Forest management for recreation and conservation: new challenges

Abstract

Summary New demands are being made by society on forest managers. They are obliged to implement silviculture practices which prioritize recreation and conservation over wood production. The decision-making about priorities is taken by the political authorities, who depend upon preliminary studies by multidisciplinary teams and on an objective knowledge of the social demands. Development for recreation, adapted to each individual case, depends upon an analysis of the environmental conditions. The conservation objective implies, for a fraction of the forests in question, the creation of reserves of various types: integral or managed, etc. For the remainder of the landscape, an adapted sylviculture will promote biodiversity, carried out by a precise ecological zoning, the management of landscapes and the protection of patrimonial riches. This paper emphasizes the specific problems of the Mediterranean region, where the restoration of degraded zones generally implies a different approach from that adopted in the countries of central and northern Europe. Implementing a forestry policy that focuses on conservation and recreation ‐ even when limited to only a part of the totality of forests ‐ is not cost-free. It assumes complementary financing if the income from the sale of wood cannot cover management costs.