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 Forests have been largely ignored or ambiguously mentioned in the Rio+20 outcome document, yet again postponing progress on integrating forests into sustainable development objectives, said CIFOR scientists at the conclusion of the Rio+20 summit last week. “This is a call to action on a 20-year-old agreement without any goals, timelines or commitment of resources. How will this be accomplished?”, said Lou Verchot in this CIFOR blog, which provides a breakdown of the text with recommendations for future progress. Visit CIFOR's wrap-up of the conference: Looking back on Rio+20.
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 “Sustainable forestry is critical to our efforts at sustainable development as well as to our climate mitigation efforts,” said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who delivered a speech on ‘sustainable growth with equity’ at CIFOR’s headquarters two weeks ago. He called for the sustainable management of the world’s forests for equitable economic growth and a “fundamental reinvention and reorganisation of societies throughout the world” to prevent unsustainable consumption and exploitation of the world’s resources. Read full press release and watch a video of the speech online.
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 After an exhaustive international search process, CIFOR announced the appointment of leading forestry, climate change and food security expert Peter Holmgren as its new Director General. Holmgren will join CIFOR in September from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Commenting on his new role, he said, “The critical gaps between research and policy action must be closed to support governance related to forests, food, climate change and sustainable development. CIFOR, the CGIAR and partners in the global research community must play a key role." Read full press release.
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 The implementation of a UN–backed scheme that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by protecting tropical forests, called REDD+, is fraught with challenges, but these can be overcome with technical solutions and increased political will, according to the authors of Analysing REDD+: Challenges and Choices. Drawing on three years of research across Asia, Africa and Latin America, this new CIFOR book looks at the progress of REDD+, and offers fresh insights into related challenges as well as new ways of addressing them. Read full press release.
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 Norway will invest more money to help developing countries conserve their forests through reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation schemes (REDD+) if other countries also step up with additional support, the Norwegian Minister for Environment said at a recent CIFOR event. He announced that Norway would contribute beyond the current $500 million a year in funds because “protecting forests ... supports all the three pillars of sustainability - environmental, social and economic”. Watch a CIFOR interview with the Norwegian Minister of Environment.
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 Three weeks ago Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff vetoed critical elements of a proposal to reform the Brazilian Forest Code that had recently passed the Brazilian Congress. In this science dispatch, CIFOR scientist Jan Börner discusses the implications of the changes for farms and forests located in the largest tracts of rainforest in the world, in the Amazon region.
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 A new approach to managing land could end the ongoing debate that forests have to be sacrificed for the sake of agricultural development and help maximise the potential of land use to secure sustainable food supplies, said CIFOR Director General Frances Seymour during Agriculture and Rural Development Day. Rachel Kyte, Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, also highlighted CIFOR’s ‘Forest, trees and agroforestry’ programme and agreed that through landscape approaches, the forest and agricultural sectors were “beginning to talk the same language”. Watch a video of Frances Seymour talking about why forests matter at Rio+20.
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 By the time Nobel Economics Laureate Elinor Ostrom died of pancreatic cancer earlier this week at age 78, she had already gone a long way towards redefining the way social scientists and policymakers think about common resources, including CIFOR’s research focus on forests and other jointly exploited resources. This CIFOR blog revisits many of Ostrom’s achievements, including her development of the “Institutional Economics” school of thought, which has proven a powerful analytic tool for approaching forest issues.
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Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP 11)
6 – 13 July 2012, Bucharest, Romania. more
2012 IUFRO - Division 5 Forest Products Conference
8 – 13 July 2012, Estoril Congress Centre, Lisbon, Portugal. more
The Society for Conservation Biology’s North America Congress for Conservation Biology (NACCB) Bridging the Gap: Connecting people
15 – 18 July 2012, Oakland, California, USA. more
Sixth ACAS International Conference
29 July 2012, Manila, Philippines. more
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