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Seeing the Forests Despite the Chainsaws NEW YORK, New York, March 18, 2002 (ENS) - Limited progress is being made towards safeguarding forests, but overall, the forests of the world are shrinking, says a report prepared by Secretary General Kofi Annan for the United Nations Forum on Forests. The Forum today wound up a two week session at UN headquarters in New York with a high level session that included forestry ministers from around the world.
Annan noted encouraging signs such as "substantial progress in the development of national policies relating to forests, often including participation by an increased range of stakeholders." "Many countries have formulated new national forest programs. Many have also developed new strategies or master plans for forestry, frequently based on the results of remote sensing, GIS technology and new forest inventories," he said. "Despite such positive trends, total forest area continues to decline in most regions of the world." Plantation forests have been established with high levels of investment from the private sector, but, said Annan, "there is little evidence that deforestation and degradation of natural forests has declined as a result." The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) is a new permanent body of the UN established in October 2000. The high level intergovernmental body has a ministerial segment that aims to provide a forum for continued policy development and dialogue. The ministers meeting in New York will agree on a set of forest principles to become part of the stream of information converging on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) set for Johannesburg, South Africa August 26 through September 4. Colombian Environment Minister Juan Mayr, who chaired the opening high level ministerial session March 13, heard calls for science based sustainable forest management backed up with more research funding, and proposals for enhanced public-private partnerships, secure land tenure rights and a stable policy environment.
A representative for nongovernmental organizations and indigenous peoples called on delegates to the World Summit to launch a global initiative that would combat illegal timber harvesting and trade, set specific target dates to reverse forest degradation, and announce initiatives to address underlying causes of forest degradation. Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, highlighted the important role of forests in carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation, and in overcoming poverty. Dennis Tirpak, coordinator of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, discussed recently agreed forestry and land use activities under the Kyoto Protocol, which could lead to new sources of income for forest owners who want to "grow" carbon. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. It is absorbed by forests, which reduce the burden of greenhouse gases that trap the Sun's rays in the atmosphere. Growing forests to offset greenhouse gas emissions is encouraged under the Kyoto Protocol. The South African delegate told the ministers that deforestation and forest degradation continue, despite adoption of sustainable forest management policies, and noted that forest degradation can only be addressed by reversing the cycle of poverty and powerlessness in underdeveloped regions. The UK emphasized raising the profile of forests on the international political agenda, moving from dialogue to action, forging new partnerships between governments, business and civil society, and combating illegal logging.
Nitin Desai, UN under-secretary general for economic and social affairs, noted the "tremendous erosion of public funding for forestry." He stressed the value of connecting the forest agenda with the broader agenda of sustainable development. Hamdallah Zedan, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), revealed that the CBD's action oriented work program on forest biological diversity currently under consideration addresses: conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing; creation of an institutional andsocioeconomic enabling environment; plus knowledge assessment and monitoring. Jeff Sayer, senior associate at WWF and chair of a sustainable forestry roundtable at the Forum hosted by the Global Environment Facility, said the 18 panelists and over 25 representatives from NGOs and delegations contributed to the discussions. Roundtable participants reached a pessimistic consensus on the outlook for the next 10 years of forest conservation, due to the feeling that underlying causes have not been addressed. The prevailing opinion was that balanced economic development in the South is required to make forest conservation possible. Sayer outlined several reasons for optimism, such as new institutional arrangements and approaches, knowledge generation and innovative funding mechanisms.
When forests are cleared, not just the trees and the animals that depend upon them may be lost, but whole gene pools may be gone forever, according to an expert panel on forest genetics in its most recent biannual report about to be released. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources says conserving a high level of genetic diversity ensures healthy tree populations, not only for their intrinsic value but also for future human needs. "The lay person might wonder why forest genetic resources are important," says the panel's secretary, Christel Palmberg-Lerche of the Food and Agriculture Organization. "Isn't one type of fern or poplar pretty much like another?" they ask. But she says diversity is important because the potential of many plants for wood and other products such as medicine is still largely unexplored. "It is hard to quantify and monitor changes in biodiversity, including genetic diversity," says Pierre Sigaud, FAO expert on forest genetic resources. "The extent of forest area doesn't tell us everything." Plantations might replace natural forest, reducing species diversity. But by reducing logging pressures on the remaining natural forest, they may promote as much diversity as they destroy," he said. Even where parts of the natural forest are lost to agriculture, the genetic loss will depend on the extent of fragmentation of the remaining forest. If it has been broken into small islands, species may be in small groups and therefore could fall below critical mass and eventually disappear. "Factors like that don't respect borders," says Dr. Sigaud. |
Klamath National Forest, northern California (Photo courtesy 
Colombian Environment Minister Juan Mayr chairs high level session at the UN Forum on Forests (Photo courtesy 
UN Under-Secretary General Nitin Desai (Photo courtesy ENB)
Logs from Brazil's Amazon rainforest await transport to market. Some hectares of this rainforest contain 400 species. (Photo courtesy 