FORESTRY AND SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
By
ISMAIL HARUN & ABDUL LATIF MOHMOD
Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
Kepong, 52109 Selangor, Malaysia
Dialoque on Forestry in the Context of Eco-Civilization
Guiyang, China
19 July 2013
ISO 9001 : 2008
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Content
 Introduction
 Definition of Sustainable Development
 Status of forest resources
 What happened at Rio+20
 Issues on forestry
 Way forward
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 Conclusion
Introduction
What is Sustainable Development?
"Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs.“ ………the World Commission on Environment and Development’s
(the Brundtland Commission) report “Our Common Future” (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987).
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Forestry is “the science and practice of
caring the forest”…. Miriam-Webber Dictionary
Relation between Forestry
and Sustainable Development
Millennium Declaration (2000, 189 nations made a
promise to free people from extreme poverty and multiple
deprivations.
Millennium Development Goals:
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1 Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger
2 Achieve universal primary education
3 Promote gender equality and empower women
4 Reduce child mortality
5 Improve maternal health
6 Combat HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7 Ensure environmental sustainability
8 Develop a global partnership for development
MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger
Where do we stand?
Source: UNDP MDG Report 2013
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• Poverty rates have been halved between 1990 and 2010,
but 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty
• About 700 million fewer people lived in conditions of
extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990.
• The economic and financial crisis has widened the global
jobs gap by 67 million people.
• One in eight people still go to bed hungry, despite major
progress.
• Globally, nearly one in six children under age five are
underweight; one in four are stunted.
• An estimated 7% of children under age of five worldwide
are now overweight, another aspect of malnutrition; one
quarter of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.
MDG 7-Ensure environmental sustainability
Where do we stand?
Source: UNDP MDG Report 2013
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• Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased
by more than 46% since 1990
• Nearly one third of marine fish stocks have been
overexploited.
• Many species are at risk of extinction, despite an increase
in protected areas.
• More than 2.1 billion people and almost 1.9 billon people,
respectively, have gained access to improved water
sources and sanitation facilities since 1990
• An estimated 863 million people reside in slums in the
developing world.
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What do we have?
•
The world's total forest area 4 billion ha, or 31% of
the total land area
•
The net loss of forests - 5.2 million ha/year (area
about the size of Costa Rica).
•
Around 13 million ha of forests were converted to
other uses or lost through natural causes (20002010), compared to 16 million ha/year in 1990s.
•
12% (more than 460 million ha) designated primarily
to conserve biological diversity.
•
1% reported to be significantly affected each year by
forest fires.
•
Outbreaks of insect pests damage nearly 35 million
ha of forest annually (temperate & boreal).
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Highlights of FRA 2010
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Rio+20
Forest at Rio+20
Recommendations :
Restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded
lands by 2020.
•
Promote science, technology, innovation and traditional
knowledge in order to face forests main challenge: how to
turn them productive without destroying them.
•
Zero Net Deforestation by 2020, respecting the rights and
knowledge of peoples living in and from the forests and
responding to their sustainable development needs.
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•
Rio outcome document: Section on Forests
193. We highlight the social, economic and environmental benefits of
forests to people and the contributions of sustainable forest
management to the themes and objectives of the Conference. We
support cross-sectoral and cross-institutional policies promoting
sustainable forest management. We reaffirm that the wide range of
products and services that forests provide creates opportunities to
address many of the most pressing sustainable development
challenges. We call for enhanced efforts to achieve the sustainable
management of forests, reforestation, restoration and afforestation, and
we support all efforts that effectively slow, halt and reverse
deforestation and forest degradation including inter alia promoting trade
in legally-harvested forest products.
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To this end, we commit to improving the livelihoods of people and
communities by creating the conditions needed for them to
sustainably manage forests including through strengthening
cooperation arrangements in the areas of finance, trade, transfer of
environmentally sound technologies, capacity-building and
governance, as well as by promoting secure land tenure, particularly
decision-making and benefit sharing, in accordance with national
legislation and priorities.
194. We call for urgent implementation of the Non-legally Binding
Instrument on all Types of Forests and the Ministerial Declaration of
the high-level segment of the ninth session of the United Nations
Forum on Forests on the occasion of the launch of the International
Year of Forests.
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195. We recognize that the United Nations Forum on Forests, with
its universal membership and comprehensive mandate, plays a vital
role in addressing forest-related issues in a holistic and integrated
manner, and promoting international policy coordination and
cooperation to achieve sustainable forest management. We invite
the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to continue its support to
the Forum and encourage stakeholders to remain actively engaged
in the work of the Forum.
