The XIII World Forestry Congress, themed “Forests in Development: A Vital Balance,” attracted over 7,000 participants to Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 18-23 October 2009.

Participants convened in daily plenaries; roundtables on forests and energy, forests and climate change, investment and finance and a business round; over 60 thematic parallel technical sessions; seven poster sessions; and numerous side events.
The main outcome of the Congress, besides the broad interchange of ideas among participants, was a declaration from the WFC outlining nine findings and 27 strategic actions through which the “vital balance between forests and development can be improved;” and a message from the organizers to the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 15) calling for urgent action on, inter alia, the promotion of sustainable forest management and recognition that forests are more than just carbon, the need to address climate change mitigation and adaptation concurrently, the improvement of monitoring and assessment techniques, and inter-sectoral cooperation.
Links to further information
IISD RS coverage
World Forestry Congress website