Delegates at the two-day Forest Investment Forum in Washington heard that the world must act now to implement sustainable forest management.
Worldwide losses to illegal logging reached US$10bn annually and the forum pledged to increase responsible forest investment in developing countries and economies-in-transition and made a global call for an end to illegal logging.
The forum is made up of sponsoring organisations including the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the World Wildlife Fund and the World Bank, and the gathering included representatives of multinational forest companies, governments, ministries, international development and financial institutions and environmental organisations.
World Bank vice-president for sustainable development Ian Johnson warned that inaction was not an option and that steps must be taken to preserve forests worldwide.
The forum estimated that around 1.6 billion people worldwide depended on forests for their livelihoods and another 60 million depended on forests for their subsistence.
Forest resources also represent a survival base for between 200-300 million small farmers worldwide.
