The nature and purposes of land evaluation for forestry. Principles and basic concepts. Outline of procedures. Planning the evaluation. Forest land utilization types. Land use requirements. Surveys and specialized studies of land . Matching land use with land. Environmental impact. Economic and social analysis. Land suitability classification. Resentation of results.

This book is intended to support the forestry institutions in the tropical countries in the planning, assessment and systematic observation of forests required to fulfill their obligations as laid in international conventions such as the CBD and UNFCCC. Following the Rio Conference, a number of countries, donors and international organizations have implemented capacity-building projects with varying degrees of success. One main reason for the varying success rates seems to lie in the design of technical assistance programs, which have been formulated on the traditional lines of mainly generating forest resources information or transferring technology; whereas Agenda 21 requires fundamental changes in countries’ institutions and approaches to planning and implementing the conservation and sustainable development of forests through a process of continuing research and analysis. The book is intended to serve the basic needs of national planning strategies and international and donor support.

The goal of the manual is to supply an operational tool for pedologists, agronomists, environmentalists, and all of the other specialists who carry out land evaluation for agriculture and forestry or, more generally, stakeholders and policy makers who make decisions at the local level based on the knowledge of the nature of soil. Discussion of the topics is not only technical and operational, but also in-depth and didactic; therefore, the text may also be used as a valid complement for students majoring in subjects that involve soil use, management and conservation. The literature offers a wide choice of possible soil and land evaluation methods, while knowledge of the relationships existing between the physical characteristics of lands, particularly those of soils, and the requirements of specific uses is limited.

ISSS congress land evaluation forestry