Forests. For life.

In early 2005, the world mourned the death of yet another defender of the forest – Sister Dorothy Stang. Like Chico Mendes before her, Sister Dorothy was killed because she dared to defy illegal loggers and land grabbers in the Amazon.

Sister Dorothy’s death again highlights the difficult, and at times dangerous, battle in saving the world’s forests. A difficult battle because of the many different interests and complex issues. This does not mean that we accept Sister Dorothy’s death. WWF, like many other environmental groups, cannot accept any more martyrs in the Amazon, nor elsewhere. Saving the world’s forests should not end in bloodshed, but it does require concerted actions by everyone. Local solutions must be helped by global actions.

Shrinking forests, increasing footprint Forest loss and degradation is widespread and increasing. We are losing 14.6 million hectares of natural forests each year – an area more than the size of Austria and Switzerland put together.

Illegal logging, fires and forest conversion are driving much of the destruction. These are complex issues, often with social and economic roots. For instance, too many forests are being converted to grow crops such as palm oil or soy because of

lucrative markets overseas. Forests are cleared by burning – as it’s cheap and easy – with fires spreading to other areas. Trees are cut in national parks as local people have no alternative source of income or energy. Illegal logging runs rampant as enforcement is poor or companies don’t ensure the logs they buy have been responsibly harvested. Also, economic growth is increasingly being pursued without considering environmental concerns as governments strive to meet voters’ demand for development.

In many ways, much of the threats to forests are fuelled by rising world consumption of resources like timber and energy. A WWF study predicts that China, with its huge population and rapid economic growth, could soon lead the world’s wood market, with potential devastating impacts on some of the planet’s outstanding forests.

Often it is the world’s poor who bear the brunt of forest loss. Forest resources sustain most of the world’s 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty, and are critical for food security – forests support the agriculture and food supplies of half the developing world.

Unless the causes of forest loss are tackled effectively, we face an increasingly insecure world – socially, environmentally and economically.

WWF’s Forests For Life Programme is making significant headway in addressing the causes of forest loss through our targets for protection, responsible forestry and restoration, but the solutions need partnerships and actions at all levels of society.

Be it with villagers in Madagascar, the World Bank, the government of China or a major timber company, we are committed to working with local people, communities, governments, businesses, NGOs and international organizations. Sometimes it requires us to sit with the “bad guys”. A part of the problem, they are also a part of the solution.

We cannot do it alone. We are stronger and more effective working with our partners. This is why we invite you to join us. There is much to be done, many more challenges ahead. But the time has never been more urgent.

Chico Mendes and Sister Dorothy gave their lives in their fight to save the forest. But we don’t want people to have to give their lives when all that is needed is your help.

Because the forests are for life.

Taking action

“First I thought I was fighting for the rubber tappers, then I thought I was fighting for the

Amazon, then I realized I was fighting for humanity.”

- Chico Mendes, 1988.

Chico Mendes was a rubber tapper, union leader and environmentalist from Brazil. He led a struggle by rubber tappers who wanted to continue harvesting the Amazon forest without destroying it. He was killed in 1988 after more than a decade of fighting off forest destruction, notably by ranchers who were driving out rubber tappers and clearing forest to raise cattle.

There are many more Chico Mendes around the world working tirelessly for forests. Some gained notice, many not. We salute them all.

The island of Lombok is best known for its majestic volcano, Mt. Rinjani, considered one of the most beautiful and challenging treks in southeast Asia. The mountain’s protected national park is revered as a sacred place and the abode of deities. Its ‘cloud forest’ is home to orchids, rare birds, endangered black ebony leaf monkeys and leopard cats. Around its base nestle numerous villages and rice paddies that depend on the mountain’s forests for clean water and irrigation.

Once flourishing with tourists, Lombok had fallen on hard times, particularly after the Asian economic crisis in the mid-1990s, and the more recent threat of terrorism. With unemployment and poverty on the rise, villagers like Pak Sarilah often had to resort to illegal logging. Pak Sarilah had tried being a migrant worker in Malaysia but returned after a year, going back to illegal logging. “I didn’t own any farmland,” he said, “I was also in debt, and with six children, I had no choice.”

