The management implications of canopy research

So little is known about about what goes on above our heads in rain forests and what lives there that the rain forest 'canopy' has been called the 'last biological frontier'. Until very recently, researchers had very limited access to the canopy, even in temperate forests and, not surprisingly, we are only just beginning to discover this part of the world. A new breed of scientists, canopy biologists, has evolved and have accelerated the rate of discovery. The implications for management of forests of this new voyage of discovery are enormous. At present conservationists, forest managers, environmental policy makers, and other research users have not even started to consider how to integrate the resulting new information for future planning and sustainable management and use of forests. The Earth Summit in 1992 drew attention to several of the principal biological dilemmas of the 20th century: biodiversity and forest loss, land conversion, climate change and ozone depletion. Understanding the importance of forest canopies for these issues is essential and researchers need to consider how better to coordinate their activities and deliver their results if they are to influence decision making at all levels. One new initiative shows some promise in this regard. Recently the United Nations Environment Program has supported the International Canopy Crane Network. This network of crane sites around the world will focus on providing an improved scientific basis for the importance of the forest canopy with respect to the Conventions on Biological Diversity, Climate Change and Ozone Depletion.