Preventing wildfires & ensuring forest certification vital for sustainable forest management: Yadav
Friday, 27 October 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav emphasised the importance of forest fire prevention, post-fire restoration and forest certification as a tool for sustainable forest management.
In his video message at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) at Forest Research Institute (FRI) here on Thursday, Yadav stressed that forest fires not only cause irreparable damage to flora and fauna but also affect the livelihoods of communities living at forest peripheries. He emphasised that an important tool for promotion of sustainability of forests is forest certification, which nonetheless, presents numerous challenges notably for small-scale producers in developing countries. The Union minister said India has embarked on its national forest certification scheme to address these challenges. He called on all participants to work together to create a sustainable future that is equitable, just and resilient.
Speaking on the occasions, Uttarakhand’s Forest minister Subodh Uniyal dwelled into the State’s initiatives and programmes and stated that to minimise forest fire incidents, empowering communities living in proximity to forests and incentivising them to work in tandem with the Forest department has been a strategy that has found success. He affirmed that forest certification is an equally important area, being a mechanism for forest monitoring and is the focus within Global Forest Goals. He emphasised that all will benefit from the exchange at the forum of traditional knowledge, technology innovation and community engagement practices.
UNFF director Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo said that the issue of forest fires has been escalated as a global concern and their detrimental impact on ecosystems and communities makes action imperative. The second theme for the Country Led Initiative (CLI) being forest certification has been a long-standing topic for discussion and actionable solutions are now the need of the hour. She highlighted that the impact of forest fires on ecosystems are more profound now and mentioned about the challenges of numerous stakeholders and upcoming regulations that need attention. She stressed that the outcome of this CLI is very important and the success will lie in all the collective ability to identify areas for action and recommendations to UNFF 19.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has taken the initiative for hosting a UNFF from October 26 to 28 at FRI. More than 80 delegates from 40 countries and 20 international organisations are attending the programme, both in person and online. The forum’s meeting on the first day witnessed varied panel discussions on forest fires, policies enhancing prevention of forest fires and on the global forest management hub. Various countries and international organisations participated as panelists including New Zealand, Madagascar, Colombia, Morocco, India, Portugal, Malawi, Botswana, Russia, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, FAO, UNEP, ITTO and IUFRO.
This CLI focuses on two thematic areas: forest fires/wildfires and best practices on its prevention and restoration in fire-affected areas, and forest certification and sustainable forest management. In recent years, forest fires/wildfires have increased in scale and duration. Accordingly, there is a need to enhance collaboration and action at local, regional and international level on its prevention, reduction of its impacts and restoration of impacted land. Forest certification has received growing global attention in recent years. Between 2020 and 2021, the certified forest area increased by 27 million hectares, led mainly by Europe and Northern America. However, developing countries and marginal forest managers continue to face challenges with the certification process. The forum aims to provide a platform to discuss these aspects and the aspect of aligning certification systems with trade rules.
