March 21st is the International Day of Forests.
The World Rainforest Movement has released a 21 page briefing entitled “What is a forest, and when is it a forest? A critical reflection on the concepts used in international forest policy processes”
The report is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French and can be read on the World Rainforest Movement’s website.
From the World Rainforest Movement (WRM):
On 21 March, which has been promoted by the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations] as the International Day of Forests, WRM is releasing a briefing about the importance of the words we use. The briefing explores how concepts like “forests,” which have been historically imposed and adopted without considering a diversity of viewpoints (in particular those of forest-dependent Peoples) contribute to the creation of policies that neither recognize this diversity nor halt deforestation.
There has still been little reflection on the fact that a number of Indigenous Peoples who are rooted in forest territories have decided not to translate the word, forest. Many have decided to adopt their own definition, since the FAO definition is irreconcilable with their particular and diverse visions and conceptions of their living spaces. They don’t see a forest as a fixed entity defined by its tree cover or its capacity for carbon sequestration, but rather as a part of a transformational cycle of a territory. Yet international forest policy processes have censored all indigenous and other grassroots definitions of forests. In their conference halls and documents, these international entities will not allow for any definition or other conceptions that lies outside of the supposedly universal categories of forests, climate, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc.
You can also read a briefing about the report by clicking here.
