Closer to forest – further from hunger (A Russian saying)

18 March 2022 – Moscow. On the occasion of the International Day of Forests (IDF), the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for Forestry (Rosleskhoz) supported by the Russian Office of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Information Centre in Moscow held an on-line and off-line conference “Forests and sustainable production and consumption”.

Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation and the moderator of the forum, described the role of forests within framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and noted that the FAO Office in Moscow is hosting an event dedicated to IDF for the fourth consecutive year. “In the lead-up to the celebration event, it was agreed that particular emphasis should be placed on boreal and temperate forests, on which the overall eco-balance of our planet largely depends.”

“Forests are among those ecospheres without which we cannot imagine the existence of humankind. It is no coincidence that the collective wisdom of many nations ranks planting at least one tree in a lifetime among each person’ duties,” said Oleg Kobiakov.

Alexander Panfilov, Deputy Head of the Federal Forestry Agency, delivered his welcoming remarks, noting, “The efforts to meet the national targets are in line with the efforts to achieve, in particular, SDG 15.”

Moreover, he added, “states parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity are planning to ensure that by 2030 at least 30 percent globally of land areas and sea areas have the status of protected areas. In the Russian Federation, this work has been placed on a solid basis; the protective categories of reserved forests have been formalized in the country’s legislation. Protective forests cover more than 280 million hectares, i.e. up to one fourth of the entire national forest land.”

Vladimir Kuznetsov, Director of the UN Information Centre in Moscow, underlined the presence of a common unifying goal – sustainable use of forest stands. “Forests are a very important issue for the United Nations, our current theme is related to SDG 12, but at the same time, forests are a cross-cutting theme that concerns many other Sustainable Development Goals: Zero hunger (SDG 2), Climate action (SDG 13), Life on land (SDG 15) and others.” He drew attention of the conference participants to the need to develop intergovernmental dialogues on forests and supported all the initiatives for such interaction at all levels.

Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Russia Office, spoke about the history of the IDF celebration as well as about the significance of the day. He stressed that the country’s forest sector occupies an important place in the economy. “Forests in the Russian Federation store more than a quarter of the world stock of wood pulp and perform important environmental protection and habitat forming functions, being one of the most valuable renewable natural resources.” He stressed, “such global importance of the Russian forest multiplies our responsibility for its conservation and reproduction. All the more so because it is the ecological framework of our entire planet and a tremendous resource for economic growth, improved well-being and our citizens’ health.”

“Globally, the forestry sector's contribution to the world GDP is approximately 470 billion dollars, with these figures including only the forestry sector’s activities in the wood processing and pulp and paper industries.”

 “In fact, over one and a half billion people on the planet depend on forests for income. Forests provide direct livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people living in forest areas. The forest industry generates employment for almost a hundred million people.” In addition, he noted that “forests not only provide an important contribution to the Russian and global economies, but they also ensure enormous environmental and social benefits to humanity as a whole.”

Ivan Sovetnikov, Head of Rosleskhoz, delivered a video message. He highlighted the role of forests in climate conservation. “The Russian Federation, a country with more than 20 percent of the world forest reserves, pays special attention to their conservation, protection and reproduction. Russia took an active part in the Glasgow event last year and joined the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and Land Use.”

“We believe it is extremely important to preserve forest landscapes as they play a key role in climate conservation on Earth. We have set ourselves the target of achieving by 2024 100 percent of forest restoration after forest dieback due to climate-related factors and fires throughout the entire territory of Russia. As for today, over 1 million hectares of degraded forests have already been restored,” the Head of Rosleskhoz pointed out.

Nikolay Korchunov, Ambassador at Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Senior Arctic Official to the Arctic Council, spoke about the Russian Chairmanship of this organization 2021-2023. “The Chairmanship has chosen as its priority the issue of sustainable development in combination of its three main components – economic, environmental and social.”

“The Arctic Council has a working group on the conservation of Arctic flora and fauna, which deals with Arctic biodiversity,” Nikolay Korchunov said, adding that the activities of this group include comprehensive forest monitoring, which extends to forest fauna as well.

“One of the main priorities of the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council is to strengthen regional cooperation in preventing and managing emergencies in the Arctic, including forest fires,” Ambassador Korchunov added.

