Secondary forest
dynamics in the Amazon floodplain in Peru
Wil de Jong, Luis Freitas, Juan Baluarte, Petra van
de Kop, Angel Salazar, Erminio Inga,
Walter Melendez and Camila Germaná
Summary of Points:
·
Studies in secondary forest in
·
This environment is marked by more fertile soils than generally
found on terra firme lands. Floodplain soils may
flood yearly or once every several years. Farmers grow combinations of crops on
different agricultural sites, and under annul production and multi-annual
regimes. Secondary forest plays and important role in this environment.
·
The main trends in the process of formation of secondary forest
have been analyzed through a survey among 218 farmers, collecting data on land
use, primary and secondary forest management, and other economic activities.
The results show that processes of secondary forest formation are influenced by
advancing market access, changes in the dominant land type as a result of river
floods, and population pressure when villages become older. As villages age
farmer's holding tend to become smaller. While this happens, private primary
forest reserves are replaced by secondary forest, but total forest cover does
not decline.
·
The economic importance of secondary forest increases when these
forests age, but improved market access seems to off-set this trend. The
concept of frontier expansion, and the related change of the role of secondary
forest in the landscape, typical for colonization areas, does only partly apply
to this environment.
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