C40-F40: Forty Cities, Forty Forests

Linking the largest cities with the world’s most socially and ecologically important forests to stop deforestation.

C40-F40: Forty Cities, Forty Forests

Innovation

With their high concentrations of people, influence and consumption, megacities have an enormous impact on climate change. By linking cities with forests - socially, economically and environmentally - C40-F40 will empower cities to protect the globe’s most important carbon stores.

C40 is a powerful network of megacities committed to combating climate change by reducing carbon emissions through changes to local policy and physical infrastructure.

Although deforestation is one of the greatest sources of carbon emissions globally, cities have not yet systematically incorporated forest conservation and management into their climate change agendas. Yet the potential for doing so is immense.

C40-F40 proposes to link the largest and most influential cities with the world’s most socially and ecologically important forests, to stop the deforestation that threatens our climate and other irreplaceable natural systems.

Based on the idea that local partnerships can lead to significant global change, this project encapsulates the power of “thinking globally, acting locally”.

PEFC and C40-F40

Through the 2017 PEFC Collaboration Fund, we are providing financial support for the pilot phase of this project.

The project will create links between 10 global cities and forest communities, leveraging urban resources and consumer power to support (financially and culturally) community and family-based sustainable forest management.

Each participating city will select a distinct forest area as a partner. Certified sustainable forest management would be a requirement, whether preexisting, or something that the city helps the forest managers to obtain.

This partnership may take the form of using sustainably sourced wood from the forest in a visible city landmark; using other non-timber forest products in the city in a sustained and creative way; or creating other forest opportunities such as ecotourism.

For example, the wooden boardwalk of the world famous Brooklyn Bridge in New York will soon need replacing. The project partners propose an innovative partnership between the people of New York City and a sustainably managed community forest in Guatemala.

New Yorkers can contribute by sponsoring the individual wooden planks that will make up the new boardwalk, while the local people managing the forest will get the financial support they need to protect the forest.

Most importantly, the C40-cities will become long-term champions of the world’s most important forests and their peoples, modelling a new type of proactive and cooperative globalization.

Based on these examples, this model will bring the issue of sustainable forest management to the forefront for many city dwellers, and create a model that can be used between forest and cities around the world.

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