In defining plantations as forest, FAO attracts criticism
What’s in a definition? For some, too much. Nearly 200 organizations have signed an open letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, calling for the agency to change how they define “forest” – the very landscape honored today on International Day of Forests. FAO’s definition is too inclusive, writes the World Rainforest Movement, the non-profit that authored the letter. “There is an urgent need for the FAO to stop misrepresenting industrial tree plantations as ‘planted forests’ or ‘forestry’… This deliberate confusion of tree plantations with forests is misleading people, because forests in general are viewed as something positive and beneficial,” WRM writes. Tree plantations do not provide the same benefits as forests, they argue, and should be removed from the agency’s definition–“the most widely used forest definition today,” according to a study.
