XIII World Forestry Congress (WFC 2009)

From October 18 to 23, 2009, the XIII World Forestry Congress (WFC 2009) took place in La Rural Trade Center in Buenos Aires. It has been organized by United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Argentine Government. The first World Forestry Congress was celebrated in Rome in 1926 and since then it has been usually organized every six years. With the WFC celebrated in 1972 in Buenos Aires, Argentina is the only country that has been its venue two times. 

This time, Indexport Messe Frankfurt's Conventure division has been summoned to organize the event.

The congress had the aim of diagnosing the general situation of forests and forestry sector, in order to identify trends, adapt policies and promote awareness among the groups involved and interested in the forestry sector. This year, the central issue was the following: “Forestry Development: Vital Balance”. 

During the congress there were scientific-academic meetings that contributed with the exchange of opinions and experiences among the different players of international forestry community such as government representatives, universities, the civil society and the private sector. There were 7,217 participants in total coming from 21 countries, of which 58% were foreigners and the remaining 42% were from Argentina.

Since every event organized by Conventure, the organizer made sure to hire the most important suppliers both for the assembly and the development of the congress, in order to have activities carried out with full suitability. 350 people, 35 room assistants, 60 interpreters and 40 people applied exclusively to cleaning tasks worked during the event. 500 square meters of offices and 14 rooms with a total or 3,500 chairs were assembled. These rooms were equipped with simultaneous interpretation booths for 3 official languages: Spanish, English and French and, in special sessions, interpretation to Arab, Chinese, Portuguese and Russian was also available.

During the six days of the Congress, 417 journalists coming from different local and international press media were registered. They were interested in knowing new proposals for a sustainable forest management.

At Congress ending, delegates provided 9 conclusions and 27 strategic actions to improve vital balance between forests and development. The Congress closing ceremony has been attended by Argentine Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development, Dr. Homero Máximo Bibiloni; the General Deputy Director of FAO Forestry Department, Mr. Jan Heino; the President of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina, Agr. Eng. Carlos Casamiquela; the General Secretary of the Congress, Biol. Leopoldo Montes; the Technical Secretary of the Congress, Dr. Tomás Schlichter; the General Deputy Secretary of the Congress, Mr. Olman Serrano and the editor of recommendations on behalf of New Zealand, Mr. Tomas Payne.

It is worth mentioning that the XIII World Forestry Congress was the first one in reaching the “Carbon Neutral” category, certified by Eco Securities.

For more information, enter to the official website: www.cfm2009.org