The year 2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations.
Forests are an integral part of global sustainable development. According to World Bank estimates, more than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods with some 300 million living in them. The forest product industry is a source of economic growth and employment, with global forest products traded internationally is estimated at $327 billion.According to the World Bank, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. FAO data estimates that the world's forests and forest soil store more than one trillion tons of carbon – twice the amount found in the atmosphere. The World Bank estimates that forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth, and that deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for biodiversity loss of as many as 100 species a day.
Objectives :
The short-term objectives :
(i) to focus world attention on the need for forest conservation and protection.
(ii) to raise the political and public awareness of forest resources.
(iii) to identify and draw attention to the factors threatening these forest resources.
(iv) to mobilize people, and especially youth, to participate in forest-oriented activities during 1985.
The long-term objectives :
(i) to strengthen national and international commitments to safeguarding the productive and protective: capacity of each nation's forest resources in support of national, social, economic and environmental goals.
(ii) to address with greater determination resources and skill the threats to forest resources.
(iii) to promote better planning and implementation of forestry programmes, and to give them due importance in national economic planning, on a sustained basis.
Overall theme:Forestry and food security.
Supporting themes: Conserving the forest. Forestry and people: Appropriate industries.
The fuel wood crisis.
