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Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics is the most comprehensive review available of the hydrological and physiological functioning of tropical rain forests, the environmental impacts of their disturbance and conversion to other land uses, and optimum strategies for managing them. The book brings together leading specialists in such diverse fields as tropical anthropology and human geography, environmental economics, climatology and meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, plant and aquatic ecology, forestry and conservation agronomy.
The editors have supplemented the individual contributions with invaluable overviews of the main sections and provide key pointers for future research. Specialists will find authenticated detail in chapters written by experts on a whole range of people-water-land use issues, managers and practitioners will learn more about the implications of ongoing and planned forest conversion, while scientists and students will appreciate a unique review of the literature.
Part I. Current Trends and Perspectives on People/Land-use/Water Issues; Part II. Hydrological Processes in Undisturbed Forest; Part III. Forest Disturbance, Conversion and Recovery; Part IV. New Methods for Evaluating Effects of Land-Use Change; Part V. Critical Appraisals of Best Management Practices.
Mike Bonell is Chief of the Hydrological Processes and Climate Section at the UNESCO Division of Water Sciences. He is the managing series editor of the International Hydrology Series, and is leading editor of Hydrology and Water Management in the Humid Tropics (1993; Cambridge University Press). L. A. (Sampurno) Bruijnzeel is Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor of Eco-Hydrology at the Department of Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Tropical Ecology, Hydrological Processes, and Land Use and Water Resources Research.
'Bonell and Bruijnzeel completed a challenging and commendable achievement in organizing these well-researched reviews on forests, water, and people of the humid tropics. The book will serve for many policy makers, managers, and scientists as a desk reference, and fit in alongside other classic publications of the Cambridge University Press International Hydrology Series. ! the book is a great resource, providing a collection of up-to-date reviews on watershed management in tropical forests.' Hydrological Processes '! an up-to-date, rich compendium of papers: 9 on hydrological process in undisturbed forests; 8 dealing with forest disturbance, conversion and recovery; and 8 describing methods for detecting and evaluating effects of land use change. Specialists in a wide range of fields ... will find contributions in their own field and in other fields with relevance to theirs.' European Tropical Forest Research Network News '! it draws its contents from worldwide experiences and is organized by both broad and open-minded editors who are honestly putting together the best existing knowledge !'. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 'Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics is an up-to-date and comprehensive review of current knowledge on humid tropical forest hydrological functioning ! This is an impressive book. You get a real sense of the current nature and breadth of the field, the importance of both empirical and conceptual approaches, the practical applications and the multidisciplinarity of managing those systems. ! there is a real 'take home message' to the book, which is the need of holistic approaches to tropical land and water management with a focus on local community involvement. ! excellent and very well-written ! there is something in Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics for everyone.' Progress in Physical Geography
