Global Forest Governance: Legal Concepts and Policy Trends

'Forests are important for their own values as ecosystems and for their contributions to the welfare of humankind. Dr. Rowena Maguire's book is a significant contribution to our understanding of the extent to which forests can be and indeed are, managed sustainably. It brings together clearly and authoritatively the doctrinal concepts supporting sustainable forest governance from rights of sovereignty and property through public and private sector regulatory mechanisms to the increasing use of market arrangements. This detailed analysis is set, among others, in the context of climate change. It is an impressive and substantial contribution to what has so far been a relatively limited literature on how an important natural resource is managed.'
- Douglas Fisher, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
'Sustainable forest management is an attractive concept used in this book to frame the interdisciplinary and contextualized study of the role of a range of actors, institutions and regimes which contribute to regulating the use of forests around the world. This book effectively provides an important, broad and legal critique and assessment of transnational trends, structures and innovations currently in use for managing forests. Its conclusions provide wide ranging insights that not only clarify and critique the potential of existing strategies and trends for legally managing forests but for governance of cosystems more generally as humanity gradually acknowledges its role in the anthropocene.'
- Afshin Akhtarkhavari, Griffith University, Australia

Global Forest Governance provides insightful legal analysis of the current key policy trends and the challenges surrounding international forest regulation.

This book identifies the fundamental legal principles and the governance requirements of sustainable forest management. An analytical model for assessing forest regulation is created which identifies the doctrinal concepts that underpin forest regulation (justice, property, sovereignty and governance). It also highlights the dominant public international institutions involved in forest regulation (UNFF, UNFCCC and WB) which is followed by analysis of non-state international forest regulation (forest certification and ecosystem markets). The book concludes by making a number of practical recommendations for reform of global forest governance arrangements and suggested reforms for individual international forest institutions.

This book will appeal to academics, policymakers, international environmental researchers, government officials involved in forest regulation and environmental regulation more broadly.