Trends in Resources Provided by Forests

Forest resources represent many competing uses in society. The allocation of forest resources depends primarily on the society's value for each use. The problem with allocating forest resources among its different uses lies in differences in societal values across the globe for a single use, across uses and even within political boundaries. These differences in values held by societies across the world are at the heart of the allocation problems for forest resources. While some forest resource uses may be complimentary, some are competing. In addition, many forest resource values are difficult to determine due to the lack of a market mechanism that can easily assign values and allocate resources to maintain them. In the past, timber products have provided the majority of the value for forest resources. In the future, new values that compete with timber products will need to be determined to allocate forest resources efficiently.