Le prsent numro d'Unasylva examine les dfis que doit relever la vulgarisation forestire et les efforts dploys actuellement en ce sens.

Paul Richards argues that the war in Sierra Leone and other small wars in Africa do not manifest a "new barbarism". What appears as random, anarchic violence is no such thing. The terrifying military methods of Sierra Leone's soldiers may not fit Western models of warfare, but they are rational and effective. The war must be understood partly as "performance", in which techniques of terror compensate for lack of equipment.

Claims of sustainability are virtually impossible to prove but enough is known about tropical forest ecology and silviculture to protect ecosystem functions and maintain biodiversity while still deriving financial profits from logging. Rapid improvements in long-term forest production will derive from better planning of harvesting operations and stand improvement treatments. Lack of good management plans generally results in logging practices that destroy natural regeneration and increase forest susceptibility to soil loss, wildfires, and weed infestations.

India is vast, diverse and complex, in its environments and in environment-society relations. These relationships, and government policies which influence or control them, are the subject of very significant reforms currently occurring in India. At the most fundamental level, this report asks "Who is to protect, manage and regenerate India’s forests, where and for what, and what resources or support does each agent need to fulfil the mandate efficiently and equitably?" The conventional forestry systems have been under scrutiny.

Aujourd'hui, prs de 30 ans aprs la publication de The tragedy, of the commons, l'exprience ngative de l'expropriation des ressources communautaires qu'ont faite les gouvernements a entran un rexamen du potentiel de la gestion collective; et la base de donnes sur les tentatives pratiques de rtablir ou de renforcer les systmes de gestion des ressources communautaires ne cesse d'augmenter. Le prsent numro d'Unasyva est ax sur ces deux aspects relatifs aux ressources forestires.

This issue of Unasylva examines a number of important concepts within the current framework of trade and marketing of forest products.