Looking for the money tree

Sustainable forestry has always struggled to remunerate forest owners and managers as liberally as various forms of agriculture on the same land might do. Growing trees is a relatively slow business, and managing natural forests sustainably for their many values, including timber, is complex. Nevertheless, the wider benefits of forests, especially natural forests, for local people, nations and the planet are so vast that we must do our best to retain them in a world in which money talks loudly. This edition of the Tropical Forest Update features recent studies looking at ways to increase the income that tropical forests generate.