Pak Sarilah’s story is being repeated thousands of times over: As more and more people face the vicious poverty cycle, protected forests are being decimated by illegal logging and clearance for shifting agriculture, reducing large swathes to scrub and grasses. In Lombok, such actions affect vital water supplies to the rice farmers below Mt. Rinjani and lead to flooding and soil erosion.

Regaining Paradise

Pak Sarilah is a man with a past. “I was one of a gang of 20-25 people cutting timber from Mt. Rinjani National Park,” said the 44-year-old from Lombok, Indonesia.

To address this intertwined crisis of poverty and forest destruction on Lombok, WWF has joined with

the provincial government and the UK’s Department for International Development to find practical, workable solutions that help the people of the island improve their lives by conserving their most vital resource - the forest.

One major step has been to parcel out degraded forest areas to the most disadvantaged people, but on the condition that they plant trees. This will begin to restore the forest to a more natural state, protect the vital watershed and soil, and serve as a buffer zone for the protected area. For the local residents, it gives a whole new sense of hope and a more secure future.

This is the heart of WWF’s Forests for Life Programme: conserving the most precious and outstanding forests by finding ways to better care for them. This involves local people, governments and partners working together to seek innovative solutions that work to everyone’s benefit.

Pak Sarilah has received his parcel of land - a small piece of degraded forest where he planted fruit trees, vegetables and timber species. “I’m earning more now than when I was cutting timber from the park,” he said, “And I don’t have to fear being caught.”

“Things are better now for me and others in my village,” said Pak Sarilah. “The community forest programme has improved our welfare. It has changed our lives by giving us economic benefits and self-respect, and we learnt what it means to conserve forests.”

Mt. Rinjani’s forests are vital to the region’s $50 million per year agricultural sector, as well as supplying domestic water worth $14 million. They also bring tourist dollars into the economy and water for local industry.

These are the findings of a WWF study to explore ways to finance forest management and reverse deforestation of the national park. The study also found that residents were prepared to pay for the water they receive from the forests.

This is an innovative approach which WWF is working to implement in many places around the world where poverty exists in areas of great natural value. Called Payment for Environmental Services (PES), it is bringing great hope for sustaining the protection and management of many forests.

On Lombok, WWF works with villagers, local authorities and the major water company to implement a PES project. Nearly all 43,000 households have agreed to pay up to $0.60 a month in special charges, which will go towards conserving forests and improving social conditions in neighbouring communities.

For more: www.panda.org/forests/pes

Paying to protect the forest

By 2000, 480 million hectares or roughly 12 per cent of the world’s forests had been designated

as protected areas. These represent some of the planet’s greatest forests - in the Congo, the Amazon,

Indonesia and Russia.

WWF aims to see another 75 million hectares of the world’s most outstanding forests brought under protection,

by 2010. These should include key forest types, such as mangroves and dry forests, much of which are still to be protected. By mid-2004, almost two-thirds of this target had been achieved: we have supported governments and communities to protect over 47 million hectares of forests, from Madagascar to Peru.

Protecting forests means more than the creation of parks and reserves. We must also ensure that they are well looked after. This requires assessment of their effectiveness, and implementation of the recommendations to improve their management. To help in this effort, WWF developed methods such as the Protected Area Tracking Tool and the Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation Methodology (RAPPAM), now being used worldwide. As good management is best achieved with local people’s support, our field projects help to ensure their participation, improve livelihoods, reduce potential conflicts, and increase capacity.

Protection

Forests cover 30%

of the world’s total land area

We aim to protect the most significant and threatened forests, ensure they are monitored and properly managed, that their ecological integrity is enhanced, and that they are increasingly self-sustaining.

But even relatively well managed protected areas could become green islands in a degraded landscape. We therefore strive to keep vital networks of forests, maintaining or restoring connection between them through Forest Landscape Restoration projects (see Restoration section). This improves the forest’s resilience, allowing animals to migrate, and a healthier ecosystem to thrive - one that can also sustain ecological services such as watershed and soil protection.

We are helping more protected areas pay for their own upkeep through innovative financing schemes like Payment for Environmental Services (PES). In a nutshell, PES means beneficiaries recognize the services forests provide and pay to help protect and maintain them. For example, those who use water purified by a forest might pay a user fee, or tourists and trekkers pay to enter the forest.

While much has been achieved to protect the world’s most important forests, WWF’s Forests For Life Programme is committed to increasing the size and quality of protected forests, ensuring that all types are represented, connecting them where possible, and managing them effectively.

