world news - 12.12.2006
UN: Negotiators draft new agreement to manage world’s forests
The negotiations this week
on the pact by the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) will result in a
non-legally binding instrument that will be adopted by the Forum next
April. It will spell out an international forest policy to promote
public awareness, provide a framework for sustainable forest
management, serve as a practical guide for implementation, and provide
a global platform for closer cooperation.
“This is indeed a giant leap forward for the international forest
policy arena,” according to Hans Hoogeveen, Director of International
Affairs for the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food,
who is chairing the drafting process.
Forests cover 30 per cent of the world’s land area, and over 1.6
billion people worldwide depend on the forests for their livelihoods.
The world is losing 13 million hectares of natural forests every year,
largely because of human activities such as unsustainable harvesting of
timber, unsound management of land, and the creation of human
settlements, according to Pekka Patosaari, the Director of the UNFF
Secretariat. The World Bank estimates that over $10 billion is lost
every year due to illegal logging and trading.
Mr. Patosaari said that good governance, improved resource management,
and effective rural development services are integral in efforts
towards poverty reduction, sustainable growth, environmental
protection, and the fight against corruption.
See also:
- — Western Forest Products to take extended mill downtime over Christmas due to weather-related log shortages
- — Malaysia: Prices of timber products rise across the board
- — Less supply of Christmas trees in Europe increases prices for Danish growers
- — Weather situation sends cold shivers down the spine of the The Swedish sawmill business
- — Care needed with carbon offsets
