Three Threats to the Sustainability of Forests

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When speaking about the sustainability of forests, sustainability itself must first be defined. The concept of sustainability is not easily defined in a single sentence or even in several sentences. As quoted by Steve Nix (n.d.), the British Columbia Forest Service defines sustainability as the integration of 3 elements, the environment, the economy and the social system, into a single system that can be maintained in a healthy state indefinitely. To achieve and maintain this delicate balance, many different factors within those 3 elements are required to work together in unison. With so many factors working toward creating a balance there would ultimately be factors working against and threatening the balance of sustainability. The temperate forest biome is home to most of the world’s industrialized nations including the United States, Canada, China and Russia. In this biome, there are three main threats to the sustainability of forests: overuse, pollution and the sustained use of traditional methods. As with many elements in nature, these three threats are both significant individually and also interconnected.

In the modern industrial age, everything is about making a profit. Manufacturers of consumer products strive to maximize their production of products at the same time reduce the cost of production. Because most of the world’s industrialized nations are populated in the temperate mixed forest biome, the actions of these manufacturers directly impact and threat the sustainability of forests on a much larger scale than most other parts of the world. Manufacturers find the cheapest and easiest way to obtain energy and raw materials for production. Because alternative sustainable sources of energy are more expensive, manufactu...

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...ilable at: [Accessed 25 October 2010]

Ontario Nature, 2010. Threats to the Boreal Forest. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 October 2010]

Hanlon, et al., n.d. Endgame Dealing with Decline. [online] Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Available at: [Accessed 27 October 2010]

A. et al., 1998. Shades of Green: Earth’s Forests. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 October 2010]

Government of Ontario, 2010. Landfills, Garbage, Incinerators, Recycling and Composting. [online] Available at: [Accessed Nov 15 2010]

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