I have identified a set of generic goals for plantation forestry and discussed some of their aspects in relation to the expanding role of plantation forests for economic and environmental benefits, the trends in long-term productivity, conflicting demands and needs in land use values, and assessment of sustainability.
Profitable and sustained wood production with environmental care is at the heart of sustainable plantation forestry. Despite the rising concern, in the mid 1960s, about the decline in yield of plantation forests, there is a substantial amount of evidence to show that in temperate and warm temperate areas of the world, plantation productivity has increased during the last decades; a credit to forest science and management. In evaluating sustained productivity we need to recognise that there is no immutable reference point against which productivity can be bench-marked, and indices of productivity may only provide a snap-shot in time. The base knowledge required to achieve this and to accommodate the inevitable and diverse obligations and expectations of sustainability requires continuous updating of this knowledge through its application in the field, as well as appropriate feedback.
As plantation forestry expands, it comes into conflict with other land-use values. A striking example is the widespread concern about the impact of plantations on water resources available for other purposes. The solution of these conflicts requires sound research results and communication strategies to constructively engage the community.
Sustainability is not only important commercially, it is a national and international obligation. Simplistic notions of criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability may achieve little, but scientifically based assessments with appropriate weighting given to the core goals of plantation forestry could further advance the growing opportunities of plantation based forest industries.