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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

World Bank & WWF Announce New Efforts to Conserve Earth's Forests

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

6/26/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

Following is an exciting announcement from WWF and the World Bank of a

collaborative commitment to pursue the establishment of an

ecologically representative network of temperate and tropical forest

protected areas covering at least 10% of each of the world's forests

types by the year 2000; as well as commitment to bring 200 million

hectares under real sustainable, certified forestry management by

the year 2005 (from virtually none now).

The 10% protected area goal is a worthy starting point, given many

countries failure to meet this hurdle. Increasingly conservation set

asides are being viewed as but one strategy (albeit very important) to

maintain large scale forest cover and accompanying ecological

processes. Certification is a complementary movement to verify that

forest management practices are environmentally, socially and

economically sound and allow consumers to know this when buying timber

products. On a landscape, ideally strictly protected areas could be

buffered by the certified management areas, allowing forest ecosystem

processes to benefit from larger areas and an intact ecological core.

One thing is for sure: righteous forest and biodiversity conservation

and management is going to take money and environmental know-how. The

renewed commitment by the World Bank and WWF to specific conservation

goals will be an important component of multi-faceted efforts

necessary to combat clearly worsening forest conditions worldwide.

The piece ends with an informative forest fact sheet illustrating the

dimensions of the forest crisis.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

For Immediate Release

WWF The World Bank

News Release No. 97

World Bank Contact: David Theis (202) 473-1955

WWF Contact: Lee Poston (202) 778-9536

UNITED NATIONS, June 25, 1997--In a positive new move for the

conservation of the world's forests, the World Bank and WWF have

announced a global alliance for forest conservation and sustainable

use. Both organizations share concern for biodiversity, climate

change, deforestation and forest degradation, and recognize the

urgency of dealing with these problems. Both groups agree that their

effectiveness would be greatly increased through a strategic

partnership which takes advantage of common goals and skills.

In the alliance, the two organizations agree that:

* _a network of protected areas should be established_ across both

developing and developed countries, which would include at least 10

percent of each of the world's major forest types by the year 2000;

and

* _large areas of natural forests in developing countries and

transitional economies should be brought under real sustainable

management_ starting from a negligible amount today, the Bank and WWF

will work with countries to sustainably manage a target of 100 million

ha of temperate and colder, northern forests as well as the same

amount of tropical forests, by the year 2005.

During the United Nations General Assembly Session in New York, the

World Bank announced that, to reach the agreed targets, the Bank, in

partnership with WWF and other conservation organizations, will help

client countries establish an additional 50 million hectares of new

forest protected areas in its client countries and bring an additional

200 million hectares of the world's forests under independent

certification by the year 2005.

Despite lengthy consultations among governments and rising concern

from the public since the Rio Earth Summit, deforestation has

increased dramatically in the past five years.

Tropical forests disappear at the rate of nearly one percent per year,

with the annual deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon increasing

34 percent since Rio. The Bank and WWF believe this partnership

represents concrete steps that will produce measurable results and

reverse the tide of deforestation.

The World Bank is the largest lender to developing countries for

forest conservation and management. WWF is one of the world's leading

conservation organizations, working in more than 100 countries.

Within those countries, it has close working relationships with local

communities, nongovernmental agencies and the private sector. These

qualities will allow the organizations to work jointly on the four key

areas of the partnership: protected areas; forest certification;

creating a coalition of interest groups involved in forest use and

management; and developing and encouraging creative, new methods of

forest management and conservation.

WWF's forests work is part of its 1,000-day Living Planet Campaign,

designed to persuade the world to save earth's most outstanding

habitats and wildlife.

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FACT SHEET

* Almost half of the earth's original forest cover is gone, much of

it destroyed within the past three decades. Seventy-five percent of

the world's large intact forests in the temperate and tropical regions

are now threatened. Between 50 and 90 percent of all land species on

earth inhabit the world's forests (Source: World Resources Institute,

1997)

* Of the 3,300 million hectares (8,000 million acres) of forests

remaining on the earth, only 6 percent are currently in legally

protected areas. (Source: WWF, 1997)

* WWF and the World Bank today are promoting the establishment of

an ecologically representative network of protected areas, covering at

least 10 percent of each of the world's forest types by the year 2000.

At least an additional 129 million hectares (319 million acres) of

forests need to be included under protected area status to achieve the

minimum of 10 percent. In this context, the World Bank's commitment

today to help establish 50 million hectares (124 million acres) of new

forest protected areas in its client countries is a highly significant

contribution to global forest conservation. The commitment to

independent certification of 200 million hectares of well managed

forests is also highly significant in this context.

* So far this year, 20 governments have also committed to the

target of the establishment of an ecologically representative network

of protected areas, covering at least 10 percent of each of the

world's forest types by the year 2000. They are: Argentina, Armenia,

Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, the People's Republic of

China, Colombia, Greece, Lithuania, Malawi, Mozambique, New Zealand,

Nicaragua, Romania, the Russian Republic of Sakha, the Slovak

Republic, Tunisia and Uzbekistan. The People's Republic of China

announced its commitment on Monday, 23 June, 1997, during UNGASS

(Source: WWF Forests for Life Campaign, 1977)

* WWF's forests work is part of its 1,000-day Living Planet

Campaign, designed to persuade the global community to help save

earth's most outstanding wildlife and wilderness areas. WWF is

currently implementing 350 forest projects in over 50 countries.

* Despite lengthy consultations among governments, and rising

concerns from the public since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit,

deforestation has increased dramatically in the past 5 years.

Tropical forests are disappearing at the rate of nearly one percent

per year, with the annual deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon

increasing 34 percent since Rio.

* Independent certification verifies that forest management

practices are environmentally, socially and economically sound and

allows consumers to purchase products from well-managed forests.

* The World Bank is by far the largest individual source of

development finance for forests and forestry. The average annual

approvals of Bank lending for forest projects for the 5-year period of

1992-1996 was 356.7 million dollars. In addition, there is 23 million

dollars in annual grant approvals from the Global Environment Facility

for biodiversity projects in forest ecosystems.

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Networked by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org