Abstract

This paper presents the results of the Symposium on “Deforestation and reforestation: The Atlas Project”. From the studies presented appeared that at present the causes od deforestation do not arise so much from global climatic causes, but rather from human activity. Both the study conducted on the Nokopo population in Papua New Guinea, by Kocher Schmid, and the one conducted on the Berbers in Morocco, by Camperio Ciani and Arhou, presented a clear role of the local population and its tradition on negatiove forerst iòpact. Agro-forestal grazing and clearing for domestic animal feeding produced heavy forest degeneration. In Morocco the role of mixed herds of a few goats with many sheep produce devastating effects to the undergrowth of the Cedar and Oak forest. While fires ang pig overgrazing produce deforestation in the Nokopo Primary forest region. Further the external impact of foreign culture negatively affects the dinamic relationship between the local culture and the forest environment. The desertification process that emerges is a bottom up one that begins from the undergrowth reduction and ends with tha actual felling of the tree. It is suggested that close monuitoring of the forest condition using biological indicators could be a useful inyegration to remote sensing methods. As an example Macaca sylvanus demography has proven an efficient biological indicator to individuate early forest desertification risks in Morocco. It is proposed the Atlas project that combines reforestation with an efficient monitoring system and the study and development of sustainable alternatives to overgrazing to reduce the desertification process of the last North Africa forest.