Jacques Lahaussois
World Forestry Congress Coordinating Unit, FAO, Rome
The XI World Forestry Congress will take place in Antalya, Turkey from 13 to 22 October 1997 at the invitation of the Government of Turkey.
The current state of the world's forests, water, soil and air resources is a vital issue to mankind. These issues are not confined within national borders. During the coming years, the well-being, the health and the quality of life of the people and nations of our planet will be depending on our understanding of these vital problems and of efficient international response in terms of cooperation and collaboration to solve them.
Increasing deforestation, desertification and related poverty as well as forest fires and pollution, result not only in land degradation of the natural resource base but also in the loss of biodiversity. Therefore, when forests are properly managed in a sustainable way they provide many benefits to the people, to national economies and to the environment such as timber, fuelwood, oxygen, protection of soil, water resources and habitat conservation. Failure to implement sustainable forest management programmes and practices will result in major negative consequences such as floods, climate change, pollution and acid rains as well as loss of biological diversity and destruction of landscape.
For these reasons, the general theme chosen for the Congress is "Forestry for Sustainable Development: Towards the Twenty-first Century". It is expected that the XI World Forestry Congress will have a broader participation and outreach, considering the current debate on forests within the follow-up to UNCED and the interest of people from many disciplines and backgrounds in forest issues, the opportunities for broader dissemination and for a dialogue provided by electronic communication and the fact that the venue for the Congress, Turkey, constitutes a bridge between not only two continents but also between North and South.
The technical programme for the Congress, after consultation with forestry administrations in all countries, as well as with international governmental and non-governmental organizations interested in forestry and related matters, has been structured in seven main programme areas which follow the seven basic criteria of sustainable forest management. As many of those consulted thought that, a combination of both approaches by subject-matter and by eco-region would be desirable, a number of sessions will be devoted to sustainable forest management in six different major types of forests.
The technical programme, therefore, is made up of 38 topics which cover those issues that have dominated the international debate since the last congress and which require a response and new directions from technical people, both in the forestry profession and in other disciplines, that can contribute to sustainable development in forestry.
