Investing in a sustainable future means investing in youth, QU Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today told attendees of the event A bright future for forestry: Investing in youth career development.
Young professionals from FAO's Forestry Division and the Global Network for Forestry Young Professionals organised the event. It took place as part of the 26th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO), FAO's highest statutory body dealing with the forestry sector.
"One of the key messages from this week's session of COFO is that healthy forests mean healthy societies, healthy economies and healthy ecosystems. To achieve this, we must continue planting the seeds and seedlings for a better, more sustainable future," Qu said. "And we cannot do that without the youth - together with all of you here today, and those of you online. You are our next generation of leaders, business makers and ordinary workers, and the bridge to a healthy future."
He added that the role of forestry is changing and is increasingly recognized as a crucial part of the solution in addressing today's complex global challenges ranging from climate to hunger and from poverty to socio-economic inequalities.
