Background Information for North American Public Hearing

World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development
Winnipeg, Canada, September 30 - October 2, 1996

Return to North American Hearing

Collaborating Organizations

The WCFSD is holding its North American Regional Public Hearing in Winnipeg from September 30 to October 2, 1996. The Hearing will be hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). IISD is an independent not-for-profit corporation, located in Winnipeg, which promotes sustainable development in decision-making, internationally and within Canada. The Commission is also working in collaboration with the Yale Forest Forum in the United States and Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible in Mexico to help raise awareness and seek broad representation from those countries.

The North American Hearing will cover issues of concern to anyone who has a stake in the forests of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Key issues that will be addressed during the Hearing relate to basic questions such as how much forest needs to be preserved? by whom should forests be managed? how should they be managed and for whose benefit?

The Hearing is intended to provide a forum for forest stakeholder groups to participate in frank and open policy dialogue on issues of both local and global concern. It will create an opportunity for the WCFSD's Commissioners to listen to the differing perspectives on forests of various stakeholder groups such as:

• forest dependent communities (communities economically dependent on forest-based enterprise; Mexican ejidos, First Nations, Native Americans and indigenous peoples who live in or around the forest and depend on it for their well-being)
• commercial interests (forest-products industries, commercial recreation interests, miners, etc.)
• environmental interests (conservation and preservation groups, non-governmental organizations, etc.)
• forest clearers (urban developers, road builders, agriculturalists, mining, oil exploration and hydropower companies whose primary interest is gaining access to the land under the forest)

Final Report

The Commission is particularly interested in initiating actions that could lead to more effective integration of forest conservation, social and development objectives. Its report, which will be published in mid-1997, will complement that of the ongoing UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests. The report will be presented to the World Forestry Congress that will be held in Turkey in October of 1997. The recommendations of the report will also be tabled at a series of high level government and private sector meetings that are planned throughout 1998.

This will be the second of the Commissions' Public Hearings. The first was held in the Asia region in March of this year. It was attended by more than 300 people from various countries of the region representing forest dwelling communities, private industry, government forest and environmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and leading scientific and policy researchers. A summary of the issues discussed at that hearing is contained in the Annual Report of the Commission. The three other hearings are planned for: Latin America in December of this year, Africa in early 1997 and Russia in mid-1997.

The Commission is supported by contributions from various governments, private foundations, regional development banks, private sector companies, the European Commission and the UNDP. Current supporters of the North American Hearing include the Governments of Canada and several Provinces, the International Development Research Centre, the Commission on Environmental Cooperation, the International Model Forest Program, the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, and Manitoba Hydro. The Commission is currently seeking additional support from various private foundations and industrial corporations to ensure adequate representation of indigenous forest communities, smaller non-governmental organizations and private forest owners who may not otherwise attend the Hearing.