Among others, the ceremony was attended by Jan Kubiš, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Ambassadors of the United States and Finland to the UN. The day continued with a seminar on the situation of forests in the UNECE region. The forest specialists discussed the global forest resource calculation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and weighed the preliminary conclusions that have been brought out in the report “State of European Forests 2011” that will be made public in Oslo in June. In 2010, the total area of forests at the UNECE region (Europe, Russia, Northern-America, Caucasus and Central Asia) was 1.6 billion hectares. In total, the area of UNECE region forests forms 40% of the area of world forests. The area of forest land has increased by 25 million hectares in that region during the last 20 years. Forests have an important role in protection of biological diversity and so the surface area of forests under protection has also increased. For example, in the areas of Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the total surface area of such forests in the years 1990–2010 has increased by 1 million hectares annually. While globally, the ability of forests to tie up carbon is continuously decreasing due to decrease in forest area, the forests in the UNECE region have increased the amount of tied up carbon in the last 20 years by 5 billion tons. In addition to the biomass and carbon reserves, forests also provide raw material for timber and energy industries. Forests of the UNECe regions have produced 20 billion cubic meters of timber during the last 20 years. At the same time, different natural disasters have had a negative impact on forest growth and health. For example, in North America, 23 million hectares of forests have been diseased or destroyed due to insects. The main reason for that is the devastation by the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) on a more than 11 million hectare area in Canada and Western US. European forests have also not escaped untouched by insect devastation or diseases. For example, in 2003–2007, the average share of European forests damaged due to insects and illnesses was 2.7%, whereas forest fires have damaged 0.1% and storm and snow breakage 0.4%. Estonia, although with a small forest area on a global scale, is about to give its contribution to preservation of global biodiversity, tying up carbon dioxide and protection of the aims of timber production. In the table published, we are located in a respectable sixth place by forest land area per person among the UNECE countries, after Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Forest land area for one person in Estonia is 1.7 ha and the stock of growing timber per person amounts to 337 cubic meters. Forests cover over half of Estonian mainland and are one of our greatest natural and economic riches. Great attention is also turned to in Estonia – with our 30% share of growing forests, we are definitely exceeding our neighbouring counties. For example, in Latvia, 19.5%, Lithuania 18.7%, Sweden 12.3%, Russia 10.7% and Finland 7.2% of forests are under protection. Available here. |