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196. We stress the importance of integrating sustainable forest
management objectives and practices into the mainstream of economic
policy and decision-making, and to that end we commit to working
through the governing bodies of member organizations of the
Collaborative Partnership on Forests to integrate, as appropriate, the
sustainable management of all types of forests into their strategies and
programmes.
Summary of Rio+20 on Forest
(The Future We Want)
•
•
•
•
•
Only 4 out 283 paragraphs
Action on an 20 year old agreement without any goals,
timelines or commitment of resource
Originally the plan at Rio 1992 was to come up with an
international treaty on forests. Never materialized but what did
come out of Agenda 21 was the United Nations Forum on
Forests (UNFF)
None of the multilateral environmental agreements have
actually delivered—the climate change agreement gets a lot of
international attention but there has been no concrete action
The CPF supports the UNFF, and this statement simply asks
for continuation of the status quo, no sense of urgency and the
need to do things differently is not communicated.
Statement on support for SFM is nothing new
Overall, poor fare was given to forest
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•
•
Issues on Forestry
 Population growth – increase demand, social and poverty
 Climate change
 Loss of biodiversity
 Desertification
 Deforestation & forest degradation
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 Unsustainable management of forest resources
Tropical Rainforest?
The most diverse ecosystems on earth with >60% of global biodiversity.
Regulate
climates and
controls floods
& droughts.
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Store 25% of terrestrial
Carbon &
are a key source of
valuable products,
including timber &
medicines.
“Trade Barriers”
Health concerns
Nutella Tax (French)
Eco Friendly
Certification
US Lacey Act
EU FLEGT
European Union Forest
Law Enforcement, Governance and
Trade
Australia Illegal Timber Ban
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US Farm Bill 2012
Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm
Oil (RSPO)
Loss of Biodiversity
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• World -1.75 million known species
• Biodiversity has declined by more
than a quarter in the last 35 years
• The Living Planet Index (LPI), which
tracks nearly 4,000 populations of
wildlife, shows an overall fall in
population trends of 27% between
1970 and 2005.
Forest
Climate
Change
Well Managed & Conserved >
Store Carbon, Sequester CO2, Protect BioD,
Soil, Water & etc.
Poorly Managed & Conserved >
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CO2 Emissions, Climate Change Impacts,
Loss in BioD, Water Stress, & etc .
Forest & Climate Change
 Forest & climate change is a
contentious issue. (20% emission)
 View as cost-effective options to
reduce global green house gas
emission.
 As a party to UNFCCC Malaysia is
obligated to provide periodic reports
on green house gas inventory,
adaptation & mitigation activities
 A national accounting procedures
developed.
Emission from Deforestation &
Forest Degradation (REDD) and
carbon offset studies are currently
being undertaken
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 Methodologies to address Reducing
Forest and Climate Change
 Recognise the role played by forest in
mitigating climate Change Impacts
 Promotes good practice in forest management
 Support R&D to enhance knowledge and
capacity on understanding role and
vulnerability of forest to climate change
 Support Mechanism such as REDD+ that
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promote good stewardship of forests to mitigate
climate change impacts
REDD+
 REDD+ Mechanism is important to
Malaysia as it support sustainable
forest management practices
 REDD+ enhances the value of forest
by recognising its important role in
storing and sequestring carbon
 Forestry is an important economic
sector in manu countries thus
managing forest for continuous
supply of wood materials is a priority
• REDD+ ensure that forest are protected and managed to enhance its
sequestration potential and C storage
 CDM only provides incentives for new and additional forests (A&R)
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 REDD + allow developing countries to receive some payments for
the value their existing forests provide
The Way Forward
 SFM
 Innovative financial mechanism for SFM
 Reduce deforestation rate
 Improve R&D including social research
 Increase of professionals – creates more green jobs
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 Forestry – Global problems but require local solutions
Challenges
Climate:
Timber & non
- rainfall &
timber
Carbon cycling
products
Nutrient
cycling/soil
productivity
Forest area
Water/marine
ecosystem
Social &
cultural
heritage
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Biodiversity
(flora & fauna)
Pillars of SFM
ECONOMY
SUSTAINABLE
FOREST
MANAGEMENT
ENVIRONMENT
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SOCIAL &
CULTURAL
Conclusion
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“There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not
for man’s greed”
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Thank you