According to the Global Forest Assessment Report of FAO (2005), deforestation rates in the tropics continue at alarming rates, leading to an increase of secondary forests. Human activities--timber extraction, slash and burn agriculture and fuel wood extraction-- are the most important deforestation factors. Interestingly, at the global level it has been reported that the rate of net forest loss is slowing down, thanks to new planting and natural expansion of existing forests. This reflects advances in forest management in some regions of the planet, but in most of the tropics efforts have still to be made to encourage secondary forest management and restoration. The aim of this session is to address priorities in research, policy, and actions to encourage secondary forest management in the tropics. To this end we seek to discuss the following issues: state of art research on secondary forests dynamics and species performance during secondary forest regeneration; positive experiences and constraints of tropical secondary forests management and restoration, and silvicultural techniques; market opportunities for secondary forests products with potential to improve local economies; experiences on how local people benefit from secondary forest management and restoration practices. The goal is to identify key issues to optimize the delivery of goods and services from secondary forests and to recommend actions to enhance sustainable secondary forest management. Experts from Latin America and Asia will give short presentations on each issue preparing a common platform for discussion. Followed by those presentations, the participants will be invited to share experiences and insights with the speakers. The organizers will compile the results and prepare a written report on the session.