These are turbulent, unpredictable, yet opportune times for Canadian forestry. Never before have competing demands on Canada’s forest resources been so great. At the same time, we are finally being forced to confront the sustainable limit of these resources. Now, the improbable has happened: government, industry, First Nationa, and NGOs appear to be part of an emerging consensus that industrial forestry in Canada must change. The Wealth of Forests is a pioneering attempt to grapple with the policy implications of the transition to sustainable forestry. While much has been written on the theory and practice of sustainable forestry and on the relative merits of regulatory versus market approaches to environmental protection, these literatures have nnot as yet been bridged. Using illustrations based on recent developments in British Columbia forest policy, this collection provides that bridge by analyzing the potential and limits of market, regulatory, and other policy instruments as means of achieving sustainability. Featuring new work by many of Canada’s leading forest policy scholars, this interdisciplinary collection is devoted to translating the concept of sustainability into practice in key areas of forest policy, including tenure, timber pricing, forest practices, land-use zoning, and eco-certification. The Wealth of Forests also considers how domestic and international legal regimes might constrain the adoption of policies that could bring us close to the elusive goal of sustainable forestry.

Oil Wealth and the Fate of the Forest is a topical and accessible book with numerous implications for policy formulation to decide what can be done to diminish deforestation without jeopardising economic growth. This book needs to be read not only by students and academics involved in environmental economics, but also by decision-makers involved in the conservation and sustainable use of forests.

We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives. The Wealth of the Commons explains how millions of commoners have organized to defend their forests and fisheries, reinvent local food systems, organize productive online communities, reclaim public spaces, improve environmental stewardship and re-imagine the very meaning of "progress" and governance. In short, how they've built their commons. In 73 timely essays by a remarkable international roster of activists, academics and project leaders, this book chronicles ongoing struggles against the private com­moditization of shared resources - often known as market enclosures - while docu­menting the immense generative power of the commons. The Wealth of the Commons is about history, political change, public policy and cultural transformation on a global scale - but most of all, it's about individual commoners taking charge of their lives and their endangered resources. "This fine collection makes clear that the idea of the Commons is fully international, and increasingly fully worked-out. If you find yourself wondering what Occupy wants, or if some other world is possible, this pragmatic, down-to-earth, and unsentimental book will provide many of the answers." - Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future

Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.

Learn how to fill forests with food by viewing agriculture from a remarkably different perspective: that a healthy forest can be maintained while growing a wide range of food, medicinal, and other nontimber products. The practices of forestry and farming are often seen as mutually exclusive, because in the modern world, agriculture involves open fields, straight rows, and machinery to grow crops, while forests are reserved primarily for timber and firewood harvesting. In Farming the Woods, authors Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be an either-or scenario, but a complementary one; forest farms can be most productive in places where the plow is not: on steep slopes and in shallow soils. Forest farming is an invaluable practice to integrate into any farm or homestead, especially as the need for unique value-added products and supplemental income becomes increasingly important for farmers. Many of the daily indulgences we take for granted, such as coffee, chocolate, and many tropical fruits, all originate in forest ecosystems. But few know that such abundance is also available in the cool temperate forests of North America. Farming the Woods covers in detail how to cultivate, harvest, and market high-value nontimber forest crops such as American ginseng, shiitake mushrooms, ramps (wild leeks), maple syrup, fruit and nut trees, ornamentals, and more. Along with profiles of forest farmers from around the country, readers are also provided comprehensive information on: • historical perspectives of forest farming; • mimicking the forest in a changing climate; • cultivation of medicinal crops; • cultivation of food crops; • creating a forest nursery; • harvesting and utilizing wood products; • the role of animals in the forest farm; and, • how to design your forest farm and manage it once it’s established. Farming the Woods is an essential book for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland, are looking for productive ways to manage it, and are interested in incorporating aspects of agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management into the concept of a whole-farm organism.

There is an increasing interest in inclusive wealth, and inclusive wealth can be a solution to the problematic narrowness of the traditional national accounting sys-tem, which has been recognized for a long time. This book offers a comprehensive guide on this subject of inclusive wealth.

Hailed as "one of the most eminent environmental historians of the West" by Alan Brinkley in The New York Times Book Review, Donald Worster has been a leader in reshaping the study of American history. Winner of the prestigious Bancroft Prize for his book Dust Bowl, Worster has helped bring humanity's interaction with nature to the forefront of historical thinking. Now, in The Wealth of Nature, he offers a series of thoughtful, eloquent essays which lay out his views on environmental history, tying the study of the past to today's agenda for change. The Wealth of Nature captures the fruit of what Worster calls "my own intellectual turning to the land." History, he writes, represents a dialogue between humanity and nature--though it is usually reported as if it were simple dictation. Worster takes as his point of departure the approach expressed early on by Aldo Leopold, who stresses the importance of nature in determining human history; Leopold pointed out that the spread of bluegrass in Kentucky, for instance, created new pastures and fed the rush of American settlers across the Appalachians, which affected the contest between Britain, France, and the U.S. for control of the area. Worster's own work offers an even more subtly textured understanding, noting in this example, for instance, that bluegrass itself was an import from the Old World which supplanted native vegetation--a form of "environmental imperialism." He ranges across such areas as agriculture, water development, and other questions, examining them as environmental issues, showing how they have affected--and continue to affect--human settlement. Environmental history, he argues, is not simply the history of rural and wilderness areas; cities clearly have a tremendous impact on the land, on which they depend for their existence. He argues for a comprehensive approach to understanding our past as well as our present in environmental terms. "Nostalgia runs all through this society," Worster writes, "fortunately, for it may be our only hope of salvation." These reflective and engaging essays capture the fascination of environmental history--and the beauty of nature lost or endangered--underscoring the importance of intelligent action in the present.

Reduction in the size of the world's remaining rainforests is an issue of huge importance for all societies. This new book - an analysis of the impact of oil wealth on tropical deforestation in South America, Africa and Asia - takes a much more analytical approach than the usual fare of environmental studies. The focus on economies as a whole leads to a more balanced view than those that are often put forward and therefore, vitally, a view that is more valid. Of use to those who study environmental issues and economics, this book is potentially an indispensable tool for policy-makers the world over.

What makes our planet's natural treasures worth saving, and why should we care? With hundreds of stunning full-color photographs and more than twenty essays from some of the world's most respected scientists, this latest publication in the CEMEX Conservation Book Series aims to provide some of these answers. With scientific analyses, The Wealth of Nature offers a detailed explanation of the various ecosystem services that support and regulate all natural processes on Earth. It also provides cultural context for how these services are vital for our existence and why their futures—and ours—are at risk. The Wealth of Nature maps out the state of our global resources and clarifies the choices that lay before us. It is within our grasp to adapt to the conditions we have created and to mitigate our impact on the future, but the window of opportunity is closing. Take a moment and come and see the award-winning nature photographers capture Earth's intricate web of life and the solutions we are working toward.