Balancing Act: Environmental Issues in Forestry

ISBN-13: 9780774805742 / Angielski / Miękka / 1997 / 310 str.

Hamish Kimmins; J. P. Kimmins

Opis

In the past decade there has been much debate over the environmental impact of forestry. People are justifiably concerned about what is happening to their local and global forest environments. But they are also confused by the polarized rhetoric that has characterized both sides of the forestry/environment debate.In Balancing Act Hamish Kimmins calls for a balanced, more objective approach to forestry issues. He argues that these issues are too often debated without any common understanding of what forestry is really all about or about how forest ecosystems work. He points out that the issues raised by change in forests have two major dimensions--scientific and social--and that resolving these issues will be easier if we can separate the scientific from teh value-based social aspects of the debate. He also contends that much of the current debate about forests and their management ignores the time dimension of ecosystems and he calls for a more dynamic view of current environmental issues in forestry--one that accounts for change.In the first few chapters of the book, the basic principles of forestry and ecology are outlined. The major issues facing forestry in the 1990s--not only in British Columbia but worldwide--are then discussed. These include clearcutting, slashburning, management chemicals, old growth, biological diversity, ?new forestry, ? climate change, acid rain, the comparison between temperate and tropical forestry, long-term decisions in forestry, and the sustainability of various forest values.Balancing Act clarifies the issues at the heart of the forestry-environment debate. Readers will gain a new understanding of how our forest ecosystems work and how they can be managed sustainably.