This week marks the launch of International Year of the Forests 2011 aimed at raising awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution in December 2006 in response to realities such as the extensive complexity of forest issues—including as biodiversity, desertification and climate change—as well as its role in attaining sustainable development, poverty eradication and the Millennium Development Goals.

According to the World Bank (2004), forest resources directly contribute to the livelihoods of 90% of the 1.2 billion people around the world living in extreme poverty.¹ Given their ecological richness, forests have been a source of subsistence, not only for hunters and gatherers, but also as part of farming systems, providing construction timber, cooking fuel, animal fodder, wild game, medicinal herbs and other products for subsistence and market throughout history². These benefits also transcend geographical boundaries as most countries have significant wild forest products markets³. A meta-study of 54 cases of income generation amongst people living near or in forests found that forests provided important resources at every income level and on every continent, providing an average of 22% of total income⁴

Of Forests and Men from GoodPlanet on Vimeo.

In addition to the provision of timber and non-timber forest products, forest ecosystems also play a crucial role in facilitating basic ecosystem services, such as the provision of water for drinking and agriculture. The Human Development Report (2006) cites that by 2025, around three billion people could be experiencing water stress, with severe water shortages likely to get more serious in many countries. Hydrologists are turning to natural ecosystems for key water services given the water quality that well-managed natural forests provide i.e.: less sediment and pollutants than those from catchments with destroyed or degraded forests. Research has shown that around a third (33 out of 105) of the world’s largest cities by population obtain a significant proportion of their drinking water directly from protected areas, or from forests that are managed in a way that gives priority to maintaining their hydrological system functions⁵. For instance, about 80% of Quito’s 1.5 million population receive drinking water from two protected areas; Antisana (120,000 ha) and Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve (403,103 ha).⁶

Forests also help to mitigate natural disasters. Floods alone approximately cost US$ 1 trillion in damage during the 1990s, notwithstanding the 100,000 lives lost⁷. Analysis of flood data from 56 developing countries found a significant link between forest loss and flood risk⁸ . In July 2005 an unprecedented monsoon rainstorm in Mumbai, India saw almost a meter of rain fall on the city of 19.8 million inhabitants. Severe flooding resulted, and over a thousand people lost their lives. However, the heavily forested Sanjay Gandhi National Park absorbed much of the rainfall, preventing further loss of life and property damage.⁹ Such strategy is also recognized in the Swiss Alps where 17% of forests are managed to protect against avalanches and floods. These services are valued at US$ 2-3.5 billion per year.¹⁰

The international community are increasingly recognizing the critical role of forests in regulating the global carbon cycle and thus the earth’s climate. The potential to ‘capture’ carbon dioxide in vegetation is one important component of a strategy to mitigate climate change. Most well-functioning natural ecosystems, including forests, sequester carbon¹¹. Besides the storage of carbon in living plant material forests also prevent soil erosion and contribute to the formation of topsoil, which serves as an important sink for carbon¹².

These benefits are only among the many that forest ecosystems provides us. Raising awareness about them and their sustainability may be an agenda officially reserved for this year, but as the TEEB reports showcase, these benefits transcend time, space, and development issues. If we are to maintain these services, awareness and action towards forest conservation must also be sustained well beyond 2011.

1. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 1, p. 13 World Bank (2004) ‘Sustaining Forests: A Development Strategy’. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. URL: siteresources.worldbank.
   org/INTFORESTS/Resources/SustainingForests.pdf. [↩]
2. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 84 [↩]
3. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 91 [↩]
4. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 90 Vedeld, P.; Angelsen, A.; Sjaastad, E.; Berg, G.K. (2004) ‘Counting on the Environment: Forest Incomes and the Rural Poor’, Environmental Economics Series Paper No. 98, World Bank, Washington, DC. Visvanathan, Shiv (1991) ‘Mrs. Brundland´s Disenchanted Cosmos’, Alternatives, Vol. 16,3 p. 377-384. [↩]
5. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 93 Dudley, N. and Stolton, S. (2003) ‘Running Pure: the importance of forest protected areas to drinking water’, WWF, IUCN Gland Switzerland and The World Bank Washington DC. [↩]
6. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 93 [↩]
7. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 98 [↩]
8. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 97 [↩]
9. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 4 Page 68 Box 4.2. Trzyna, T. (2007) ‘Global urbanization and protected areas,
   Challenges and opportunities posed by a major factor of global change — and creative ways of responding’, IUCN and the California Institute of Public Affairs; URL: www.interenvironment.org/cipa/
   Global-Urb-corr-4-07.pdf. [↩]
10. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5,  p. 98 ISDR – International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (2004) ‘Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives’, UN/ISDR, Geneva, Switzerland. URL: www.preventionweb.net/files/657_
    lwr1.pdf [↩]
11. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 92 [↩]
12. TEEB for Local and Regional Policymakers, Chapter 5, p. 84 [↩]