For more: www.panda.org/forests/protect

Only 12% of the world’s

forests are protected

Two-thirds of the

world’s forests are located in 10 countries

Forests and Drinking Water33 of the world’s 105 largest cities obtain much of their drinking water directly from protected areas.

5 other cities obtain water from sources that originate in distant protected watersheds.

8 more cities obtain water from forests that are managed mainly for their water supply function.

Several other cities are currently suffering problems in water supply because of problems in watersheds.

Global Distribution of Original and Remaining Forests

For more: www.panda.org/forests/runningpure

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Working with the cattle on his grandfather’s farm through the summers in Cameroon left an indelible imprint on Leonard Usongo. As a young shepherd, Leonard knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. “There was no doubt in my mind as to what I would like to do. That childhood love for nature grew stronger and stronger with my academic aspirations,” he says.

And so today, Leonard is not at all surprised that he faces the enormous challenge of conserving the great tropical forests of his native country: Leonard is leader of the WWF Jengi project in south-east Cameroon.

The Jengi project is part of one of WWF’s most important forest conservation undertakings: protecting the Congo Basin’s last untouched tropical forests, teeming with plants and wildlife like

Protection WWF on the ground:

Leonard’s story

gorillas and elephants. At Jengi, Leonard oversees plans to manage three protected areas, as well as the development of responsible forest management practices.

But Leonard’s greatest fulfilment comes from working with local and indigenous people like the Baka pygmies, by helping to improve their lives. He has introduced a revolutionary WWF programme to educate villagers on health issues such as HIV/Aids and malaria as well as conservation. He doesn’t see any incongruity at all.

“We cannot convince a community on the need to protect forests if we don’t acknowledge their problems or their poverty. We have to reassure them that our work is not in conflict with them but something that will result in a permanent resource for them and future generations,” Leonard insists.

Presidential forest summits are rare. Yet in Central Africa, they had two. The first was in 1999 when, for the first time ever in Africa’s history, leaders from the region met to lay the groundwork for conserving the Congo Basin, the world’s second largest tract of rainforests. Thus was born the Yaoundé Process, initiated with WWF’s help. It led to the signing of the Yaoundé Declaration, a 12-point action plan.

The same leaders met again in February 2005, this time in Congo-Brazzaville. They reviewed progress made since the Yaoundé Summit, and also renewed commitments. It culminated in the signing of Africa’s first ever region-wide conservation treaty and an agreement to protect over 7 per cent of the Congo Basin forests.

These actions are testimony to Central Africa’s seriousness in preserving their natural heritage, both for their people and for the world’s well-being.

For more: www.panda.org/forests/yaounde

Presidents’ Protection

We aim to improve management of production forests, increase credible certification of forests, curb illegal logging, influence companies to source from well-managed forests, and help communities have more control over their forests.

Responsible Forestry

Worldwide 17% of

timber used for paper production

come fromvirgin forests

Forests are important resources, supplying wood for timber, paper, furniture and building materials, as

well as non-timber forest products such as honey and medicinal plants. But too many forests are being asked to supply more than they can sustain over the long term. They need to be managed in a way that can meet our

needs today while preserving their ecological functions and production capacity for future generations.

WWF believes it’s possible to conserve and improve forest management by balancing commercial and non-commercial

interests. This means building cooperation with businesses, governments, other NGOs, international organizations, local communities and consumers to achieve realistic market-based solutions.

The cornerstone of the plan is to foster responsible forestry through a range of measures. Foremost is the promotion of credible forest certification. We encourage forest owners, timber companies and all those dealing with forest products to manage their operations in socially and environmentally responsible ways, and have them certified by credible organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Asia Pacific 3.39%

Latin America 13.63%

North America 20.69%

Africa 4.13%

Europe58.17%

Percentage of Certified Forest Endorsed by FSC by region (December 2004)

Percentage of Certified Forests By Forest Types (December 2004)

Plantation13.59%

NaturalForest49.26%

Semi-NaturalForest37.15%

Temperate53.17%

Tropical15.37%

Boreal31.46%

Governments lose US$5

billion a year in tax revenue from

illegal logging

Over 20,000

FSC-certified products are now available around

the world

Illegal logging also has to be stopped. Through the intergovernmental Forest Law Enforcement and Governance process and the European Union’s Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, we lobby producer and consumer governments to act against illegal logging. Major retailers can also exert market pressure on producers by sourcing wood products from well-managed forests. Corporate responsibility the entire length of the product chain is our goal through the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN). Around 400 companies are already GFTN members.

