Unasylva does not often publish articles that are not supported by hard facts. This issue is an exception. We encouraged the authors to dream a little, and did not insist on substantiation in the usual way. Yet others look backwards as a means of observing how we can go about the process of looking forwards. To paraphrase George Santayana, a profession that does not learn from its past is condemned to repeat it.
Many common themes appear throughout the issue.
Another frequent prediction is that plantations are likely to have a far greater role in wood production, while natural forests will be assigned increasingly for environmental and recreational services. Many authors predict a decreased role of government in forestry and an increased role of the private sector. Authors disagree on other subjects - for instance, the direction of demand for wood as material or fuel, or changes in forest cover. This is the central point made by C.T.S. Nair in the first article, which sets the stage by analysing changes in forestry, using as a springboard the example of the changes that have occurred in the forest sector in India over the past 30 years. Nair observes that forces outside the sector alter the development of forestry far more than do internal interventions intended to create change.