Urgent action needed to stop the destruction of Asia’s forests and meet the 2030 development agenda
15/05/2017 Colombo, Sri Lanka - The destruction of forests in many Asian countries continues apace, raising fears that one of the world’s key Sustainable Development Goals may not be achieved by the 2030 deadline, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.
When the SDGs were formulated and agreed by 193 countries in 2015, forests were explicitly mentioned in order that they
be aided through the protection, restoration and promotion of sustainable forests while halting and reversing associated
land degradation and the loss of biodiversity.
“While forests are critical to achieving the SDGs, they continue to be degraded and lost at a rate of 3.3 million
hectares per year,” said Patrick Durst, Senior Forestry Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. “In
this region, forests continue to be converted to agriculture, destroyed and replaced by man-made infrastructure,
housing, mining, and other land uses. Forest fires also continue to pose a threat to the region”.
Covering one-third of the earth’s surface, forests provide an invaluable variety of social, economic and environmental
benefits. Forests and trees sustain and protect all life in invaluable ways. They provide the clean air that we breathe
and the water that we drink. Home to more than 80 percent of land animals and plants, forests safeguard the planet’s
biodiversity and act as our natural defence against climate change. A third of the world's biggest cities, including
Mumbai, Bogotá and New York, obtain much of their drinking water directly from forested areas. In short, life on earth
is made possible and sustainable thanks to forests and trees.
Forests and poverty reduction
Forests also play a major role in supporting human livelihoods. “SDG 1 is about ending poverty and forests have a lot to
contribute,” said Nina Brandstrup, FAO Representative in Sri Lanka. “Globally, 1.3 billion people, mostly in developing countries, are estimated to be ‘forest peoples’, who depend on
forests for their livelihoods and income. Twenty-eight percent of the total income of households living in or near
forests come from forest and environmental income. Ending poverty (SDG 1) would need to take the health of our forests
into account and engage those ‘forest peoples’ directly.”
According to FAO’s Global Forest Resource Assessment in 2015, forests continue to be lost in many countries of the
Asia-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, that loses 6.6 thousand ha annually. Degradation of forest quality further
decreases the forests’ capacity to provide goods and services necessary for human survival. These losses will be more
acutely felt as the demand for forest products steadily rises in the future.
Countries are taking action
While most countries in the Asia-Pacific region continue to struggle in their responses to forest loss, some are taking
positive action. China and Viet Nam have established impressive reforestation programmes and are actually increasing the
amount of forested land.
Meantime, the Government of Sri Lanka has announced plans to increase the country’s forest cover by as much as 35
percent – and to do so inclusively with the people that will benefit most.
“To reach our target, it is essential to address poverty as it is one of the major drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation,” said Anura Sathurusinghe, Conservator General of Forests and Head of the Sri Lanka Forest Department. “We engage people in policy processes through discussions to solicit their valuable inputs and recommendations,” he
added.
Focusing on SDGs and poverty reduction, the Government of Sri Lanka and FAO are organizing the Tenth Executive Forest
Policy Course for forestry leaders in the Asia-Pacific region. Twenty-four forestry leaders, with a near gender-balance
(11 women), from 15 countries are participating in the course, with the theme “Revisiting the poverty alleviation agenda in the context of SDGs: opportunities and challenges for Asia-Pacific
forestry”.
While few in number, these 24 senior participants are primarily senior officials dealing with land use and forestry
policies in their countries. They are joined by well-known experts and resource persons in the field and, together, will
deliberate on future challenges and policies that will be required to enhance the role of forests in poverty reduction
and to meet the objectives of the SDGs.
The course is jointly organized by FAO, the Asia-Pacific Forest Policy Think Tank, the Forest Department of Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment of Sri Lanka and APAFRI.