On the ground, we work closely with indigenous and local communities, helping them have more control over their forest resources, improving their forest management skills, and providing market access through credible forest certification. All this contributes to the community’s socio-economic development while improving protection and management of their forests.

The challenge for all stakeholders is to ensure the protection of forests, as well as the supply of timber and forest products, through responsible management practices based on sound environmental, social and economic principles.

For more: panda.org/forests/responsibleforestry

Source: www.certified-forests.org

Responsible Forestry WWF on the ground:

Frank Dottori is a man with a vision of how forests can and should be managed. A man who understands the need to give people affected by forestry decisions a say in the process.

Frank Dottori, it might surprise you to learn, is the CEO of one of Canada’s largest forest products companies, Tembec.

So when some 142,000 hectares of Tembec-managed forest in south-eastern British Columbia were FSC-certified in 2004, it took the company one step closer to achieving its historic and ground-breaking agreement with WWF: To have all Tembec’s 16 million hectares of forests certified to the rigorous FSC standards by 2005.

Dottori is the driving force behind that mission, a first for North America. WWF-Canada has described him as “one of the forest industry’s most progressive thinker in Canada”.

For his part Dottori says, “Tembec is going beyond regulatory requirements and is making a significant contribution toward protected spaces and the advancement of forest management practices. Tembec will continue to dialogue with environmental groups, First

Dottori’s Vision

Frank Dottori(at right)

groups, First Nations and other stakeholders country-wide to find common ground on forest issues such as protection of endangered forests, aboriginal rights and forestry practices.”

In addition, Tembec is also exploring WWF’s step-wise approach to responsible forest management for its woodlands in France, Chile, Cuba and the U.S, where most Canadian forest products are sold. In addition to Tembec, Domtar, the first to have certified paper produced in the country, is pursuing FSC certification on 8 million hectares of managed forests in Canada. Similarly, Alberta-Pacific is seeking FSC certification on its 6 million hectares of forest land.

With 25 per cent of Canada’s managed forest estate, these three companies, along with the Suncor petroleum company, three First Nation indigenous groups and four national environmental groups including WWF, have signed the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. This unusual partnership commits all signatories to the vision of protecting at least one-half of Canada’s 500-million-hectare boreal forest, while ensuring any development of the remaining and surrounding lands meets high international social and environmental standards, such as FSC.

Wood is good, but only if it has been harvested responsibly. WWF has been promoting this message among consumers, particularly in Europe. And consumers have shown that with awareness comes action.

Thanks to more than 8,000 messages sent by WWF’s Panda Passport activists, the major European do-it-yourself chain, Bauhaus AG, has become a WWF Wood Group member in Germany. This means that among other things, it agrees to work to ensure its products are not sourced from illegally cut timber and to closely monitor where its timber originates. Bauhaus’s commitment to responsible forestry practices will help protect the world’s forests - half of the European Union’s tropical timber imports and up to 25 per cent of its wood imports from northwest Russia are estimated to come from illegal sources.

WWF is rolling out similar consumer awareness actions in the paper industry, namely tissue, and photographic, packaging and A4-copy paper.

To take action, visit www.panda.org/forests/goodwood.

Harnessing Consumer Power

Nearly half the world’s original forests have been lost, and many are still being damaged, degraded

or destroyed and the numbers are on the rise. This means the loss of habitat for plants and animals as

well as vital resources for nearby communities.

We are working to return degraded forests to a more authentic state. But restoring forests involves much

more than planting new trees. It is also about restoring the goods and services that forests provide. Together with IUCN and other partners, WWF has developed an approach called Forest Landscape Restoration. The approach calls for restoring forests across a landscape to bring benefits such as improved water quality, soil stabilization, improved access to food, medicines and raw materials, and stable sources of income for local people.

It therefore requires taking a very broad and long-term view to restoration, seeing the forest as part of a larger social, economic and ecological picture. It might take into account adjacent agricultural uses, a village that relies on the forest for drinking water supply, or a sacred site. Perhaps a protected area is fragmented or isolated, hampering the movement of wildlife. A landscape approach would aim to restore all these key forest functions.

