Sustainable Forestry
Sustainable forestry is the process of managing forest use in a bid to fulfill society’s commercial needs while preserving the forest’s health and diversity for future generations. It is often thought of as a balance between the demand for forest products and the protection of the forest’s health and diversity.
In more practical terms, forest managers looking to implement a sustainable forestry plan often develop a strategy by assessing an assortment of factors, including the commercial values of the region, the needs of the environment and the community’s economic position.
Once of the most significant events in the history of sustainable forestry came in 1992 when the “Forest Principals” were adopted at The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
The principles, which helped encapsulate the general understanding of sustainable forestry at that time, were legally non-binding, but many of the 172 governments that attended the conference put the principles into practice in some form or another.
The United States government identified several criteria as being important to sustainable forestry and put them into practice.
The progress made in these areas is reported in The National Report on Sustainable Forests (opens as PDF). The areas are as follows:
- Conservation of biological diversity
- Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems
- Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality
- Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources
- Maintenance of forest contribution of global carbon cycles
- Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of societies
- Legal, institutional and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management
Consumers who are concerned about sustainable forestry can look for third party certification on wood and paper products in order to verify that they come from trees grown in sustainable forests.
The two most common third-party certification logos that consumers should look for are the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) logo and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo.
Both organizations put their logos on wood and paper products that meet their requirements for sustainably managed forests or tree farms. Products ranging from printer paper to household furniture to lumber carry these certifications.
With the existing sustainable forestry methods that have been put into place, the watchdog organizations that are monitoring the progress and calling for further action, and consumers that are consciously choosing sustainable wood products, the forests can be preserved so that future generations can get as much use and benefit from them as past generations have.
-- Text by Robin Shreeves
Articles about Sustainable Forestry
Mon, Dec 12 2011 at 11:12 AM EST
Remediation and clean-up of sites pot growing sites can cost thousands of dollars an acre, officials say.Sun, Dec 04 2011 at 1:35 PM EST
Environmentalists question companies' assertions that replacing natural forests with commercial plantations of pine and eucalyptus will help the land.Mon, Sep 19 2011 at 2:49 PM EST
When federal agents seized rare ebony and rosewood from famed guitar maker Gibson Guitars, it sparked a firestorm over illegal logging.Wed, Aug 17 2011 at 9:01 PM EST
A satellite that monitors deforestation provided the data to determine the amount of rainforest lost.Sun, Jul 10 2011 at 10:02 PM EST
Find out more about the wood that's demand is suddenly outnumbering supply.Tue, Jun 14 2011 at 11:01 AM EST
Toy giant freezes purchases from supplier accused of deforestation.Tue, Jun 07 2011 at 3:30 PM EST
Growing demand for certified timber and climate change initiatives drive increase in sustainable tropical forests but trouble spots remainTue, Mar 29 2011 at 12:16 PM EST
As part of the goals, the organization says it will push to recover more recyclable paper from office buildings. Thu, Mar 17 2011 at 4:02 PM EST
Plydea's simple but beautiful plywood home furnishings are easy on the wallet, made in Seattle from sustainable materials and — most important to this helpless blogger — easy to put together. Wed, Feb 09 2011 at 5:00 AM EST
Protection and responsible harvesting are the reasons behind the success story.- 1. Solar Storm
- 2. Recipes
- 3. Earthquake News
- 4. Tornado
- 5. Chevy Volt
- 6. Wind Power
- 7. Green Cleaning
- 8. Green Technology
- 9. Apple
- 10. Global Warming
