Year of publication 1989

Effective management of the Tropical Moist Forests (TMF) is one way to prevent their disappearance. This, however, requires a good knowledge of existing- practices. The present study applies to TMF in Africa. This study covers mainly the lowland TMF, but has been extended to include the semi-deciduous tropical forest at rather higher alitudes in Uganda. Mention is also made of the mountain closed forests of Kenya and Tanzania. The present paper covers all management systems which retain TMF sites for forestry purposes. It therefore includes management of the mixed natural forests using natural regeneration, use of enrichment planting in combination with natural regeneration, and conversion of the natural forest to even-aged monoculture forest plantations. Conversion to non-forest crops, such as annual rice and maize or long-lived oil palm and rubber, may be a perfectly valid management system on some sites, but is outside the scope of this paper.