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Sustainable Forestry

  • By: John O. Browder & Jennifer L. Gagnon
  • In: Encyclopedia of Geography
  • Edited by: Barney Warf
  • Subject:General Geography, Earth & Environmental Science

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), sustainable forestry may be defined as

the stewardship and use of forests and forestlands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic, and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems. (UN Forum on Forests, n.d.)

There are four general goals of sustainable forest management (SFM): (1) to ensure a continuous supply of timber; (2) to ensure local populations’ access to a wide range of nontimber forest products; (3) to conserve natural forests for biodiversity, habitat, amenities, and ecosystem services; and (4) to sequester atmospheric carbon ...

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