Healthy Forests for Healthy People! Deforestation: Who to blame, and What to do?

On March 22, the FAO Moscow Office held a seminar at the UN House dedicated to the International Day of Forests (IDF) under the 2023 slogan "Healthy Forests for Healthy People!" Such events are traditionally held under the auspices of FAO around the world to support the efforts of countries at the local, national, and international levels to conserve such a unique natural treasure as forests. 

"Russia, and previously the USSR, cooperated with FAO long before officially joining this Organization in 2006. This is a whole layer of history and interaction, including with Russian forestry agencies. This cooperation is actively continuing today, which helps the FAO Moscow Office fulfil its functions, but at the same time it serves as a two-way street," Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, said. 

"An important element of this interaction is that Russia’s experience and expertise are made available to all FAO member countries. On the other hand, the achievements, research, and recommendations of FAO help Russian experts implement state programmes related to agroforestry." 

"It is difficult to overestimate the importance of forests for human health. Forest lands occupy almost half of the territory of our country and in many ways it is forest ecosystems that determine the state of the habitat, the quality of life of people both in rural and urban areas," Alexander Panfilov, Deputy Head of the Federal Forestry Agency, said. 

"Clean water, clean air, quality foodstuffs, good quality material for building houses, good conditions for outdoor recreation - all these factors are what peoples of Russia associate to forest when they think about it." 

A lot of work is being done in Russia to conserve forest ecosystems and ensure sustainable forest management. These objectives are key to the current national Forestry Development Strategy 2030. The main directions and objectives are determined by the State Programme "Forestry Development". The federal project "Conservation of Forests, focused, in particular, on reforestation and fire protection" is currently implemented. 

"I am convinced that cooperation is necessary to solve problems related to forestry, preservation of forest ecosystems, for sustainable social, economic, and environmental development," Alexander Panfilov noted in conclusion. “I am sure that we all value and understand these goals." 

"At least 1 billion people around the world directly depend on forests as a source of food," Wu Zhimin, Director of the FAO Forestry Division, said. "The contribution of forests to food security, nutrition, health, and human well-being benefits not only 2.5 billion people living in forest-related communities, but also residents of urban areas, who currently make up 55% of the world's population." 

"Despite the huge benefits derived from forests, large areas of forests are simply disappearing. From 2015 to 2020, about 10 million hectares of forest were lost worldwide (in net terms)," the FAO expert stressed. "For this reason, the sustainable use and management of forests in the Russian Federation are of great importance." 

"According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 25% of medicines used in developed countries are actually plant-based. In developing countries, this share amounts to 80%," Liliana Annovazzi-Jakab, Chief of the UNECE/FAO Joint  Forestry and Timber Section, said in her speech. "In this regard, we have turned our attention to forest areas as a valuable source of herbal medicines. There are diseases that are not transmitted from person to person (non-communicable), but they cause tens of millions of premature deaths every year worldwide. Now, we pay great attention to the role of the forest as a natural pharmacy, and focus on proven and medically approved products." 

"Through research with WHO, we have tried to bring together examples of how forests help prevent and treat respiratory and cardiovascular diseases," continued Liliana Annovazzi-Jakab. "For example, an extract is extracted from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, which is used in the treatment of major types of tumors. 

The history of this tree and all other forest plants is largely connected with the sustainable use of forest resources. In this case, the demand for Pacific yew tree sticks is so high that there is real concern about deforestation. Finding a balance between the use of the earth’s natural resources is what we have to work on: on the one hand, forests are real medical treasures that have huge and often untapped potential to help us find new means to treat these non-communicable diseases. On the other hand, this can only happen if we really take care of our forests, and only then will these forests be able to take care of us." 

"The theme of the International Day of Forests is important to all UN organizations with a mandate in this field," Vladimir Kuznetsov, Director of the UN Information Center in Moscow, said. "I would like to note the leading role of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the world forest track. 

Forests are in the focus in a variety of formats, including in the corporate and financial reporting that the relevant Global Compact participants follow. 

In 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted the first Strategic Plan for Forests 2030, which set out six global objectives for forests. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the preservation of forests as vital for our entire future. Unfortunately, we have not yet made enough progress in achieving these goals, much remains to be done. 

The main cause of deforestation is the conversion of forest ecosystems to land suitable for large-scale agriculture. Over the past 25 years, however, the rate of deforestation has been reduced by more than 50% thanks to the efforts of UN agencies, governments and other stakeholders. 

The International Day of Forests aims at highlighting the linkages between forests and other Sustainable Development Goals, in particular those concerning the role of biodiversity conservation. This is a task not only for the UN, but first and foremost for national governments," Vladimir Kuznetsov stressed. "Business and civil society play a crucial role, as they are key players in all processes related to sustainable development." 

"When the private sector partners with coalitions of organizations involved in forest conservation and reforestation, success is all but assured," Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Moscow Office, picked up the theme as moderator of the seminar. 

"This means that businesses, as one of the largest users of forest resources, behave responsibly. Not all partners in such coalitions are convenient and accommodating. But life pushes us to find compromises in the interests of the future of the planet, both for us and our children. The very concept, adopted by the UN, of the Global Compact (GC) with socially responsible business is being actively developed, and the Russian GC Association is also involved." 

"I co-chair the global informal Stop the Pandemic Alliance, which focuses on the root causes of emerging infectious diseases and local solutions implemented in specific localities, and the scaling up of these solutions," Andrey Kushlin, an independent environmental expert, said. 

"There are several stages in the spread of disease, ranging from occurrence in the wild to release into the environment through surrounding landscapes. At the stage of early genesis of new pathogens, timely prevention dramatically reduces further treatment costs. Then, at later stages, preparedness to reflect the consequences, where costs are higher, begins to play an important role. 

When it comes to the causes of new infectious diseases, land use change, deforestation, agro-industrial intensification, habitat degradation, and fragmentation are among them. The greater the fragmentation of ecosystems, Andrey Kushlin stressed, the wider the corridor of human interaction with the altered ecosystem and the greater the likelihood of disease transfer into the environment. 

"Forests play an important role in fighting climate change," Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Office in Russia, said. "As an indicator, this is expressed in a decrease in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which lead to an aggravation of water management problems, a reduction in agricultural production, jeopardizes food security, and increases risks to human health. 

Limiting the rise in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius will not be possible without the involvement of forests. Offsetting the increase in greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation and increasing carbon uptake through reforestation could reduce global emissions by 30%. 

Every year the planet loses 12 million hectares of forest. Deforestation, along with agriculture and other land-use changes, accounts for up to 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 70% of tropical deforestation is due to the expansion of agricultural land. To stop this trend, there is a need to find ways of producing commodities that do not lead to deforestation." 

"At UNEP, we have identified three ingredients needed for a global transformation in forest protection and sustainable forest management," concluded Vladimir Moshkalo. "They are: disseminating new knowledge, creating an enabling environment, and the availability of financing. UNEP's work on forests is expanding into a number of programmes and partnerships, most notably the UN Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation." 

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The seminar was also attended by high-level foreign experts: Oyunsanaa Byambasuren, Director General of the National Forestry Agency of Mongolia, Alexander Dragun, First Deputy Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus, and Arusyak Siradegyan, Acting Deputy Chairman of the Forestry Committee of the Republic of Armenia.