While it's all well and good that some are trying to resolve the deforestation and forest degradation problem occurring in certain parts of the world, such solutions may have unintended harmful consequences, according to a new study.

That's the conclusion two University of Florida (UF) researchers came to, arguing that efforts to restore damaged and destroyed tropical forests can create other problems if experts don't assess the situation from every angle.

"We need to be careful about what is it we're losing and gaining," UF biology professor Francis E. Putz said in a university news release.

Deforestation is running amok in certain parts of the world, particularly in much of South America, Southeast Asia and the Congo Basin, and shows no signs of stopping soon. Such massive destruction leads to loss of habitat for wildlife, soil erosion and even accelerated climate change. Estimates peg the amount of deforested land around 18 million acres a year - an area nearly as large as South Carolina - and a similarly large area is degraded. And human-caused deforestation and degradation is not the only challenge. Agricultural fires and uncontrolled logging are part of the problem, too.

People from villagers to large landowners to global stakeholders are currently struggling to come up with a solution, but each idea has its own drawbacks. Options so far include letting the forests recover naturally, assisting natural regeneration, or planting new trees so as to make the areas more wildlife-friendly and biodiversity-rich.

For example, if degraded natural forests are replaced by plantations of invasive exotic trees or low water-use efficiency trees, biodiversity will diminish, wildlife could suffer and soil erosion could render streams unusable by local villagers.

"When you save a forest from deforestation, it's great, but you might not have gotten the full package of what you wanted," Putz commented.

Putz and his colleague, UF biology professor Claudia Romero, encourage experts to focus on the definition of a forest - described by the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization as an area a little over an acre with trees taller than about 16 feet and more than 10 percent canopy cover - to reach a viable solution.

The findings were published this month in the journal Biotropica.