Future Challenge: A Paradigm Shift in the Forestry Sector - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 442

the urgent need to expand the regional forest base, a process that should include
afforestation, reforestation, and the establishment of other tree-based systems not
normally including in forest system classifications. The latter comment refers to the
recognition of smallholder agroforestry systems, and agroforestation. 3

21.4 Tree-Based Land Use Systems

21.4.1 Natural Forests

For centuries natural forests have been the cheapest source of high-quality
commercial timber and non-wood tree products. Additionally, hundreds of millions
of people in the tropics depend on natural forests for a significant part of their
livelihoods (Sayer 1998); most of these people practice traditional sustainable
forest management practices. As discussed above, natural forests are rapidly being
exhausted - reduced to an area of 266.5 million hectares in South and Southeast
Asia (FAO 2005). The area of natural forests is not going to increase or meet
human society's growing need for forest products and services. In face of persist-
ent loss, the question remains how long can natural forests continue to fulfill a
productive role? Van Noordwijk et al. (Chapter 20, this volume) argue that once
the supply from natural forests dries up the price of tree products will increase
making other tree-based land use systems profitable and attractive investments.
Due to the time lag between tree establishment and tree product harvesting (even
for fast-growing species) supply gaps will occur until planted tree-based systems
become sufficient and in continuous production. Thus the pressure on natural
forests will likely ' become worse before it becomes better '. Van Noordwijk et al.
(Chapter 20, this volume) recognize four important questions: (1) can deforesta-
tion be avoided or halted, (2) can the process of forest degradation be deflected
to a tree-based land use pattern that avoids the more serious stages of environ-
mental degradation, (3) can degraded lands (from a forest function perspective)
be rehabilitated, and (4) to what new level of tree cover and forest functions can
land use recover in a new 'steady state', while meeting economic expectations of
the land managers as well as society at large. The first two points address the need
to protect existing forest resource. The negative impacts of deforestation and for-
est degradation are heightening pressure on governments to protect their remain-
ing natural forests (FAO 2005). Efforts should be made to conserve the shrinking
natural forest resource, protecting the environmental services they provide and
reserving them for sustainable management by indigenous people when appropri-
ate. The sustainable management of natural forests systems has a significant role
in providing the forest products and services people require, but that role can not
be expanded given the shrinking resource. The following paragraph defines and

3 Agroforestation is the establishment of smallholder agroforestry systems, and implies land reha-
bilitation through the establishment of a tree-based system and intensification of land management
(Roshetko et al. 2007a).