This book investigates the potential need for an international convention on forests and
establishes a multifunctional concept of forests as a cornerstone for international forest
regulation. Accordingly it examines a variety of international instruments pertaining directly
or indirectly to forests and explores their entangled fragmented nature. While contending that
the lack of consistency in international law impedes the development of a stand-alone
international forest convention at the same time it argues that the lessons learned from
fragmentation as well as from the history of forest discourse on the international level open
up new options for the regulation of forests in international law based on (new) concepts of
coordination and cooperation.
