This proceedings volume has been edited from sixty-nine full text papers of the 132 papers presented to the IUFRO (International Union of Forestry Research Organizations) Conference on Environmental Forest Science, which was jointly organized by IUFRO Division 8, "Forest Environment", and Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, on 19-23 October 1998. The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) is one of the oldest scientific societies. It was founded in 1892 to foster cooperation of research units on forestry. IUFRO consists of 650 research organizations from 100 countries. IUFRO th Division 8 is the latest division, founded at the 20 World Congress in 1995 by subdividing the previous Division 1, "Forest Environment and Silviculture". The objective of this first general Conference of Division 8 is to consider research needs in the 21 sl century for forest environment, and the integration of related fields of sciences to a new concept of environmental forest science.

Inhalt

IUFRO: History and Role in the 21st Century; R. Seppälä. Toward the New Stage of Environmental Forest Science Research in the 21st Century - IUFRO Status and Perspective; H. Schmutzenhofer. 1: Forests as Environment. 2. Forest Ecosystems and Biodiversity. 3. Forest Hydrology. 4. Natural Disasters in Mountains.