The Wicked Problem of Forest Policy

Forests play an important role in resolving global challenges such as sustainable development, climate change, biodiversity loss, and food and water security. Stopping deforestation is crucial for the future of our planet. Global efforts to curb deforestation, have been partially successful, but have largely fallen short. At the same time, national level efforts to support human development, reflected in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, aim to increase the welfare and wellbeing of populations living in poverty. Meeting these development goals will inevitably have crosscutting effects on initiatives to address deforestation. In balancing these goals, policy makers are confronted with wicked problems – or problems where there are moral considerations and where limited information is available for policy makers. This book is focused on how wicked forest policy problems have been, and can be, addressed.

William Nikolakis is a lawyer and a lecturer in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He is the Deputy Coordinator of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) Task Force, 'Resources for the Future: Transformation in Forest Use', a multidisciplinary and international network of forestry experts that evaluates forest policy and governance. His academic work is focused on natural resources governance and law, and on resolving complex problems and trade-offs in this context. Dr Nikolakis has paid particular attention to resource allocations and rights to Indigenous communities.

John L. Innes is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He teaches in the field of international forestry. Since arriving at UBC, he has worked on a range of issues associated with forest management. He is actively involved with climate change research, particularly its effects on forest ecosystems and the development of appropriate management strategies for adaptation, and in 2007 was part of the IPCC team that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.