Chapter 20
Old-Growth Forests in the Context of
International Environmental Agreements
Annette Freibauer
20.1 Introduction
Forests are included in several political negotiations and legal documents under the
United Nations (UN). This chapter focusses on the three most relevant and dynamic
UN political processes in the context of old-growth forests: The UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diver-
sity (CBD), and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF). Forests are also addressed by
the UN Convention on Combating Desertification and the Ramsar Convention on
wetlands.
Old-growth forests are defined by biological and ecological criteria, which differ
from the criteria and categories applied in international environmental agreements.
The absence of human impact is no clear criterion for old-growth forests. Old-
growth forests can be managed or unmanaged, and can be primary or secondary
forests (see Chap. 2, by Wirth et al., this volume).
Following the definitions in Chap. 2 of this book, old-growth forests are
characterised by
1) a relatively old age (existence of large old late-successional tree species with
ages close to their life expectancy; mean age half the lifespan of the dominat-
ing trees),
2) structural and compositional features witnessing self-replacement through
gap-phase dynamics (uneven-aged, regeneration of shade-tolerant species,
presence of canopy gaps, large snags and logs in varying stages of decay).
The question arises whether it matters in the context of international environ-
mental agreements if forests are in their late stages of succession. This chapter
summarises the present status of old-growth forests in global environmental agree-
ments and discusses promising options to include old-growth forests in future
phases of these agreements.
The following sections (1) give an introduction to the UNFCCC, CBD and
UNFF and show the role of forests in these UN political processes; (2) highlight
characteristics of old-growth forests relevant for the UNFCCC, CBD and UNFF,
C. Wirth et al. (eds.), Old‐Growth Forests, Ecological Studies 207, 451
DOI: 10.1007/978‐3‐540‐92706‐8 20, #Springer‐Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
and analyse how they are reflected in the context of the agreements; and (3) assess
how and to what extent old-growth forests could be considered in future stages of
these international environmental agreements.
20.2 Forests in UN Processes
20.2.1 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC (Article 2) is the ‘‘stabilisation of green-
house gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be
achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to
climate change , to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable
economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner’’ (UNFCCC 1992,
1997, 2002).
According to this objective, the UNFCCC addresses only anthropogenic green-
house gas emissions and abatement of adverse consequences of their emission. This
objective was interpreted by policy makers, and in the IPCC Good Practice Guid-
ance (IPCC 2004), as a restriction to managed forests. Unmanaged forests hosting
the great majority of old-growth forests are not considered in the current activities
under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. As of October 2007, 191 countries,
with some exceptions, e.g. Iraq and Somalia, have ratified the UNFCCC. Almost
the entire global forest area (99.8%) is located in signatory states of the UNFCCC.
However, it is left to the individual signatory states to define what constitutes
‘‘managed forests’’ (Ho
¨hne et al. 2007). Depending on the choice of definition of
‘‘managed forest’’, the UNFCCC addresses as much as 92% of global forests if all
types of uses are included, but down to 34% of global forests if only the production
function is included (see Table 20.1). The 24% of global forests that are used for
protection, conservation or social services (see Table 20.1) are likely to bear a
significant share of old-growth forests. These forest uses, however, can be missed
by a narrow definition of ‘‘managed forest’’ restricted to timber production.
The member countries of the UNFCCC need to submit national inventory
reports including the carbon stock changes in forests. Five ecosystem carbon
pools have to be considered unless it can be proven that a pool is not a carbon
source: Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, deadwood litter and soil. In
practice, most of the reports concentrate on biomass. This is also true for the
country reports for the FAO Forest Resource Assessment (FAO 2005; Marklund
and Schoene 2006). Changes in non-biomass carbon pools particularly relevant
for old-growth forests [cf. Chaps. 5 (Wirth and Lichstein), 6 (Harmon), and 11
(Gleixner et al.), this volume for dynamics of dead wood and soil carbon, respec-
tively] are associated with large uncertainties or are currently ignored by more
than half of the reporting countries to the FAO (Fig. 20.1).
452 A. Freibauer
Table 20.1 Forest area and its primary use in 2005 (FAO 2005)
Region Total forest area
(1,000 ha)
Production
(%)
Protection
(%)
Conservation
(%)
Social
services (%)
Multiple
purpose (%)
None or
unknown (%)
Eastern and Southern Africa 226,534 19.4 2.8 9.5 n.s. 39.0 29.1
Northern Africa 131,048 35.2 10.0 10.4 n.s. 16.8 27.7
Western and Central Africa 277,829 44.6 1.9 35.0 0.3 8.1 10.1
South and South-east Asia 283,127 42.4 20.9 20.2 0.1 13.3 3.2
Western and Central Asia 43,588 22.2 30.0 6.4 2.1 39.3 n.s.
