In this age of climatic and financial uncertainty, it becomes increasingly important to balance the cost, benefits and risk of wildfire management. In the United States, increased wildland fire activity over the last 15 years has resulted in drastic damage and loss of life. An associated rapid increase in fire management costs has consumed higher portions of budgets of public entities involved in wildfire management, challenging their ability to fulfill other responsibilities. Increased pu...

Today's generation has borrowed from the future by grabbing prosperity now and imposing the cost on the next generation.Award-winning writer and campaigner Chris Goodall argues that building a sustainable society is perhaps the greatest test that the world has ever faced.Here he provides the first coherent new explanation of what sustainability actually is before exploring nine key sustainability challenges, applying the theory of sustainability to look at food, travel, clot...

This book traces the economic and biological pattern of forest development from initial settlement and harvest activity at the natural forest frontier to modern industrial forest plantations. It builds from diagrams describing three discrete stages of forest development, and then discusses the management and policy implications associated with each, supporting its observations with examples and data from six continents and from both developed and developing countries. It shows that charact...

It is increasingly recognized that the economic value of forests is not merely the production of timber. Forests provide other key ecosystem services, such as being sinks for greenhouse gases, hotspots of biodiversity, tourism and recreation. They are also vitally important in preventing soil erosion and controlling water supplies, as well as providing non-timber forest products and supporting the livelihoods of many local people.This handbook provides a detailed, comprehensive and...

The oak tree was a boon companion as humans expanded their presence across much of the globe. While oak woodlands (Quercus spp.) come today in stunningly diverse forms, the stately dehesas of Spain and the dramatic oak-dominated ranchlands of California are working landscapes where cultivation and manipulation for a couple of millennia have shaped Mediterranean-type ecosystems into a profoundly modified yet productive environment that is sought-after by every manner of species.

The ffiM Japan International Symposium Energy and Environment - Global Warming was held in the Keidanren Guesthouse at the foot of Mt. Fuji, from October 21 to 24, 1990. The symposium was conducted in the context of ffiM Japan's longstanding commitment to good corporate citizenship. On this beautiful planet with its inter-dependent waters, lands and atmo sphere, we consider that the problems relating to the global environment are the most serious that the human race will face in the near f...

This book describes the changing landscape of European forest ownership and explores the impact a new, often urban, generation of forest owners may have on the future of one of our most basic resources – forests. Forests have not played a major role in rural studies thus far, however they constitute an important part of many rural areas. Drawing on Swedish cases and comparison cases from various other areas of Europe, the authors present these ‘new forest owners’ as a pivotal factor in the...

Technology is taking on an increasingly central and determining role in so ciety, and can provide contradictory results: wealth on the one hand, but also unemployment, environmental imbalances and other social problems on the other. Manufacturing techniques and production organization are chosen in every country based mainly on the specific needs of the companies, while the real needs of each population are often quite different. Already, in order to prevent all forms of technology from be...

This book is the result of over ten years of field research across Zambia. It covers the production and diverse uses of wood and non-wood forest products in different parts of Zambia. Although a short format, it is a multi-contributed work. It starts an overview of the forestry sector, and covers more specific areas like production, markets and trade of wood and non-wood products; the role of non-wood forest products in the livelihood of the local population, the contribution of the forest...

This book provides a comprehensive, global synthesis of current knowledge on the potential and challenges associated with the multiple roles, use, management and marketing of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). There has been considerable research and policy effort surrounding NTFPs over the last two and half decades. The book explores the evolution of sentiments regarding the potential of NTFPs in promoting options for sustainable multi-purpose forest management, income generation and pov...

The editors of Factor X explore and analyze this trajectory, predicting scarcities of non-renewable materials such as metals, limited availability of ecological capacities and shortages arising from geographic concentrations of materials. They argue that what is needed is a radical change in the ways we use nature’s resources to produce goods and services and generate well-being. The goal of saving our ecosystem demands a prompt and decisive reduction of man-induced material flows. Before ...

Offering a cross-country examination and comparison of drought awareness and experience, this book shows how scientists, water managers, and policy makers approach drought and water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the United States.