Throughout the world, an area of tropical rainforest equal to half the size of Florida is being lost each year. As many as 13 million hectares of forest lands, including 6 million hectares of primary forest, were lost each year between 2000 and 2005, with South America suffering the worst losses.
Forestry industry representatives and environmental organizations in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest are promoting a new model of rural production and conservation on a landscape scale. The sustainable forest mosaics concept is a response to the complex challenge of producing much-needed wood fibre while protecting ecosystems, natural resources and community livelihoods. The mosaic concept aims to fit together different land uses – such as plantations, agriculture and nature reserves – in a way that meets economic and social needs while maintaining ecosystem services and biodiversity. The initiative takes a science-based landscape approach, seeking to guarantee results in an area large enough to benefit a range of species and ecosystems.
