Sustainable Forests

Description

This four-volume set is edited by leading experts on the evolving role of forests in providing raw materials and environmental services to meet society's changing needs. It brings together in one collection a series of papers that have helped to shape thinking on forests as a key sustainable resource. The collection includes some classic papers but is mainly composed of more recent publications at the cutting edge of thinking on forests and their sustainable use. The set includes a general introduction and each volume is introduced by a new overview essay, placing the selected papers in context. The breadth of subject matter is considerable, ranging from the management and conservation of forest landscapes, soils, hydrology and tree-atmosphere relations, socio-economic aspects including the livelihoods of indigenous people, policy and economics, to contemporary issues such as ecosystem services and climate change. Volume One covers forest conservation, now recognized as crucial to the mitigation of climage change, and its overall implications for forest landscapes, as well as forest ecology and biodiversity conservation within forests. Volume Two addresses the more technical biological, physical and chemical aspects of trees and forests and their environment, including physiological aspects and plant-atmosphere, soil and water relationships. Volume Three considers the livelihoods of people working or living in forests, including non-timber forest products, rights and tenure and community forestry, as well as on-farm forestry and urban forestry. Volume Four provides an overview of policy, governance, legal and economic aspects of forests and forest management, including the important topics of decentralization and the ownership of forests. The set provides students and teachers, confronted with thousands of journal articles, book chapters and grey literature, with a ready-made selection of, and commentary on the most important key writings on sustainable forests. It will be an essential reference for libraries concerned with geography, environmental studies, ecology, natural resource management and forestry.

Jeff Sayer is Professor of Conservation and Development at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia and Senior Fellow of IUCN, Switzerland. He was founding Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia. Neil Byron is an Honorary Professor in the Crawford School of Economics & Government and the Fenner School of Environment & Society at the Australian National University in Canberra. He was Commissioner of Australia's Productivity Commission with special responsibility for Environment and Natural Resources from 1998-2009, and before that Assistant Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia. Gillian Petrokofsky is the former Head of the Forestry section at CAB International and Editor of Forest Products Abstracts, and is now researching evidence-based forestry in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, UK. Associate Editors: Paul Jarvis is Emeritus Professor of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His research has focused on tree growth and physiology, particularly carbon and water exchange, including in relation to greenhouse gas levels, with major projects conducted across Europe, Canada and Africa. Margaret Shannon is Coordinator of the European Forest Institute Program on Forest Policy and Economics Education and Research in Southeast Europe, based in Croatia. She is also a Professor at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, USA, and Professor in Honor, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Freiburg, Germany. Douglas Sheil is Director of the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society), based in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and World Heritage Site, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda. He is also a Senior Research Associate with the Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR) Indonesia.