Today, four countries – Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA – account for up to 35-55% of the world output of forest products. Yet, faced with globalisation, southern-hemisphere plantations, rapid development of information and communication technologies, and changes in societal values, the forest sectors of these countries must now either innovate and restructure or else face decline.
To some, these changes present new opportunities – for example in the development and production of new forest biorefinery products such as biofuels and chemicals. Indeed, the forest sector can be regarded as a central sector in moving these countries to more bioeconomy-based production and consumption.
Analysing the next 20 years of forest sector development in Canada, Finland, Sweden and the USA this book provides a better understanding of the various driving forces shaping the future of the forest sector and lays the groundwork for new approaches to problems still on the horizon.
With implications for both policy and management, the book provides a valuable reference for policy makers and forestry practitioners as well as for advanced students and researchers in forest economics and policy.
