The management of common pool resources and publicly-owned areas is fraught with difficulty. This book explores the long, complex, and frequently contentious history of public lands management in the United States in order to draw lessons for the emerging field of marine spatial planning (MSP). The author first establishes that these two seemingly different settings are in fact remarkably similar, drawing on established theories of policy analysis. The work then examines the management of US National Forests over the past 120 years, including three place-based case studies, to discover recurring themes. The analysis shows how different management approaches evolved over time in response to changing laws and cultural norms, producing outcomes favored by different constituencies. This history also reveals the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in multiple-use management of any public space. Next, the book analyzes recent efforts to advance MSP, both in the US and globally, showing how they mirror past experiences in National Forest management, including similar disagreements among stakeholders. In conclusion the author suggests how those within ocean-related sectors – government, academia, industry, and environmental groups – might achieve their individual and collective goals more effectively based on lessons from the public lands setting.

This book provides an overview of the complex challenges and opportunities related to forest-based rural development in the tropics and subtropics. Applying a socio-ecological perspective, the book traces the changing paradigms of forestry in rural development throughout history, summarizes the major aspects of the rural development challenge in forest areas and documents innovative approaches in fields such as land utilization, technology and organizational development, rural advisory services, financing mechanisms, participative planning and forest governance. It brings together scholars and practitioners dealing with the topics from various theoretical and practical angles. Calling for an approach that carefully balances market forces with government intervention, the book shows that forests in rural areas have the potential to provide a solid foundation for a green global economy.

The decentralization of control over the vast forests of the world is moving at a rapid pace, with both positive and negative ramifications for people and forests themselves. The fresh research from a host of Asia-Pacific countries described in this book presents rich and varied experience with decentralization and provides important lessons for other regions. Beginning with historical and geographical overview chapters, the book proceeds to more in-depth coverage of the region's countries. Research findings stress rights, roles and responsibilities on the one hand, and organization, capacity-building, infrastructure and legal aspects on the other. With these overarching themes in mind, the authors take on many controversial topics and address practical challenges related to financing and reinvestment in sustainable forest management under decentralized governance. Particular efforts have been made to examine decentralization scales from the local to the national, and to address gender issues. The result is a unique examination of decentralization issues in forestry with clear lessons for policy, social equity, forest management, research, development and conservation in forested areas across the globe from the tropics to temperate regions. Published with CIFOR

Straightforward, honest and rational, Reinventing the Forest Industry presents a workable plan to bring the forest industry into the environmental culture with a stronger voice in policy discussion. It takes the reader from the origins of the environmental philosophy through the development of the present environmental culture and forecasts a vigorous, renewed forest industry future based on new agreements and strategic alignments. The significance of public, perception on management of America's forests runs through each of the eight chapters of Reinventing the Forest Industry. The author, the highly respected Dr. Jean Mater, uses the experience of other industries in changing their public image as the springboard for evaluating and enhancing the forest industry's relations with the public.