ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the given ecological conditions to which tropical forestry must adapt, presents for the purpose the classical model of the ecology of tropical rainforests of the terra firme and explains some revisions that have to be made to it as a result of more recent ecological research findings. It examines the general principles of nature-oriented sustainable forestry and explores the state of research on the Amazon region. Prior to dealing with the special conditions of forestry in the tropics it may be best to sketch the emergence of the principles of nature-oriented sustainable forestry. Nature-oriented forest utilization demands of a logging firm felling and production scheduling that is geared strongly to a forest's sustainable timber supply and not - as usual - primarily to demand. Tropical forest ecosystems occur in a relatively broad band between the equator and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, i.e. in Africa, in Asia, and in Central and South America.
