The importance to society of environmental services, provided by forest ecosystems, has significantly increased during the last few decades. A growing global concern with the deterioration of forests, beginning perhaps most noticeably in the 1980s, has led to an increasing public awareness of the environmental, cultural, economic, and social values that forests provide. Around the world, ideas of sustainable, close-to-nature, and multi-functional forestry have progressively replaced the older perception of forests as only a source for timber. The international impetus to protect and sustainably manage forests has come from global initiatives at management, conservation, and sustainable development related to all types of forests and forestry. A few of the more notable initiatives include: the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED), regional follow-ups to the Earth Summit such as the Montreal Process and Helsinki Accords, the forest elements of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Framework Convention on Climate Change(FCCC).

Sustainable Forest Management provides the necessary material to educate students about forestry and the contemporary role of forests in ecosystems and society. This comprehensive textbook on the concept and practice of sustainable forest management sets the standard for practice worldwide. Early chapters concentrate on conceptual aspects, relating sustainable forestry management to international policy. In particular, they consider the concept of criteria and indicators and how this has determined the practice of forest management, taken here to be the management of forested lands and of all ecosystems present on such lands. Later chapters are more practical in focus, concentrating on the management of the many values associated with forests. Overall the book provides a major new synthesis which will serve as a textbook for undergraduates of forestry as well as those from related disciplines such as ecology or geography who are taking a course in forests or natural resource management.

The future of the world's forests is at the forefront of environmental debate. Rising concerns over the effects of deforestation and climate change are highlighting the need both to conserve and manage existing forests and woodland through sustainable forestry practices. The Forests Handbook, written by an international team of both scientists and practitioners, presents an integrated approach to forests and forestry, applying our present understanding of forest science to management practices, as a basis for achieving sustainability. Volume One presents an overview of the world's forests; their locations and what they are like, the science of how they operate as complex ecosystems and how they interact with their environment. Volume Two applies this science to reality; it focuses on forestry interventions and their impact, the principles governing how to protect forests and on how we can better harness the enormous benefits forests offer. Case studies are drawn from several different countries and are used to illustrate the key points. Development specialists, forest managers and those involved with land and land-use will find this handbook a valuable and comprehensive overview of forest science and forestry practice. Researchers and students of forestry, biology, ecology and geography will find it equally accessible and useful.

These are turbulent, unpredictable, yet opportune times for Canadian forestry. Never before have competing demands on Canada’s forest resources been so great. At the same time, we are finally being forced to confront the sustainable limit of these resources. Now, the improbable has happened: government, industry, First Nationa, and NGOs appear to be part of an emerging consensus that industrial forestry in Canada must change. The Wealth of Forests is a pioneering attempt to grapple with the policy implications of the transition to sustainable forestry. While much has been written on the theory and practice of sustainable forestry and on the relative merits of regulatory versus market approaches to environmental protection, these literatures have nnot as yet been bridged. Using illustrations based on recent developments in British Columbia forest policy, this collection provides that bridge by analyzing the potential and limits of market, regulatory, and other policy instruments as means of achieving sustainability. Featuring new work by many of Canada’s leading forest policy scholars, this interdisciplinary collection is devoted to translating the concept of sustainability into practice in key areas of forest policy, including tenure, timber pricing, forest practices, land-use zoning, and eco-certification. The Wealth of Forests also considers how domestic and international legal regimes might constrain the adoption of policies that could bring us close to the elusive goal of sustainable forestry.

This book reviews the current state-of-the-art within each of the four major themes: science and policy; inventory and monitoring; statistics and modelling; and information and knowledge management, in the context of sustainable forestry. It fosters dialogue across thematic areas concerning both strategic and operational approaches to integrate research on sustainable forestry. It also enhances and encourages international collaboration towards sustainable forestry practice worldwide.

In this important book Chris Maser covers the ecological characteristics of forests and asks -- what makes up a forest? He discusses the science and technology of forestry and the uncertainties we face in our attempts to manage forests throughout the world.Sustainable Forestry also deals with current management problems within the forestry profession, beginning with university training and ending with dysfunction in land management agencies. Important topics such as forest planning, establishing an environmental vision and resolving conflicts are also discussed.-- Provides a characterization of a forest as a dynamic living organism which is far more complex than just its trees-- Examines the fundamental issues concerning biological sustainability-- Suggests a new role for governmental forestry services as agents for change-- Discusses the importance of sustainability to critical natural resources such as water supply-- Discusses forest planning as the bridge between environmental conflict and a workable environmental/social vision of the future