Can there be anything left to say on the subject of sustainable forestry? So much has been published on the topic in recent years. Much of the body of literature on the subject has been written in technical terms for an audience of specialists who are not only foresters but also ecologists, sociologists, economists and members of that all-embracing category, the environmentalists. Instead, this book is aimed primarily at a non-technical audience, including decision-makers and the concerned general public. It will, however, be of value to those foresters whose professional education was completed before the concept of sustainability was expanded beyond the sustained supply of timber to include all of the goods and services provided by the forest.
The idea for this book arose from the Paris Declaration, which was issued at the end of the Tenth World Forestry Congress (1991). The declaration called on the world's decision-makers to raise awareness and inform the public so that forest issues could be better understood and appreciated. One of the issues identified by the Congress as being of key importance for forestry as a whole was the concept of sustainable management.
Greater public awareness by itself will not result in the management of forests on a sustainable basis. The public has to be involved in the debate and decisions on the development of systems of management for all types of land use. Pressure from an informed public can make a major contribution to policy formulation and political commitment. The development of national forest policies and the involvement of people was discussed in Foresters and politics at the Ninth World Forestry Congress (Mexico City) in 1985. The Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment of 1972, the Seventh World Forestry Congress of 1972 (Buenos Aires) and the Eighth World Forestry Congress of 1978 Jakarta) have all implicitly or explicitly called upon governments to encourage the sustainable management of forests.
All congresses since the eighth have emphasized the need to involve people in forest policy development.
The requirements for sustainable forest management include not only the involvement of people but also the availability of appropriate techniques and adequate finance. In addition, ways must be found to solve or alleviate the many economic and social problems which, although arising outside the forests, have major impacts on the forest resource. Far-reaching changes in the political environment mean that now there is a chance that people in many more countries may be given the opportunity to participate in forest ownership and management. We believe that sustainable forest management is technically possible, although some of the techniques still require improvement and refining.
Forestry is still a low priority in most countries, and when budgets are drawn up, funds are generally still in very short supply. There are now, however, new and improved methods of assessing the values of services provided by forests, which coupled with an increasing awareness of the indirect benefits they bestow should greatly improve the prospects of meeting the funding needs for sustainable forest management.
We all recognize that the loss and degradation of the world's forests could have far-reaching consequences for humanity. This book is a contribution not only to increasing public awareness of the issues involved but also eventually to the implementation of sustainable forest management and of sustainable land use.
C.H. Murray
Assistant Director-General
Forestry Department
FAO