Trends in Forestry Research and its implication on Silviculture.

Abstract

The starting point of any meaningful forestry research should always be the whole compass of forestry practice. Forestry practice is today faced by three weighty problems: 1. A rapidly increasing need for wood and wood products in the whole world. Estimates based on the area of forests and not the area of forest land indicate that demand is probably greater than production. Therefore competition for wood in industrial countries will become stronger and stronger. 2. Labour costs are increasing to the detriment of profitability of forestry, the more so because of relative lag in prices for timber. 3. An increasing voice and interference from environmentalists, ecologists, biologists and the public at large...