#intlforestday

🌲✨ Celebrate the International Day of Forests with us! 🌳✨

This year’s International Day of Forests 2023 celebration in New York aims to highlight how forests sustain all aspects of our health, from cleaning our air and water to providing us with essential food, fuel, medicines and income.

Watch the event live on https://webtv.un.org/ on 21 March from 10 am, EST.

IUFRO's Global Forest Expert Panel (GFEP) on Forests and Human Health will host a webinar on March 21, where they will discuss the key messages of their latest assessment. There is growing evidence that nature, particularly forests, contributes to physical and mental well-being and can notably improve human health.

Webinar: Expert Panel on Forests and Human Health.

The United Nations estimates that less than half of the global population is covered by essential health services. Adding to the low rate of coverage, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused further healthcare disruptions that could reverse decades of improvements. Moreover, in recent years, there has been a surge in zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Malaria, and the avian flu, and illness and deaths from such diseases are expected to spike in the future. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can strengthen the momentum for combatting these pressing challenges. The third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3) aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Several studies have concluded that nature, particularly forests, contribute to physical and mental well-being and can notably improve human health. Forests can act as a buffer that maintains well-being, provides resources (e.g., food and medicine) and services such as air purification or recreation, especially in urban areas, potentially reducing exposure to environmental diseases and other hazards. However, the relationship between forests and human health is complex, as evidence also shows that forest proximate communities are more prone to zoonotic and infectious diseases, which are often exacerbated by forest degradation and encroachment.

Consequently, in July 2021, IUFRO initiated a global scientific assessment on forests and human health in the frame of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF)'s Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) initiative. The assessment will provide reliable and synthesized scientific information, crucial to efficiently utilize the synergies and achieve optimal trade-offs between human health, and the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of forest ecosystems, their biodiversity (including wildlife), as well as trees in other land-uses. The report and the accompanying policy brief will also present response options relevant to the policy context at various levels.

Join the Mediterranean Youth Task Force (MYTF) of Silva Mediterranea and the World Food Forum on 23 March at 16.30-17.30 CET for the webinar in honour of the International Day of Forests. This session aims to showcase the restorative and therapeutic potential of forests in our fast-paced and stressful world. Keynote speaker Professor Laura Secco will present on forests and health, followed by presentations from young researchers Dr. Aynur Mammadova and Aisling Sealy Phelan from the University of Padova.

Online webinar: From trees to wellness: how forests benefit our mind and body

The School of Forest Sciences, the Bolivian Youth Community of WWF, and the Forest and Environmental Communicators Network of Latin America will organize two events in celebration of the international Day of forests 2023. The first will be a series of educational activities at Parque Demetrio Canelas from 9.00-13.00 in Cochabamba. The second event is a talk on the role of forests in human health and well-being, held at Casona Santivañes from 18.30-20.30, Cochabamba.