Forests for People

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was dedicated to policies that enable the conservation, management

and sustainable development of forests. In total, 20 forest policies

from 16 countries were nominated and out of these, six were short

listed: Bhutan, The Gambia, Nepal, Rwanda, Switzerland and the US.

The Gold Award went to Rwanda’s National Forest Policy. Despite

population and land pressures, Rwanda is on course to reach its

goal of increasing forest cover to 30 per cent of total land area and

for border to border landscape restoration. The two Silver Awards

went to the US and The Gambia. The US Lacey Act amendment

of 2008 prohibits all trade in wood and plant products that are

knowingly illegally sourced from a US state or any foreign country.

The Gambia’s Community Forest Policy has achieved incredible

advances in sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation

by handing control of forests to the communities that use them.

Celebrating innovation to benefit the world’s forests is one of the

primary objectives of Forests 2011. This year’s Future Policy Awards

recognize government policies that have succeeded in translating a

vision for a sustainable future into tangible action.

Children’s Art Contest

In celebration of Forests 2011, the UNFFS collaborated with

the Gabarron Foundation

to organize the 2011 International

Children’s Art Contest. The theme, ‘Celebrate the Forests’, chal-

lenged children to use the power of imagery to raise awareness

on the multifaceted values of forests and the role of youth in safe-

guarding natural resources.

Children’s letters

The 2011 Universal Postal Union (UPU) international letter writing

competition

asked young people to imagine themselves as a tree writing

a letter to someone to explain why it is important to protect forests. An

estimated 2 million young people from 60 UPU member countries participated

in the competition. A Great Oak in Guyana’s Windsor Forest and an observant

little tree ‘prepared to care for humanity’ helped 15-year-old Charlée Gittens

from Barbados and 13-year-old Wang Sa from China to win the gold medals.

Charlée Gittens

from Barbados (on pollution)

“Look at the fog that surrounds the city

and realize that you are on the same path.

You may not see it now, a bit like getting

taller. You don’t realize it has happened

unless you measure your height constantly

or until there is such a difference that it is

impossible not to have recognized it. Will

you only stop when it is too late?”

Sa Wang

from China

(story of trees in a Western Village vs.

Eastern Village)

Said the chief of the Eastern Village:

“Forests are the wealth of all our

generations – from our ancestors to

our great-great-grandchildren. For our

descendants’ sake, we should not fight

over trees... We will not cut down trees.

We will plant more trees. We will plant as

many trees as they have cut down.”

The Gabarron Foundation, along with the Queen

Sofia Children’s Art Museum in Spain, has been devel-

oping programmes aimed at promoting diversity of arts

and culture for 20 years. To date, it has collected more

than 50,000 works expressing the creative spirit of chil-

dren internationally. Children between the ages of 5

and 14 were invited to submit their work. Winners were

announced at the Forests 2011 closing event in January

2012 at United Nations Headquarters, New York. An

awards ceremony for the winners, featuring an exhibit

of a selection of the artwork from the contest was

arranged for February 2012 at the Gabarron Carriage

House Center for the Arts in New York, NY and at a

United Nations event for the winners.

Forest Heroes

Achieving a sustainable future requires passion, inno-

vation and strategy, but more importantly it requires

the effort of everyday people. These people are Forest

Heroes and to honour them, the UNFFS launched the

Forest Heroes Programme and Awards. Ninety nomi-

nations were received from over 40 countries and all

five geographic regions, representing a diverse range of

individuals, the youngest being 15 and the oldest 84.

These heroes embodied innovative and grassroots

initiatives, tapping into the ecosystem values of forests,

from an oyster fisherman’s discovery of the positive role

of forests in maintaining clean water for the oyster beds

to two young girl scouts mounting a campaign to require

that the source of palm oil for girl scout cookies be from

sustainable sources. The finalists were invited to receive

their awards at the Forests 2011 closing event in January

2012 at United Nations Headquarters, New York.

Forests 2011 legacy

The success of Forests 2011 has been the result of a combi-

nation of actions on the local, national and regional level,

involving governments and stakeholders from all walks of

life. As the International Year of Forests, 2011 draws to a

close, the challenge is to go beyond business as usual and

develop a ‘greenprint’ for action for a sustainable future

for all. The upcoming United Nations Conference on

Sustainable Development – known as Rio+20 – is a major

opportunity to carry the message of forests for people

forward and to implement cross-cutting actions.

A future that does not incorporate forests and their

essential values and services as cornerstone elements in

a green economy would not work. Forests offer a range

of tested solutions for sustainable development, such as

climate change, biodiversity, livelihoods, soil and water,

and will contribute in many ways to a world greenprint.

It is a new era around the world, evidenced by a

new understanding of all aspects of forests, their func-

tions and contributions. The Secretary-General of the

Rio+20 Conference Mr Sha Zukang, has said, “we stand

at a crossroads and our actions determine the future

of mankind”. We must make sure that world sees that

forests hold the essence of the economic, environmental

and social values that provide for our future.