THE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT RESEARCH GROUP

The Sustainable Forest Management Research Group (SFMRG) was established in 2000 to foster innovative research on various topics related to sustainable forestry throughout the world. All aspects of management are considered, ranging from ecological to social and economic issues. Graduate students come from a variety of academic disciplines, currently including India, Peru, Mexico, Canada, and the UK. The interdisciplinary nature of our research allows individuals to pursue their interests while benefiting from a variety of insights and perspectives. This depth contributes to the quality of our collaborative work as well.

Forests represent a point where ecological, economic, and social systems and dimensions intersect. They are important to us for the regulation of climates, resilience and diversity of ecosystems and species, inputs to economies at every scale, complex cultural and social values, and our environmental endowment to future generations. They have intrinsic, market, and social values that must be balanced in management and decision-making amidst the constant flux of system interactions.  Concurrently, there is hardly an environmental issue today in which forests do not play a vital role.  With such high stakes, policies around forest governance can create polarized and seemingly intractable stand-offs between competing values.  Sustainable forestry faces the challenge of complexity, uncertainty and conflict in forest management by employing the best knowledge available to understand and manage these great reserves of natural resources.