Forests The 8th Roundtable at Rio+20
In June 2012, one of the most important environmental gatherings in a generation will take place in Brazil – Rio+20. Organisers have identified seven key issues to form new sustainable development goals: jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans and disasters. Forests, however, have been largely excluded from most of these key issues – with only one mention in the description of 'food'.
While it is important that the Rio+20 meeting explore new ground in addressing the emerging problems of the 21st century, forests must remain high on the agenda in 2012. Forests make important – but underappreciated – contributions toward solving many of the problems that are on the table at these discussions. And it is critical that Rio+20 deliver a global message that forests matter.
To ensure that this message is delivered, CIFOR will coordinate one of the most important conferences on forests alongside the Rio+20 summit. Forests: The 8th Roundtable at Rio+20 will discuss new research findings – and remaining knowledge gaps -- and their policy implications for integrating forests into the solutions to four key challenges to progress toward a green economy: Energy, food and income, water, and climate.