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The Białowieża Forest is probably the best known forest in Central and Eastern Europe, owing its fame to not only to its natural value, but also to the disputes which have arisen in recent years concerning approaches to its protection. In this book the authors present the Białowieża Forest and the principles of its protection, as well as the legal remedies constructively derived from the disputes. The proposed remedies can also be applied appropriately to other priceless shared goods and cross-border properties.

In 1994, the Government of Cameroon introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market-based, to support a more organized, transparent, and sustainable system for accessing and using forest resources. This report describes how these reforms played out in the rainforests of Cameroon. The intention is to provide a brief account of a complex process and identify what worked, what did not, and what can be improved. The barriers to placing Cameroon's forests at the service of its people, its economy, and the environment originated with the extractive policies of successive colonial administrations. The barriers were further consolidated after independence through a system of political patronage and influence in which forest resources became a coveted currency for political support. These deeply entangled commercial and political interests have only recently, and reluctantly, started to diverge. In 1994, the government introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market based. The reforms changed the rules determining who could gain access to forest resources, how access could be obtained, how those resources could be used, and who will benefit from their use. This report assesses the outcomes of reforms in forest-rich areas of Cameroon, where the influence of industrial and political elites has dominated since colonial times.

China's Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP) is aimed at improving the fragile and unstable ecological environment and has become one of the largest ecological restoration programs in the world because of its enormous investment and effects. It is important to work out and strengthen new measures to overcome difficulties to promote more ecosystem services and human well‐being in the NFCP. This study focused on how to evaluate the ecosystem services change brought about by implementing the NFCP. Taking the key state‐owned forest areas in the Northeast and Inner Mongolia as the study area, we provide a basic overview of development and construct an evaluation index system and a distributed calculation method for the NFCP to analyze the implications of the NFCP on ecosystem services combined with multi‐source data coupling. An evaluation index system for NFCP ecosystem services was constructed. The system includes five ecological service functions and 12 evaluation indices. The trade‐off and/or synergistic analysis of ecosystem services were carried out. The regional characteristics and changes in the NFCP ecosystem services were emphasized. Although it has not been implemented for a long time, the NFCP has had a great impact on ecosystem services because it reduces soil and water losses, increases soil fertility, strengthens the forest carbon sink and helped the forest accumulate nutrients and purify the atmosphere. Socioeconomic factors affect the NFCP ecosystem services, such as the implementation area of NFCP, investment amount of NFCP, area ratio of nature reserves, and yield of tree stock volume. Policy drivers of the NFCP, changes in the economic structure and reductions in forest yield are the main factors affecting the change in NFCP ecosystem services. Although the NFCP has positively affected the society, the economy, and the ecological environment, it has also generated some problems, such as the improper management of forest resources, shortage of capital investment, staff transfer, etc. The social and economic problems will be transient with implementation of the NFCP, and the structural changes in forestry and agriculture may eventually benefit the forestry workers and other stakeholders. In this work, taking the key state‐owned forest areas in the Northeast and Inner Mongolia as the study area, we provide a basic overview of development and construct an evaluation index system and a distributed calculation method for the China's Natural Forest Protection Program (NFCP) to analyze the implications of the NFCP on ecosystem services combined with multi‐source data coupling.

The first International Handbook of Forest Therapy defines the scientific domain of this innovative, evidence-based and timely public health approach. More than 50 authors from around the world are brought together to offer their expertise and insights about forest therapy from a variety of research perspectives. The theoretical discussion of the effects related to the biophilia hypothesis presented here is complemented by research results compiled across the last three decades in the fields of forest medicine and biochemistry from Asia. The book also highlights the latest developments with regards to forest therapy in a number of different countries, ranging from China and Australia to Germany and Austria. The handbook constitutes a major milestone in research in this field. It sets the baseline for forest therapy to be implemented worldwide as a powerful and financially prudent public health practice.

In this paper, multifrequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from ALOS/PALSAR, ENVISAT/ASAR and Cosmo-SkyMed sensors were studied for forest classification in a test area in Central Italy (San Rossore), where detailed in-situ measurements were available. A preliminary discrimination of the main land cover classes and forest types was carried out by exploiting the synergy among L-, C- and X-bands and different polarizations. SAR data were preliminarily inspected to assess the capabilities of discriminating forest from non-forest and separating broadleaf from coniferous forests. The temporal average backscattering coefficient ( σ ¯ °) was computed for each sensor-polarization pair and labeled on a pixel basis according to the reference map. Several classification methods based on the machine learning framework were applied and validated considering different features, in order to highlight the contribution of bands and polarizations, as well as to assess the classifiers’ performance. The experimental results indicate that the different surface types are best identified by using all bands, followed by joint L- and X-bands. In the former case, the best overall average accuracy (83.1%) is achieved by random forest classification. Finally, the classification maps on class edges are discussed to highlight the misclassification errors.

After a hot, dry spring, the woodland around Marseille was ready to go up in flames. Summer 2016 would be a record breaker in terms of fire. The firefighters would need to show what they were made of. To protect the Mediterranean forest, teams of firefighters require military technology, operational tactics, social networks and ancestral knowledge. But suspicious fires spreading into urban areas would take them to breaking point. Reinforcements from all over France would be sent to take control.

The Bouches du Rhone department has just been through the worst fire season in a decade. Fires made worse by drought and high winds have caused huge blazes across the region. More than 8000 acres of land have burned. After three months of constant battle, the firemen are exhausted and everyone is praying for rain. But at the beginning of September, the weather forecasts are predicting more wind. The fire season is far from over.

Effective forest management systems based on comprehensive tools need to be developed for the analysis and assessment of forest cover change. This requires a wide range of data, starting from old maps, which allow the reconstruction of spatially referenced information on past forest areas, to recently collected data. The research methodology proposed in this paper involves a combined analysis of data from different sources, using statistical, comparative, and visual analysis methods. The case study is Jurbarkas District of the Republic of Lithuania characterized by a high land productivity score. The research found that the highest forest cover areas were in the 19th century and the lowest in the 20th century. It can be seen that during the period under research, forest areas ‘migrated’ from an area favorable for agricultural activities to a less favorable area with higher slopes. Permanent forest cover areas and the age of the dominant trees have been identified. The age of the trees in the forest areas has allowed for the identification of the periods when the most intensive logging took place. The rate of forest cover change made it possible to predict the total disappearance of the forest areas provided that the factors influencing forest cover change at that time remained unchanged. If the trends in forest change in Jurbarkas District had been maintained in the period between the 19th and 20th centuries, the forest would have disappeared in 2006.

Originally published in 2000, this title is a collection of engaging, nontechnical contributions of scholars, policymakers, and forestry officials providing broad reflections on the agency's past and future, contemporary perspectives about the use and stewardship of public lands, and insightful analyses about the science involved in the practice of scientific management. The authors offer challenging ideas for evaluating the performance of the U.S. Forest Service, reshaping its mission, enhancing its effectiveness, improving internal morale, and increasing public participation in the agency. It is a valuable resource for policymakers, professional foresters, and any student interested in Environmental Studies.

O'ahu's botanical gardens offer unique opportunities to quiet the mind through forest bathing. In this travel guide series, ambient sights, sounds and local narratives spark a sense of place.