Carving Out a Future

Much has been published on the impacts of logging in tropical forests for timber, but relatively little has yet been written about the effects of felling hardwood and softwood trees for commercial scale woodcarving enterprises. Carving out a Future is the first thorough examination of the international woodcarving trade and its critical links to rural livelihoods, deforestation, biodiversity and conservation, forestry and forest policy and the international trade regime. A range of case studies from Australia, India, Africa and Mexico provide a lens for examining the critical issues relating to the significant impacts of woodcarving on forests, conservation efforts, the need to promote sustainable rural livelihoods and efforts to promote fair trade so that skilled artisans in developing countries get a fair economic return.