世界自然保育聯盟（IUCN）科學家19日在布宜諾艾利斯召開的世界林業大會中抨擊，「多年來森林議題始終卡在聯合國內部的會議中得不到重視，因為氣候變遷問題，現在終於端上了國際談判的檯面。」
IUCN副執行長傑克森博士（Dr. William Jackson）於會中指出，全球森林覆蓋率持續下降所造成的後果，涵蓋了社會、經濟與生態層面──熱帶地區尤其如此。不過，由於全球暖化問題獲得相當的重視，他也看到了森林的一線曙光。他表示，基於氣候變遷發生之快速，不管窮國與富國，沒有國家經得起忽視森林的代價，「我們必須把握時機，推動永續的森林經營管理，為那些仰賴森林維生的民眾尋求永續的生存條件。」目前，森林砍伐約貢獻了20%的全球溫室氣體排放；而停止森林流失，已是公認最符合成本效益的氣候變遷控制措施。
世界林業大會由聯合國糧農組織（FAO）林業部所舉行，自1926年在羅馬舉辦以來，每6、7年由不同國家輪流主辦一次，今年已是第13屆，由智利負責主辦，從19日起為期一週，吸引來自160個國家約4500名代表與會。
本屆大會主題是「森林發展──不可或缺的平衡」（Forests in development - a vital balance），大會安排了專題演講、工作坊、座談會，並搭配海報展、展覽攤位、讀書會、技術導覽等周邊活動，讓與會者充分就主題交換個人經驗。
「2020年森林零淨砍伐目標」也成了一項主要倡議。世界自然基金會（WWF）森林議題召急人泰勒（Rodney Taylor）於會中極力提倡此目標，希望與會者支持。他說這目標「所設定的規模和節奏，是因應危機、維持地球健全所必要的。」
所謂「零淨砍伐」（zero net deforestation），並非指完全不伐木，而是指利用林地復育、或是在條件惡化的土地上造林等方式，彌補損失的森林地。泰勒說，WWF希望設定一個全球行動的目標年，以避免氣候變遷的危害，並遏止生物多樣性流失。「現在正是達成共識的契機，林業部門可藉此協助溫室氣體排放不再增長、並儘快達到2050年減排80%的目標。不過，這是全球性目標，唯有大家一起行動才辦得到。」他進一步表示，「透過森林保育與林地永續利用，林業部門扮演了重要角色，但與農業、能源、金融部門的整合也非常關鍵，如此才能形塑永續的土地利用政策與規劃。」
泰勒指出，儘管人們已採取保育行動，森林砍伐的速度仍令人擔憂，目前每年約損失1300萬公頃的林地，相當於每分鐘損失36座美式足球場。
他認為，森林淨零砍伐的目標「仍保留許多土地利用規劃上的彈性，而森林的質、量與碳密度（carbon density），在此目標下也會顧及到。」
此外，承諾此目標的政府應加強推行REDD（降低毀林及森林惡化所導致的碳排放，Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation）。REDD是一項全球性的機制，提供財務上的誘因，讓人們更願意保育森林而不加以砍伐。「透過REDD提供的財務誘因，富國可提供發展中國家資金支持，助其遏止森林砍伐。」泰勒認為，「所有政府都應該支持REDD，承認這是一種可信的機制，讓其納入2012年後京都聯合國氣候協議，作為補償溫室氣體排放的一種減量形式。」（編按：2012後京都聯合國氣候協議，即指年底於哥本哈根展開談判的新協議，作為承接京都議定書2012年到期後的國際溫室氣體減排共識。）
付錢保護熱帶雨林，將數十億噸的碳儲存其中，不只可保護氣候，也保護了許多瀕危野生動物如紅毛猩猩與侏儒象（pygmy elephant）等。
最早將生物多樣性保育與溫室氣體減排連結在一起並提出證據的其中一份研究，出自澳洲大學生物學家溫特（Oscar Venter）的報告，這份研究刊登在6月的同儕審查期刊《保育文獻》（Conservation Letters），其中說明了保護哺乳類動物多樣性與透過森林保育減碳的關連性。
溫特呼籲，「此刻，我們認為保護森林在生物多樣性與氣候上的雙重效益，並未受到應有的重視，我們希望看到政策討論進度能跟上科學的腳步。」
"Climate change has catapulted forests onto the international agenda after years of languishing in the dusty corridors of UN meetings," Dr. William Jackson told the World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires today.
Deputy Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, Dr. Jackson said the continued global decline in forest area and quality, particularly in the tropics, has serious social, economic and ecological consequences. But he sees hope for forests in the urgency of tackling global warming.
Given the rate at which climate change is happening, no country, rich or poor, can afford to neglect its forests, Jackson told conference delegates at La Rural exhibition center. "We must seize this moment to promote the sustainable management of forests and to develop sustainable livelihoods for the people who depend on forests."
Deforestation generates about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and halting forest loss has been identified as one of the most cost-effective ways to help the world forestall runaway climate change.
The week-long 13th World Forestry Congress, organized by the government of Argentina in collaboration with the Forestry Department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, has attracted some 4,500 participants from more than 160 countries.
The first World Forestry Congress was held in Rome in 1926 and the gathering has since taken place every six or seven years in different host countries.
The speeches, workshops, round-table discussions, poster presentations, parallel events, exhibits, study and technical tours provide a forum for the exchange of personal experiences and for discussions on topics related to the conference theme, "Forests in development - a vital balance."
WWF International's Forests Director Rodney Taylor urged Congress participants to support a global target of zero net deforestation by 2020, a target that "sets the scale and urgency with which these threats need to be tackled to maintain the health of the planet."
Zero net deforestation does not mean zero deforestation but acknowledges that some forest loss could be offset by forest restoration and afforestation on degraded lands.
WWF is proposing this global benchmark for action on forests to avoid dangerous climate change and curb biodiversity loss, Taylor said.
"This is an opportunity to build consensus on how the forest sector can help achieve an early peak of greenhouse gas emissions and a rapid 80 percent decline in emission levels by 2050," Taylor said. "But this is a global target, and we can only do it together."
"The forest sector, for its part, can contribute through the conservation and sustainable use of forests, but the foresters cannot do it alone," Taylor said. "The integration of other sectors, particularly agriculture, energy and finance, is key for formulating sustainable land-use policies and planning processes."
Despite conservation efforts, deforestation continues at an alarming rate - 13 million hectares (50,193 square miles) per year, or 36 football fields a minute, Taylor said.
He says a zero net target "leaves room for change in the configuration of the land-use mosaic, provided the net quantity, quality and carbon density of forests is maintained."
In particular, governments must bolster this commitment by backing the REDD mechanism. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing Countries, REDD, is a mechanism to provide financial incentives on a global scale to conserve forests rather than convert them.
"Rich countries can provide funds to support developing countries in their efforts to curb deforestation, through REDD initiatives," Taylor said. "All governments should support the inclusion of a REDD mechanism as a credible and compensated form of emissions reductions within a post-2012 UN climate treaty."
Paying to conserve billions of tons of carbon stored in tropical forests could not only protect the climate, but also protect orangutans, pygmy elephants, and other wildlife at risk of extinction, according to a study published in June in the peer-reviewed journal "Conservation Letters." Authored by Oscar Venter, a biologist at Autralia's University of Queensland, it is one of the first to offer quantitative evidence linking the drive to reduce carbon emissions from forests with the push to preserve threatened mammal biodiversity.
"We now need to see policy discussions catch up with the science, because at the moment the potential cobenefits of linking forest protection to biodiversity are not getting the attention they deserve," said Venter.
