Bioenergy Tree Plantations in the Tropics: Ecological Implications and Impacts - Commission on Ecology Papers Number 12

Present and future fuelwood deficits in the tropics and subtropics are reviewed. A case is made that bioenergy plantations have the potential to dramatically lower these projected shortfalls and, at the same time, reduce the pressure now being placed on the world's remaining tropical moist forests by fuelwood harvesting. Environmental and ecological considerations in raising bioenergy plantations are discussed. Yields and economics are set against social and institutional constraints to success. Agroforestry and increased use of wood waste are put forward as alternative and supplementary methods of increasing the supply of woodfuel. In the face of increasing population and progressive degradation of tropical forest lands, the creation of buffer zones around reserves and maintenance of ecological diversity outside the natural forest in terms of a diverse mosaic of heterogenous and discrete ecosystems are advocated.