Restoration

We aim to restore forests and their functions, ensure restoration plans consider social and economic needs, and get key companies to reduce forest conversion and degradation.

The worldhas lost over

50% of its original forest

cover

A restored forest landscape might, for example, comprise areas that are protected for watershed management and nature conservation, linked by newly regenerated native forests along rivers and streams. Added to this mix, could be well-managed commercial plantations and tree farms.

Or it could be a mosaic of plantations managed for timber and firewood, large blocks of natural forest providing a range of environmental services and wildlife habitats, strips of trees along riverbanks to protect water quality, and more trees planted on agricultural land.

Or it could involve tree planting and regeneration activities that ensure the trees, and the vegetation below them, supply a range of goods and environmental services, like food and a barrier protecting the land from flooding, as well as tourism and recreation facilities.

What is a restored forest landscape?

Forestsprovide goods and services worth trillions

of dollars

At least 90%of forest loss is due to human

activities

WWF is currently developing forest landscape restoration projects in places as diverse as the Mediterranean forests of Morocco and Portugal, the Atlantic Forests of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, China’s Yangtze Basin, and the coastal forests of East Africa. In Bulgaria, for example, we have restored forests along the banks of the Danube, saving the habitat of the endangered Dalmatian pelican.

Ensuring success of forest landscape restoration involves partners and stakeholders at every level: governments, government aid agencies, communities and indigenous people, local NGOs, land owners and companies all have vital roles in the process. Working with governments, WWF seeks to convince them to remove or re-direct negative policies. With key companies involved in single crops and commodities, such as palm oil and soy, we are lobbying them to commit to reduce forest areas being converted and/or degraded.

The landscape approach to forest restoration offers great hope for sustained, long-term forest conservation by encouraging the maintenance of multifunctional landscapes and by bringing together the tools, stakeholders and partners to achieve results.

For more: www.panda.org/forests/restore

Restoration WWF on the ground:

On a dry rocky cliff on a South Pacific island sit three lone trees. They are tiny miracles, the last surviving representatives of the Pittosporum tanianum species, which had been declared extinct until these survivors were found in 2002.

They’re part of a larger story, too. Their discovery and protection were made possible by a project to restore the dry forests of New Caledonia which themselves face extinction. These forests cling precariously to the rocks along the west coast of the island, but hold one of the world’s great treasure troves of unique and

endangered plant species. Sadly, though, only one per cent of the original forests remains, broken into tiny patches, scattered along the coastline.

WWF has joined with nine partners and a network of local communities, land owners and cattle ranchers to reverse the destruction, and to restore and reconnect the remaining dry forests, while ensuring the social and economic fabric of the island is enriched and protected as well.

The Survivors“The destruction of one single hectare can signify the irreversible loss of a plant species existing nowhere else in the world.”

- Hubert Géraux, New Caledonia Ecoregional

Coordinator, WWF

11

Stopping forest loss and degradation

Palm oil and soy - two of the world’s top commodities, judging by their surging demand. A vegetable oil, palm oil is used as cooking oil and in the manufacture of countless other food such as margarine, confectionery and ready-to-eat meals, and non-food items including detergents and cosmetics. Soy beans are usually crushed to yield soy meal (79%) and soy oil (18%). Rich in protein, soy meal is much sought after as animal food.

The global popularity of both these raw materials is, however, contributing to the world’s forest loss and degradation. This need not be the case. In most cases, their production can go hand in hand with forest conservation by for example, adopting proper land-use planning to avoid forest conversion and good

plantation practices, such as having buffer zones and responsible use

of agrochemicals, which will help reduce water pollution

and soil erosion.

Companies can also look at planting on wasteland such as abandoned logging concessions. With proper management, these plantations can reduce the need to clear more forests and provide income to village wasteland owners, who often lack funds and knowledge in establishing plantations themselves.

Through its Forest Conversion Initiative (FCI), WWF has helped to establish roundtables for palm oil and soy, bringing together major industry players as well as social and environmental groups. “These roundtables provide a fair and balanced process for all stakeholders to agree on firm criteria for production of palm oil and soy that is environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable,” said Matthias Diemer, head of FCI.

