9 April 2013: Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), conducted an interview with the UN News Centre highlighting expectations for the tenth session of the UNFF (UNFF10), which is convening under the theme, ‘forests and economic development.’

In her interview, McAlpine stresses the complexity of forests and their multiple functions in wealth and income generation, and how they can increase resilience to shocks. McAlpine notes that this complexity is one of the elements driving deforestation and forest degradation.

She states that while the cash benefits from forests are often well recognized, the non-cash benefits, estimated at three times the value of cash benefits, tend to be overlooked. McAlpine suggests that if the full values of forests were counted, their value would likely be billions more than currently understood by policy makers and economists.

Finally, McAlpine points out that the two major expected outcomes of UNFF10 include recognition of the links between forests and economic development, and the need for forest financing.

The UNFF10 is the first ever UNFF session held outside UN Headquarters. It will run from 8-19 April 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey. [UN Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage UNFF10]