"Forests in a Full World" by George M. Woodwell

Forests in a Full World George M. Woodwell

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Format:: Paperback
Publication date:: 11 Dec 2001
ISBN:: 9780300088823
Imprint:: Yale University Press
Dimensions:: 256 pages: 210 x 140mm
Illustrations:: 47 b-w + 3 color illus.

Categories:

Mathematics & Science »
Science General Issues »

Having surged past the six billion mark, the human population of the twenty-first century is making overwhelming demands on the earth and its forests. Although economic and political considerations once dominated the management of forests and land, in today’s crowded world environmental concerns are rapidly emerging as dominant. This book, drawn from experience with the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, presents a concise, accessible view of the current status of forests globally, of demands on them, and of their importance in maintaining a fully functional human habitat. The book also presents a major challenge in planning for land use in a full world where defense of the public interest becomes more and more difficult and demanding.

Opening with an examination of forests and the effects of human activities on them, the book then considers the relationship of forests to global warming, agriculture, biotic impoverishment, water resources, and climate. Later chapters discuss the global wood supply, plantation forestry, and forests as a source of energy. The final chapters call for local and global planners to weigh the spiraling competitive demands for forest resources and to redefine what is in the public interest in the context of forests.

George M. Woodwell is director and president of The Woods Hole Research Center, an independent research and educational institution devoted to global biophysics and applications in human affairs.

?For those truly interested in the fate of forests, this important book offers an original and sound assessment of the problems forests confront and how to respond to them.??John Gordon, Yale University

?This book clearly shows the importance of forests in the world and the imperative to change how we treat them. It provides a wonderful overview?sound, factual, even-handed.??Thomas E. Lovejoy, The World Bank

?Wonderfully comprehensive and accessible, this book lays out the state and role of the world?s forests as well as the very necessary new approach to them.??Tom Lovejoy, Chief Biodiversity Advisor, The World Bank

?This remarkable little book is a clear and concise status report on the world?s forests. . . . These provocative recommendations from respected scientists give realistic, practicable meaning to the adage, ?think globally, act locally.???Carl Reidel, American Forests

"Dr. Woodwell and a small team of contributors present a comprehensive yet lucid account of the present and future management of global forest lands. . . . One must hope that this work will be read and heeded by those charged with steering the world into the 21st century and not only by foresters."?Roy Strang, Forum: A publication of the Association of British Columbia Professional Foresters