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OUR PLANET THE FUTURE OF FORESTS1
 
OUR PLANET
The magazine o the United Nations Environment Programme -
September 2008
LIVINGLEGACY 
The future of forests
 
2OUR PLANET THE FUTURE OF FORESTS
Rudy Lumuru,
Executive Director,and
Norman Jiwan,
researcher,Sawit Watch, Indonesia...
making oil well - page 28
... call or a rejection o theworst practices o palm oilproduction, and or a switchto sustainability.Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) members
Ian Redmond
,Ape Alliance, and
Moses Mapesa
and
Aggrey Rwetsiba
, UgandaWildlie Authority... explain how orests need apes and elephantsas much as apes and elephants need orests.
more than trees - page 18
Nadia Johnson and Cate Owren,
Program Coordinators or Economicand Social Justice and SustainableDevelopment at the Women’sEnvironment and DevelopmentOrganization, (WEDO)...... say that the orests — and the ood,uel and climate crises — must beseen rom a gender perspective.
countless champions- page 16
Sara Scherr,
President,Ecoagriculture Partners ...
marketing conservation - page 20
... explains how markets ororest products and ecosystemservices can help communitiesconserve their resource.
Roberto S. Waack,
CEO o AmataS.A. and Chairman o the ForestryStewardship Council...... reports on the power o certication insustainable orestry.
lights in the dark - page 25
Kevin Conrad,
Executive Director o theCoalition or Rainorest Nations...
the greatest crime - page 8
... describes the orces thatcause deorestation, andoutlines how to reverse it.
Professor Ian Swingland,
Founder o theDurrell Institute or Conservation and Ecologyat The University o Kent... 
credit is due - page 14
... explains the importance o givingcredits or reducing emissions romdeorestation and calls or them tobe widely adopted.
Frances Seymour,
DirectorGeneral o the Centre orInternational Forestry Research...... explains the importance o research orimproving the state o the world's orests. 
seeking solutions - page 10 
Carlos Minc,
Environment Minister o Brazil and a UNEP Global 500 laureate... ... sets out his programme or managing hiscountry's orests sustainably.
ve challenges - page 4
OURPLANET
alsopage 3 reectionspage 6 peoplepage 7 awards and eventspage 12 verbatim and numberspage 13 bookspage 23 wwwpage 24 products
Our 
 
Planet 
, the magazine o theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)PO Box 30552Nairobi, KenyaTel: (254 20)7621 234Fax: (254 20)7623 927e-mail: uneppub@unep.orgTo view current and past issues o thispublication online, please visitwww.unep.org/ourplanetISSN 101 - 7394
Deco o Pbcao:
Satinder Bindra
Edo:
Georey Lean
Coodaos:
Naomi Poulton & David Simpson
Asssa Coodao:
Anne-France White
Speca Cobo:
Nick Nuttall
Dsbo Maae:
Manyahleshal Kebede
Des:
Amina Darani
Podced by:
UNEP Division o Communications and Public Inormation
Ped by:
Phoenix Design Aid
Dsbed by:
SMI BooksThe contents o this magazine do not necessarilyreect the views or policies o UNEP or theeditors, nor are they an ocial record. Thedesignations employed and the presentationdo not imply the expressions o any opinionwhatsoever on the part o UNEP concerning thelegal status o any country, territory or city or itsauthority or concerning the delimitation o itsrontiers or boundaries.* All dollar ($) amounts reer to US dollars.
Gordon Sumner — more commonlyknown as
Sting
...... has campaigned or two decades toprotect rainorests around the globe.
ragile - page 30
 
