1 Plantation forests and biodiversity: Oxymoron or opportunity? Forests
form the natural vegetation over much of the Earth's land, and they are
critical for the survival of innumerable organisms. The ongoing loss of
natural forests, which in some regions may have taken many millennia to
develop, is one of the main reasons for the decline of biodiversity.
Preventing the further destruction of forests and protecting species and
ecosystems within forests have become central issues for environmental
agencies, forest managers, and gove- ments. In this di?cult task science
has an important role in informing policy and management as to how to go
about this. So how do industrial and other pl- tation forests 't into
this? Plantation forests, comprised of rows of planted trees that may be
destined for pulp or sawmills after only a few years of growth, appear
to have little to c- tribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Yet
there is more to this than meets the eye (of the casual observer), and
there are indeed numerous opportunities, and often untapped potential,
for biodiversity conservation in plantation forestry. With plantation
forests expanding at a rate of approximately three million hectares per
year, it is crucial to understand how plantations can make a positive
contribution to biodiversity conservation and how the potentially
negative impacts of this land use can be minimised. That is the topic of
this book.
