ABSTRACT
Global tropical deforestation-the issues Large-scale transformations of the tropical forest biome are often presented as one of the major ecological issues of the final decade of the twentieth century. Wanton and irreversible deforestation for logging purposes, slow encroachment of agriculture into forest lands, and unexpected and catastrophic damage from uncontrolled burning, have all contributed to focus the attention of the public at large on the fate of these unique tropical forest ecosystems. In the last decade the scale of awareness, interest and concern has become global. The range of possible impacts of forest removal has been given ample publicity, and environmental consequences have been examined with varying degrees of confidence at scales ranging from local to regional and even global. Predictions related to habitat destruction, reduction in species diversity, loss of soil and water resources, changes in local and regional climates, and impacts on local population, currently range from the benign to the catastrophic. It is, indeed, unusual to find statements on world forest resources and deforestation that are entirely objective and free of philosophical underpinnings. The fact that, in an increasingly ecologicallyconscious world, the forest is seen as the symbol of environmental purity does not facilitate an objective evaluation of the facts.
