FAO's "State of the World's Forests" Report Released

The United Nations officially launched the International Year of Forests 2011 on 2 February, 2011. The opening ceremony at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York City also marked the release of FAO's new State of the World's Forests report. The report highlights the critical role of forests in meeting environmental challenges and the UN's Millennium Development Goals and sustainable development as a whole.

The report brings into focus the needs of millions of people whose livelihoods depend on forests and who play a crucial role in developing the world's forests in a sustainable manner. But the outside world mostly under-estimates the rights of these forest-dependent people to use and benefit from local forest resources. FAO's Assistant Director-General for Forestry, Eduardo Rojas, stated that the International Year of Forests provides a key opportunity to recognize the connection between people and forests, and the benefits for sustainable development that can accrue when forests are managed by local people.

There is a heightened concern about global environmental and social sustainability, which has brought the forest industry into sharp focus. An innovative and restructured forest industry is important to meet the challenges of the 21st century. There is a need to improve the sustainability of resource use, recycling of waste materials, enhancing energy efficiency and controlling emissions. In 2010, 37 percent of total forest production was contributed by recycled material, wood waste and non-wood fibers. There is a need to increase this contribution substantially in order to address the sustainability issues more effectively.

The FAO report says that governments around the world are increasingly of the opinion that forest industry holds key potential to promote a greener economy. It is important to increase awareness about the use of bio-fuels, wood waste based products and bio-materials. The Cancun Climate Change Summit held in December 2010 took decisions on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). The report calls for an alignment of these strategies with forest governance reforms and involvement of forest-dependent local people.

The FAO report points out that the role of forests in climate change adaptation is often under-estimated by governments. There are a number of steps in forestry that can help to mitigate the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable ecosystems and sectors of the society. Preservation of mangroves, for instance, can help to safeguard coastlines against the destruction caused by tsunamis and storms. Countries that suffer from chronic drought conditions can be help with an increase in forest cover. 

There is a close link between forests, environmental stability and rural livelihoods. Unless the issues of local forest communities are sufficiently addressed, there is an imminent threat to the survival of some of the most bio-diverse and environmentally significant forest regions in the world. In the International Year of Forests, there is a need to launch global measures to protect forests and the interests of 1.6 billion people who depend on them for their livelihood.
 
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