Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Forestry

Description:

This book offers a comprehensive, global exploration of current practices, foundational concepts, and emerging trends in sustainable forest management, while also reflecting on the critical role of sustainable forestry in promoting the well-being of both people and the planet.

Modern forest management must transcend the traditional focus on sustainable yields to address the broader challenges of protecting ecosystems and supporting human and planetary health. This requires considering not only the needs of present populations but also those of future generations in the face of anticipated global changes. This handbook charts the evolution of sustainability in forest management, examines the dominant paradigms shaping current practices, highlights key challenges for the future, and introduces innovative approaches to forest management. Showcasing how modern forestry helps support the vision of a thriving world that we wish to live in, the handbook presents a truly global perspective, featuring international case studies spanning diverse biomes and integrates insights from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. Framing forests as complex adaptive social-ecological systems, the handbook highlights the dynamic interconnections between ecological processes and human dimensions. Organised into seven sections, the chapters delve into sustainable forestry from historical and contemporary perspectives, methods for assessing forest sustainability, policy and legal frameworks, ecosystem services, current threats, and the pivotal role of forestry in advancing beyond sustainable to a thriving future. This handbook places particular emphasis on forward-thinking strategies to prepare forest managers and ecosystems for the challenges ahead.

This handbook is an indispensable resource for students and researchers in sustainable forestry, forest management, and forest ecology, as well as those engaged in broader sustainable resource management. It will also prove invaluable to professionals involved in forest management and policy development.