The project was designed to address the following interlinked barriers preventing sustainable land and forest management outcomes and building resilience to climate change in Kyrgyz mountain ecosystems: inadequate legal framework for sustainable forest and land management, inadequate land tenure reforms, outdated approaches to sustainable forest and land management, and limited capacity of local institutions. The project’s overall objective is to enhance the enabling environment in the forestry and agricultural sectors and sustain the flow of ecosystem services, including enhancement of carbon stocks in forests and agro-ecosystems through the sustainable management and enhanced productivity of mountainous silvo-agro-pastoral ecosystems, and to improve productivity and mountain livelihoods in the Kyrgyz Republic. Overall, the evaluation rated the project as “moderately satisfactory”, with several examples of positive new approaches introduced by the project into forestry, agriculture and pasture management. The evaluation included specific recommendations not only to FAO, but also to the national forestry service. One of the innovative recommendations is to revisit the project sites in five to ten years to check certain success factors, such as the tree survival rates.

Revised and updated for its Second Edition, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY uses cases, materials, problems, and questions to introduce important issues to students with little or no background in either international law or environmental law.

Yet another book on the topic of ‘Sustainable Forest Management’ can only be justified by new information that is of direct relevance. The contents of this volume concentrate on the very latest factors and developments, thus, hopefully, contributing both to the book’s attractiveness and to closing gaps in the discipline’s database. This book is written for researchers in the field of forest management, international forestry, and climate change-related issues, legal and policy advisors, as well as for managers of private companies who deal with SFM. The authors of the various sections are scientists in the field of forestry and other environmental sciences. They represent different institutions, mainly universities and research agencies in Germany, but also high-level international institutions in development co-operation, such as the World Bank, FAO, and IIASA. The scope of the book is to refresh the meanings and perceptions of SFM against the background of the rapid changes in our natural and social environment. Climate change and the rapid increase of atmospheric CO concentration is a global process 2 with negative impacts of different kinds, among others on natural ecosystems such as forests. A crucial issue therefore is how forest management can contribute to forest conservation in light of changing climatic conditions. Moreover, policy changes such as the introduction of certification schemes and the new emphasis laid on Non-Wood Forest Products justify the re-evaluation of the role of SFM in delivering ecological goods and services from our forests.

Climate change shaped the political agenda during the last decade with three issues as hot topics: commonly making the headlines: carbon budgets, impact and mitigation of climate change. Given the significant role that forests play in the climate system – as sources, sinks, and through carbon trading – this book update the current scientific evidences on the relationships between climate, forest resources and forest management practices around the world. By including the forest scientists’ expertise from around the world, the book presents and updates a depth analysis of the current knowledge, and a series of case studies focused on the biological and the economic impacts of climate change in forest ecosystems in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. The book will form a valuable resource for researchers and advanced students dealing with sustainable forestry, climate change issues and the effects of climate change on natural resource management.

'Ironically, the threat of global warming damage provides us with one of the most powerful arguments for avoiding the worst excesses of another global problem - deforestation. Dore and Guevara have assembled a very impressive set of essays that show just how important our forests are as carbon stores and sinks. Let us hope someone is listening.' - David Pearce, University College London, UK 'Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels seem destined to rise with adverse consequences for global warming and for sea-level rise. This book explores how and to what extent conservation and re-growth of tropical forests can ameliorate this problem, as well as placing economic values on such strategies. Individual contributions draw on the Americas experience to examine biophysical aspects of forestry relevant to sustainability, evaluate the economics of forest retention giving particular attention to non-market values, and assess forest policies in terms of their impacts on environmental conservation. . . . a readable holistic book accessible to a wide audience of economists, non-economists and policymakers, highlighting a major problem which refuses to go away.' - Clem Tisdell, University of Queensland, Australia The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change recognises that, in the formulation of a global strategy for reducing global emissions of carbon (the main factor in global warming) forests could play an important role. This book highlights that role and demonstrates how the forests of the world may be harvested judiciously and sustainably. The authors argue that the forests are more than just a source of timber and wood; they discuss the role that forests play in reducing global warming, in preventing soil erosion and in helping to minimise the loss of biodiversity. Drawing on the expertise of contributors associated with the analysis of forests, this book is an in depth and fascinating discussion as well as a policy guide for the sustainable management of forests.

The critical role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation is now widely recognized. Forests contribute significantly to climate change mitigation through their carbon sink and carbon storage functions. They play an essential role in reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing adaptation of people and ecosystems to climate change and climate variability, the negative impacts of which are becoming increasingly evident in many parts of the world. In many countries climate change issues have not been fully addressed in national forest policies, forestry mitigation and adaptation needs at national level have not been thoroughly considered in national climate change strategies, and cross-sectoral dimensions of climate change impacts and response measures have not been fully appreciated. This publication seeks to provide a practical approach to the process of integrating climate change into national forest programmes. The aim is to assist senior officials in government administrations and the representatives of other stakeholders, including civil society organizations and the private sector, prepare the forest sector for the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change. This document complements a set of guidelines prepared by FAO in 2013 to support forest managers incorporate climate change considerations into forest management plans and practices.

This book, Sustainable Forest Management - Surpassing Climate Change and Land Degradation, is devoted to important issues forest managers face. Besides managing forest resources, the issues addressed include aspects of climate change, biodiversity conservation, and agroforestry. The book contains four sections, each devoted to this set of topics. Forest management is very important in the context of sustainable use of resources. To achieve this, forest management should aim at improving economic profitability for the investors, preserve the ecosystem structure to serve society, and maintain all (physical, economic, social, and other) ecosystem functions. All these aspects of forest management have been addressed in various chapters of this book. The editor sincerely hopes this will be a welcome addition to the field of forest management.

This book, which contains 14 chapters, considers the interactions between forestry and environmental (climatic) change, from social and economic perspectives. Topics discussed include: deforestation in temperate and tropical forests, the application of forest zoning as an alternative to multiple use forestry, capital management, establishment of large-scale reserves in temperate and boreal forests, and social revolutions in forest management. This book will be of significant interest to those studying forestry, climate change and natural resource economics.