United Nations Seeks Solutions to Global Forest Crisis

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

2/4/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Threats posed to the existence of remaining global forests continue

to have a higher international profile. Following is coverage of

United Nations efforts in this regard. Any international effort to

address the deforestation crisis must include focusing upon

maintaining large areas of wildlands under strict protection,

reforming existing overly intensive logging practices (including

certification of ecological sustainability), bringing forest

management and trade under the rule of law, and providing adequate

resources to developing countries to implement sustainable forest

conservation measures.

g.b.

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Title: United Nations Seeks Solutions to Global Forest Crisis

Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/

Date: February 3, 2000

NEW YORK, New York, February 3, 2000 (ENS) - After years of negotiations,

there is a new determination to reach an agreement on a new international

system for managing and protecting the world's remaining forests. The

United Nation's Commission on Sustainable Development is holding its fourth

session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests at UN Headquarters this

week, and the pressure is on delegates to craft unified guidelines for

forest management.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development's open ended ad hoc

Intergovernmental Panel on Forests was established in 1995 to pursue

consensus and coordinated proposals for action to support the management,

conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

The options under consideration at the current talks, which opened Monday

and run to February 11, range from the establishment of a permanent

intergovernmental forum to discuss forest policy issues, to the

establishment of a legally binding instrument, such as a treaty, to guide

and regulate forest management at the global level.

Although forest issues have long been enmeshed in overriding international

issues, such as financing for development, international trade and transfer

of environmentally sound technologies, there is a sense that this round of

negotiations is perhaps a last chance for reaching a global accord on

forest management.

Forests and other wooded lands cover almost one third of the planet, but

between 1990 and 1995, 65.1 million hectares (160 million acres) of forests

were lost in developing countries alone.

At the same time, there is increasing recognition that forests may be the

best line of defense against climate change because of their ability to

absorb the heat-trapping greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

A reduction in deforestation and uncontrolled forest fires would increase

this capacity of the forests to act as a carbon sink.

The global trade in forest products amounted to $135 billion in 1997. With

between 70 and 100 countries unable to meet their current needs for forest

products, this trade is likely to increase, the UN Commission on

Sustainable Development says.

Poverty is a major factor in the deforestation of tropical countries. Poor

governance, illegal logging and trade that amounts to billions of dollars

every year also play major roles in the rapid decline of the world's

forests.

In the current round of talks in New York, countries will attempt to hammer

out an agreement that will guide the international community on forest

policies.

At the very least a permanent forum will be established for discussion of

forest issues, the Commission says. Other options include developing means

to better coordinate existing forest arrangements or developing a program

to implement concrete actions that have already been suggested at the

national and international level.

There is also an option to move forward with the negotiation of a forest

treaty, an issue that has been very controversial during previous

negotiations. Any agreement reached during the Forest Forum would have to

be ratified at the eighth session of the Commission on Sustainable

Development, to be held this April.

The Commission's push for an agreement on forestry issues is particularly

timely in light of the admission last week by the World Bank that the

Bank's projects continue to harm the world's forests, despite a protective

policy adopted 10 years ago and a 78 percent increase in forest related

lending over the past eight years.

A World Bank study shows that the Bank largely ignored its own 1991 Forest

Policy when lending for economic policy reforms, and the impacts on forests

of Bank financed projects have not been monitored.

Contrary to the 1991 Forest Policy, the new World Bank study also documents

how the Bank has failed to promote poverty alleviation through its forest

related loans and estimates that only one quarter of the projects financed

are likely to be sustainable.

While social justice and environmental advocates praise the study's

findings, they strongly disagree with the conclusions the World Bank has

drawn from them - that the 1991 Forest Policy's precautionary approach is

to blame for the failure in the forest sector.

"The real failure is in the World Bank staff's lack of compliance with the

1991 policy," said Marcus Colchester, director of Forest Peoples Programme,

a United Kingdom based group. "This study proves yet again that the Bank

must end its culture of emphasis on simply getting money out the door, and

instead implement projects that truly address poverty and don't harm the

environment. That means a bold revision of staff incentives so that staff

are encouraged to adhere to policy and penalized when they don't."

"This is one of the most important documents on forest policy the Bank has

issued in a decade. It shows the Bank has failed to comply with its own

1991 Forest Policy to protect the world's forests and alleviate poverty,"

said Korinna Horta, senior economist at the Environmental Defense Fund. "As

a result, the world's leading development institution has lost an entire

decade in which it could have been working to curb deforestation and

address the needs of the poor."

The World Bank study is available online at:

http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/oed/oedevent.nsf/htmlmedia/announcements.html

Another recent analysis has found that Indonesia's forests are disappearing

even more rapidly than indicated by studies only a few years old. Despite

the proclamations of previous Indonesian governments of a permanent forest

estate, with 49 million hectares (121 million acres) in protected status

and another 63 million hectares (155 million acres) managed for sustainable

production, deforestation has continued unchecked.

Using 1997 satellite imagery, the Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry and

Estate Crops has produced new forest cover maps for the islands of

Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra which show a loss of more than 17 million

hectares (42 million acres) in 12 years. This is one fourth of the total

Indonesian forest cover that existed in 1985.

The Ministry now estimates that the nationwide annual deforestation rate is

at least 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres), almost twice the

estimate published by the World Bank in 1994.

An analysis by the Bank shows that lowland dry forest, the most valuable

type of Indonesian forest for logging and biodiversity conservation, is

disappearing most quickly. Such forest has been essentially lost as a

viable resource on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It is likely to be

gone in Sumatra by 2005 and in Kalimantan by 2010, the analysis indicates.

These are three of the largest forested islands of Indonesia, and also

three of the main habitats for rare wildlife. The endangered orangutan and

the nearly extinct Sumatran tiger are two of the animals that depend

entirely on these forests.

The biological diversity of Kalimantan forests is unusually rich. In one

two acre plot researchers counted 240 tree species, not including palms,

vines, herbs, epiphytic ferns and mosses.

The government of Indonesia acknowledges the value of biological diversity

in the rainforest, especially with regard to the genetic diversity of major

timber tree species and other useful organisms. It also recognizes that

conservation of biological diversity is dependent on effective rainforest

protection.

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