The International Year of Forests 2011 is being officially launched today with the Nagoya ABS Protocol opening for signature by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Today is also World Wetlands Day, and the 40th anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands. This year the theme is “Forests for Water and Wetlands”.
The 'Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity' was a key outcome of the October 2010 CBD meeting in Nagoya, Japan, and aims to ensure countries harbouring great natural diversity of wildlife will receive adequate benefits in return for providing access to these resources.
“It is fitting that the signing of the landmark ABS-protocol, which will help close the gap between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation and development, marks the International Year of Forests,” Chen Hin Keong, TRAFFIC's Global Forest Trade Programme Leader, said in a statement. “The world’s forests are a treasures trove of biological resources, but these must be shared equitably and used wisely, or it will be to the detriment of all.”
This assumes significance in view of the fact that between 2000 and 2010, the world's total forest area decreased at an annual rate of 5.2 million hectares, equivalent to the size of Costa Rica, according to the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment.
Forests 2011 comes right after the International Year of Biodiversity, which culminated in a global plan to save and restore nature and a turning point in international climate negotiations reached at the Cancun climate talks last December. Forests 2011 picks up where 2010 left off – with an increased international awareness about the role of healthy ecosystems in combating climate change and reversing biodiversity loss.
