21 March 2011: Nineteen forest policies from 16 countries have been nominated for this year’s Future Policy Award, which is granted by The World Future Council in collaboration with the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF).

Organized in the framework of the International Year of Forests, up to three winning policies will be announced on 21 September 2011, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The announcement will be followed by an awards ceremony, co-hosted by the UNFF and CBD Secretariats, the World Future Council and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Nominations include policies from Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia, Guatemala, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, India, Indonesia, Rwanda, Turkey, the US and Vietnam. They have been submitted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the CBD Secretariat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and others. [CBD/World Future Council/UNFF Press Release]