The Conference on the Contributions of Forests to a Green Economy opened today at the Municipal Hall Bad Godesberg in Bonn, Germany. In attendance were representatives of governments, the private sectors, civil society and intergovernmental organizations.

Opening the conference, State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, said the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) should create a viable roadmap to a green economy that includes changes in land use and combatting deforestation. Conference Co-Chair Everton Vieira Vargas, Ambassador of Brazil to Germany, said processes and actions since the 1992 Earth Summit clarified the complexity of protecting forests. Jan McAlpine, Director, UN Forum for Forests (UNFF), described the activities of the International Year of Forests and said there has been enormous change in approach and vision to forests at the policy and operational level since the 1992 Summit. Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Conservation International, Costa Rica, delivered a keynote address that described Costa Rica's experiences with innovative policies and economic instruments affecting forests while providing ecosystem services.

After the opening ceremony, two thematic panels were held: one on "Current contributions of forests to economic development and the role of the forest sector in the transition towards a Green Economy," and the second on "Potentials of forests: meeting multiple demands." The keynote for the first was delivered by Sten Nilsson, Keynote Speaker, Forest Sector Insights AB, Sweden, former Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the keynote for the second by Sunita Narain, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India.

In the afternoon participants divided into four thematic working groups for detailed discussions: "Forest valuation and financing"; "Institutions, governance and stakeholders"; "Benefiting people"; and "Technology transfer, capacity building, bio-based products and the role of the private sector."

In the evening a reception was hosted by the German Government at Godesburg Castle, with an address by Parliamentary State Secretary Peter Bleser, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.