Foreword he State of the World's Forests reports every two years on the status of forests, recent major policy and institutional developments and key issues concerning the forest sector. This is the fourth edition of the publication, the purpose of which is to make current, reliable and policy-relevant information widely available to polic makers, foresters and other natural resource managers, academics, forest industry and civil society. Our hope is that it will facilitate informed discussion and decision making with regard to the world,s forests As we approach the benchmark year of 2002, the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), it is an opportune moment to take stock of the progress
