ABSTRACT
This chapter explains existing evidence of the relative incompleteness of the representations the public holds on forests. It introduces models of media communication that forest communicators may choose to adopt and highlight their respective potential in supporting audiences in constructing more complex and more accurate representations of forest-related issues. The chapter presents the recent results of two studies completed by the authors on how teenagers and young adults are able to understand, contextualize, compare, and evaluate forest-related media. It provides recommendations on how communication on forests should be practiced to support the appropriation of forest-related societal issues by the public. There is a complexity to contemporary forest-related issues that is seldom addressed by the media, making them difficult to grasp by nonexpert audiences. The complexity of forest issues is further reinforced by the evolution of the forestry sector, which, with the emergence of new policies related to sustainable management, counts multiple players.
