INTERNATIONAL FOREST INDUSTRY EXPERTS MEET AT FAO TO DISCUSS ISSUES RELATED TO THE PAPER AND WOOD PRODUCTS INDUSTRY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Rome, 25 April 2001 - International experts representing private sector forest industries involved in paper and wood products will meet this week with their FAO counterparts to discuss issues related to climate change and the paper and wood products industry, and review recent progress made in forestry and forest products certification, FAO said.
The FAO Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products (ACPWP) will discuss these two major issues during its 42nd Session on 27th April at FAO headquarters.
The ACPWP, which dates back to 1961, constitutes a key link between the private forest products sector and FAO. Its main roles are to enhance sustainable forest development and the valorization of forests in developed and developing countries and to ensure that forestry data collected and disseminated by FAO is accurate and useful to the private sector, as one of FAO's major constituents.
Stressing the importance of ACPWP's session this year, Dr. Hosny El Lakany, FAO Assistant Director-General (Forestry Department), said: "The private sector has an important role in sustainable forest management, including issues related to climate change. The ACPWP provides valuable information to FAO regarding the efforts undertaken by the pulp and paper and forest industries to reduce CO2 emissions, and also gives FAO an opportunity to inform industry about progress towards implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change".
"The Committee will also consider efforts to establish criteria and indicators for sustainable management of forests and their relationship to certification processes, which link trade in forest products to the sustainable management of the forest resource", said Dr. El-Lakany.
According to the Director of FAO's Forest Products Division, Dr. Wulf Killmann, the Organization's overriding concern is for forests to be used in a sustainable way so that they contribute to sustainable development, particularly in rural areas and for forest-dependant people. "Forest industry activities can help alleviate poverty by providing employment and income, generated through responsible forestry and forest products processing activities", he said, "and also through activities linked to the environmental services from forests. These include provision of water, conservation of biodiversity, protection of agricultural soils, and carbon storage, key issues underlying the Conventions on Biodiversity, Combating Desertification and the Framework Convention on Climate Change".
"The ACPWP has an important role in heightening awareness among the private forestry sector of the challenges and opportunities represented by these major international undertakings," stresses Killmann.
**********
For further details please contact Dr. Wulf Killmann, Director, Forest Products Division, Tel. 00390657053221; Fax 00390657055618-Email:wulf.killmann@fao.org
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/OIS/PRESS_NE/PRESSENG/2001/pren0125.htm
