Highlighting the indisputable
benefits derived from Europe's forests -
such as clean air, fresh water, food, medicine
and shelter - the report examines how paying
foresters for these benefits can promote
rural development and ensure that rural
populations maintain their incomes and livelihoods
Geneva, Switzerland,
10 December 2013 - Three UN agencies called
today upon governments to consider scaling
up payments to European forest owners for
serving as stewards for these valuable resources,
although they said such payments should
be complementary to government legislation,
regulation or democratic accountability.
During European Forest
Week (9-13 December), the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
released a joint report calling for the
payment of ecosystem services (PES) to be
used as a tool to 'complement' government
measures to manage Europe's forest ecosystems
in a sustainable manner.
The report, The value
of forests: Payment for ecosystem services
in a green economy, said payment for ecosystem
services is an incentive for public and
private partners to protect key forest areas,
but it still requires the appropriate legislative
framework to be cost-effective.
Highlighting the indisputable
benefits derived from Europe's forests -
such as clean air, fresh water, food, medicine
and shelter - the report examines how paying
foresters for these benefits can promote
rural development and ensure that rural
populations maintain their incomes and livelihoods.
It also fits within the Action Plan for
the Forest Sector in a Green Economy proposed
for the ECE region.
PES mechanisms encompass
a range of measures to ensure that as forest
resources are used by different sectors,
incentives are available for users and suppliers
alike to help keep these resources healthy
and productive.
The report cites the
example of the Coca-Cola® bottling plant
at the Tagua Reservoir, Portugal that has
agreed to pay local forest owners to maintain
their forests, which help filter and protect
this resource so the bottling plant has
access to pure water. This successful example
is the kind of win-win solution that PES
can provide.
Another example explained
in the report is the AgriGeorgia project:
a subsidiary company fully owned by the
Ferrero Group, has developed a project to
sequester carbon on previously abandoned
land in a poor rural region near the Black
Sea coast. The plan is to halt land degradation
by creating permanent forest cover, whilst
providing local communities with sustainable
and long-term income opportunities. Established
in 2007, the project rehabilitates local
soil, land and water resources, restoring
land production while generating necessary
financing from the carbon credits. Afforestation
with hazelnut plantations represents a replicable
model for the Samegrelo region, offering
significant environmental and economic opportunities,
including higher employment, income, transfer
of technology and know-how.
The majority of PES
schemes are often innovative and unique
to their locality, thus they do not fit
easily into subsidy or tax programmes, such
as the EU Common Agricultural Policy (EU
CAP), according to the report.
However, the report
finds PES projects are particularly effective
tools for rural development, especially
where they succeed in bringing together
public and private partners. Financing through
a PES scheme, for example, secures long-term
commitments to provide ecosystem services,
which could otherwise be threatened, especially
in an economic recession.
"We have long understood
the importance of the key ecosystem services
that our forests provide but we have been
slow to realize that these things could
be worth paying for, especially when the
costs and responsibility for stewardship
of the forest are not in the public sector,"
said Paola Deda, Chief UNECE/FAO Forestry
and Timber Section.
Jan Dusik, Director
of UNEP's Regional Office for Europe, said
"With payment for ecosystem services,
the fact that the money goes directly to
the provider helps ensure that the service
will continue to be supplied. This payment
can be used to strengthen the particular
ecosystem against pressures that may affect
it, including climate change."
PES has come to prominence
in the past decade as a tool to reduce the
loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity.
There are 14 cases of best practices presented
in the report, which also covers some potential
drawbacks that could occur if good policies
are not in place. The report uses the lessons
learned to provide guidance on criteria
and conditions for successful PES schemes
and their future in preserving and maintaining
precious forest resources.
This publication will
be launched during a side event at Metsä2013,
the joint meeting of the ECE Committee on
Forests and the Forests industry and the
FAO European Forestry Commission, which
takes place from 9 to 13 December 2013 in
Rovaniemi, Finland. This meeting is held
in conjunction with the second European
Forest Week, launched and promoted by 15
partner organisations to celebrate forests
and their contribution to a greener society
throughout Europe.
Note to the editors:
The UNECE/FAO Forestry
and Timber Section and UNEP Regional Office
for Europe cooperate regularly on forest-related
matters in the Pan-European Region.
The UNECE/FAO Forestry
and Timber Section has served as a trusted
source of information, data and analysis
about the forest sector in the UNECE region
for more than 60 years. It also provides
a forum for policy discussion about major
issues that affect the forest sector. The
section is unique in that it is a joint
UNECE/FAO secretariat, servicing the UNECE
Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry
and the FAO European Forestry Commission
and working closely with other members of
the United Nations family and country stakeholders.