This report (the title of which is abbreviated to TBFRA-2000) is the contribution by UN-Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to the FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment 2000. The objective of TBFRA-2000 is to collect and make available the best possible information on the forest resources of the 55 countries it covers. It is intended to be of use to governments and the international forest policy community and also to scientists, forest industries, NGOs and anyone interested in biodiversity and climate change. The report contains statistical and descriptive information and analyses of the following aspects of forests and wooded land: area - status and changes; ownership and management status; wood supply and carbon sequestration; biological diversity and environmental protection; forest condition and damage; socio-economic functions. The data were supplied by national correspondents who adjusted the raw national data to internationally agreed definitions. The reliability and comparability of the data is discussed in a separate chapter. The report also provides indicators of sustainable forest management.

The United Nations presents the full text of "Forest Resources of Europe, CIS, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand," published 2000. The report highlights the most recent information on the forest resources of the 55 industrialized countries, covering all aspects and functions of the forest. The report covers such topics as ownership and management status of forests, biological diversity and environmental protection, forest condition and damage, and socioeconomic functions of forests.

Wood and wood products are essential to large areas of the world economy and yet there has until now been no single definitive reference source to which those new to or requiring a strategic overview of the industry could turn for a comprehensive picture of the market chain from forest to consumer. The international timber trade provides a detailed overview of the entire timber and timber products business. It is arranged in three sections: - Chapters 1 to 3 provide a background starting with an historical perspective, an overview of the worldwide forest resource and going to examine the properties of wood, types of products, trends in production and consumption and uses. - Chapters 4,5 and 6 examine the role of wood industries and wood products in the global economy and provide an overview of world trade both by commodity groups and by country, as well as a detailed analysis of the main trading patterns and the trends, both at the inter-continental and inter-regional levels. - The third section, chapters 7 to 10, looks at the structure of trade, market and market-related features, environmental factors such as forestry management, sustainability and certification, waste and recycling and energy and climate change, as well as offering an outlook for the industry in the 21st century.Written by one of the leading international authorities on the timber trade, The international timber trade is essential reading for a wide range of interested groups including managers in the timber industry and trade, the financial community with interests in the sector, academics and students in forestry management and related studies, government agencies and their advisers in helping to develop policies for the sector and international trade, and finally those working in international development organisations and in national and international non-governmental bodies.

After years of technological development and its important achievements to make our life easier and more comfortable, human society is going to face one of the most difficult challenges of the last century: to stabilize the concentra tion levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to prevent harmful effects on the climate system. Through a delicate balance between photosynthesis and respiration, terres trial ecosystems, and in particular forests, are today thought to take up a sig nificant part of the carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, sometimes called the "terrestrial carbon sink". However, the location, magnitude, and vulnerability of the carbon dioxide sink of the terrestrial biota are still uncer tain. The suite of traditional tools in an ecologist's toolbox for studying ecosys tem productivity and carbon balance include leaf cuvettes, whole-plant and soil chambers for gas exchange, and biomass and soil carbon inventories. While each of the cited methods has distinct advantages, they are limited with regards to their ability to measure net carbon dioxide exchange of the whole ecosystem across a variety of time scales. This book present a compendium of results of a European project (EURO FLUX), funded by the European Commission through its fourth framework program, aiming to elucidate the role of forests in continental carbon balance.