In this timely book, David Humphreys, author of Forest Politics, extends his analysis of the main political developments in forest governance over the last decade including recent 2005 and 2006 negotiations at the UN.
Humphreys shows how the unwillingness of many governments and businesses to grapple with the causes of deforestation has rendered the UN largely ineffective in protecting the public goods value of forests. As a result the crisis of deforestation has deepened. He tracks all the main intergovernmental forest processes and follows the creation of novel mechanisms to address forest certification and illegal logging, but argues that they alone cannot solve the problem. He concludes by suggesting some policy innovations to address one of the most pressing environmental problems of our age.
- Forests as Public Goods
- Intergovernmental Panel on Forests
- World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development
- Intergovernmental Forum on Forests
- United Nations Forum on Forests
- The Certification Wars
- Illegal Logging
- World Bank
- The International Forests Regime
- The Crisis of Global Governance
David Humphreys is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Policy at The Open University, UK, and author of Forest Politics: The Evolution of International Cooperation (1996)
"The most thorough analysis so far on international forest processes. The arguments and information put forward will be of high interest for both policy makers and future researchers"
- Birger Solberg, Professor of Forest Economics, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and first Director, European Forest Institute (1993 – 1996)
"Provides a broad, historical perspective on international forest politics and policies. David Humphreys is one of the few people who has an overview of all the international processes concerning forests [...] I found the book full of thought provoking comment and innovative perspectives"
- Jeffrey Sayer, Senior Associate, WWF International and Founding Director General CIFOR (1993 – 2001)
"An excellent well-researched volume that is Herculean in its breadth and depth. A timely, comprehensive and knowledgeable analysis that carefully details the obstacles facing efforts to develop meaningful global forest governance"
- Benjamin Cashore, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University.
"This incisive, wide-ranging analysis explains the failure of international efforts to conserve the world's forests. Through detailed scruitny of the very grey literature about forests, and interviews with some of the key actors, David Humphreys exposes the political and economic interests blocking forestry reform. Anyone involved in global policy making about forests ignores this book at their peril"
- Marcus Colchester, Director, Forest Peoples Programme
"Once again David Humphreys helps us to understand what lies beneath the surface in the world of international forest politics. The insights in this book will fascinate both newcomers to this field and those negotiators and stakeholders who have spent many years in the trenches. All can learn from this study"
- Carole Saint-Laurent, Senior Forest Policy Advisor, IUCN – The World Conservation Union.
"A well-presented volume"
- BC Forest Professional