At the dawn of the 1990s, it seemed that Amazonia had become irrevocably trapped in a downward spiral of deforestation, environmental destruction and social conflict. Yet over the past ten years a more acute awareness has emerged at all levels, national and international, of the need to encourage more sustainable policies and practices. That is, measures that provide for the economic development needs of Amazonia's diverse population, while at the same time conserving and managing the region's natural resource base. At a major conference, organised in London in June 1998 by the Institute of Latin American Studies (Amazonia 2000: Development, Environment and Geopolitics), over twenty international scholars traced the evolution of this gradual shift in thinking. The present volume, based on that conference, examines past patterns of destructive resource extraction in Amazonia and, more importantly, critically analyses a series of newer initiatives that offer more sustainable options. These include, amongst others, new production strategies, such as agroforestry, innovative resource governance models such as inland fisheries co-management and agro-ecological zoning. The challenge at this critical juncture is how to integrate such policies and practices into mainstream development within Amazonia. Contributors: David Cleary, Rene; Dreifuss, Philip Fearnside, Jessica Groenendijk, Anthony Hall, Judith Kimerling, Tom Lovejoy, Dennis Mahar, David McGrath, Emilio Moran, Darrel Posey, Nigel Smith, and Wouter Veening.

A range of powerful forces -- increasing demand for wood, uncertain and decreasing supply, increasing environmental pressures, and growing markets for environmentally certified wood -- are changing the way the forest products industry conducts business. Forward-thinking firms have recognized the significance of these forces and are developing a new business model, one that will not only sustain revenues, but can ensure the long-term health of the forests upon which the industry depends.The Business of Sustainable Forestry integrates and analyzes a series of 21 case studies of industry leaders carried out by the Sustainable Forestry Working Group. The motivations of the pioneering firms studied are as varied as their characteristics, yet each has made significant progress. The authors of this book argue that the operations that have been most succeessful are those that have integrated sustainable forestry principles and practices into their overall corporate strategy. The book: describes the forces that are pushing the industry toward sustainability presents an overview of the new techniques and technologies that are making sustainable forestry more feasible than ever presents in clear, engaging prose company profiles that demonstrate both the promise of and the obstacles to sustainable forest management gives a clear-eyed look at practices such as certification and their capacity to transform the forest products market provides conclusions drawn from the cases by Stuart Hart of the University of North Carolina and Matt Arnold of the Management Institute for Environment and Business offers a succinct set of lessons learned The Business of Sustainable Forestry is the first book to present a composite snapshot of the business of sustainable forestry and the lessons learned by early adopters in form and language accessible to the general business reader. Forest and natural resource managers, forest products industry managers, and students and academics in schools of business and forestry will find the book a unique and valuable guide to an industry in transition.

Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR), the largest protected area in Central America, is characterized by rampant violence, social and ethnic inequality, and rapid deforestation. Faced with these threats, local residents, conservationists, scientists, and NGOs in the region work within what Micha Rahder calls “an ecology of knowledges,” in which interventions on the MBR landscape are tied to differing and sometimes competing forms of knowing. In this book, Rahder examines how technoscience, endemic violence, and an embodied love of wild species and places shape conservation practices in Guatemala. Rahder highlights how different forms of environmental knowledge emerge from encounters and relations between humans and nonhumans, institutions and local actors, and how situated ways of knowing impact conservation practices and natural places, often in unexpected and unintended ways. In so doing, she opens up new ways of thinking about the complexities of environmental knowledge and conservation in the context of instability, inequality, and violence around the world.

A riveting study of the booming rosewood trade between China and Madagascar uncovers an alternative approach to environmentalism that disrupts Western models.

Rosewood is the world’s most trafficked endangered species by value, accounting for larger outlays than ivory, rhino horn, and big cats put together. Nearly all rosewood logs are sent to China, fueling a $26 billion market for classically styled furniture. Vast expeditions across Asia and Africa search for the majestic timber, and legions of Chinese ships sail for Madagascar, where rosewood is purchased straight from the forest.

The international response has been to interdict the trade, but in this incisive account Annah Lake Zhu suggests that environmentalists have misunderstood both the intent and the effect of China’s appetite for rosewood, causing social and ecological damage in the process. For one thing, Chinese consumers are understandably seeking to reclaim their cultural heritage, restoring a centuries-old tradition of home furnishing that the Cultural Revolution had condemned. In addition, Chinese firms are investing in environmental preservation. Far from simply exploiting the tree, businesses are carefully managing valuable forests and experimenting with extensive new plantings. This sustainable-use paradigm differs dramatically from the conservation norms preferred by Western-dominated NGOs, whose trade bans have prompted speculation and high prices, even encouraging criminal activity. Meanwhile, attempts to arm conservation task forces—militias meant to guard the forests—have backfired.

Drawing on years of fieldwork in China and Madagascar, Rosewood upends the pieties of the global aid industry. Zhu offers a rigorous look at what environmentalism and biodiversity protection might look like in a world no longer dominated by the West.

Based on a Conservation International conference in Panama, Sustainable Harvest and Marketing of Rain Forest Products brings together the world's leading experts on rain forest development and sustainability.

The world's montane forests are vitally important for conservation and water catchment. Because logging regimes have significant impacts on biodiversity as well as water quality and water quantity, the management of these forests has often been a major source of conflict amongst rural communities, government agencies, and conservationists. Although much information on ecologically sustainable managment practices is now available, further organizational change and policy tranformation is needed to see a transition to sustainable practices inplemented on the ground.

Towards Forest Sustainability contains practical essays by some of the world's leading forests ecologists and managers from the United States, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand. The authors describe the changes that have taken place in forest management- highlighting what worked, what didn't, and the lessons that have been learned.

This unique collection of essays documents the drivers of the change in the logging industry and the resulting outcomes, both the good and the bad. The book provides real-world insights from an international perspective into government policy, industrial concerns, and conservation and biodiversity issues.

The Wildlands and Woodlands vision, as described in two previous Harvard Forest publications, calls for collaboration among conservationists and willing landowners to permanently protect at least 70 percent of the New England landscape as forests by 2060. Another 7 percent of land that is currently in agriculture would remain intact for wildlife and people. This series advocates a balanced approach to conservation and preservation; most land would be actively and sustainably managed for wood, food, and other values, while continuing to provide clean water and air, wildlife habitat, recreation, and support for human lives in a changing environment. About a tenth of the forest, along with associated wetlands, streams, ponds, and other habitats, would comprise large wildland reserves.

This 2017 report offers new data on progress toward these goals and outlines complementary uses of the forest and agricultural landscape with thoughtful and efficient development of rural villages and towns, suburbs, and cities—to support people and nature across New England. It ends with recommendations to protect and care for the land that can forge a bright future for New England, provide a regional example for the nation, and help mitigate global environmental change.