Old-Growth Forests in the Context of International Environmental Agreements

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) are the most important international environmental agreements to include forests. Old-growth forests are not an official forest category in these agreements, thus there is no direct support for the conservation of old-growth forests in international policy, nor is there a globally accepted international forest policy. Nevertheless, negotiations under UN conventions include mechanisms that could indirectly support the conservation of old-growth forests in the future. Under the UNFCCC, a new mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics could help conserve forests with high carbon stocks. A global network of forest protected areas is being discussed under the CBD. However, old-growth forests will be conserved only when international environmental agreements are implemented by individual countries through national and local action.