Sustainable development in Canadian forestry in the face of changing paradigms

Abstract

There is a need to sustain, and, where environmentally acceptable, to increase the supply of timber from Canada's forests. However, the public now views its forests as much more than a supply of wood products and provider of wealth and employment, there has been a "paradigm shift'. Many other forest values must be sustained, and this poses a major challenge to the future supply of Canadian lumber. This paper will review the history of changing paradigms in Canadian forestry and some dimensions of the currently emerging paradigm. It will conclude with a discussion of the implications for this new paradigm for the future timber supply, and will present my vision of the future of forestry and timber supply in Canada. -from Author