What futures for the people of the tropical forests?

The importance of forest products to households living in or near forests h as been increasingly recognized. Estimates of numbers of people who in some way rely on forests, for survival or livelihoods, vary widely. Yet numbers alone do not reveal the forests' importance to diverse users. A typology t hat recognizes the varied relationships of people to forests and forest pro ducts permits assessment of the impacts of economic, cultural, and social c hanges. Understanding these relationships is crucial for institutions to ad apt to changing patterns of demand, use, and supply, and to support both "f orest-dependent" and "forest-related" peoples. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.