In South America, the increase in forest production is mainly based on plantations of introduced fast growing tree species in the Cono Sur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay). Disease and pest control is a key to avoid negative socio-economic and ecological impacts on the plantations. Against this background a regional strategy for healthy forests in the Cono Sur and Bolivia is developed. As a part of this strategy, UNIQUE is analyzing the economy of the forestry and forest industry sector in each country of the region. This will contribute to reasonable decision making and to assigning priorities which take into account the economic consequences for each country. The study is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and supported by the national forestry authorities and by FAO.

• Analysis of forestry production in the Cono Sur countries.
• Analysis of the respective timber markets.
• Analysis of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) markets incl. environmental services.
• Evaluation of the importance of the forestry sector for the national economy of each country.