State of the world's forest 2007

FAO's biennial State of the World's Forests series offers a global perspective on the forest sector, including its environmental, economic and social dimensions. This seventh edition examines progress towards sustainable forest management. Part I reviews progress region by region. Each regional report is structured according to the seven thematic elements of sustainable forest management agreed by international fora as a framework for sustainable forest management: extent of forest resources, biological diversity, forest health and vitality, productive functions of forest resources, protective functions of forest resources, socio-economic functions, and legal, policy and institutional framework. These summaries are based on the most current information available, including new data, more comprehensive than ever, from the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 (FRA 2005). Part II presents selected issues in the forest sector, probing the state of knowledge or recent activities in 18 topics of interest to forestry. Climate change, forest landscape restoration, forest tenure, invasive species, wildlife management and wood energy are just a sampling of the subjects covered. State of the World's Forests 2007 will be a useful reference for policy-makers, foresters, academics and all readers concerned with the major issues affecting the forest sector today.