Forests Asia Summit 2014

For past years, most people in the world have been using non sustainable practices to manage environment which lead to environmental damage and unsustainability condition. Global climate change, water pollution, food insecurity, unsustainable soil use and more damage happens continuously with even no glance to stop as the impacts of past practices. As the result, today’s generation has to receive impacts and realize an action in order to create sustainable future, to let future generation have their needs met. Changing the old practices is one of ways to solve the problems, and Sustainable Landscaping is coming up to be the silver lining of all.

The summit concerned to the themes related landscape approach, which integrates land based sectors of forestry, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, mining, and urban land use to arrange sustainable development program in achieving sustainable future. To address those goals, the summit lifted up five main themes, there were governance and legal frameworks to promote sustainable landscapes; investing in landscapes to promote green returns; climate change and low-emissions development on the ground; forest landscapes for food and biodiversty; and changing communities, sustainable landscapes, adn equitable development. The President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also attended this summit as keynote speaker in the opening plenary. As representative of goverment, he delivered about forest protection and urged regional goverment, business and International forestry organisations to embrace initiatives to promote sustainable forestry. He also asked for his successor to extend the moratorium on clearing forest and peat swaps for plantations and other agricultural plantation purposes in Indonesia.

YOUTH SESSION

The Summit also gave opportunity for youth to deliver their idea by conducting a Youth session, which had been held in the first day (May 5th). The youth session was good media for delivering youth opinion regarding to what youth need to do in solving global problems. In this session, youth were divided into 5 groups with different theme. They need to discuss the issues that were given to them by youth moderaors, seek for solutions then give recommendation. For example in climate change’s group, participants discussed about what skill actually youth need to have in addressing climate change. In the end of session, the moderators took conclusion and presented in the forum. The recommendation, concusion and commitment among youth which were resulted in the session were brought to Closing Plennary, in which there also representatives of government, private sector and NGO. Youth in Forests Asia Summit were represented by Sarah Dickson-Hoyle from IFSA. In her speech, Sarah delivered that youth should also have a say in Forestry Education discussion. She also called on the organizers to have youth in all panels and discussion rather than separate them to Youth Session.