| Sumario: |
Forest sector and environmental services from forest were not really important in national economies nor in economic policies, until recently. The development of the forest sector activities were at first linked in particular to logging activities and the sawmill industry. At that time, trees seemed to be very abundant and log supply was not a problem. Sawmills supplied timber, especially for construction and a few other industries, which were linked to the forest only through their use of wood as an input. Foresters were primarily interested in the efficiency of the transformation of logs into timber and in some silviculture activities, which allow trees to grow faster. In short, there was a clear bias emanating from technologies, institutions and policies against forest related activities in the past.
Recently, however there has been important changes in the economy of the forest sector. Now, it is widely accepted that forests are ecosystems, which besides producing timber, seeds and a few other marketable products, also produce ecological services. These “new” products and services (see box No.1) can only be maintained and further developed, however, if the traditional, non-sustainable, exploitation of the forest comes to an end . Such a change requires institutional changes as well as new policies. (Institutional learning and policy learning).
|