World body recognises role played by forests

THE world’s forests are essential to life in all its diversity and attaining humanity’s biggest goals such as poverty reduction, curbing climate change and achieving sustainable development.

Forests are carbon sinks and therefore play a role in addressing climate change – a big concern the world over. They also provide shelter to people and habitat to a variety of species – they are sources of food, wood, clean water and air.Today, some communities are being paid for planting trees and for keeping their forests intact, through an international funding mechanism called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).The year 2011 is the year in which the world recognises the importance of healthy forests to the variety of life on earth.The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness of sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says forests are home to 80 per cent of the world’s species and 300 million people and provide livelihoods to 1,6 billion people – almost a quarter of the human population.’Celebrating Forests for People’ is the international theme for the International Year of Forests. Meanwhile, the UN Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and in Namibia, the International Year of Forests will be celebrated along with paying attention to the goods and services wetlands provide.Lesley Losper, environmental education officer in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, has indicated that activities to celebrate the International Year of Forests and Ramsar’s 40th anniversary will start this month with the official launch by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and a media workshop on forests and wetlands.Wetlands provide people a number goods such as fish, reeds and thatching grass used as building materials, and are breeding sites and habitats for migratory water birds such as flamingoes.Namibia is a party to the Ramsar Convention, which came into force in 1975, and has designated the Etosha Pan, Sandwich Harbour, Orange River Mouth and the Walvis Bay Lagoon for inclusion in the Ramsar list of Wetlands of International Importance.