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.

Klappentext

This book presents the full text volume of the IUFRO (International Union of Forestry Research Organizations) Conference on Environmental Forest Science which was held in Kyoto, Japan on 19-23 October 1998. The conference was organized by IUFRO Division 8 Forest Environment and Kyoto University.br/ Forests as environment for mankind as well as environment of forests per se are increasingly important in progress of current urbanization and regional development. The objective of this conference is to integrate many fields of related sciences to a new concept of environmental forest science, which will be developing and promising in the 21st Century.br/ The book consists of sixty nine papers covering forests as environment from various aspects, forest ecosystems & biodiversity, forest hydrology, natural disasters (landslides and debris flows et al) in mountains and their reduction.br/ The publication will be of value to foresters, ecologists, hydrologists, landslide engineers and policy makers related to environments.

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.