UN body discusses northern forests and climate change
Last May, at the 45th session of the joint FAO/UNECE Working Party on Forest Statistics, Economics and Management, governments held a thematic discussion on climate change and northern forests.
They are the most valuable ecosystems for the country’s biodiversity, home to hundreds of endemic species. However, over the past century, two thirds of the area has been lost.
Almost 70 percent of Sweden's land area is covered by forests. In this article, the writer explores the significance of these forests for people, communities, and biodiversity as well as highlighting how they are utilised and managed today.
Forests cover more than a third of Bulgaria’s territory. However, they face numerous challenges, such as poor management, illegal logging and the effects of climate change.
The environmental movement often hails old-growth forests as saviours of the climate, whereas the forestry industry argues that it is young, growing forests that soak up carbon dioxide. We followed along as the exhalations of an old forest were measured – using steel cages and gas masks.
The protection of forests did not figure high on the UN climate convention’s COP28 agenda last December and it really seems negotiators are waiting for Brazil’s COP30 in 2025.
EU Member States and the European Parliament recently agreed on the Regulation on deforestation-free products, which aims to promote the consumption of forest-friendly products and reduce the EU’s impact on global deforestation and forest degradation.
Russia has one fifth of the global forest area. This area has remained relatively constant in recent decades, but clear cutting and wildfires are altering the species composition.
