Year of publication 1998

These guidelines have been prepared in response to a request from the 12th Session of the Committee on Forestry (13-16 March 1995) which called for a handbook on tropical forest management, aimed at providing practical advice to forest services and to the practicing tropical forest manager in the field. The Guidelines, focus mainly on the criterion of maintaining the productive functions of the forest, and more specifically on the production of wood and non-wood products and are intended to be practical and provide advice on how to plan and manage tropical forests for the sustainable production of wood, while paying increased attention to the sustainability of other goods and services provided by them. Principles rather than detail are highlighted thereby enabling potential users to adapt the guidance offered to their own local situations. The aim of the book, which identifies and outlines practical steps for more effective and efficient tropical forest management, in the long run, will be to contribute to the improvement of the quality of forestry field operations and help increase the area of tropical forests under planned and sound management, in all tropical regions. The primary users of these Guidelines will be those involved in forest planning and management at the operational forest level. Users are likely to be government district forest officers, concession managers and supervisors, managers and planners of privately-owned forests, supervisors of logging and wood processing companies and forest supervisors of local communities and of non-governmental organizations having a managerial role with tropical forests.