ity decline, weed infestation, disruption of forest regeneration, and excessive soil erosion.

Monocultural systems have been successfully introduced over large areas of the humid tropics, and include production of coffee, tea, bananas, citrus fruits, palm oil, rubber, sugarcane, and other commodities produced primarily for export. Plantations and other monocultural systems provide employment and earn foreign exchange.

The committee has focused its analysis on the relationship between forest conversion and agriculture, and on how the problems of both might be better addressed through developing and implementing more sustainable land use systems. Improved land use in the humid tropics requires an approach that recognizes the characteristic cultural and biological diversity of these lands, incorporates ecological processes, and involves local communities at all stages of the development process.

Fundamental scientific, social, and economic questions—and certainly the more applied problems—are multifaceted. Steady progress toward sustainability and the resolution of problems in the humid tropics requires that several scientific disciplines be integrated and managed to ensure collaboration and synergy.

No single type of land use can simultaneously meet all the requirements for sustainability or fit the diverse socioeconomic and ecological conditions. In this report, the committee describes 12 overlapping categories within the complete range of sustainable land use options. The committee also presents a scheme, for comparing the attributes of each of the 12 categories (see Chapter 3), that can be used as a tool for management and decision making in evaluating land use options for a specific area. The attributes are grouped as biophysical, economic, and social benefits. With proper management, these land use options have the potential to stabilize forest buffer zone areas, reclaim cleared lands, restore degraded and abandoned lands, improve small farm productivity, and provide rural employment. They are described below:

• Intensive cropping systems are concentrated on lands with adequate water, naturally fertile soils, low to modest slope, and other environmental characteristics conducive to high agricultural productivity. The best agricultural lands in most parts of the humid tropics

Front Matter (R1-R16)

Executive Summary (1-18)

Part One (19-20)

1 Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics (21-65)

2 Sustainable Land Use Options (66-137)

3 Technological Imperatives for Change (138-158)

4 Policy-Related Imperatives for Change (159-191)

References (192-214)

Appendix: Emissions of Greenhouse Gases from Tropical Deforestation and Subsequent Uses of the Land (215-260)

Part Two: Country Profiles (261-264)

Brazil (265-351)

C te d (352-392)

Indonesia (393-439)

Malaysia (440-482)

Mexico (483-548)

The Philippines (549-624)

Zaire (625-658)

Glossary (659-674)

Authors (675-678)

Index (679-704)