International Year of Forests

According to World Bank estimates, more than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods with some 300 million living in them.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that every year 130,000 km2 of the world's forests are lost due to deforestation.

On 9 February 2011, deputy director-general of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Ann Tutwiler, and Assistant Director-General of the Forestry Department, Eduardo Rojas-Briales, launch the 2011 edition of the FAO flagship publication State of the World’s Forests (SOFO).

[2] Hon Carter said, "They [forests] are an integral part of our natural resource-based economy, they provide a range of environmental benefits, and they have cultural significance".

[4] This contest is an effort to increase awareness of and appreciation for all types of forests, urban and rural, large and small, public and privately owned, across the state.

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil
Woodsy Owl and Smokey Bear give each other a fist bump at the International Year of Forests celebration for U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, on Friday, 3 June 2011 in the patio of the Whitten Building , Washington, D.C.