ArticlesW orldwide interest in sustainability-an approach to managing natural resources that meets present human needs while maintaining the earth's capacity to meet the needs of future generations-has burgeoned over the past two decades (NRC 1999). Forest management has been a focal part of this transition, because forests occur on about a third of the earth's land surface, support the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, and provide habitat for much of the world's biological diversity (FAO 2001). More than 150 nations, the world's largest forest and paper companies, environmental and conservation organizations, scientists, and other stakeholders are now developing approaches for implementing sustainable forestry. Underlying these efforts is the premise that sustainable forest management must be economically feasible, socially acceptable, and environmentally sustainable.Escalating rates of biological invasions pose a major, but as yet poorly addressed, threat to sustainable forestry in the United States and worldwide. Here we identify priorities for science and technology that could help reduce this threat. As in recent policy applications, by "invasive species" we mean "a species that is not native to an ecosystem and whose Elizabeth A. Chornesky (e-mail: echornesky@sbcglobal.net

No abstract

Inducing private forest owners to undertake any kind of forest management poses a challenge to policy makers. To gain a better understanding of the attitudes of forest owners, this study set out to describe, analyze, and interpret how forest owners engage (or fail to engage) in the management of their properties. A grounded theory approach Glaser and Strauss (The discovering of grounded theory, Aldine: Chicago, 1967); Charmaz (Constructing grounded theory. A practical guide through qualitative analysis, Sage publications, Ltd: London, 2006) was used to build an emergent theory through a descriptive and interpretational analysis of how forest owners get involved in forest management and the factors that influence their active decision-making process. The research was conducted in Catalonia. The main finding was that forest owners are more likely to engage in the management of their properties when they believe that through their actions they are fulfilling a moral norm, they are reducing the risk of forest fires, they have an archetypal image of what the forest should look like, and they can justify forest management as part of their economic strategy. These interdependent personal, social and cultural factors question the likely effectiveness of traditional economic policy tools.

No abstract

No abstract