Portal:Forestry
Forestry
A pine forest in Sweden
Forestry is the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, conserving, and restoring forests and associated resources to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems that manage forests to provide environmental supplies and services. The challenge of forestry is to create systems that are socially accepted while sustaining the resource and any other resources that might be affected.
Forests cover approximately 9.4 percent of the Earth's surface (or 30 percent of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50 percent of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the biosphere. Forests are present in many biomes:
- Polar/montane Taiga, Boreal forests
- Temperate: Coniferous forests · Broadleaf and mixed forests
- (Sub)tropical: Coniferous forests · Moist broadleaf forests · Dry broadleaf forests
- Wetland/ Aquatic biomes: Mangrove forest · Kelp forest ·
Selected article
 A definition of SFM was developed by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe MCPFE), and has since been adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The "Forest Principles" adopted at The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 captured the general international understanding of sustainable forest management at that time. A number of sets of criteria and indicators have since been developed to evaluate the achievement of SFM at both the country and management unit level. These were all attempts to codify and provide for independent assessment of the degree to which the broader objectives of sustainable forest management are being achieved in practice. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests. The instrument was the first of its kind, and reflected the strong international commitment to promote implementation of sustainable forest management through a new approach that brings all stakeholders together. |
Selected biography
| Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949), which has sold more than two million copies. Leopold was influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for wilderness conservation. By the 1930s, Leopold was the nation's foremost expert on wildlife management. He advocated the scientific management of wildlife habitats by both public and private landholders rather than a reliance on game refuges, hunting laws, and other methods intended to protect specific species of desired game. Leopold viewed wildlife management as a technique for restoring and maintaining diversity in the environment rather than primarily as a means of producing a surplus for sport hunting. |
In the news
- November 14, 2013: "Forest change mapped by Google Earth". BBC News.
- May 31, 2013: "East Africa: EAC Moots Improvement of Regional Forestry, Trade". The New Times.* May 24, 2013: "Democratic polemic policies: the new Brazilian forestry code". The World Outline.
- May 14, 2013: "Rainforest plays critical role in hydropower generation". BBC News.
- May 9, 2013: "Creating Better Forestry Certification Programs through Competition". Forbes Magazine.
Things to do
Selected picture
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A kayaker on the St. Francis River at Silver Mines Recreation Area in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
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Web resources
- Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research (Oxford Journals). (All 2011-2012 articles are available for free viewing)
- U.K. Forestry Commissions – Forest Research
- U.S. Forest Service Research & Development
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