Preserving the world's forests is important to the preservation of biodiversity. But the preservation of the world's remaining forests is an area where trading deals are a serious threat. Taking the situation of Japan as example we see that the once thriving tradition of family forestry is today all but dead. Japan rightly blames international trade policies and multinational timber companies for the plight of the small forester in Japan but, as Japan has low tariff agreements with countries like the U.S., it is cheaper for Japan to import wood from places like the U.S., Pacific NorthWest and Canada than it is to harvest their own trees.....Editorial