LONDON -- The historic Palace of St. James, a landmark in the heart of urban London, might seem an odd place for a meeting on global forestry.
Yet the Palace, which remains the statutory seat of royal sovereignty (ambassadors to Great Britain are still accredited to its court), stands at the middle of the diplomatic circle in London, a city which itself is a world center of business, financial, religious and intellectual enterprise.
And inasmuch as man and his activities today pose the greatest menace to the world's forests, it is to those circles that appeals for forest preservation must be made.
That was the thinking behind the 1994 World Forestry Charter Gathering, which sought not only to stimulate governments and decision-makers to go beyond the Forest Principles adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, but also to help in supplying a sense of moral and spiritual urgency to the task of preserving and protecting the world's forests.
Held on 28 July at St. James's Palace, the Gathering featured a major address on forestry by HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who is president of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and a talk by Madame Mary Rabbání, a leading dignitary in the Bahá'í Faith who has also long been an ardent environmentalist.
In his speech, the Duke of Edinburgh called for the adoption of a legally binding Global Forestry Convention. He said such a Convention must set fair and common rules for international trade and competition in timber products so that the unrestrained exploitation of the world's forests can be limited.
"The basis for such a convention must be that the rules for international trade and competition in timber and timber-products must be the same for all," said the Duke of Edinburgh. "Governments must come to accept that any variation of national rules in order to make their forestry industry more competitive in the international market is completely unacceptable. It is up to the international community to decide how best to regulate the market so as to ensure that it is fair to all producers."
Madame Rabbání urged greater efforts to teach children and youth about the need to protect and revere the earth. "What we really need is greater love for the planet," she said. "I hope all of us can find ways to help the planet, to help preserve our priceless mother earth for future generations."
Patterned after the historic World Forestry Charter Gatherings convened in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s by the late Richard St. Barbe Baker, the 1994 Gathering was organized by the Bahá'í International Community, with support from the International Tree Foundation, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In attendance this year were some 160 ambassadors, businesspeople and representatives from non-governmental organizations from more than 30 countries. The format was that of a diplomatic luncheon, opening with a reception, then speeches, and finally a private dinner with the Duke of Edinburgh.
Some seventeen governments sent official messages to the Gathering. Among them, eight heads of state or government themselves sent statements: Argentine President Carlos Menem; Brazilian President Itamar Franco; Israeli President Ezer Weizmann; Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi; Romanian President Ion Iliescu; United Kingdom Prime Minister John Major; United States President Bill Clinton; and Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera.
Many of the messages stressed the essential interdependence of the world's ecological system and the need for a common effort to protect forests.
"As with so many of the environmental challenges we face, there are no borders when it comes to the protection and sustainable management of the earth's forests," said President Clinton. "We will only succeed if governments, private organizations and individuals cooperate intensively."
Russian Ambassador Boris Pankin, who attended the luncheon, wrote that
Russia views "the rational use and preservation of the forest
resources" as "not only a national, but, first and foremost,
a global problem."