Forest Destruction Meeting Opens in Geneva
8/24/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Forest Destruction Meeting Opens in Geneva
Source: Agence France-Presse
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 8/24/98
GENEVA, Aug 24 (AFP) - A UN forum on measures to combat "disturbing"
levels of global deforestation opened in Geneva Monday.
The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, which runs through September 4,
will pick up on negotiations begun at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where
forests was one of the most contentious North-South issues, the UN said.
The agenda specifically will examine how to put into action 135 measures
for sustainable forest management agreed by governments in 1997.
The forum, established at the "Earth Summit+5" review of the Rio accords
in June 1997, will also start work towards a possible legal agreement on
deforestation.
The world lost an average 11.3 million hectares (27.9 million acres) of
net forest annually between 1991 and 1995, an area roughly the size of
Honduras, according to the UN.
Most of the loss took place in tropical forests, which lost 12.6 million
hectares (31.1 million acres) a year, offset slightly by the planting of
new forest plantations. Just a few countries --Bolivia, Brazil,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Venezuela and the former Zaire -- accounted
for half the tropical forest destroyed in the four-year period.
The next forum session is set for May 1999 and a final session scheduled
for February-March 2000 which is mandated to make recommendations to the
UN Commission on Sustainable Development.