ABSTRACT
It is time for a positive approach to deforestation. There has been much public concern and alarm about some aspects of the problem. This is why the authors are deliberately focusing on replenishment rather than deforestation. Moreover, if forest land is managed well and with restraint, it can yield valuable produce while continuing to provide its many environmental benefits. The values of forests only began to be appreciated when they had nearly disappeared - this seems a sad but recurrent characteristic of human nature. Sustainable use should become the rule in forest management rather than alternating phases of plunder and emergency remedial treatment. Forest restoration began in Cyprus at much the same time as a reaction to the devastated state of the forest there, found by the incoming British administration. Forest soils were there to be cleared and tilled; timber, fuelwood, animals for meat and skins, and other forest produce were there to be harvested.
