Routledge Forests and Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development (The Earthscan Forest Library)

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. Review "Increasing economic globalization over the last two generations has profoundly altered international trade in forest products and domestic forest resources management and consumption across a range of developing and developed countries. The range of goods and services that society expects from our forests, the nature of forest products distribution and forest products use, have all been profoundly altered. In part owing to this complexity, there remain significant gaps in understanding and explaining the myriad of influences. This book sheds significant light on these gaps by making clearer just who controls the world’s forest resources in the 21st century; how forest resources are processed (in particular by multi-nationals such as IKEA); and the expanding ways in which society uses forest resources. Owing to this focus, this book covers a wide range of issues critical to the understanding of changes in forest resources management for this century and beyond. I strongly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the future of the world’s forests." – Ben Cashore, Professor, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, USA.  "This book discusses the ecological, economical and socio-economic impacts of globalization on the forest sector. If you read this awesome and many-sided book you will develop a sound understanding of the importance of the world’s forests – that forests and their sustainable use are the key to our future wellbeing. I warmly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the future development of the forest sector and humankind." – Hannu Raito, Director General, METLA, Finland.  "The world’s forests are under pressure like never before - as more wood is used for energy, more land is cleared for agriculture, new roads bring settlers and industry beyond today’s frontiers and climate change causes more frequent and more extreme weather events. Forests and Globalization presents timely, diverse and thought-provoking insights on how to address these pressures. It is a "must read" for foresters, policy makers, academics, development practitioners, forest campaigners and students." – Rod Taylor, Director, Forests, WWF International. "This volume contributes, in a timely fashion, to enhancing our understanding of how globalization has impacted the world’s forests. The authors have done a commendable job..." – Dr. Sen Wang, The Forestry Chronicle "The book will be of great interest to those studying or working in forest resource management and will appeal to those with an interest in sustainable resource management more broadly. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals/practitioners." – CHOICE, J. L. Rhoades, Antioch University New England About the Author William Nikolakis is a lawyer and a Research Fellow in