Tropical forests play a critical role in global health--they store carbon, shelter amazing biodiversity, keep water clean, control soil erosion, and offer pharmacological and economic benefits. They also harbor more than two billion people worldwide, some of which live in symbiotic relations with the forests, but even in such ecosystems, the face of forests is changing. Most discussion of tropical ecosystems today center on their deforestation and degradation--not only historical accounts but also most of the scientific ...
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Tropical forests play a critical role in global health--they store carbon, shelter amazing biodiversity, keep water clean, control soil erosion, and offer pharmacological and economic benefits. They also harbor more than two billion people worldwide, some of which live in symbiotic relations with the forests, but even in such ecosystems, the face of forests is changing. Most discussion of tropical ecosystems today center on their deforestation and degradation--not only historical accounts but also most of the scientific literatures on tropical development forest fragmentation.Focusing on the history and current use of forest landscapes, the contributors explore these landscapes as places of significant human action, with complex institutions, ecologies, and economies that transformed these areas in the past and shape them today. "
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