Emerging Issues in Forest Policy

Ken A. Armson, a former executive co-ordinator of the Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources’ Forest Resources Group, is currently a forestry
consultant.

Forests, forestry, and the multitudinous impacts and interactions
between human activities and the environment at both global and local
levels have been increasingly the centre of public attention. This
collection of readings covers six broad topic areas: forests and the
environment; timber supply; competitiveness and international trade in
forestry; social impacts of forestry; multiple resource use and
forestry; and forestry and the Third World.

The focus of the collection is summarized by five critical questions.
First, to what extent is the direct utilization of forests contributing
to the decline of forests, and how does the loss of forests globally
affect our ecosystem? Second, how can policies be formulated and
implemented to guarantee the supply of adequate forest resources now and
for future generations—and, in particular, how critical are concepts
of ownership and tenure to achieving this goal? Third, how crucial are
technological change and international trade in sustaining a healthy
forest sector and dependent economy? Fourth, how can we remedy the
negative social impacts of our forest economy and integrate the
management of our forests with other resources? Finally, what are the
central issues that affect forest practices and utilization in the Third
World, where most of the world’s population and many of the
forest-related problems appear to be most acute?

As with many collections, there is unevenness in the papers and in the
treatment of different topics. With few exceptions, however, the
contributions are of high quality; unfortunately, one of the exceptions
is the paper dealing with forest-climate interaction in the boreal
forest of Canada, our largest forest region.