Author Cashore B. et al.

Year of publication 2006

This book is a16-country, 622-page comparative historical analysis on the emergence of forest certification within developing countries reveals that existing commitments from North American and European markets has not yet been strong enough to influence significantly forest management choices in some of the world's most environmentally sensitive forests. The editors argue that the success of forest certification is conditional upon a heightened level of concern and awareness on the part of the world's wealthiest consumers of forest products whose consumption habits currently feed tropical forest destruction. The study represented a significant collaborative endeavour in which a common template was used to assess the historical development of forest certification in 16 countries within four regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. In order to present a comprehensive and culturally accurate analysis, the editors employed nationally based researchers from the countries themselves. This diverse group of researchers included Ugandan forestry practitioners, who examined forest certification's potential to impact carbon sequestration and ultimately global warming, and a scholar in Russia who highlighted the ways that forestry operations in the eastern and western parts of her country responded to the differences in market signals sent by Chinese and European buyers. Preliminary results were presented by each case-study author at a symposium held at Yale in 2004 and then revised for the final volume.