Sustainable Management of Mediterranean Forests in Spain

Abstract

"A description of the salient features of Spanish Mediterranean forests and explanations justifying the application of forest management. The concept of sustainable forest use arose with the widespread organization of forests and the development of forestry as a discipline in the mid-nineteenth century. Before that time the relatively low demand for resources and the lack of extraction technology meant that forest resources were not generally threatened. In some cases, the close union between local people and their environment led to an understanding of and respect for the forests. It also encouraged the use of traditional forestry techniques, which had been developed empirically over the centuries and which were in effect 'sustainable'."