The initiative is also receiving strong support from major Swiss supermarket chains, one of which is already sourcing responsibly produced palm oil.

For more, www.panda.org/forests/conversion

Partnerships at work

Because threats to the forests often arise from multiple root causes, including social and economic factors, WWF draws on the complementary skills and support of partners to help achieve its conservation goals.

Sharing with forest owners

When Latvia underwent political changes, it also undertook dramatic land reforms. For example, Agris Virsis acquired 21 hectares of previously state-owned land, nearly half of it forested with spruce, birch, alder and pine. The land reform has been good for many like Virsis, but it’s also posing challenges for forests and the environment. Almost half of Latvia’s forests were given to 150,000 new owners, many with no background nor experience in forest management. Virsis had worked for the State Forest Service, but admits the old ways focused more on increasing production than conservation.

Through a cooperation with IKEA, WWF created demonstration farms with owners like Virsis, to show how forests can be managed responsibly while providing economic benefits. For Virsis, this has helped him tremendously. He learnt how to manage his forest and conduct selective cutting that minimizes environmental impact. He now shares his knowledge with others.

“I’ve understood we cannot think only of immediate profits. We must increase the forest value through responsible and economically feasible forest management,” Virsis says. It will ensure constant long-term cash flow and a stable forest environment for the survival of many species.

Since 2002, WWF and IKEA have forged a strong partnership to promote responsible forest use so that their value is preserved for generations. The partnership has projects in China, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia, working to combat illegal logging, improve forest management and increase forest certification. It has produced forest conservation toolkits, including one for identifying High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs).

For more: www.panda.org/forests/ikea

From small villages to global businesses

In addition to the partners listed here, WWF works with hundreds of grassroots organisations whose collaboration is as equally important to conserve forests.

• Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)• IUCN-The World Conservation Union• IKEA • KfW• SVEASKOG• The World Bank

For more: www.panda.org/forests/partnerships

It takes a community

Deep within Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast forests lies Layasiksa village, home to 136 indigenous Miskito families. But lucrative commercial operations, namely unmanaged gold mining and felling of mahogany trees, threatened their and the forest’s existence.

Says Rufino Johnson, traditional community leader and environmental advocate: ”We had no knowledge or territorial management. Some leaders were eliminating our forest resource, selling the hardwoods through illegal lumbermen at very low prices.”

As a result, the forest was fast disappearing, with the Miskitos losing their main natural resource. It is a story repeated the world over. Formed in 1998, the World Bank/WWF Forest Alliance is helping communities and indigenous people like the Miskitos fight poverty and conserve forests at the same time. It makes sense for the two organizations to team up as their respective missions - poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation - are closely linked.

In Layasiksa, the Alliance-supported Community Forest Management Project has transformed both village and forest. Says Rufino: “They showed us how to take care of our forests, manage our natural resources, do reduced-impact logging, and sell the wood at prices favourable to our community.” The project also brought employment to Layasiksa’s young men who craft wood items such as toys, tables and chairs, selling them at good prices in nearby Puerto Cabezas.

As for the forest, once ugly scars are now healing. “In 2000, you could see roads used for uncontrolled extraction of wood where mahogany and other precious hardwoods were present,” says Rufino. “Today, the huge gaps left by the machinery that took mahogany trees from our forests have been closed. Seeds have germinated where there was once a road and trees are growing to create new forest.”

For more: www.panda.org/forests/alliance

Partners for Russia’s forests

Valued for their timber, Russia’s forests are home to endangered species such as the Siberian tiger, and also to local communities who depend on the natural resources. WWF works with numerous partners to conserve these valuable forests.

Promoting responsible forestryThe Association of Environmentally Responsible Timber Producers was initiated by WWF to create ecologically responsible businesses. Formed in 2000, it now represents major Russian sawmills, and pulp and paper producers. WWF works with Association members to promote FSC certification.

Intense work is underway to certify more forest territory, with great success. To date, there are 3.7 million hectares of certified forests in Russia. Also, at the end of 2004, JSC Terneyles became the first timber enterprise in the Russian Far East to have 1.4 million hectares of its leasehold territories FSC-certified. The company is one of Japan’s key timber suppliers.

Unified front on government forest policyWith other conservation groups and NGOs, WWF is playing a significant role in improving the new Forest Code proposed by the Federal Government of Russia, which, if implemented, will threaten protected areas.

