(openPR) - Forestry Research Associates has announced its support for the forestry research program revealed by The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research at the Durban UN Climate Change Conference this week.

Bainbridge Island, WA, December 15, 2011 - Forestry Research Associates (FRA) has announced its support for the forestry research program revealed by The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at the Durban UN Climate Change Conference this week.

The 10-year, $233 million project is intended to help protect forests, and the communities that rely upon them, for years to come. The project will from part of the UN’s attempts to protect forests as a source of valuable carbon absorption.

FRA, a research and consultancy organization with a focus on forestry investment and sustainability, said it was pleased to hear that more investment will go into the protecting this important industry. The CGIAR said that the initial three years of the research program will focus on agroforestry, with collaboration with the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, the Kenya-based World Agroforestry Centre and Indonesia-based CIFOR.

Forests have come to be known as natural and valuable carbon sinks, with some analysts claiming the are responsible to sequestering up to a third of carbon emissions worldwide. As a result, nations are increasingly considering safeguarding forests as one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing climate change.

FRA’s analysis partner, Peter Collins said, “We are hoping that this research projects will give the governments of the developing world even more of a reason to value standing forests as much as the timber they produce.”

Frances Seyfour of the Centre for International Forest Research said that the issues surrounding sustainable forestry go even deeper than this, due to their impact on communities in developing nations. He explained, "We urgently need a strong and sustained effort focused on forest management and governance, given the crucial role of forests in confronting some of the most important challenges of our time: climate change, poverty and food security.”

"Otherwise, we risk the further impoverishment of the billion people who depend on forests and trees for their livelihoods, continued carbon emissions from forest destruction and degradation that already are a significant source of greenhouse gases, and loss of ecosystem services crucial to sustained agricultural productivity,” he concluded.

Contact:
Peter Collins
Forestry Research Associates
620 Vineyard Lane
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
(206) 316 8394
info@forestry-research.com
www.forestry-research.com