TakingITGlobal

Forests and Land Use We demand that governments enact the following policies and take the necessary steps to ensure the preservation of the world's forests: • Create legal, institutional, and financial frameworks that incentivize the preservation of forested lands. • Acknowledge the importance of species bio-diversity and recognize the sociocultural importance of forests, especially to indigenous peoples. • Protect our land by creating national parks and enforcing the preservation of our natural resources. Forests are environmentally and culturally essential to our world. All states and peoples have an important role to play in protecting our forest ecosystems. Forests serve as a valuable carbon sink, reducing excess carbon in our atmosphere. Deforestation not only contributes to a feedback cycle of increased atmospheric carbon, it also destroys global biodiversity and the sociocultural elements of humanity linked to forests, such as recreation, ecotourism, and traditional cultural practices. Globally, forests around the world cover 31% of land area. To protect these forests, and the diversity of species that live within them, students from South Africa suggest that governments adopt a law that stipulates for every 15 sq. km. of new agricultural land, 10 trees must be planted. This practice aims to balance economic growth and agricultural production with environmental stewardship and species protection. Similarly, students from Sweden propose the global introduction of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) to acknowledge the financial value of carbon stored in forested lands and to incentivize the preservation of this essential biome. Forest preservation strategies such as tree planting and REDD+ should be practiced globally, with adaptations specific to each country. A major issue that has arisen throughout many countries, including Canada and Brazil, is contention between the government and indigenous groups over the use of traditional lands. The land in question is often used for the implementation of energy technologies, including both renewable and nonrenewable energy (e.g. hydroelectric dams and fossil fuel resource extraction).Through the construction of such projects on sacred sites, traditional landowners' wishes are not being respected. Young people believe that in order to facilitate effective land management in these situations, all stakeholders must be represented in the decision making process. "We believe that before corporations begin development on culturally and biologically sensitive lands, it is critical that the proposed development site is first assessed by both the developer and all the stakeholders." (Canada)

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