FORESTS: COMPLEX WORLD OF FORESTS NEED TO BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD – UN OFFICIAL

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 9 Apr 2013 10:00:01 -0400
Subject: FORESTS: COMPLEX WORLD OF FORESTS NEED TO BE BETTER
UNDERSTOOD – UN OFFICIAL
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

FORESTS: COMPLEX WORLD OF FORESTS NEED TO BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD – UN OFFICIAL
New York, Apr 9 2013 10:00AM
Despite a great deal of work in recent years there is still a lack of
understanding of the link between forests and society, the economy and
the wider world, the Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests
Secretariat said, as countries meet in Istanbul to chart a way forward
on a number of forestry-related issues.

Over the next two weeks, participants at the Forum's tenth session
(<"http://www.un.org/esa/forests/index.html">UNFF10) will examine how
to reduce deforestation, improve the livelihoods and economies of
people who depend on forests, increase the number of forests under
protection, and increase aid to developing countries to improve forest
management.

"I would argue that forests are one of the complex systems to
understand and grasp," said Jan McAlpine. "And one reason why we
haven't been able to do it effectively is because sometimes it's
simpler to take a narrow issue and address it, rather than to be able
to look at a system as complex as forests and see how it fits into the
landscape of these broader sets of issues," she told delegates as they
began their deliberations yesterday.

The Forum, holding its first ever session outside UN Headquarters, is
the only international body that addresses all forest and tree policy
issues. Established by the UN Economic and Social Council in 2000, it
is tasked with promoting the management, conservation and sustainable
development of all types of forests.

In an interview with the UN News Centre, Ms. McAlpine noted that while
there are a number of challenges facing forests today, "people are the
most important challenge."

"I don't mean that they necessary have the intention to be negative,
but because they don't understand the complexities and the importance
of forests and their value, they have ignored them to the detriment of
those resources for the future, and that is probably the biggest
challenge."

The theme for the current session is forests and economic development.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that forestry
products contribute nearly $468 billion annually to the global
economy, while studies being presented at UNFF10 show that we may have
grossly underestimated the actual economic, social and environmental
values.

In his report on forests and economic development, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon pointed out that forests have played a major role to
influence patterns of economic development, support livelihoods and
promote sustainable growth, in many countries.

"Forests provide significant subsistence benefits, generate informal
work opportunities, and constitute reservoirs of economic values that
help mitigate shocks to household incomes, particularly for the rural
poor."

He went on to say that that if the contribution of the forestry sector
to gross domestic product (GDP) alone is in the neighbourhood of $468
billion per year, it is projected to be two to three times greater for
benefits that are not included in GDP figures.

"The material/cash benefits of forests generally tend to be better
recognized, while the non-cash contributions of forests, including
non-wood forest products, ecosystem services, tourism and cultural
benefits are largely 'invisible'," he stated.

A study by FAO in Uganda, cited in the report, demonstrates that
forests provide fuelwood for local energy consumption, which accounts
for 40 per cent of the local economy, and the non-cash component is
three times the value of the cash component.

Ms. McAlpine said that if one looks at the GDP figures alone, there
might be a tendency to think that forests are not a priority.

"But, and this is the discussion here at the UNFF10, if you start to
look at the social and livelihoods and economic benefits and functions
that forests provide beyond timber and traded goods across borders,
then you start to understand it's much more complex," she stated.

"So what we are talking about here is quite an interesting and
substantive and complex discussion about how we start to explain to
the world that forests' value is probably billions of dollars more
than economists have understood or global leaders have understood."

The session, she said, is expected to result in two major decisions –
one on economic development, with some other associated issues, and
one on forest financing.

"I believe, after working in this area for 22 years, that we have
perhaps the first glimmer of opportunity to take a major step to truly
look at these issues and make decisions at this session of the United
Nations Forum on Forests to better understand the connection between
forests and economic development and the need for financing for
forests."
Apr 9 2013 10:00AM
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