Sustaining forests: investing in our common future

We are pleased to announce the 5th issue of the UNEP Policy Series on Ecosystem Management titled ‘''Sustaining forests: investing in our common future”

In this issue the focus is on the role of forests in a green economy. The paper discusses opportunities for innovative solutions to forest management that take into account economic values of forests to human well-being.
 
Over 410 million people directly depend on forests for subsistence and income. Another estimated 1.6 billion people indirectly depend on forest goods and services.  It is estimated that the annual value of internationally traded forest products is between $150 billion and $200 billion. Also, standing forests are vital in the fight against climate change due to their potential carbon sequestration rate of between 1.1 to 1.6 Gt per year.

The complexity of the current threats to forests notwithstanding, the use of innovative market and policy mechanisms can internalize the true economic value of forests as productive natural assets that generate goods and services at different levels to promote investment.Mechanisms that combine social, economic and environmental benefits are necessary to encourage sustained investment in forests for the success of a green economy.

I take this opportunity to thank our colleagues in DTIE (ETB/TEEB team) and DEPI as well as our external partners at The Nature Conservancy, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute for their contribution in preparing this paper.  

The Policy brief is also available in French and Spanish on the UNEP website at www.unep.org/policyseries where comments and questions can also be posted.

Please send feedback and comments to the lead authors Mr. Richard Munang (Richard.Munang@unep.org) and Ms. Jessica Thompson (JESSICAT@IADB.ORG) with copies to Vijay.Samnotra@unep.org and Levis.Kavagi@unep.org.

NB: To submit a paper for consideration in the UNEP Policy Series on Ecosystem Management, please contact Vijay Samnotra by e-mail (Vijay.Samnotra@unep.org).