International Year of Forests

The United Nations proclaimed 2011 “international year of forests”, to sensitize the populations of the world on the importance of sustainable management and conservation of forests. Major forest countries, the France will mobilize to celebrate this international event through demonstrations aimed at publicizing its action and commitment.

Forests are a crucial issue for the life of the planet. An integral part of sustainable global development, forests have an impact on the existence of 1.6 billion people worldwide. They are a natural resource, are sources of economic activities, and as ecosystems, they are essential to the balance of the planet: mitigation of climate change, impacts on water quality, biodiversity protection, limitation of erosion or reduced risk in mountain… For all these reasons United Nations decided to 2011 year of forests.

The forest, an asset for the France

In France, the forest area increased by half since 1950. Today the forests cover 30% of the territory, constituting a major asset for the French economy, particularly in rural areas. The French forest-wood chain has 425 000 jobs or twice more than the automotive industry, and generates a turnover of EUR 40 billion.

Facts and figures on the French forest:

13% wooded area de l’Union européenne, 15 3 million hectares in Metropolis (28.3% of the territory), including 10.6 million hectares of private forest and 4.7 million hectares of public forests, 7, 7 million hectares of tropical forests in the 4 overseas departments, including 98% in the only French Guiana (Amazon), 9 122 nature reserves and national parks the France is the third European country to its forest after the Sweden and the Finland surface.

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