Ministers back binding European forest agreement
By Mark Kinver, Environment reporter, BBC News, Oslo
Ministers have agreed to back plans to introduce a legally binding agreement to protect Europe's forests. Delegates also agreed to adopt resolutions that would help shape forest policy over the next decade.
On Tuesday, a report concluded that sustainable forestry management was essential if the EU was to reach its emission goals.
The ministerial agreement was signed at the sixth Forest Europe conference in Oslo, Norway.
The Norwegian host chairman, Rural Affairs Minister Lars Peder Brekk, said the signing of two ministerial declarations was a fitting end to Norway's four-year leadership of the Forest Europe process.
As well as signing the declaration to begin negotiations to establish a legally binding agreement (LBA), delegates also agreed to set a number of targets to be achieved by 2020.
These included all European countries implementing a national forest programme, which needed to contain climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Ministers also agreed to cut the rate of biodiversity loss within forest habitats by half, and take steps to eliminate illegal logging.
Poland's minister, Janusz Zaleski, said that the LBA declaration presented a "new chapter" in the management of Europe's forests.
However, he added that nations needed to ensure that any agreement would need the legal weight required to deliver progress on the ground.
"In order to effectively protect Europe's forests, we must not follow the example of other international processes, such as climate negotiations.
"Therefore it is important to assess the progress of improving the state of Europe's forests.
Mr Zaleski told reporters that Poland intended to use its six-month presidency of the EU, which begins in July, to help promote the process.
Binding concerns
But there was not universal support for adopting a legally binding agreement.
Sweden's Rural Affairs Minister Eskil Erlandsson told the conference that while he supported the concept of sustainable forest managment, he favoured a voluntary approach rather than an LBA.
"I do not believe in common legislation for forests across the pan-European region. Put simply, one size does not fit all," he said.
"We need to recognise the different geo-climatic and socio-economic conditions.
"Therefore, my conclusion is that the voluntary track is the best way of supporting the development and implementation of sustainable forest management."
However, he said he signed the declaration in order for negotiations to begin.
Responding to the minister's concerns, Mr Brekk said: "The most important thing is that all countries agree that we are start up this process.
"They all see that it is necesssary to have an agreement to secure a sustainable forest policy in the future.
"Of course, we then have to go through the negotiations in order to find out what each country thinks during this process."
As the conference closed and Spain took over the Forest Europe leadership, Mr Brekk was asked to comment on concerns that had been raised about Norway's high-profile $1bn climate deal with Indonesia, which included a two-year logging moratorium.
Media reports said environmental groups were unhappy that the fine detail of the deal had been influenced by logging industry lobbyists.
Mr Brekk explained that it fell outside his ministerial responsibilities, but observed:
"The partnership is still very much alive - of course it is," he told BBC News.
"For Norway - all forests are important, whether it be European forests or tropical forests."
Showing posts with label tropical forests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tropical forests. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Tropical Forests 'Better Managed'
Tropical forests 'better managed'
By Richard Black, BBC News
The world's tropical forests are better managed now than five years ago, concludes a survey by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO).
The area under some form of sustainable management plan increased by about 50% over the period; but about 90% of tropical forest lacks protection.
The most significant improvements have been seen in Africa, the report says.
The ITTO is a pro-sustainable use trade body whose 60 member countries account for 90% of the global timber trade.
Its current report - Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011 - analysed data from 33 important forest countries, including the really big players such as Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
"The top line is that the area under sustainable forest management has gone up from 36 to 53 million hectares in five years," said Duncan Poore, one of the report's authors and a former head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"That's a substantial improvement, but there's still a long way to go," he told BBC News.
"Forests scheduled by ITTO members as permanent forest cover 760m hectares - so what's under sustainable management is less than 10%, which is disappointing."
Countries that have made major increases in protection include Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Peru and Venezuela.
However, satellite observations recently revealed an alarming escalation in deforestation in Brazil, indicating that loss of forest in some areas of a country can continue even as protection increases in other areas.
"My personal view is that it's more important to make sure that countries decide what forest they want to keep and for what purpose, and look after that satisfactorily, than to weep crocodile tears over deforestation," said Dr Poore.
"The reality is that in most countries, deforestation is going to continue. But if they look after areas that are really important ecologically, that may not be a problem."
The ITTO report makes clear that pressures leading to forest clearance are continuing to rise, with the expansion of the world's population, growing use of raw materials such as wood, and increasing demand for land on which to settle and grow food.
The big hope of many in the conservation community is that rich countries may soon start funding poorer ones to protect forests in the interests of absorbing carbon dioxide and curbing climate change.
But despite years of discussion, establishment of an international mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) remains elusive, largely because of wider disagreements within the UN climate convention.
Bringing a REDD scheme into existence would, said Dr Poore, be "very important" for the long-term health of tropical forests.
By Richard Black, BBC News
The world's tropical forests are better managed now than five years ago, concludes a survey by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO).
The area under some form of sustainable management plan increased by about 50% over the period; but about 90% of tropical forest lacks protection.
The most significant improvements have been seen in Africa, the report says.
The ITTO is a pro-sustainable use trade body whose 60 member countries account for 90% of the global timber trade.
Its current report - Status of Tropical Forest Management 2011 - analysed data from 33 important forest countries, including the really big players such as Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
"The top line is that the area under sustainable forest management has gone up from 36 to 53 million hectares in five years," said Duncan Poore, one of the report's authors and a former head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"That's a substantial improvement, but there's still a long way to go," he told BBC News.
"Forests scheduled by ITTO members as permanent forest cover 760m hectares - so what's under sustainable management is less than 10%, which is disappointing."
Countries that have made major increases in protection include Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Peru and Venezuela.
However, satellite observations recently revealed an alarming escalation in deforestation in Brazil, indicating that loss of forest in some areas of a country can continue even as protection increases in other areas.
"My personal view is that it's more important to make sure that countries decide what forest they want to keep and for what purpose, and look after that satisfactorily, than to weep crocodile tears over deforestation," said Dr Poore.
"The reality is that in most countries, deforestation is going to continue. But if they look after areas that are really important ecologically, that may not be a problem."
The ITTO report makes clear that pressures leading to forest clearance are continuing to rise, with the expansion of the world's population, growing use of raw materials such as wood, and increasing demand for land on which to settle and grow food.
The big hope of many in the conservation community is that rich countries may soon start funding poorer ones to protect forests in the interests of absorbing carbon dioxide and curbing climate change.
But despite years of discussion, establishment of an international mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) remains elusive, largely because of wider disagreements within the UN climate convention.
Bringing a REDD scheme into existence would, said Dr Poore, be "very important" for the long-term health of tropical forests.
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