Contested issues of forest ecosystem management

The chief principle of forestry is sustainable management of forest ecosystems. To produce goods needed by the human society, classical forestry favors ecosystem simplifications, e.g. growing marketable tree species at the expense of others. The recent concern about neglected species and biodiversity in general led to a critical reexamination of goals and methods of forestry. The views are divided. Some believe that traditional management may destroy the environment, that we need to view forests as integrated ecosystems, rather than as only producers of commodities for human consumption. Others assert that classical forestry is sustainable and consider biodiversity worship and its practical manifestation, ecosystem management, as a mass delusion. This paper summarizes the discussion of these views conducted at the VII Intecol Symposium S8.14.