Forest transitions: An introduction

When people speak about 'forest transitions', they generalize about the ways in which the extent of forested land changes as societies undergo industrialization and urbanization. Alexander Mather coined the term 'forest transition', outlined a theory to explain it, and carried out a series of careful historical studies to illustrate the idea. The papers assembled in this special issue both extend and deepen Mather's pathbreaking work. They suggest that the idea of the forest transition. like the much critiqued idea of a demographic transition in population studies, has become a useful theoretical tool for understanding contemporary land use changes. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.