Beschreibung:
A decade ago at the Earth Summit in Rio, governments committed themselves to addressing environmental problems that were seen as causing threats to regional and global ecological stability. In Britain, the Forestry Commission (FC) estate was then widely perceived as being in bad shape: too little native forest, too many exotic plantations and a state forest authority remote from the aspirations of many people. Ten years later, the FC's managing agency, Forest Enterprise (FE), has made dramatic internal changes, the whole FC estate has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and as a result it was presented with one of WWF’s prestigious Gifts to the Earth awards. Clearly things have changed: but how much? This study looks back at what the UK committed to in 1992 and at what has been achieved. Because we recognise that there are still many ways to improve the quality and quantity of public forests and also the goods and services they provide in Britain, we also look forward to how forest management might continue to evolve over the next half century. We hope the report is timely. In summer 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development considered progress since the Earth Summit. In the UK, forestry and the land use sector generally is facing a period of profound changes, with new opportunities, new challenges and a need to reflect on future priorities. The structure of the FC is also the subject of considerable change in response to devolution. The advent of three new agencies responsible for managing the FC estate in England, Scotland and Wales will provide new opportunities to deliver the priorities of government in each country. Although supported by WWF-UK and FE, the report is an independent study and the content and views expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. It aims to inform debate at this critical period of change.We make no great claims for originality: many of the things we write about have been suggested before, but we have had the opportunity to pull them together and perhaps to be a little more ambitious in what might now be achieved.