We are pleased to announce that we have received a number of translations of the short video we produced to graphically illustrate the mistaken view behind FAO’s definition of forests.
Campaign on Forest Definition
2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations. In response, WRM has launched a campaign that challenges the definition of “forest” used by FAO. This is not a simple matter of semantics: FAO’s definition of forest has negative repercussions at the local and global level because it legitimizes the expansion of industrial monoculture tree plantations. Even worse, other UN organizations and initiatives, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as numerous national governments, use this same definition in negotiations, programmes and policies.
This has led us to develop a number of different activities that we detail below
Bulletin articles
4 April 2011
At WRM we have been opposed to FAO’s definition of forests for many years. We believe that it actually serves as an indirect cause of deforestation. According to FAO, a forest is merely “land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ” (*), which means that industrial monoculture tree plantations fall under this definition. As a result, industrial tree plantations “disguised” as forests continue to spread throughout the world, often replacing real forests.
Action alerts
4 April 2011
This short video tries to graphically illustrates how mistaken FAO’s view of forests is. We invite you to watch it, share it, download it, post it on your blog, your website, your social networking site, etc. But we would also like to be able to share it in as many languages as possible, so if you speak another language, we invite you to send us a translation of the video’s (very short!) script. Throughout the year, we will create and post new versions of the video in more and more languages.
4 January 2011
2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations. In response, WRM has launched a campaign that challenges the definition of “forest” used by FAO. This is not a simple matter of semantics: FAO’s definition of forest has negative repercussions at the local and global level because it legitimizes the expansion of industrial monoculture tree plantations.
Other information
22 September 2008
Press Release -
Rome, 22 September 2008. Representing the World Rainforest Movement, Raquel Núñez met today in Rome with FAO forestry officials to raise the issue of the problems resulting from the definition of forests by that UN agency that includes all types of plantations as “forests.”
Action alerts
6 February 2008
The Thirteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice will be held in FAO, Rome, Italy (18 - 22 february 2008). Forest biodiversity will be one of the main items on the agenda.