Forest Policies Project – Follow up on 3rd Dialogue on Science

After the third Dialogue on Science conference of Academia Engelberg in 2004 entitled “Will Climate Change the World?“, students from the Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES) Programme of the ETH Zurich who took part in the conference were commissioned to develop a plan of action for projects focusing on climate change. The participants formed the “International Student Initiative for Action on Climate Change” (ISIACC). The “Forest Policies – Research and Influence“ project was launched thanks to funding from partners, the ETH and Academia Engelberg. The aim of the project is to influence forestry policy in the direction of integrated forest management, preservation and sustainable development in the region of Latin America, in order to reduce the release of CO2 in forestry. Regional consultation events were organized in September 2006. A regional seminar will be held at the beginning of November 2006 in the Amazon region of Columbia close to the border with Peru and Brazil. The aims are to formulate an Engelberg Declaration, to obtain support in the academic community and to influence policy through lobbying and advocacy. Project leader Fabio Segura informed the meeting that logging in the Amazon region – often illegal – has doubled in the last 30 years. Thirty percent of the world’s forest area is in Brazil, which also contains 40 percent of all species of flora and fauna. The political will for long-term planning has become a hostage to the short-term profit motive. This project is intended to ensure that socio-economic factors are considered in the forestry industry and that investigations and commitments are demanded before the start of any forest clearance operations.