January - March, 2009
UN: Financial Crisis Puts Pressure on Forests
The global economic turmoil has resulted in reduced demand for wood, shrinking investments in forest industries and forest management, according to the United Nations "State of the World's Forests" report.
Stronger forest management and greater investments in science and technology are needed to handle the dual challenges posed by the financial crisis and climate change, advises the report, which is issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization once every two years.
"Adapting forestry institutions to rapid changes in the larger environment is a major challenge," says Jan Heino of FAO's Forestry Department.
The report expresses concern that the economic downturn could lead governments to water down ambitious green targets or defer key policy decisions related to climate change mitigation and adaptation as they focus on bringing in funds. Initiatives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation that are dependent on international financial transfers could also face problems.
"Of particular importance is the need to re-invent public sector forestry agencies that have been slow in adapting to changing customer needs," Heino said.
The report warns that contraction of formal economic sectors can open opportunities for expansion of the informal sector and could lead to more illegal logging. But there are also opportunities arising from the current crisis. Increased attention on "green development" could provide a new direction to the development of the forest sector. Planting trees, increased investments in sustainable forest management, and active promotion of wood in green building practices and renewable energy will all become integral parts of "green development".
A separate FAO report last week found that 10 million new green jobs can be created by investing in sustainable forest management. "As more jobs are lost due to the current economic downturn, sustainable forest management could become a means of creating millions of green jobs, thus helping to reduce poverty and improve the environment. Since forests and trees are vital storehouses of carbon, such an investment could also make a major contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts," said Heino.
The near future of forestry in North America will depend on how quickly the region reverses the recent economic downturn and its impact on the demand for wood and wood products, especially in the U.S.
The forest sector will need to address challenges of climate change, including increasing frequency and severity of forest fires and damage by invasive pest species. Forest cover in the region is stable. North America accounted for two percent of annual global deforestation from 2000 to 2005, although the rate of loss has been decreasing. Most of the loss was in Mexico, attributed mainly to agricultural expansion and unsustainable logging, while the United States reported a small net gain in forest area for the period.
But the report warns that climate change is threatening forest health. The intensity and frequency of forest fires have increased in both Canada and the United States, fueled by prolonged drought attributed to climate change and successful fire control programs that have inadvertently increased the amount of combustible material. The loss of trees is releasing more carbon than that from forest fires in spite of efforts to salvage the timber, which continues to store carbon.
Source: Environment News Service