The recently concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in agreement with several national governments, international and multilateral organisations, stakeholders and communities, declared specific goals with regard to sustainable development. WSSD comes ten years after the Rio Earth Summit (1992) which pledged political and financial support to enhance the quality of human life through better environment and equity. WSSD also marks the 30th anniversary of the Stockholm Summit on Sustainable Development.
Despite all of these commitments, many are concerned with the lack of integrated on-the-ground work to deal with the environment. Even though Rio gave birth to three international conventions, namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the implementation of these conventions is at varying stages. The Forestry Principles (FP) derived directly from the Rio Summit is often forgotten.
Each of these instruments focus on a particular set of problems, yet each also recognises that activities to address its own issues must also take into account those of the other instruments. Each of these instruments individually aims to achieve sustainable development. However, one element often forgotten is how ground- level integration is possible and is needed
