Article 1 of the Covenant

Forests disappearing, deserts where once there was forest.

The fields and the forests, the green hills.

In many countries, forests and forest management have a low priority in economic, social and political agendas.

The IPF concluded that restoration of arid, semi arid and dry sub humid zones should not focus narrowly on afforestation, but deal with broader aspects of forest ecosystem management, including social and economic issues, and urged Low Forest Cover Countries (LFCCs) to promote regeneration and restoration of degraded forest areas, including the involvement of indigenous peoples, local communities, forest dwellers and others.

Protection of moral and material interests 665 671 137

In some reports, however, it is noted that poor financial returns from forests can threaten the capacity to manage them in regard to other benefits.

International cooperation in the area of culture and research 672 139

Some of these are

Reaffirming the special needs and requirements of countries with fragile forest ecosystems, including those of low forest cover countries,

Participants highlighted a number of issues as relevant to the actual situation of financing for forests, including

Ministers participating at the high level segment may also wish to send a message to the High level Plenary Meeting of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly about renewing the pledge to make progress towards sustainable forest management by reducing the rate of net deforestation, maintaining forest functions, restoring degraded and unmanaged forest landscapes, conserving natural forests and improving the livelihoods of poor people living in and around forests worldwide.

A joint approach on forests will be developed, in cooperation with the Tehran Process, among others, in order to strengthen the capacity of low forest cover countries to combat desertification, land degradation and deforestation.

Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation

Forest and Grassland Conversion

(c) Countries with arid and semi arid areas, forested areas and areas liable to forest decay

There is a strong trend towards ownership of forests by local communities, which has provided low income producers with new opportunities.

(vi) Undertake measures to prevent, monitor and fight forest fires, and to reforest destroyed areas

Action taken in regard to rehabilitation and conservation includes afforestation programmes and the implementation of detailed operational guidelines aimed at conserving the protective functions of forests in areas of low forest cover.

Forest applications include forest area estimation and mapping, forest monitoring, forest fire assessment and forest management.

Also invites members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to continue to strengthen the Tehran process in developing and implementing strategies on conservation and rehabilitation of forests in low forest cover countries

For example, the integration of local and indigenous communities in sustainable forest management has strengthened the implementation of the IPF IFF proposals for action.

Land use change and forestry

The jungle is not the place for him.

Forest ownership in the US is diverse it includes extensive private forests, federally managed forests and public forests managed by state and local governments as well as forests owned by native Indian tribes.12

Out of the total area of Bosnia and Herzegovina (5,113,000 hectares), forests and forest land account for 53 per cent (2,700,770 hectares or 0.71 hectares of forest and forest land per capita).

Rehabilitation and conservation strategies for countries with low forest cover Rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands and promotion of natural and planed forests Maintaining forest cover to meet present and future needs Social and cultural, and economic, aspects of forests.

Benefits of FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION

(y) Enhance access by households, small scale forest owners, forest dependent local and indigenous communities, living in and outside forest areas, to forest resources and relevant markets in order to support livelihoods and income diversification from forest management, consistent with sustainable forest management.

A forest may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground or open forest.

Rehabilitation and conservation strategies for countries with low forest cover

In the rural areas of developing countries, forests and the forest industries may enhance employment and income generation.

The forest ecosystem and forest resources

A number of participants noted that regional processes have a crucial role in establishing mechanisms for forest related issues, institutional frameworks and international arrangements on forests, such as the Tehran Process for Low Forest Cover Countries.

Understanding forest landscape restoration

A small piece of empty space surrounded by a forest

How can increased community control of forests be harnessed for successful forest landscape restoration?

Combating deforestation and forest degradation

(d) Voluntary guidelines based on the Rio Forest Principles3 to support the implementation of the IPF IFF proposals for action on the ground

The deforestation rate in the 1990s was estimated at 14.6 million hectares per year since 5.2 million hectares were gained through afforestation and natural expansion of forests, the rate of net deforestation was 9.4 million hectares per year (see table).3 Most of the losses occur in the tropics, while in the non tropical regions forests are expanding either naturally (for example on large areas of abandoned agricultural land) or as a result of afforestation programmes.

In addition, considerable efforts are being made to improve natural forest management and recover forest loss through the Forestry Incentives Programme of the National Forestry Institute (INAB).

State owned forests and forest land is 81 per cent and private owned is 19 per cent.

This is something called an underground forest.

Map showing forest cover in the Republic of Guatemala

(c) Progressively reduce human activities, such as forest fires and the emission of harmful air pollutants caused inter alia by energy production, that substantially decrease the natural productivity of any forest and increase the risk of forest fires.