Publication

Report by the IUFRO Task Force on "Information Technology and the Forest Sector," jointly organized by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla). 

"No topic in publishing and information has been more talked about in recent years than electronic and optical communication technology and its impact on existing media and on the future of paper" (Rennel et al., 1984). This statement is the first line of a book, published over 20 years ago, that considers the impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) on the paper industry and markets. Since then, the world has experienced the spread of new ICT innovations to mass markets such as the internet, broadband and mobile phones. While the world forest sector has also been fundamentally changed by the development of ICT, there are still no comprehensive or systematic studies as to how. Nor are there any studies as to how ICT is likely to change the sector in the future. This study aims to fill some of those gaps. (Excerpt from the introductory chapter by the editors).