Europe 1,001,394 73.1 9.1 3.8 2.3 10.7 1.0
Caribbean 5,974 28.1 37.0 20.2 0.1 1.4 13.3
Central America 22,411 14.8 4.8 37.8 0.2 34.6 7.8
North America 677,464 6.0 0.1 11.8 0.0 78.9 3.3
Oceania 206,254 11.0 0.2 14.4 n.s. 63.5 10.8
South America 831,540 11.6 11.3 14.4 13.7 34.6 14.5
World 3,952,025 34.1 9.3 11.2 3.7 33.8 7.8
20 Old Growth Forests in the Context of International Environmental Agreements 453
Article 4(d) of the UNFCCC commits countries to ‘‘promote sustainable man-
agement, and promote and cooperate in the conservation and enhancement, as
appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases’’ (UNFCCC 1997).
The Marrakech Accords set principles for the first commitment period under the
Kyoto Protocol (2008 2012), e.g. ‘‘that the implementation of land use, land-use
change and forestry activities contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and
sustainable use of natural resources’’ (UNFCCC 1997).
However, these principles are not legally binding. The term ‘‘sustainable use of
natural resources’’ is not defined.
The Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC 1997) sets mandatory emission limitation
targets for industrial countries. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 84
states, among which are the European Union (EU) and its Member States,
Russia, Japan, Canada, and Australia, but not the United States. The Kyoto
Protocol originally aimed at reducing emissions from fossil fuel use, but also
includes some land use options (Ho
¨hne et al. 2007). Carbon stock changes
created by afforestation, reforestation and deforestation (Article 3.3) are accounted
on a mandatory basis even though several countries opted to report other categories
of land management, such as forest management (Article 3.4). Twenty signatory
countries, including the Russian Federation, Japan and many EU member states, but
not Canada, have decided to account for forest management. These countries host
25% of the global forest area; 72% of these forests are used primarily for produc-
tion, 13% for multiple purposes, 9% for protection, 4% for conservation, and 2% for
social services (FAO 2005). It can be expected that most, if not all of the forest area
in these countries will be included in the national accounting under the Kyoto
Protocol.
Fig. 20.1 Response rate (in %) for carbon reporting by countries to the Food and Agriculture
Organization Forest Resources Assessment (FAO FRA) 2005 (FAO 2005). Adapted from
Marklund and Schoene (2006)
454 A. Freibauer
20.2.2 Convention on Biological Diversity
The objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD (Article 1) are ‘‘...
the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and
the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic
resources ...’’ (CBD 1992). Among other means, the objectives shall be achieved
via national strategies, plans and programmes for the conservation and sustainable
use of biological diversity (Article 6), and in situ conservation, e.g. by national
systems of protected areas (Article 8).
The 2010 Biodiversity Target with various Focal Areas, Goals and Targets was
decided together with indicators of success. As of April 2009, the CBD has 9
member countries, excluding e.g. Brunei Darussalam, Iraq, Somalia and the United
States. Ninety-two percent of the global forest area is located in member countries
of the CBD.
The CBD addresses all managed and unmanaged forests and urges its parties to
apply the principles of the ecosystem approach. Forest ecosystems receive special
attention under the CBD via the working programmes on forest biodiversity and on
protected areas. Forest protected areas do not exclude commercial use.
Even more than the UNFCCC, the implementation of the CBD relies on the
intentions of individual signatory states to act because the CBD has no international
compliance regime. In Europe, cooperation among countries for forest biodiversity
is fostered by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe
(MCPFE) as well as by the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity
Strategy (PEBLDS).
The synthesis of progress reported in the third national reports to the CBD
shows that among all ecosystem types, forests have received the greatest attention
(CBD-WGRI 2007b). The thematic programme of work on forest biodiversity has
been implemented with high priority by almost 70% of the reporting countries,
sometimes even with quantitative national targets for total forest area, the increases
in forest area, and protected areas coverage (CBD-WGRI 2007b, 2007a). Forest
biodiversity targets have been integrated into forestry and development plans.
Measures for forest protection, rehabilitation, restoration, conservation of
threatened species, taxonomic research and activities, sustainable forest manage-
ment and reforestation, and improving the knowledge basis have been introduced
by 94% of the reporting countries. Many countries have established protected forest
area networks (CBD-WGRI 2007a). However, it has to be noted that the reports on
which the synthesis was based are voluntary and reports are not reviewed. There are
no criteria to substantiate, quantify or compare progress among countries, thus,
despite the large number actions described, the high amount of attention paid to
forest ecosystems does not necessarily equate to significant progress in the protec-
tion of forests.
20 Old Growth Forests in the Context of International Environmental Agreements 455