Achievements in 2008
Strategic Review and Plan 2008-2013
2008 marked the completion of a major Strategic Review of the integrated UNECE/FAO Timber and Forestry Programme, which showed the way ahead. The Programme continuously builds on its main pillars and expertise in the areas of markets, resources and policies, and its strengths in collecting and analysing information, informing policymakers and advisers of the forest sectors. On this basis, priority issues and themes have been and will continue to be addressed, such as: climate change, bioenergy, wood supply, wood mobilization, institutional capacity-building and cross-sectoral outreach.
The Strategic Plan 2008-2013 confirmed the existing Programme structure. New teams of specialists have been constituted to facilitate engagement of the expert community and outreach to the countries on forest products markets and marketing, monitoring sustainable forest management, forest sector outlook, forest policy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and forest fire. The Joint Expert Network on Implementing Sustainable Forest Management will continue to address the social and cultural aspects of forestry, and the Forest Communicators Network will provide advice to sectoral institutions.
Information on forest products markets, forest resources and forest policies was collected and updated in 2007 and 2008, resulting in the 2007 State of Europe’s Forests report, country reports and databases on the quantitative and qualitative indicators for sustainable forest management, as well as the 2007-2008 Forest Products Annual Market Review.
European Forest Week
The highlight of the year 2008 was the European Forest Week (Rome, 20-24 October) which addressed the themes: forest and climate change, energy, water, and “working together”, bringing together over 450 stakeholders from different sectors who discussed linkages and requirements for policymakers to integrate all these elements in a sustainable way, under the auspices of UNECE, FAO, MCPFE and European Commission. During the week, different aspects of the activities under the timber and forestry programme were highlighted, in partnership with other institutions, researchers, the private sector and civil society.
Forests and climate change
Forests store and sequester carbon; in fact the total carbon content of forest ecosystems is more than the amount of carbon in the entire atmosphere. Trees, once harvested, continue to store this carbon, as do finished wood products. A workshop on “harvested wood products in the context of climate change policy” and a related policy dialogue during the European Forest Week addressed this issue, and looked at reporting and accounting methodologies for possible inclusion in a post-2012 climate change regime.
A workshop on green building, also held during the European Forest Week, provided a comprehensive overview of opportunities offered by building green through the use of wood which stores carbon and replaces less environmentally friendly materials. Building green with sustainably produced wood can significantly reduce the CO2 emissions from buildings which account for up to 40 per cent of total anthropogenic emissions.
In view of the need to develop adaptation strategies in response to the increasing severity or frequency of storms, fires, insect infestations and other issues, climate change adaptation and related forest health aspects were also discussed during policy dialogues at the European Forest Week.
Forests and energy
Wood energy constitutes approxi-mately 65 per cent of all renewable energy sources in Europe. A second joint wood energy enquiry conducted in 2008, in established partnership with FAO, Eurostat and IEA, revealed the latest information on the different sources of wood and its uses for different energy purposes. A European Forest Week policy dialogue on “wood energy in the region” presented this most recent information as well as the trends.
Wood energy was also the focus of capacity-building activities in South-East Europe: a workshop on modern wood energy systems and markets took place in 2008 in Romania, and in Serbia on wood energy, both with an emphasis on related market opportunities.
In the light of the ambitious renewable energy targets set by policymakers, demand for wood and wood energy is expected to continue to increase in the UNECE region. Studies on wood availability and demand, and potential sustainable wood supply were finalized in 2008, following a workshop on National Wood Resource Balances in April, during which forest and energy statisticians addressed these issues. Research on forest ownership patterns and wood mobilization strategies continued during the year to complement this analysis.
Forests and Water
The European Forest Week marked the first policy-level meeting between the forest and water sectors, and informed participants about the multiple linkages. Forests influence water quantity and quality, for example, by regulating floods and filtering water supplies. At the same time, some forest management practices can harm water quality. The session concluded that foresters and water specialists need to strengthen collaboration to address these themes, develop and test payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes and work with other sectors in the design of integrated landscape management strategies.
Working together for forests
In 2008, partnership with forest sector organizations was strengthened, in the context of the organization of the European Forest Week, notably with MCPFE, respective units of the European Commission, but also the European Forest Institute, the International Tropical Timber Organization, and the private sector and civil society.
Challenges in 2009 and beyond
The European Forest Week revealed that while partnerships and cooperation among forest sector organizations is established, bundling synergies is crucial for joint work and initiatives in order to reach out to other sectors and society as a whole. At the same time, there is a need to explain and promote the solutions forests can offer to combat climate change, provide renewable energy, sustain nature’s provisioning and regulating services and reduce the overall environmental footprint. Realizing the full potential of forests and their multiple services can make a lasting contribution to promoting the sustainable development of the UNECE region.
Building on the approach of the European Forest Week, the Timber and Forestry Programme will continue to work with FAO, MCPFE and other partners, as well as with other UNECE programmes, notably on sustainable energy, environment, water, housing and land management, and others, to promote cross-sectoral exchange and policy dialogue. The work programme on green building will be developed with the UNECE sustainable energy and housing and land management sub-programmes. Work on forests and water will continue to address the development of integrated strategies, which is increasingly important in response to climate change. Information on wood energy statistics and potential wood supply will be improved and updated. The Programme will continue to inform policymakers and advisers of the implications and challenges related to an increasing use of wood as a renewable source from sustainably managed forests within the UNECE region. Building on this foundation, the framework for a new Forest Sector Outlook Study will be further developed, drawing also on the most recent information on forest resources, institutions and markets, collected for the FAO Forest Resources Assessment 2010, and the Forest Products Annual Market Review 2008-2009.
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