This is the first book to examine explicitly the non-timber goods and services provided by plantation forests, including soil, water and biodiversity conservation, as well as carbon sequestration and the provision of local livelihoods. The authors show that, if we require a higher provision of ecosystem goods and services from both temperate and tropical plantations, new approaches to their management are required. These include policies, methods for valuing the services, the practices of small landholders, landscape approaches to optimise delivery of goods and services, and technical issues about how to achieve suitable solutions at the scale of forest stands. While providing original theoretical insights, the book also gives guidance for plantation managers, policy-makers, conservation practitioners and community advocates, who seek to promote or strengthen the multiple-use of forest plantations for improved benefits for society.

Peter van der Meer is an internationally experienced scientist in the area of tropical forest ecology and sustainable use of biodiversity, working at Alterra, Wageningen, the Netherlands. He has worked extensively in tropical forest areas of South-America, Africa and South-East Asia.

Markku Kanninen is director of Environmental Services and Sustainable Use of Forests Program at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), whose headquarters are in Indonesia. He is an international expert in global change research, forest ecology, silviculture and forest management with a long history of research in tropical forests.