News
12.04.2013
FAO official: Forests and forestry contribute to green growth
There is a need to better record the social and economic contributions of forests to human development, the UN Forum on Forests underway in Istanbul, Turkey heard on Thursday. The UN Forum on Forests comes at an opportune moment, given the outcomes of the Rio+20 conference and the Forum’s recommendations on forest financing and economic development.
So says the Assistant Director-General of the Forestry Department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Edouardo Rojas-Briales. Rojas-Briales, who is also chairman of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests — a grouping of 14 international organizations established on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, also pointed to other events related to the Millennium Development Goals; expected climate change agreement in 2015 and the post-2015 development agenda. He says more specifically, the forum would set the path for review of the international arrangement on forests, of which the Partnership was a key part. «In fact research trends show that the contributions of forests and forestry to green growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development are recognized more than ever. We need though to record better and to spread more efficiently the social economic contributions of forests to human development,» Mr. Rojas-Briales admits. Mr. Rojas-Briales says the agenda of the UNFF was well designed to address the cross-sectoral nature and functions of forests along with the critical economic functions.
