NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

The Theme of the 10th World Forestry Congress, held in Paris 17–26 September, was “Forests, a Heritage for the Future”. The deliberations of the Congress were sub-divided into six inter-related Discussion Areas, viz.: (A) The Forest, a Protective Heritage; (B) Conservation and Protection of the Forest Heritage; (C) Trees and Forests in Land Management of Rural and Urban Areas; (D) Management of the Forest Heritage; (E) The Forest Heritage: an Economic Resource; and (F) Policy and Institutions. Proceedings, containing the some 150 Invited Papers, titles and addresses of authors of the some 600 Voluntary Papers submitted for the Congress, and a selection of these latter ones, have already been published (see details for ordering the Proceedings in the section, “Recent Literature of Interest: Conference and Workshop Proceedings”, in this issue of FGRI).

Themes of particular interest to readers of FGRI, included A.6, “Ecosystems and Genetic Resources”, and D. 13, “Afforestation and Reforestation”. This latter one covered i.a. the subject areas, “Reproductive Materials, Genetic Improvement”; and “Selection and Plantation of Species and Provenances in Relation to Site and Objectives”, whereas the former one concentrated on the conservation of ecosystems and genetic resources, from both the technical and the socio-economic point of view.

The common points highlighted as being of greatest concern in these, both in the written contributions and in subsequent discussions, were:

• Institutional and legal problems;
• The central role of forest management and the need to clearly define management objectives to fulfil multiple management aims;
• The importance of people's participation in land use planning and forest management decisions; and the need to increase awareness, at all levels, of the real value of forests as providers of a range of goods and services;
• The potential of new and advanced technologies in support of conventional strategies; and
• The need for inter-sectoral collaboration, coordination of work and increased efforts to mobilize and adequately utilize existing and emerging financing mechanisms.

The Congress agreed, in the final Plenary, upon a set of Conclusions and Recommendations, and passed “The Paris Declaration”, which draws attention to the main issues in forestry in the 1990s and beyond.

The general message of this Congress, in which some 2 800 foresters from all over the world attended, was well summarized by the Director General of FAO in his Introductory Speech:

“The forest is the arbiter of our future. The ecological, economic and social survival of our species is dependent on the existence of forest ecosystems that are extensive enough, healthy enough, and wisely managed”.

This is a message that surely all readers of FGRI can, without hesitation, agree to and which this annual newsletter has, over the years, reflected.

For contributions to FGRI, please write to:

Chief, Forest Resources Development Branch
Forestry Department, FAO
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
I-00100 Rome, Italy