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Early in the year WWF helped launch the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) trademark. This logo is now available on a small, but growing, number of timber products which have been certified as coming from well-managed forests. WWF is now working with over a hundred businesses around the world to help them source timber products from well managed forests, certified through the FSC. In June, WWF hosted a Forests for Life conference in Brussels to promote forest certification in Europe. Nearly 400 delegates, including many businesses and Members of the European Parliament took part to celebrate the 'take off' of certification in Europe. A second certification conference was held by WWF-Japan in Tokyo in September 1996. This WWF conference proposed forest certification as a mechanism through which Japan can lighten its footprint on the world's forests. During 1996 the strength of collaboration between WWF and the IUCN (World Conservation Union) grew. As well as managing a joint programme of work, WWF and IUCN have produced a first Forest Policy Book. I commend anyone interested in forest conservation to obtain and read this book. WWF, in collaboration with the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), launched the first WWF World Forest Map in September in Geneva at a key meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests. This unique map shows the current extent of the world's forests and that 94% are still unprotected. Simultaneously, around the world, the map was distributed through the WWF network and displayed on the WWF web site. WWF has also increased its level of collaboration with indigenous peoples. Having signed an accord with the International Alliance of Indigenous Peoples from the Tropical Forests, WWF produced a position paper supporting their rights. At the launch of the WWF Living Planet campaign on 1 October, the President of the Russian Republic of Sakha announced a 'gift to the earth', pledging to set aside for permanent protection an area of 70 million hectares of boreal forests, representing over 2% of the world's entire forest area. However, the earth's forests suffered considerable setbacks during the year. News broke in August that the annual rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon had increased by over 34% since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Also during 1996, the impact of transnational logging companies has become much more severe. Large forest tracts in countries which had previously been 'safe' from destruction are now being targeted by these international loggers. WWF, with the help of the European Commission, is now turning its attention to investigate and report on this issue. I would like to thank each and every one who has helped to make progress in forest conservation possible. It inspires me to see that so many people care about the world's forests and the people that depend on them.
Dr Claude Martin
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C O N T E N T S ---->
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