Forestry

ISSUES

Silviculture

In 2000, 35% of woodland areas were used to produce timber. The surface area of productive plantations increased by 25 million hectares between 2000 and 2005. Each year, the demand for products made from wood increases by 2.7% and the forest surface area shrinks by 0.2% (7.9 million hectares). The felling of primary forests has led to their disappearance, as in Western Europe, or to their decline in the tropical countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The silvicultural sector as a whole provided employment to about 13 million people in 2000. Closely dependent on the human societies that practise it, silviculture has been regarded in recent years by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation as a potentially effective means of fighting against poverty, given that poverty is the main cause of deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Practices
There are three types of practice in forest management and timber produ...

NEWS

Nations boost efforts to curb illegal logging

Animal rights group puts bounty on elephant killers

Malaysia slams French 'Nutella' palm oil tax plan

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DEBATES

China’s Reforestation Programs: Big Success or Just an Illusion?

Jon R. Luoma

China has undertaken ambitious reforestation initiatives that have increased its forest cover dramatically in the last decade....

What’s Killing the Great Forests of the American West?

Across western North America, huge tracts of forest are...

Roads are ruining the rainforests

"THE best thing you could do for the Amazon is to bomb all...

FOCUS

Nobel Price of ecology

Designed to recognize grassroots environmental heroes, the Goldman Environmental Prize, founded by Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989 In San Francisco, is awarded annually to individuals from the six inhabited continental regions for sustained and significant efforts to...

VIDEOS

23/12/2009

Christopher Field tells us about how ecosystems can contribute to a...

GREEN TIPS

Certified wood or nothing !

Certification is a means of being sure of where wood comes from thanks to a label which helps everyone spot a...

INDICATORS

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