Press Releases
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Malaysian-born film star and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh will attend the High Level Political Forum in New York today to put the spotlight on the role that clothing manufacture and consumer fashion can have for a better planet with a new video, called “Made in Forests.”“The connection
The fashion industry has seen a spectacular growth in the early 21st century. It is now valued at more than 2.5 trillion dollars and employs over 75 million people worldwide. Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled with the average consumer buying 60 percent more pieces of garment
Over 2.5 million ha of forest landscape will be restored by countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia under the Bonn Challenge by 2030. The commitment was made by Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at the first Ministerial Roundtable on Forest Landscape
If we try to picture how humanity can “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by the year 2030” (Sustainable Development Goal 7), solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal plants, heat pumps, tidal power plants or other technical solutions come to mind. But
Forests are fundamental to sustainable development, from their role as carbon sinks and the vital ecosystem services they perform, to the many wood-based products and renewable energy they provide. Monitoring the status of forests to ensure their sustainable management is therefore essential if
Forests are one of the most valuable natural resources in Georgia. They cover about 40% of the country and have significant potential for production of wood and wood products. About 98% of Georgian forests are natural forests, which are crucial for the country’s biodiversity, providing important
Countries from the UNECE region gathered in Warsaw this week to ensure that their forests are sustainably managed and used for the well-being of all. They agreed that sustainably managed forests and long lasting, sustainably sourced wood products can make important contributions to climate
Forest products markets are doing well, with improvements forecasted to continue into next year although barriers to cross-border trade are an ongoing concern for the forest products industry, according to the market statement at Las2017, the Joint Session of the Committee of Forests and the
The consumption of forest products continues to increase across the UNECE region, driven by the use of wood as a “greener choice” in building and energy use, and supported by favourable economic growth. However, trade restrictions are a growing challenge for the sector. These are the key
Certification at the centre of debates as UNECE and FAO celebrate 70 years of cooperation on forests
Eighty-five per cent of the world’s forests certified as sustainably managed are located within the 56 countries of the UNECE region, which includes Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the United States and Canada. Today, this region contains 42 per cent of the world’s forests
The future of “green jobs” in the forest sector is the focus of an international workshop opening today in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.Nearly 70 participants from 18 European countries – representing the UN system, the European Commission, government Ministries and organizations, nongovernmental
Traditionally forestry and forest-related jobs have always been in the domain of men. This is no longer the case. Women have been entering the work force for some time carrying out what is typically known as “a man’s job” and the share of women working in the forest and owning forests is
How will the world look 50 years from now? Visions of life in the future often show shiny cityscapes of glass and steel. Cities with tall buildings of flowing shapes. It would seem that wood is not what we associate with our future yet “the 21st Century will be seen as the century of wood” said
The certified forest area coverage extended across 11% of global forests in 2015. The UNECE region, with about 40% (1.6 billion hectares) of the global forest estate, accounted for 87% of the total global certified forest area (graph 1). Of the global certified forest area, 48% is in North
Robust data on the availability of European forests for wood supply is essential for the analysis of the sustainability of forest management and for planning and forecasting the use of wood resources, biomass and renewable energy. But it is also highly relevant for the analysis of global climate
Forest ecosystems safeguard clean water supply, aquatic wildlife and increase landscape resilience to water-related hazards. As global demand for freshwater rises and demand for water resources increase, land managers and policy-makers need to carefully manage this resource. “One third of
Wood energy accounts for 3.5% of the total primary energy supply (TPES) and 38.2% of the renewable energy supply (RES) in the UNECE region, making it the first source of renewable energy in the region. Woody biomass covers 21 to 23% of the primary energy demands of Finland and Sweden and 14 to
Markets show signs of rising consumption for some forest products, though the picture is far from consistent In Europe and North America, forest products consumption is strongly related to construction. The hoped-for recovery from the trough of the 2008 global financial crisis has not
Thirty-nine countries from Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia, the Caucasus and North America pledged this week to continue their efforts to build climate change into national forest programmes, plans and strategies. The countries made their pledge during Silva 2015, the joint session
The general condition of forest product markets in the UNECE region continued to improve in North America and Europe in 2014, driven by positive economic developments, upward trends in housing and construction, and increasing consumption of roundwood (raw materials) and wood products. However, the
Between 2011 and 2014, more than 776 people were killed and 532,000 evacuated in wildfire situations worldwide, and a total of 16,100 houses were destroyed. Based on modelling it is estimated that annual human mortality due to inhalation of fire-generated particulate matter (PM2.5) may reach 339
The North American forest sector experienced a steep decline in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis, due to the associated downturn in the housing market. Most single-family homes in North America are built with wood, and this downturn had devastating effects on the domestic forest-based
Despite improving conditions in the five years since the economic crisis hit bottom in 2009, production output for the major forest products in the UNECE Region (Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and North America) are still 10-15% below the average annual output for the four
The UNECE region hosts an incredibly vast forested area: 1.89 billion hectares—twice the size of China or roughly four times the size of the whole European Union.This vast body of forests plays a very important role in climate change mitigation trough carbon sequestration. In addition, it
The UNECE region as a whole has 1.89 billion ha of forest land, 41.4% of the global total, as compared to 34.8% of global land area and 18.3% of the population. The region’s share of the world’s forests is one percentage point more than ten years ago because UNECE region forests have