ABSTRACT
Trees and forests which are used for direct production can be distinguished from those used for protection and nurture of other production systems, 'nurture and fallow', or from those which are set aside for environmental conservation. The earliest plantation efforts, such as for spices, were made to produce a desirable commodity which was rare, because the natural forests in which it was found were diminishing, or distant, or because the species was present only at low densities. In the tropics in particular, as long as natural forests are undervalued, investment in plantations will be inadequate, and logging may continue to degrade forests. Natural forests kept in an undisturbed state provide services that cannot be obtained from managed forests or from plantations. Many people would not consider such plantations to be forests. The financial, social and ecological values of forests are not necessarily incompatible rather, complementary relationships between them must be constructed actively.
