles

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Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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PART TWO

Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Country Profiles

The seven country profiles that constitute Part Two of this book are an integral part of the committee's report. They represent a portion of the data, observations, and insights that the committee amassed during the course of its study. Authors were selected based on broad recognition, by their scientific peers, of their authority and scientific knowledge of the deforestation and sustainable agriculture issues in the selected countries. The profiles on Brazil, Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Zaire portray the pressures on natural resources that these countries face and ways they can be mitigated. They tell part of the story of what is happening in the humid tropics.

The profiles represent each of the three major humid tropic regions —Africa, Asia, and Latin America—and include discussions on land use and forest conversion, general causes and consequences of deforestation, sustainable land use alternatives, and policy implications. Discussions focusing on only 7 of the more than 60 countries lying within the humid tropics cannot and do not represent the status of science, agricultural and land use practices, and policy of all humid tropic countries. They do, however, illustrate the diversity of production sys-

Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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tems, with their unique environmental, social, and market niches, that can be found in any given locale or region. These varied presentations reinforce the committee's three major findings concerning the potential to restore degraded lands, the range of appropriate land uses, and the capacity for general economic growth with real-world examples.

No single type of land use can simultaneously meet all the requirements for sustainability or fit the diverse socioeconomic and ecological conditions found throughout the humid tropics. The seven country profiles provide examples of many of the options within the land use continuum that the committee outlines in Part One. They also illustrate the committee's view that progress toward sustainability in the humid tropics depends not only on the availability of improved techniques of land use, but on the creation of a more favorable environment for their development, dissemination, and implementation.

Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Page 261
Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Page 262
Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Page 263
Suggested Citation:"Part Two: Country Profiles." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Page 264
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Rainforests are rapidly being cleared in the humid tropics to keep pace with food demands, economic needs, and population growth. Without proper management, these forests and other natural resources will be seriously depleted within the next 50 years.

Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics provides critically needed direction for developing strategies that both mitigate land degradation, deforestation, and biological resource losses and help the economic status of tropical countries through promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. The book includes:

  • A practical discussion of 12 major land use options for boosting food production and enhancing local economies while protecting the natural resource base.
  • Recommendations for developing technologies needed for sustainable agriculture.
  • A strategy for changing policies that discourage conserving and managing natural resources and biodiversity.
  • Detailed reports on agriculture and deforestation in seven tropical countries.
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