animal dung that exist in soil. Soil erosion is reduced because the soil surface is covered by water and because of the constraints on soil movement imposed by the mounds of earth surrounding the paddies.

Wet rice cultivation is one of the most sustainable land uses in the humid tropics; however, it is not universally applicable. Level, easily flooded sites are required (for example, river floodplains), although slight slopes can be accommodated by terracing. If the water above the sediment is aerobic, it can act as a sink for CH₄, another greenhouse gas. However, CH₄ is produced in copious amounts under the anaerobic conditions of the flooded fields. So, in addition to the CO₂ given off when the forest is cleared initially, there is a continuing emission of CH₄. This presents a major and not easily resolvable problem. Although control of deforestation by promoting the spread of wet rice cultivation makes sense because of its high productivity and sustainability, this might be harmful from a climate change perspective.

The changing of forests to pastures results in a 90 to 100 percent loss of carbon from the vegetation, which is similar to that for cultivated lands (Table A-3). Because pastures generally are not cultivated, the loss of carbon from pasture soils is less than the loss from cropland soils (about 12 percent compared with 25 percent). Most studies show a loss of soil carbon (Fearnside, 1980, 1986; Hecht, 1982a), sometimes as much as 40 percent of the carbon originally contained in the forest soil (Falesi, 1976; Hecht, 1982b). However, under some conditions there appears to be no loss of soil carbon (Buschbacher, 1984; Cerri et al., 1988), and there may even be an increase (Brown and Lugo, 1990b; Lugo et al., 1986).

Theoretically, cattle ranching on planted pastures is an attractive option because it should maintain a continuous grassy cover on the soil surface and does not involve cultivation, thereby reducing soil degradation. The hydrologic and soil conservation properties of pastures observed on experimental sites are generally favorable. In practice, however, both productivity and sustainability can be low in some tropical areas, causing frequent abandonment of land. The results are a continuing need to clear more forests to provide fresh pastures; overgrazing, which causes widespread, degraded vegetative cover and changes in composition; and soil compaction from constant trampling by animals, which exposes the soil to other forms of degradation. However, in well-managed pasturelands, this pattern of events does