OUR PLANET THE FUTURE OF FORESTS3
reflections
 
by Achim Steiner,UN Under-Secretary-General andExecutive Director, UNEP
UNEP promotesenvironmentally sound practicesglobally and in its own activities.This magazine is printed on 100% recycledpaper, using vegetable -based inks and othereco-riendly practices. Our distribution policyaims to reduce UNEP’s carbon ootprint.
How might the world deal with the multiple challenges o poverty, biodiversityloss, land degradation, conservation o water supplies and climate change?Part o the solution may lie in building new nancial arrangements — orperhaps even carbon market mechanisms — that address deorestation andthe degradation o orest ecosystems. The idea is not new. It was proposed and then abandoned, amidst ercelydiering opinions, when the Kyoto Protocol was agreed over a decadeago. But it has gained a head o steam since 2005 when countries andnon-governmental organizations meeting in Montreal put aside theirdierences to give it a air hearing. It could now become a central plank o a new, and more inclusive, climate deal when nations meet or crucialnegotiations in Copenhagen in late 2009. This change o heart is partly a measure o the magnitude o the challengenow acing the world: elling orests may cause around a th o globalgreenhouse gas emissions. It also reects a sense that the science and themechanisms needed to make improved orest nancing or orest carbonmarkets work are within our grasp. And ormer sceptics have now recognizedthe many benets that may arise. There is now an urgent need to demonstrate in practical terms — via pilotprojects on the ground — that a workable, international regime on ReducingEmissions rom Deorestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) can rapidlybe brought orward. This must have saeguards covering such aspects asmanaging payments to developing countries, insurance or REDD projectsthat prove less than optimal, and the interests o indigenous peoples andlocal communities who must benet rom the wider ecosystem services thatorests generate.UNEP, in collaboration with the UN Development Programme and the UN’sFood and Agriculture Organization, has joined orces to quick-start such pilotprojects with unding rom governments such as Norway, as well as partnerphilanthropic organisations. The partnership — in support o the UN climatechange convention and the current negotiations under the Bali Road Mapen route to Copenhagen — is also working closely with the World Bank (especially the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility); the Global EnvironmentFacility and donor governments, such as Australia and the UK. With just14 months to the Copenhagen meeting, it is vital that these projects and plansboth dovetail and play to their various strengths and areas o expertise. The UNEP/UNDP/FAO collaborative programme on REDD is ocussing ontwo main streams: working with a handul o pilot developing countriesto build the capacity and ability to develop and implement national REDDprogrammes, including payments systems; and international convening andsupport o REDD initiatives to promote coordination and coherence on keytechnical and operational REDD issues, such as monitoring and verication. The collaborative programme will also be working to eed successulexperiences into the climate discussions with the UNFCCC Secretariat in timeor a post-2012 climate deal. There are big potential benets in raising much-needed revenues ordeveloping countries, by making conserving and managing tropical orestsworth ar more than elling them. Indonesia, or example, is estimated to beable earn $1 billion annually — at a carbon price o just $10 a tonne — i itcuts its deorestation to one million hectares a year.Several outstanding issues remain, not least ensuring that all countries benetthat have the potential to do so. Nations such as the Democratic Republico the Congo (DRC) need assistance in strengthening basic environmentallaws so they can participate in potential REDD projects and manage theenvironmental impact o the big investments owing into harvestingnature-based assets. Within the broader REDD programme launched in DRCand the Congo Basin, UNEP has launched a project to support the DRC’seorts to put in place environmental legislation, and similar initiatives maybe needed in other countries. This is a dening moment or the international community, includingthe United Nations. We have the chance to bring intelligent market-based and other nancing mechanisms to bear on some o the mostpressing and intractable issues o our generation. I we can help to delivera workable and practical ramework or REDD we may achieve more ineradicating poverty, conserving biodiversity and advancing the widersustainability agenda than we have managed with traditional approachesin the past. It would also build condence towards reaching an agreementin Copenhagen.
Cover photo © JIM ZUCKERMAN/ Corbis. Forests cover about a third o our planet's land area. They are an essential habitator some o Earth's richest biodiversity, and absorb massive amounts o carbon dioxide. Yet deorestation is continuing apace,accounting or 20 per cent o global greenhouse gas emissions. With orests becoming a key area in international negotiationson climate change, this issue looks at the innovative ways we can sustain and develop these ecosystems.
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