Forest decline in the tropical zone of the world has provoked an enormous amount of concern but, so far, few if any panaceas. Leaving aside the pervasive impact of clearance for agriculture to focus for the time being exclusively on the role of timber extraction in the moist tropics, it appears that, in present circumstances at least, commercial logging is effectively incompatible with sustainable forest use. For this reason there is a developing interest in the potential which private-sector plantation forestry may have, in these areas, for significantly contributing to both local and export timber needs and so relieving pressure on the remaining area of natural forest. The peculiarly long-term character of investment in trees, and the capital-poor nature of the countries concerned mean, however, that financial incentives will almost certainly be necessary if plantations are to have real consequence.

It is in this context that the recent history of the forest programme in Ireland, the country with the lowest overall proportion of forest cover and the highest percentage of state (as opposed to private) forestry in the EC, may be relevant. Forestry incentives introduced in 1980, and aimed at landowners in the agriculturally disadvantaged western region, were initially ineffective, despite the region's comparative advantages for timber-growing. However, major additions to the level and range of support in the second half of the 1980s, led to an exponential increase in grant-uptake.

The very success of the above scheme in recent years has caused it to be critized for the loss of large areas of bogland which have considerable environmental value but low potential for timber production in any normal investment sense. In addition, plantations in all parts of the region are overwhelmingly coniferous. More generous, country-wide incentives for environmentally desirable broadleafed planting are too new for it to be known what effect they will have on the afforestation of the better land. It seems almost certain, however, that attempts to reconcile productive and environmental aims in private forestryprogrammes inevitably increase their complexity and cost: this has undesirable implications for the possible transfer of such schemes to developing countries in the tropics.

The expansion of human settlements and primary-sector activities (agriculture and forestry) has resulted in the fragmentation of forests, but the impacts of this are still poorly understood. We examined the effect of patch size on the presence of plant functional groups along an edge–interior gradient. Plant species were classified based on a two-way indicator species analysis in order to determine their establishment thresholds and vulnerability along the gradient, while detrended correspondence analyses and canonical correspondence analyses were performed to identify environmental gradients related to vegetation distribution. Two groups of plant species were recognized in all patch sizes: one commonly found towards the edge and the other in the interior zone. The incidence of these groups was correlated with environmental factors associated with the edge–interior gradient, mainly with humidity, soil moisture and light (canopy opening and global site factor) in the edge zone and with litter cover, depth of litter, slope and soil and air temperature in the interior zone. Identifying the species’ threshold responses to fragmentation is key, as they provide tools to prevent the potential local extinction of species.

Approximately 80% of neotropical forests are subject to unsustainable economic practices, such as logging. Spiders are a megadiverse taxonomic group with a particularly great diversity in forest ecosystems and could help indicate the sustainability of logging operations. At six sites at 400–700 m altitude in the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina, spiders collected using pitfall traps and forest structure and spider assemblage structure variables were quantified in order to examine the association between them and to identify indicator spider families. Logging changes forest structure and seems to generate an unsuitable habitat for spiders associated with mature forests. The family taxonomic level is a good surrogate for spider morphospecies. The Mysmenidae, Nemesiidae, Theridiidae, Pholcidae, Hahniidae and Tetragnathidae families were associated with upper canopy cover of 20% or more and with more than two dead fallen trees per 0.1 ha and >15 live trees per 0.1 ha, found in unlogged forests. Bearing in mind that the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina is being logged in the absence of sustainability criteria, we suggest including spiders in monitoring schemes to complement the information obtained from more readily used groups, such as charismatic vertebrates.

People who live on the edges of protected areas may harvest timber to make their living from this natural forest product. Therefore, understanding timber consumption at the household level is critical for developing effective conservation policies. Previous studies have highlighted relationships between the consumption of forest products and socioeconomic status, but they have failed to examine timber consumption under cultural contexts. In this study, we interviewed 121 villagers to examine the socioeconomic profiles of timber consumers with regards to their indigenous culture in the buffer zones of Vietnam’s Bu Gia Map National Park. We found that indigenous identity, landownership, number of crops grown by villagers and proximity to markets are statistically significant for explaining the consumption of timber from natural forests. Given the high likelihood that most of this timber was collected illegally, we make several recommendations for forest managers on how to interact with villagers to improve park protection.