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Africa’s award-winning forest policies
Alexandra Wandel, Director of the World Future Council
A
frican governance was praised when the winners
of the 2011 Future Policy Awards were announced
at the United Nations headquarters in September.
Rwanda’s National Forest Policy was proclaimed the
winner and The Gambia’s Community Forest Policy took
home a Silver Award. The prize is awarded annually by the
World Future Council, a foundation that brings the inter-
ests of future generations to the centre of policymaking.
In the International Year Of Forests, 2011, the foundation
honoured policies that best contribute to the conservation
and sustainable development of forests for the benefit of
current and future generations. The jury that decided on
the winning policies was composed of experts on sustain-
ability and forests from all five continents. Runners-up were
forest policies from Bhutan, Nepal and Switzerland. The US
Lacey Act conservation law’s 2008 amendment, which bans
the import of illegally harvested wood, received the second
Silver Award.
“Exemplary policy solutions do exist – the Future Policy
Award celebrates the best of them. The aim of the award
is to raise global awareness about these policies and speed
up policy action,” explains Jakob von Uexküll, Founder
of the World Future Council. The Future Policy Award
is designed to alert policymakers and the public to the
importance of best practices in lawmaking and highlight
regulatory vision. The awards were celebrated at New
York’s Central Park Zoo at an event convened by theWorld
Future Council, the Secretariats of the United Nations
Forum on Forests and the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations and the Forest Stewardship Council,
and hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
A connected approach
The winning African policies are so successful because
they acknowledge that environment, economy and
Future Policy Award ceremony, 2011: H.E. James Kimonyo, Ambassador of Rwanda to the US, Carl Lewis, Olympic gold medalist and Goodwill Ambassador of the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and Hon. Jato S. Sillah, Minister of Forestry and the Environment, The Gambia
Image: World Future Council