Policy and legislation

Over the past two decades, perspectives on the role of the forest for society have evolved and broadened dramatically; the relatively narrow official view of the forest as primarily a source of wood and a form of protection for upland water resources has been seriously questioned and sometimes even violently opposed in favour of an approach that reflects a wider range of present and future opportunities and demands from forests and forest resources. Against this background, in many countries of both the developing and industrialized regions, forest policies and related legislation have been criticized for lagging behind in reflecting changing priorities and in harmonizing potentially conflicting demands. This issue of Unasylva looks at some of the important elements of both the "process" and the "products" of forest policy and legislative revision.