E-Book Overview
This book traces the economic and biological pattern of forest development from initial settlement and harvest activity at the natural forest frontier to modern industrial forest plantations. It builds from diagrams describing three discrete stages of forest development, and then discusses the management and policy implications associated with each, supporting its observations with examples and data from six continents and from both developed and developing countries. It shows that characteristic distinctions between the three stages make forestry unusual in natural resource management and that effective policy requires different, even contrasting, decisions at each stage.
William F. Hyde’s comprehensive discussion covers a wide range of issues, including the impacts of both specific forest policies and broader macroeconomic policies, the unique requirements of current issues such as global warming, biodiversity and tourism, and the complexities of the different forest products industries. Concluding chapters review the roles of the newer institutional landowners, of smaller private and farm landowners, and of public agencies. This highly-original volume reaches far beyond forest economics; it explains what forestry can do for regional development and environmental conservation and what policies designed for other sectors and the macro-economy can do for forestry.
E-Book Content
THE GLOBAL ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY This book traces the economic and biological pattern of forest development from initial settlement and harvest activity at the natural forest frontier to modern industrial forest plantations. It builds from diagrams describing three discrete stages of forest development, and then discusses the management and policy implications associated with each, supporting its observations with examples and data from six continents and from both developed and developing countries. It shows that characteristic distinctions between the three stages make forestry unusual in natural resource management and that effective policy requires different, even contrasting, decisions at each stage. Hyde’s comprehensive discussion covers a wide range of issues, including the impacts of both specific forest policies, such as forest taxes and incentive payments, and broader macroeconomic policies, the unique requirements of current issues such as global warming, biodiversity and tourism, and the complexities of the different forest products industries. Concluding chapters review the roles of the newer institutional landowners, of smaller private and farm landowners, and of public agencies. This highly-original volume reaches far beyond forest economics; it explains what forestry can do for regional development and environmental conservation and what policies designed for other sectors and the macro-economy can do for forestry. William F. Hyde has been a Senior Associate at Resources for the Future and at the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia, a professor at Duke University and Virginia Tech, and a visiting professor at Gothenburg and Beijing Forestry Universities. In a career that spans thirty-five years he has been a consultant to more than two dozen organizations in more than thirty countries and has authored or co-authored eight books and numerous other publications. “This unique book covers the fundamental economic questions of forestry, but does not limit itself to a particular region or (time) frame. It comprehensively complements the contributions the author has made to our understanding of the economics of forestry with the broader research in the field. All of the topics are covered with sufficient clarity to provide a unified perspective on the fundamental questions facing forestry in the future.” —David Newman, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry “Relevant worldwide for ma