Lobbying efforts are also under way at all levels of government to address illegal logging and measures to identify and protect High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs).

WWF advocates the broadest possible range of Russian stakeholders in creating new forest policies that support conservation.

Russia has25% of the

world’s virgin forests

.Fighting illegal logging on the ground...Anti-poaching brigades, established in collaboration with government, business and WWF, are successfully fighting illegal logging on the ground in Russia. An example is the “Sobol” brigade, created in 2003 with support from the WWF and IKEA Cooperation on Forest Projects, and reporting to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The brigade has helped reduce illegal logging

and curb corruption within the State Forest Service of Russia Far East province. Its six members alone are responsible

for a quarter of all reports of violations. This has dramatically reduced the logging problem, raising hopes that the habitat of the

endangered Amur tiger might be restored.

“The brigade has been operating for only a year, but the results are already impressive,” said Goran Sundberg, IKEA Wood Procurement Coordinator, during a visit in 2004.

...and in the corridors of powerTackling a globally challenging problem like illegal logging requires multiple approaches as well as a multitude of people. In Russia, WWF partners with Greenpeace, IUCN, the Social Ecological Union, the Biological Conservation Union, and others to engage in the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) process. An intergovernmental process, FLEG enables producer and consumer governments to address illegal logging and trade. Through engaging in the process, the consortium of NGOs, institutions and industry, together with civil society, ensures that governments are not merely paying lip service to fighting the problem. The work is supported by the World Bank.

Forests cover nearly 70% of Russia’s

territory

Anestimated27% of all

timber from northwestRussia is

illegal

The race is on to conserve the world’s largest rainforest – the Amazon. A region of superlatives, this global icon spans nine South American countries, including almost half of Brazil. Nearly 20% of the original forest in Brazil Amazonia has already been destroyed and deforestation rates continue to rise at an alarming rate.

The challenges are huge with threats fuelled by short-term economic interests such as cattle ranching. Poverty and poor infrastructure in most parts of the Amazon pose another challenge.

But with challenges come opportunities, and WWF works at all levels, combining a

range of activities, to achieve biodiversity conservation in the Amazon that encompasses

long-term development and economic security.

Using the forest wisely Usar nossa terra com sabedonia – using our land with wisdom. This is the motto of Jorge Viana, Governor of the Brazilian state of Acre, in the southwest Amazon. Since stepping into office in 1999, he has shown commitment to protecting Acre – 90% of which is forest – through creating protected areas and attaining FSC certification for a quarter of the State’s forest. “We want to show that it is possible to live off the forest without destroying it. We want to make Acre a sustainable development model for the Brazilian Amazon and the rest of Brazil,” he said.

WWF helps state governments, like Acre, and the federal government in their initiatives to conserve Brazil Amazonia. A major initiative is the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) Programme, aimed at tripling the existing area under full protection and community sustainable use, by 2012. Launched in 2002, ARPA has met its mid-term targets well in advance.

One third of all species found in the world live in

the Amazon

The Amazonis almost

twice as bigas the EU

30%of the world’s freshwater is

contained within the Amazon

basin

A Living Amazon

A mother’s impetusAdelaide de Fatima Goncalves de Oliviera is a logger. She turned to responsible forest management when she found out her 12-year-old daughter didn’t dare tell schoolmates she was a logger. “In her opinion, loggers destroy the forest,” said Fatima. Proving that a logger can be good, she got FSC certification for her company. She now presides over Acre’s Forest Managers Association, which is dedicated to responsible timber production.

Whether working with forest enterprises or indigenous communities, WWF promotes certification of both timber and non-timber products to foster responsible forestry. This offers the opportunity to beat illegal logging while ensuring long-term socio-economic development. WWF also supports other organizations, like the Acre Community Forest Producers Group, in capacity building and establishing links with overseas markets.

Businesses sitting on a time bomb “The question to European businesses is: Do you want to be part of this destruction?” said Denmark-based Søren Ring Ibsen of WWF’s Forest Conversion Initiative, which promotes responsible soy production throughout the supply chain. Surging world demand for soy, mainly for livestock feed, is fuelling South America’s deforestation. In the Amazon, expanding soy cultivation is driving cattle farmers deeper into the forest in search of pasture. A WWF-initiated Roundtable on Sustainable Soy is looking into criteria for soy production that is environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable.

