Treesearch

This article is a Commentary on Both et al., 221: 1853–1865.

This Special Issue of Forests is based on papers presented at the 75th anniversary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry as well as other papers relevant to the topic of the Special Issue. The Institute is but one leg of a conservation relay among cultures and institutions that began in Puerto Rico a millennium ago. The Institute began operations in 1939 and celebrated its 75th anniversary on May, 2014. Over its 75 years of operation, the Institute has focused its research on tropical forests, with the scope of the...

Climate change is increasing the intensity of severe tropical storms and cyclones (also referred to as hurricanes or typhoons), with major implications for tropical forest structure and function. These changes in disturbance regime are likely to play an important role in regulating ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient dynamics in tropical and subtropical forests. Canopy opening and debris deposition resulting from severe storms have complex and interacting effects on ecosystem biogeochemistry. Disentangling these complex effects will be critical to better understand the long-term implications...

Partnerships may involve individuals, communities, businesses, and organizations that work together toward a shared purpose and common goals. They can develop within and across sectors with a broad range in scale and with a diversity of actors. They are important tools in building capacity; leveraging financial, technical, and human resources; strengthening political commitment; and developing public support to advance forest sustainability. Increasingly, organizations form partnerships around emerging issues that cut across multiple sectors beyond forests. This indicator is closely linked...

The ability of people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives is a central tenet of democratic governance. Forests may be managed more sustainably if citizens have input on or responsibility for their use, management, and protection. Processes that promote public participation in forest-related decision making can foster practical and political support for sustainable forest management. When conflicts arise, open and transparent processes for their resolution can lead to decisions that are more widely accepted and that reduce the propensity for litigation.

A broad range of biophysical, economic, and social influences affect forests. Many of these influences originate beyond the forest community in sectors such as agriculture, housing, water, energy, and transportation. Urban development and other nonforest land-use decisions and actions can have significant effects on forests and the goods and services that they provide. Developing policies and programs that have coordinated aims, strategies, and instruments across multiple sectors can produce comprehensive solutions to the complex problems threatening forests and their sustainability. This...

Market forces allocate many forest resources and services, but promoting and protecting accepted standards of forest sustainability, such as environmental protection, tenure rights, and aesthetic values typically requires laws, regulations, and guidelines. Fiscal incentives, technical assistance, and similar persuasive means may promote compliance. Improper and inadequate levels of oversight and enforcement, however, may substantially diminish the effectiveness of some laws, regulations, and guidelines. When noncompliance is detected, it may be necessary to prosecute and penalize offenders...

Legislation and policies designed to conserve and improve forest functions and values are a prerequisite to achieving sustainable forest management. Forests at all scales (stand, landscape, local, regional, national, global) benefit substantially from the application of forest practices that can ensure sustained use, management, and protection of important social, economic, and ecological values. Markets efficiently provide many goods and services, but government intervention may be required for the equitable allocation and management of ecosystem services and public goods, and to redress...

The sustainability of forests and the many benefits they provide requires high levels of sustained investment in their management and protection. A number of economic factors and Government policies—among them product or service costs and prices, capital costs, management efficiency, forest land productivity, and Government interventions, including tax and incentive policies and associated technical assistance—drive management decisions and investments. Taxes and incentives substantially affect sustainable forest management, specifically as a cost of conducting forestry business, by...

Research and development provide the scientific basis for adaptive, sustainable management of forests. Research is critical to understanding and improving forest conditions, determining compatible human uses, and developing technologies that sustain the availability and productivity of market and nonmarket forest goods and services. This indicator measures the development and application of research and technologies for sustainable forest management.