When is a forest a forest? Forest concepts and definitions in the era of forest and landscape restoration.

ABSTRACT: We present a historical overview of forest concepts and definitions, linking these changes with distinct perspectives and management objectives. Policies dealing with a broad range of forest issues are often based on definitions created for the purpose of assessing global forest stocks, which do not distinguish between natural and planted forests or reforests, and which have not proved useful in assessing national and global rates of forest regrowth and restoration. Implementing and monitoring forest and landscape restoration requires additional approaches to defining and assessing forests that reveal the qualities and trajectories of forest patches in a spatially and temporally dynamic landscape matrix. New technologies and participatory assessment of forest states and trajectories offer

SUBMITTER: Chazdon RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4980317 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature