Forests and Globalization ─ Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development

The overarching contribution of this book is a review and assessment of the current and future impacts of globalization on the world’s forests. The work has been developed by the "Resources for the Future" Task Force for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).

Four key themes are addressed: the effect of globalization on forests (including future trade flows); plantations as the primary source of forest products and its consequences, including plant breeding and forest health; the effect of new products such as bio-products and markets on forests; and the emergence of forest ecosystem services and their impact on the landscape and human communities. These four themes are examined in detail to map out the impacts of these trends for forests throughout the world and at multiple scales, and how forest research needs to be adapted to address these trends. Overall, the volume provides a major synthesis of current thinking and knowledge on the topic for advanced students, as well as policy-makers and professionals in the forest sector.

William Nikolakis is a lawyer and a Research Fellow in the Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

John Innes is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is the author or editor of several books on sustainable forestry, forest policy and forest health, and co-ordinator of the Task Force "Resources for the Future" for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).