For the people Hundreds of indigenous communities living in the Amazon account for its rich, cultural diversity. Their unique, age-old traditions help them live in harmony with the forest. It makes sense therefore to put this knowledge to work for protected area management. At the same time, protected areas also help indigenous peoples protect their land and culture from external threats and development. Thus, WWF works with governments and indigenous groups to ensure that the creation of protected areas

also respects indigenous people’s rights.

In the Peruvian Amazon, the establishment of the Alto Purus National Park and Communal Reserve, coupled with a government-created Special Commission, are significant moves in improving

protection of indigenous people. The Commission is charged with

designing a law to protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

“We’re very happy with the establishment of the Park, Communal Reserve and Special Commission as it will let our communities better manage our territories, respecting our ancestral traditions,” said Fredy Lopez Tranbeca, Chief of Gasta Bala Community.

Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN)

An initiative to eliminate illegal logging and improve management of the world’s forests, GFTN brings together companies committed to responsible forestry, facilitating trade links between them.

Working for forests around the world: WWF’s Forests for Life Programme has a portfolio of over 300 projects in nearly 90 countries. We feature a selection here. For more, visit www.panda.org/forests.

Mediterranean Cork Oak Forests

These unique forests are threatened by damaging policies, poor or no management, and the changing cork market. WWF’s efforts at reversing these trends include promoting sustainable practices and markets.

Eastern Africa Coastal Forests

WWF works with local communities to restore the degraded and fragmented forests, which are important sources for fuelwood, water and medicine. Another activity involving woodcarvers helps to improve poor farmers’ livelihood.

Certification & Development of the Forest Sector, Peru

Called CEDEFOR in short, this project works to further responsible forestry in Peru. It is helping to reform the forest sector while alleviating poverty by promoting alternative economic activities in the forest industry.

CREDITS

Produced by Forests For Life Programme, WWF International.

Designed by Andy Davies.

Printed by Ropress, Zurich, Switzerland on Aconda 250 gm2 (cover) and RePrint FSC 130 gm2*, using vegetable oil-based inks.

*Aconda contains 40% recycled fibre (10% pre-consumer and 30% post-consumer waste) and 60% virgin wood fibre of which at least 50% is from well-managed forests certified in accordance with the rules of FSC. RePrint FSC contains 50% recycled post-consumer waste and 50% virgin wood fibre from well-managed forests certified in accordance with the rules of FSC. The printer, ROPRESS, holds FSC chain of custody SGS-COC-0474.

© 1996 Forest Stewardship Council AC.

Photographs:

© WWF-Canon / Edward Parker, Mark Edwards, Hartmut Jungius, Martin Harvey, André Bårtschi, Vladimir Filonov, John S. Mitchell, Klein & Hubert, Chris Martin Bahr, Mauri Rautkari, Roger Leguen, Jeff Foott, Marc-antoine Dunais, Michel Gunther, Anthony B. Rath, M Ridha Hakim, Widodo Prayitno, Lee Poston, Hubert Géraux, Cinthya Flores, Clóvis Miranda.

From Network Sources: Agni Klintuni Boedhihartono, Michiel Van Der Zeeuw, Maris Zarins, Tembec.

Photo of Chico Mendes courtesy of the National Rubber Tappers Council, Brazil.

No photographs from this publication may be reproduced on the World Wide Web without prior authorization from WWF.

Published in May 2005 by WWF- World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund), Gland, Switzerland. Any reproduction in full or in part must mention the title and credit the abovementioned publisher as the copyright owner.

The geographical designations given here do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WWF concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

© text 2005 WWF. All rights reserved.

Working for forests around the world: WWF’s Forests for Life Programme has a portfolio of over 300 projects in nearly 90 countries. We feature a selection here. For more, visit www.panda.org/forests.

Forests of the Upper Yangtze, China

Conservation here uses a landscape approach that combines protected area establishment, responsible forest management, and restoration of degraded areas, with community development.

Forests of New Guinea

The world’s third largest block of rainforests, these forests provide 6 million people with food and shelter. WWF joins community groups, other NGOs and government bodies working to ensure these forests remain living landscapes for people and nature.

WWF is one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:– conserving the world’s biological diversity– ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable– promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

Forests For Life ProgrammeWWF International

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