Parks as a Mechanism to Maintain and Facilitate Recovery of Forest Cover: Examining Reforestation, Forest Maintenance and Productivity in Uganda

Abstract

Tropical forests are among the world’s most productive ecosystems, providing important social and environmental benefits. However, they are increasingly threatened by accelerating rates of forest conversion and degradation (Brown and Lugo 1990). The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 13 million ha of forest are converted annually to agriculture and pasture in developing countries (FAO 2006). Forest loss and fragmentation of tropical forests has been called the single greatest threat to global biological diversity (Turner and Corlett 1996; Laurance and Bierregaard 1997). Hill and Curran (2003) assert that fragmentation negatively impacts species composition due to a reduction in forest area and an isolation of the remaining forest fragments.

Department

Geography

Publication Date

2010

Publisher

Springer

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1007/978-1-4020-9656-3_12

Document Type

Book Chapter

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