Logging

Forest certification is widely seen as an important component of strategies for conserving the world"s forests. During the 1990s concern about the loss of biodiversity in logged forests was a key driver behind the emergence of forest certification. It was thought that by adhering to strict standards, production forests could help protecting biodiversity. Forest certification was introduced more than 15 years ago and since then more than 300 million hectares of forests have been certified under a variety of schemes. But does it work?

This book, written by the world's foremost experts, examines key issues, including law and enforcement, supply and demand, corruption, forest certification, poverty, local livelihoods, international trade and biodiversity conservation. It includes key case studies from forest-rich hotspots in North, South and Central America, equatorial Africa and Indonesia. While there are clearly no easy answers, this book sorts fact from fiction and explores the many dimensions of the causes, impacts and implications for forests, people, livelihoods and forest policy.