The XIV World Forestry Congress, the largest gathering of the world's forest sector which takes place every six years, was held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2015. The event brought together over 4000 participants from 142 countries to discuss topics such as the links between forests and climate change and the role of forests for building resilience.

The Congress’ central document, the ‘Durban Declaration’, spells out the cornerstones of a ‘2050 Vision for Forests and Forestry’. It emphasize that “forests are more than trees” and essential to building a sustainable future. The necessity to mainstream forests and forestry issues across governmental policies and sectors, with an eye on gender equality and adequate tenure arrangements, is also reiterated in an adjunct message directed at delegates at the UN General Assembly and other international bodies and processes.

Next to emphasizing that sustainable development needs to go hand in hand with forest management, the Congress also highlighted that forests are essential to mitigate climate change. In the ‘Message on Climate Change’ several points are raised on how forests can contribute to the new climate change regime which will be negotiated at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Paris this December. Forest ecosystems are a crucial ‘carbon sink’ in which more carbon is locked up than is in the atmosphere. Thus, reducing deforestation and forest degradation can contribute substantially to the target of keeping global warming under 2°C.

The number of people worldwide who depend on forests and trees for balanced diets and incomes amounts to about one billion, and  millions more rely on forest goods and services for the direct provision of food, wood fuel, building materials, medicines, employment and cash revenue.

Yet, deforestation and forest degradation severely threaten people’s livelihoods and food security, both caused by and intensifying conflicts over land and natural resource extraction. For instance in Cambodia, in the course of unsustainable development policies by the government, inhabited forest land is privatized and new owners are allowed to clear the land in order to start industrial agricultural activities. While boosting a countries’ agricultural production, such policies strap smallholder farmers and indigenous people off their livelihoods.

Changes in forest governance thus need to be designed thoroughly. The recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework to manage forests sustainably. However, limited capacities are a major challenge in the way of translating them into practice, an issue that was debated in several Congress sessions. Transforming the Congress’ bold objectives into concrete policy changes is also a key demand by civil society organizations. Among others, the contested issue of counting (monoculture) plantations as afforestation reminds of the fact that a difficult road lies ahead of those working for forestry practices that sustainably account for both ecosystems and people’s livelihoods.