Forests have the ability to heal the planet. It is our responsibility to aid in the healing!! For quite some time now, Humanity has been receiving warning signals in the form of increasing global temperatures, glacial meltdowns and extinctions that Our Home planet, Earth is in peril. Thousands of species are threatened with extinction. Vast areas of land have become degraded, ten million hectares of forest are being cleared each year, and more than 800 million people are malnourished.
Human interference has already led to the loss of around 40% of the world’s forests. And we’re losing forests at a rate of 10 million hectares per year. Halting deforestation, protecting and sustainably managing forests, and restoring forests have never been more urgent.
There are strong links between disease emergence like COVID-19 and major ecosystem alterations such as deforestation. The combination of factors like the pandemic and Ecological imbalance has bought disturbances in the Health of the Environment. These valuable ecosystems are under increasing pressure from deforestation, forest degradation, unsustainable practices and the effects of climate change.
World Forestry Congress:
The World Forestry Congress (WFC) is the largest and most significant gathering of the world’s forestry sector and it has been held every six years since 1926 under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), organized by the government of the host country.
It is a forum for the sharing of knowledge and experience regarding the conservation, management and use of the world’s forests, and covers such issues as international dialogue, socio-economic and institutional aspects, and forest policies.
The fifteenth Congress was hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea, in Seoul, from 2 to 6 May 2022. Participants at the World Forestry Congress endorsed the Seoul Forest Declaration to convey the urgent need for action to achieve a green, healthy and resilient future with forests.
Under the theme of Building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests, the Congress showcased the essential role of forests in the global sustainable development agenda – comprising, among other things, the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals , the Global Forest Goals , the Paris Agreement on climate change, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework – and it identified key measures and recommendations for enhancing this role. It also highlighted progress in the implementation of the recommendations made at the XIV World Forestry Congress in 2015.
By unifying a diverse group of people from all regions and sectors, including the public and private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), scientific bodies, and forestry societies, who care about forests and the environment, the Congress encouraged inclusive discussions, build new partnerships, and facilitate the mainstreaming of forestry issues into global agendas on sustainable development and post-COVID-19 recovery.
References:
