Trees, Poverty and Targets: Forests and the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract

"Where are the forests in the MDGs? When players in the forestry world get together they are good at setting goals. They are a good match for the political leaders that gave us the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since the 1980s there has been a proliferation of international dialogues dealing with forests and, a bit like the football World Cup, every four years or so they come up with a feast of goals. If forestry goals were all we needed to make progress, then sustainable and pro-poor forestry would have long since become a worldwide reality. Of course, implementation still lags well behind aspiration, but at least there is now a considerable body of international knowledge and agreement on how forests can contribute to development."