Florian Steierer, Economic Affairs Officer of the UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section, emphasized the importance of forests in fighting climate change. “Over the last centuries, the average temperature in the Artic has been rising twice faster than the average temperature in the rest of the planet,” the expert noted.

Doctor Steierer highlighted that “the understanding of the future carbon balance of circumboreal forests, and how climate dynamics and forest management will impact carbon balance, is indispensable to develop Natural Climate Solutions (NCS).”

Taking into consideration “the increase in intensity of forest fires, scientists are continuing to expand such much-needed scientific knowledge on effective ways to reduce climate change consequences and to adapt to them, as well as on management responses in the framework of the sustainable forest management.”

Doctor Steierer also spoke about the work of the Joint Section of the UNECE/FAO Group: their experts, in particular, are engaged in the study of boreal forests, expanding cooperation with international research organizations for this purpose.

Arusyak Siradeghyan, Vice-Chairperson of the Forest Committee of the Republic of Armenia, spoke about the current work and longer-term tasks of the national forestry sector.“Forest sustainable management and use of forest resources play an important role in fighting climate change, poverty, as well as in achieving the SDGs,” she noted.

Doctor Siradeghyan noted that “in Armenia we have a great experience in working with FAO in the forest sector. In particular, in 2010 within the framework of the project aimed at restoring forests, a nursery farm was established on the territory of the Razdan forestry farm for growing planting material with a closed root system. Over this period, more than 2 million high-quality saplings of trees and bushes with closed root system have been grown in it and sold.”

Arusyak Siradegyan also mentioned the upcoming launch of the project on land resources management and degraded landscape restoration in April 2022 with plans of about 7,000 hectares to be planted.

Sergey Chernyavsky, head of the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus, shared information about forestry in the country and the current tasks of the institution. “At the moment, in the Republic of Belarus there are a bit less than 10 million hectares of forest that covers about 40 percent of the entire territory of the country.”

“Our forests and forest sector have faced the consequences of climate change,” he noted. Sergey Chernyavsky highlighted such an issue for the Republic of Belarus as forest dieback due to the bark beetle pests. “Thanks to the timely response and the work with our scientists, the support, including support from FAO, we have been able to stabilize the situation.”

Oleg Kobiakov that was the moderator of the conference, in his closing remarks, spoke about the International Junior Forest Contest held by the Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz) with the support of FAO annually, and offered the expert panellists the opportunity to speak about their vision of the main task that needs to be solved by the forest sector in the current year.

In summing up and expressing his gratitude to his colleagues from Armenia and Belarus, the Director of the FAO Moscow Office reminded that the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, sung by the Russians’ beloved Belarusian ensemble “Pesnyary”, has become the symbol of the forest for millions of residents of Eastern Europe – to the same extent as for the residents of Western Europe these symbols are represented by the Sherwood Forest where the noble robber Robin Hood used to run around, the Vienna Woods that inspired Johann Strauss to compose the charming waltz, and the romantic Black Forest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Over 200 participants – experts of the forest sector and industry, state executive bodies, academia, private sector, public organizations and other stakeholders from Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Russian Federation, attended the conference.

The recording of the conference is available here.

 

Background information:

In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 21 the International Day of Forests (IDF). On each International Day of Forests, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organize activities involving forests and trees.

The theme for this year is “Forests and sustainable production and consumption.” In Russia, the IDF will celebrate the role of northern forests.

Boreal and temperate forests grow on a vast area in Eurasia and North America, where they form a natural zone, extending from the boreal North to the temperate South. Zones with similar characteristics are present in mountainous regions between higher and lower areas.

Boreal forests predominate in seven countries of the Northern Hemisphere where they surround the Arctic Ocean basin. Temperate forests prevail in 48 countries, most of which are located in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere temperate forests grow in New Zealand and Chile, but they can be found in Australia and Argentina, as well. Both boreal and temperate forests are present in many countries of the Northern Hemisphere.

Together, boreal and temperate forests represent the main pillar of the global forest cover. They account for almost half (48 percent) of the world’s total area covered by forests, and more than a quarter of the carbon stocks in living biomass.

Both boreal and temperate forests play an important role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing regulations of other international agreements, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests.

This kind of forest is a key source of food, income, and livelihood for indigenous and local people, as well as a source of economic benefits and ecosystem services on both national and global level. They are the habitat of biological species, absorb carbon and are a potentially sustainable source of a variety of products and services demanded by humanity.