Forests, landscapes and conservation

[Extract] This is a theme which has recently risen in prominence since the sixth Forest Day in Doha, Qatar, on 2 December 2012. Volume I, edited by Jeffrey Sayer and Douglas Sheil, covers this very broad topic, in seven parts. The first two parts, "Overview and contexts" and "History and modern classics", highlight historical and recurring conservation themes and discuss the conceptual development of forest conservation planning. The third part, "Beyond the pristine" considers the value of tree cover outside "natural" forest settings, an important consideration for a landscape approach to conservation. The fourth part "Concerning methods" examines some of the important methods used to research these themes, from field surveys of biodiversity to multi-scale monitoring of landscapes. The questions of how forest landscapes should be managed and by whom, are posed in Part 5, "Governance and oversight". The sixth and seventh parts, "Taking stock" and "The road ahead" review what we already know, what we need to know and what approaches might be needed to make forest conservation more effective in the future.