Pekka Patosaari

PREPARATIONS FOR 2011 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS
LAUNCHED BY UNITED NATIONS FORUM
The United Nations Forum on Forests officially launched the beginning of preparations for the 2011 International Year of Forests this morning, with speakers, representing some of the world’s greatest and most diverse ecosystems, stressing the need to use the observance of the International Year as a catalyst for raising global awareness of the urgent need to protect the planet’s fragile forest resources.

Opening the meeting, Pekka Patosaari, the Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat, said the International Year of Forests, designated by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/193 of December 2006, would be a celebration of forests and their importance in everyday life.  A worldwide endeavour taking place some two decades after the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio and ten years after the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, the International Year would serve as a major international stimulus for enhancing awareness and mobilizing action for the successful promotion of sustainable forest management.  The Year would also serve as an effective tool in heightening awareness of the role of forests in the maintenance of the planet’s vigour and vitality, as well as in the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. 
Emphasizing the need for forests to remain high on the global agenda, Croatia’s Assistant for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Ivica Grbac noted that forests, as the most complex continental ecosystems, were much more important to society than their mere statistically calculated share of total gross domestic product.  Forests had many other roles, including the purification of water and air, protection against soil erosion and heavy winds and preservation of biological diversity.  Recalling that Croatia had initiated the General Assembly resolution designating 2011 as the International Year of Forests, he invited all countries to begin preparations for 2011, which, he added, must not be treated as “mission accomplished”.
Setting the stage to address the most crucial issues affecting forests and the wider development agenda, the International Year’s observance would be an important commemoration for forests and the forestry community, Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban said.  As one of the world’s largest rainforest countries, Indonesia played an active role in sustainable forest management.  For many countries, especially developing countries, forests signified one of the most important resources for development and poverty eradication.  As such, the International Year needed to highlight forests as an important part of development and a crucial link with the many other issues being addressed at the global level.
While Costa Rica’s forests were not as important in terms of world forest coverage, in 2005 that country had been able to double its forest coverage, Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of Environment Jorge Rodriguez explained.  The International Year should ensure progress in consolidating sustainable forest management of all types.  At the international level, the Year should aim to consolidate the global dialogue on forests.  At the regional level, the Year could seek to ensure the necessary skills for forest management.  And, at the ecological level, a holistic approach was needed to manage world’s forest resources.  With some 60 per cent of ecosystems being degraded or exploited in a non-sustainable manner, mankind’s very survival was at stake.  In view of the coming crisis, countries could not afford to be apathetic. 
Also stressing the need for action at all levels, Gabon’s Minister for Forests, Fisheries and National Parks, Emile Doumba, said the past decade had seen the international community’s recognition of the threats to various ecosystems, particularly tropical ecosystems.  Strategies taken had enabled the development of management tools to ensure sustainable forest management.  Despite such efforts, however, enormous challenges remained in achieving conservation goals.  With deforestation continuing around the world, it was important to further strengthen already existing strategies.  International public opinion must be made aware of what was at stake.  He hoped the International Year would achieve that objective.