Chapter 1 - Preamble

Section 1 - Social & Economic Dimensions

Section 2 - Conservation and Management of Resources
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22

Section 3 - Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

Section 4 - Means of Implementation

Complete text of Agenda 21: Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Combating Deforestation

Forests are a source of timber, firewood and other goods. They also play an important role in soil and water conservation, maintaining a healthy atmosphere and maintaining biological diversity of plants and animals.

Forests are renewable and, when managed in a way that is compatible with environmental conservation, can produce goods and services to assist in development.

Now, forests world-wide are threatened by uncontrolled degradation and conversion to other uses because of increasing human pressure. There is agricultural expansion, overgrazing, unsustainable logging, inadequate fire control and damage from air pollution. Damage to and loss of forests causes soil erosion, reduces biological diversity and wildlife habitats, degrades watersheds and reduces the amount fuel-wood, timber and other products available for human development. It also reduces the number of trees that can retain carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

The survival of the forests depends on us recognizing and protecting their ecological, climate-control, social and economic values. These benefits should be included in the national economic accounting systems used to weigh development options.

There is an urgent need to conserve and plant forests in developed and developing countries to maintain or restore the ecological balance, and to provide for human needs. National governments need to work with business, non-governmental organizations, scientists, technologists, local community groups, indigenous people, local governments and the public to create long-term forest conservation and management policies for every forest region and watershed.

Better management will also require more information on the state of forests. In many cases, planners lack even basic information on the size and type of forests, and on the amount of wood being harvested.

Governments should create national action programs for sustainable forestry development. This will require a broad range of actions, ranging from the use of satellite images of the forests to better logging equipment to government policies that encourage the most efficient use of the trees and other forest products.

Governments, along with business, non-governmental and other groups can:

• Plant more forests to reduce pressure on primary and old-growth forests. Plant valuable crops among the trees to further increase the value of managed forests.
• Breed trees that are more productive and resistant to environmental stress.
• Protect forests from fires, pests, poaching and mining and reduce pollutants that affect forests, including air pollution that flows across borders.
• Limit and aim to halt destructive shifting cultivation by addressing the underlying social and ecological causes.
• Use environmentally sound, more efficient and less polluting methods of forest harvesting and expand forest-based processing industries that use wood and other forest products.
• Minimize wood waste and find uses for tree species that are now discarded or ignored.
• Promote small-scale forest-based enterprises that support rural development and local entrepreneurship.
• Increase the amount of value-added secondary processing of forest products to increase the amount of employment and revenue for each tree harvested.
• Develop urban forestry for the greening of all places where people live.
• Promote the use of such forest products as medicinal plants, dyes, fibres, gums, resins, fodder, rattan, bamboo and works of local artisans.
• Encourage low-impact forest use, such as eco-tourism and the managed supply of genetic materials, such as those used to develop medicines.
• Reduce damage to forests by promoting sustainable management of areas adjacent to the trees.

In order to get more value from their forests, some countries will need international cooperation in the form of advice on modern technologies, and the use of fair terms of trade, without unilateral restrictions and bans on forest products.

In addition to encouraging sustainable use of forests, countries need to create or expand protected area systems to preserve some forests. Such forests are needed to preserve ecological systems, biological diversity, landscapes, and wildlife habitat. Forests also need to be preserved for their social and spiritual values, including that of traditional habitats of indigenous people, forest dwellers and local communities.

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