The forest ecosystem and forest resources

Examples of policy activities include, inter alia, forest law enforcement, certification, market access, development of guidelines, ex post evaluation, studies on market conditions, status of tropical forest management, community forest management, tenure rights, further processing of tropical timber , trade of non timber forest products and ecosystem services.

You cut down that tree, the rain forest collapses as an ecosystem.

Maintaining Ecosystem Functions, Sustaining Forest Productivity, and Appropriate Application of Knowledge and Technology

Many options exist to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce negative trade offs or that provide positive synergies with other ecosystem services.

An initiative called REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) would pay for ecosystem services on a global scale by rewarding forest conservation, thereby regulating climate change. These ideas should receive more attention in the future, as our supplies of non renewable resources dwindle.

Restoring just 15 of degraded forest landscapes worldwide could generate up to 85 billion worth of ecosystem services every year, mostly benefiting rural and underprivileged communities. Estimates of the value of the Mau forest complex to the Kenyan economy, for example, are 1.5 billion a year.

Many ecosystem services, such as flood regulation or erosion control, are not traded in markets.

Countries should adopt time bound environmental targets, particularly for such priorities as forest replanting, integrated water resources management, ecosystem preservation and curbing pollution.

Environmental valuation of ecosystem goods and services should become a core component of water management strategies.

And finally, at the ecosystem level, whether it's flood prevention or drought control provided by the forests, or whether it is the ability of poor farmers to go out and gather leaf litter for their cattle and goats, or whether it's the ability of their wives to go and collect fuel wood from the forest, it is actually the poor who depend most on these ecosystem services.

Cooperation between the Forum and the Convention, with the involvement of other CPF members, has focused on the relationship between sustainable forest management and ecosystem approach.

Drylands include all terrestrial regions where water scarcity limits the production of crops, forage, wood and other ecosystem provisioning services.

Desertification is a result of a long term failure to balance demand for and supply of ecosystem services in drylands.

The members of the Advisory Group represent a number of government forest and forest fire services, United Nations organizations, research institutions, academia and non governmental organizations.

And the World Bank has acknowledged this and they've started a project called WAVES Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services.

In some places, local people derive income from ecosystem services, such as ecotourism or environmental protection, but this is not common.

In this context, emphasize the economic importance of ecosystem services in the drylands and best practices to maintain or rehabilitate them.

Because decreased biodiversity results in less resistant crops and loss of ecosystem services, pest infestations and weather variability increase agricultural stresses.

The lack of mechanisms to compensate forest owners for environmental and social non market services encourages unsustainable practices, hampers financing for sustainable forest management and contributes to deforestation.

(iii) To influence social and behavioural responses, in order to reduce consumption of degraded ecosystem services and achieve sustainable use, through communication and education to raise public awareness and through the empowerment of groups such as women, indigenous people and youth who may be particularly dependent on ecosystem services or affected by their degradation

The contribution of forest goods and services is often much greater than that revealed by official statistics.

Recent developments in close to nature forest management provide a model for a decentralized system that can yield good biodiversity conservation, consistent with the ecosystem approach adopted by the Convention on Biodiversity.

(d) The fact that 60 per cent of the ecosystem services examined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are being degraded or used unsustainably, including freshwater, capture fisheries, air and water purification and the regulation of regional and local climate, natural hazards and pests.

Persistent, substantial reduction in the provision of ecosystem services as a result of water scarcity, intensive use of services and climate change is a much greater threat in drylands than in non dryland systems.

So it is clear that some countries now view environmental investments in infrastructure, energy systems, and ecosystems as among the best bets for recovery. Others may be unsure about the potential returns from investing in ecosystem services such as forest carbon storage or in renewable energy for the 80 of Africans who have no access to electricity.

In such a context, emphasize the economic importance of ecosystem services in the drylands and promote best practices and disseminate information through all possible channels.

And what we're saying is that, shouldn't our cities do at least as well, in terms of ecosystem services, as the native systems that they replace?

The reports of developed country Parties show that efforts tend to be more focused on ecosystem, protected area and national park management than on forest and development programmes based on tree plantation and reforestation projects.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

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

The new operational program 15 (OP 15) Sustainable Land Management describes the strategic guidance for GEF supported initiatives, which have to monitor the impact on the ecosystem health and sustainable livelihoods based on agricultural and forest activities.

Department of Ecosystem Studies

99. Reaffirms paragraph 119 of resolution 61 222 regarding ecosystem approaches and oceans, including the proposed elements of an ecosystem approach, means to achieve implementation of an ecosystem approach and requirements for improved application of an ecosystem approach, and in this regard

Appreciation is expressed for initiatives taken by CPF members to organize expert meetings, but it is considered that further discussions are needed on some issues relating to concepts, terminology and definitions examples include the forest related definitions used by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and clarification of how the ecosystem approach relates to sustainable forest management.

In particular there is a need to continue efforts to enhance market access for forest products and services to benefit the poor.

Very useful second ecosystem service.

Number eight the ecosystem collapses.

Finally, on an ecosystem scale.

But there's an ecosystem here.

The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly worse during the first half of this century and represents a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demands for their services can be partially met under some scenarios that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has considered, but these involve significant changes in policies, institutions, and practices that are not currently under way.

IUCN had launched the Conservation for Poverty Reduction Initiative creating a broad alliance of governmental and civil society organizations to restore and conserve ecosystem services essential for ensuring sustainable livelihoods.

The transition process must be managed carefully to maintain a favourable investment climate and to safeguard the values of forest goods and services.

So these places not only help the ecosystem but also help the people who can benefit from the ecosystem.

This support involves four thematic priorities to guide the activities, which are promoting understanding and operating the principles of the ecosystem approach, promoting understanding and application of cost effective ecosystem restoration, development and testing of indicators of ecosystem status and the development and communication of ecosystem management tools.