So, funny story.  We have a World Environment Day.  Well, we had one: it was June 5th this year.  (At least India didn’t miss out: an entire week of festivities began yesterday, mingling cultural activities with enthusiastic speeches about India’s Green Economy future.)

The other big news is that UNEP, the United Nations Environment Program (yes, we have one of those, too!), has just released its Forests in a Green Economy report.  Full text is available here.

The state of the forests has the potential to be strong.  Over 1,600,000,000 people worldwide depend on forests for their livelihood… but 5,200,000 hectares of forest are cut down every year.  The numbers are alarming, especially since the number of people in the world is only growing–that’s a link to a cool population clock, by the way.

What’s the unequivocal good news?  Forests are one of ten sectors that the UN recognizes as vital components of the shift to a greener, less carbon-y future.  (The other sectors are shown here.)  In fact, the entire report focuses on providing “recommendations to radically transform the forest sector such that it can lead to sustainable development and poverty eradication.”

The report lists forest success stories (in India, Nepal, and Ecuador) and applauds businesses for doing exactly what Parisleaf does: investing in forests.

But apparently the best thing that’s happened to Florida forests recently is rain.  Is anyone else enjoying this smoke-free evening?

India's Betla National Forest