ABSTRACT
Deforestation is an environmental problem that threatens the survival of the entire current biosphere. It is counted among the most important environmental crises facing our planet, not least because of its role in reducing biodiversity, increasing global warming and expanding deserts. However, most humans live in degraded forest landscapes, agricultural and urban landscapes. These landscapes, like those of most long-settled areas, both within and outside the tropics, have been claimed from forest. They demonstrate that when the trauma of forest conversion is past, many—but not all—former forest lands may be managed sustainably and productively. Forest conversion is not, inherently, a bad thing for human society or even for the biosphere. Excessive forest conversion is another matter.
