Plantation forests—even-aged stands of a single tree species established primarily for wood production—are one of the defining features of forestry in the past century. An increasing proportion of these forests are "intensively managed", that is, they are forests of relatively high productivity in which the owner makes a sustained investment to optimize returns from industrial wood supply. Such forests can provide important economic and ecological values, but they can also entail substantial environmental and social costs. TFD convened a series of dialogues from 2005 to 2008 on these issues, bringing together business leaders, environmental groups, researchers, certification organizations, and government agencies.

Kanowski, P. and H. Murray. 
TFD Review on Intensively Managed Planted Forests: Toward Best Practice (English)

Meeting materials available.

Dialogues

Dialogue on Intensively Managed Planted Forests in Brazil

April 14-17, 2008 - Vitoria, Brazil

TFD convened 43 national and international leaders from the forest products industry, finance and investment sector, labor, the NGO community, academia, government, small forest owners, and local indigenous and rural communities in Espirito Santo and Bahia, Brazil for site visits and dialogue on intensively managed planted forests (IMPF) in Brazil. The meeting was the final event in The Forests Dialogue's IMPF dialogue series.

Meeting materials available.

Dialogue on Intensively Managed Planted Forests in Indonesia

March 5-8, 2007 - Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia

The Forests Dialogue (TFD) will convene a dialogue with associated site visits in Sumatra, Indonesia in March 2007 to continue its exploration of intensively managed planted forests (IMPFs). This group of experts has come together to learn from each other and identify the conditions under which IMPFs can deliver an optimal and equitable mix of economic, social and environmental benefits both locally and globally. The Indonesia dialogue is a follow-up from the IMPF China dialogue of April 2006 and is the second in a series of dialogues and field visits by this working group to key IMPF regions around the world. It aims to expand the working group's knowledge of IMPFs and contribute to ongoing national policy discussions on the role of IMPFs in meeting Indonesia's future fiber demands. A priority of this dialogue will be to involve key Indonesian officials in the ongoing international dialogue process.

Meeting materials available.

Dialogue on Intensively Managed Planted Forests in China

April 3-6, 2006 - Southern Guangxi Province, China

The Forests Dialogue (TFD) convened a dialogue with associated site visits in Southern Guangxi Province, China in April 2006 to discuss and explore the issue of intensively managed planted forests (IMPFs). This was the first of a series of dialogues and field visits by this working group.

Meeting materials available.

Scoping Dialogue on Intensively Managed Planted Forests

21-22 July 2005 - Gland, Switzerland

TFD convened twenty-two international leaders of the forest products industry, NGOs, governments, and forest owners for a scoping meeting to discuss the environmental, social, and economic factors critical to the management of intensively managed planted forests (plantations).

Meeting materials available.