Introduction

The world’s forests play a fundamental role in shaping and sustaining both the global environment and human society. Forests are the world’s most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems and, despite unprecedented rates of loss over the past century, still cover some 30 per cent of the world’s land surface. They provide critical ecosystem services in climate regulation and the protection of soil and water resources. Both wood and non-wood forest products are essential to the livelihoods of more than a billion of the world’s poorest people. Overall, per capita wood consumption increases with wealth, supporting a forest products industry that accounts for 1 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank, 2004; FAO, 2007).