Forests Climb UN agenda UN Forum on Forests (UNFF)

Background Declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations General Assembly, 2011 is the year when the world celebrates people's role in the management and conservation of forests. The aim of "Forests 2011" is also to raise awareness about the multiple benefits of healthy forests for people and nature. IUCN's role throughout the year will be to make sure that the global community understands the real value of forests and that more resources are dedicated to protecting the world's most valuable natural asset and to restoring degraded landscapes.

"Forests 2011" will be officially launched at the UNFF Ninth Session, held from 24 January to 4 February in New York. At the event IUCN will announce new forest restoration initiatives of global importance as well as new findings on the economic value of forests and new insights from countries on reducing carbon emissions through sustainable forest management.

Key Issues:
• World's forests are essential to life in all its diversity. "The air we breathe, the food, water and medicines we need to survive, the variety of life on earth, the climate that shapes our present and future - they all depend on forests. 2011 must be the year when the world recognizes the vital importance of healthy forests to life on earth - for all people and biodiversity," says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General.

• Forests should be central to efforts to deal with global climate change. "Forests offer the quickest, most cost effective and largest means of curbing global emissions," says Stewart Maginnis, IUCN's Director of Environment and Development. "Halving these emissions between 2010 and 2020 would save an estimated US$ 3.7 trillion."

• Forests contribute towards economic growth. "The contributions forests make to households and national economies are massively under-valued," says Stephen Kelleher, Deputy Head of IUCN's Forest Conservation Programme. "Around a quarter of the income of forest-dependent communities comes from the goods and services that forests provide. Our latest findings estimate that locally-controlled forestry yields US$130 billion in benefits for the poor each year."

• Degraded forest landscapes offer a wealth of opportunities for restoration. "People everywhere suffer from or miss out on livelihood and wellbeing opportunities due to lost and degraded forest lands," says Carole Saint-Laurent, IUCN's Senior Forest Policy Advisor. "We are talking about taking forest landscapes that are not doing anything for anybody, or not doing enough, and producing something of value through restoration."

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