A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TROPICAL RAINFOREST MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT LITERATURE: THE CASE OF WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA

The destruction of tropical rainforests has come to the forefront of the environmental agenda in the last two decades. This issue has become increasingly relevant to social, economic and political forums, as the plight of forest degradation and its manifold social consequences are being recognized. In short, the destruction of tropical forests make the issues of rainforest development and management salient to both natural and social science research agendas. Much of the literature regarding this topic has traditionally been written from a natural science perspective. The disciplines of ecology, botany, zoology, forestry and agronomy have successfully described and analyzed the complex interrelationships which comprise tropical rainforest ecosystems. Moreover, this research has established a scientific basis for understanding the consequences of human interactions with this fragile ecological realm. The impact that forest clearing has had on soil stability, biogenetic diversity and its long-term implications for global ecological stability are some of the areas which have been articulated by contributions from the natural sciences. The social dimensions of the interrelationships between man and the tropical forest has several manifestations. The conversion of tropical forests due to socioeconomic and political forces includes: 1) the expansion of agriculture; 2) resource extraction (timber and minerals); 3) transmigration schemes and 4) massive development projects (dams, etc.). These activities have brought the