The United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests.
It has invited governments, organisations and individuals to do all they can to raise public awareness of the key role of forests and sustainable forest management in building a greener, more equitable and sustainable future.
The Forestry Commission is pleased to play its part and will make a full contribution to the UK’s response. Our programme of educational, community and recreational events throughout the year will be used to highlight the Year of Forests and we are planning many more projects and events throughout 2011.
Our participation in IYF
Scotland
Forestry Commission Scotland has prepared an events led programme of events and projects to celebrate Scotland's Trees, Woods and Forests. This includes both new and existing events and projects which are undertaken in woodlands, support the education of Woodlands and increase the value and awareness of timber products. A small grant awards scheme has been established to support events and projects in the private sector. Scotland will also host the European Forum for Urban Forestry Annual Conference , in Glasgow, June.
We are currently running a number of new projects and initiatives including:
• National Tree Collection for Scotland
• A Forester exchange project to promote best practice
• An arts based project to raise the importance of our native
Gaelic Culture and Forestry.
• International Forestry Conference run by CIFAL in Inverness September
Further information www.forestry.gov.uk/iyfscotland2011
England
Forestry Commission England is celebrating the International Year of Forests throughout 2011 by raising awareness of forests and woodlands throughout the country and making links from local to global forests.
To celebrate the year we have organised events throughout the year across England.
On September 11th we are holding a ‘Forest Discovery Day’ across all of our major sites. This will raise awareness of local forests, the range of activities available and give people a chance to meet rangers and understand multi purpose forestry better. At 2pm we will hold a mass tree hug across the country.
We have tailored our school education programme to include International Year of Forests messages. We have produced a self led International Year of Forests themed ‘family fun’ trail leaflet. It is available at woodlands throughout England and on websites for anyone to download and use at their local woodland.
In April we will launch our free ForestXplorer Iphone app, enabling people to find and explore key Forestry Commission sites from their phone. It will also have a tree identifier to help people learn more from their woodland visit.
We have set up new partnerships to deliver International Year of Forests objectives, including working with FSC and WWF to raise awareness of sustainable timber messages and international forests. We are working with Sky to bring the rainforest to local forests and we will be hosting a roadshow of their rainforest rescue ‘interactive pod’ across four sites during the summer.
We will be twinning the New Forest with a rainforest, comparing and contrasting how both areas are managed and how much we rely on them for our survival, whether at home or overseas.
To make forests relevant to people we are supporting ‘Love forests’ (www.loveforests.com). This is a fun and engaging way of linking local and global forests and demonstrating the connection between trees and forest products. The public are asked to sign up to pledges to support forests ranging from buying toilet roll with the FSC logo to planting a tree.
More information is available at www.forestry.gov.uk/englandiyf
Wales
Forestry Commission Wales will run a series of visits around Wales from Monday 3rd Oct to Friday 7th October which will be marketed as IYF and will arrange the associated PR around these.
We will also provide funding to Forest Education Initiative cluster groups. £250 will be available to each cluster to run an IYF celebration event from Saturday 1st October to Sunday 9th October.
www.forestry.gov.uk/wales
Forest Research
Forest Research has been working with Forestry Commission Scotland and other partners to organise three events based at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh which aim to engage the public and provide an overview of the major issues facing forestry at the moment. We have also contributed to an interactive teacher resource pack designed for use with primary school pupils aged 10 to 12 in England, Scotland and Wales. This pack, 'Forests for the Future: a resource investigating trees, forests and climate change', is the product of a partnership between the Crown Estates, Forestry Commission Scotland, Forestry Commission England (Westonbirt), the Royal Highland Education Trust, Farming & Countryside Education, and Forest Research.
