Bulletin Issue 44 – March 2001
THE FOCUS OF THIS ISSUE: Biodiversity, forests and people
Biodiversity loss constitutes a major threat to millions of people throughout the world and particularly in the tropics, where peoples’ livelihoods strongly depend on forests and their biodiversity. At the same time, the increasing loss of biodiversity and forests puts a question mark on humanity’s future on Earth. The fact that the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Scientific Body (SBSTTA) has recently addressed the forest issue provides a good opportunity to highlight the problem seeking for solutions. We have therefore focused this WRM Bulletin on the problem, looking at it from different perspectives and particularly on how biodiversity loss affects people at the local level, who are in fact protecting –in many cases against their governments– what governments have committed themselves to protect.