This book is an outcome of a research project on "Sustainable Forestry
and the Environment in Developing Countries". The project has been run
by Metsantutki- muslaitos METLA -the Finnish Forest Research Institute
since 1987 and will be completed this year. A major output by this
project has so far been a report in three volumes on "Deforestation or
development in the Third World?" The purpose of our multidisciplinary
research project is to generate new knowl- edge about the causes of
deforestation, its scenarios and consequences. More knowledge is needed
for more effective, efficient and equitable public policy, both at the
national and intemationallevels in supporting sustainable forestry in
develop- ing countries. Our project has specifically focused on 90
tropical countries as one group and on three subgroups by continents, as
well as the three case study countries, the Philippines, Ethiopia and
Chile. The University of Joensuu has been our active partner in the
Philippine study. We have complemented the three cases by the analyzes
of Brazil and Indonesia, the two largest tropical forest-owning
countries. Some other interesting country studies were annexed to
complement our book both by geography and expertise. The United Nations
University, World Institute for Development Economics Research,
UNUIWIDER in Helsinki Finland has also been partly engaged. Most of the
results from its project on "The Forest in the South and North in
Context of Global Warming" will, however, be published later in a
separate book.
