2011: International Year of Forests What has it achieved?

This past year was delegated the International Year of Forests by the United Nations.  

Since it has come to an end, we will take a look back at what has been achieved in securing the immense, irreplaceable contribution that the world’s forests make to the survival of biodiversity and human society.

Over the past year an extraordinary level of attention has been placed on the world’s forests, as well as the challenges that confront them.  Successes range from international policy changes to school and community projects. 

The International Year of Forests started off with a meeting of the United Nations’ Forum of Forests in New York.  At this event, the Rwandan government committed to border-to-border restoration of its natural ecosystems upon which a vast majority of its population depends for their livelihoods.  This bold step has stimulated other governments to adopt a similar scale of ambition. 

At a conference in Bonn, Germany hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the German government, a joint commitment was made to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes around the world by 2020.  That is about the size of Mongolia!  It will be worth 85 billion dollars per year to local and national economies.  The benefits towards biodiversity and people will be incredible.

 At the years end the IUCN will be wrapping up the first phase of our 5-year Livelihoods and Landscapes Strategy.  Its aim has been to improve sustainable management of natural resources and the lives of the people who depend on them in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

In addition, Year of Forests has ended with progress on illegal logging.  Because timber markets have traditionally not distinguished between legal or illegally sourced timber, international trade has inadvertently acted as a driver of deforestation.  However, in the last decade many countries and international agencies have taken solid actions to fight illegal logging, ranging from on-the-ground activities to policies and regulations.  As a result of these actions, 17 million hectares of tropical forest have been protected from degradation, and at least 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions were reduced over the last decade.  In Indonesia, logging illegally in excess of licensed harvests declined by 75 percent.

With the end of the International Year of Forests, it is important that we continue to think about what forests do for us and how we can help them.  If you want a more hands-on approach, locate a forest preserve near you that needs volunteer help; participate in a forest clean-up; learn about the invasive plant species that affect our forests and help remove them from your land.  Or, you can donate to organizations that directly work to preserve and protect forests.  Forests are not only beautiful objects, they provide homes for many endangered species of plants and animals; they regulate the flows of freshwater that we rely on for agricultural, industrial, and consumption purposes; they provide food and shelter for forest-dependent communities; and they play an important role in managing our climate by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.  Wherever you live, forests play a crucial role in your life.

Submitted by Sara Oliver, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

2011: International Year of Forests: Where Forest Meets Meadow

The edge of a forest is a transition zone between two communities.  On one side is the forest, the other can be a field, meadow, or marshy area.  

A field typically describes an area managed by people.  It could include a farmer's crops or it may be some other open area mown or managed in some way.  A meadow is a more wild open area.  Missouri also has tallgrass prairie habitat, which is dependent on natural fires or prescribed burns.  Each habitat type has characteristic plants and animals.  The forest edge is the crossroads for the wildlife from the two neighboring worlds.  It provides a combination of food and cover that is critical to the amount, diversity and quality of an area’s wildlife population.  Creatures from both sides will visit the zone for food, sun, shade and shelter.

 Photo of a forest edge along Highway 21 in Missouri

 Edge quality depends on how gradually the forest becomes a field/meadow.  Many transitions in Missouri are abrupt changes which is not great for wildlife habitat.  Weeds, shrubs, vines, and small trees bordering the two communities provide more food like seeds, berries and insects.  If you are a landowner you can create a gradual forest edge between your field and forest by simply not mowing or managing the border.  Allow a 30-foot or wider strip in between to revert to native plants and shrubs.  Edge effect could be made even better by thinning the trees beyond the border strip.  Leave snags and fruit and nut producing trees.

Common in Missouri, an invasive plant that can overrun the forest edge is Bush, or Asian Honeysuckle, which is native of eastern Asia and was brought to the U.S. to use as an ornamental.  Asian Honeysuckle out-competes native shrubs and reduces understory diversity by creating too much shade for many wildflowers.  Favorable, native, food- producing shrubs and vines that can thrive in the forest edge are blueberry, blackberry, flowering dogwood, raspberry, greenbriar, hazel, grape, witch-hazel, serviceberry, hawthorn and viburnum.

Submitted by Sara Oliver, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

Year of the Forest

2011 is International Year of Forests

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

Forests cover about 30 percent of Earth’s land area and about 9.4 percent the of Earth’s surface, although it used to be much more.  The livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people depend on forests.  Forests are home to 300 million people around the world and are home to 80 percent of our terrestrial biodiversity.  Seventeen percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, which is the cutting of Earth’s forests on a vast scale, often causing damage to the quality of land.  The land thereafter is then converted to non-forest uses like agricultural, urban sprawl, or pastureland.

The world’s rainforests could entirely disappear in a hundred years at the present rate of deforestation.  When farmers clear trees in tropical climates, they burn them in a process known as “slash and burn” agriculture.  The soil is fertile at first but once plant root systems are gone from the soil, every time it rains (which is frequent in a rainforest) the fertility is washed away.  Within a few years the land becomes useless for growing crops and most of these farmers cannot afford fertilizers.  Therefore they are forced to abandon that plot of land and tear down another area of the rainforest to begin cultivating again.  They leave behind them a trail of eroded soils and degraded vegetation.

Providing the world with wood and paper products also uses countless trees each year.  Remember to do your part and recycle all paper, cardboard, and chipboard items.  With the exponential increase in human population houses are continually being built and forests are cleared to make room.  The use of wood for fuel accounts for between 10% and 15% of global energy use and the demand is likely to rise due to population growth and decreased availability of alternate fuels.  This can put pressure on forests and ecosystems where wood is scarce and population is high.

Deforestation has many other negative effects on the environment including climate change, habitat loss and an increase in greenhouse gases.  Forests need to be carefully managed with the elimination of clear-cutting and planting trees to replace the ones cut.  In declaring 2011 as the International Year of Forests, the United Nations is formulating plans and activities to raise awareness about this vital part of our world. 

Sources: http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/index.shtml, http://www.iied.org/theme/3/Forestry/projects, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/,  

Submitted by Sara Oliver, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist