Towards a Taxonomy of Forest Goods and Services

In light of the increasing realisation of the importance of all forest resources, the dichotomisation of forest resources into timber and non-timber is proving to be overly simplistic. Furthermore, at present there is no satisfactory operational definition for non-wood forest products and considering the tremendous variety of forest products it may be doubted that such a definition is possible. This paper examines this inadequacy and its consequences for a productive, holistic approach to the analysis of forest resources and their management. In an attempt to address these problems, a system for dealing with forest resources in a more meaningful, holistic manner is proposed. A clear distinction is made between systems of terms for classification, and terms used for comparison, of forest products. Classifying terms distinguish between classes or groups of objects with similar characteristics while comparative terms serve to highlight differences. Definitions are best served by classifying terms and this paper proposes both logical targets for definitions of forest products and a pragmatic typology for such products.