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Springer Old Growth Forests - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Old-Growth Forests in the Context of International Environmental Agreements Forests are included in several political negotiations and legal documents under the United Nations (UN). This chapter focusses on the three most relevant and dynamic UN political processes in the context of old-growth forests | Chapter 20 Old-Growth Forests in the Context of International Environmental Agreements Annette Freibauer 20.1 Introduction Forests are included in several political negotiations and legal documents under the United Nations UN . This chapter focusses on the three most relevant and dynamic UN political processes in the context of old-growth forests The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD and the UN Forum on Forests UNFF . Forests are also addressed by the UN Convention on Combating Desertification and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. Old-growth forests are defined by biological and ecological criteria which differ from the criteria and categories applied in international environmental agreements. The absence of human impact is no clear criterion for old-growth forests. Old-growth forests can be managed or unmanaged and can be primary or secondary forests see Chap. 2 by Wirth et al. this volume . Following the definitions in Chap. 2 of this book old-growth forests are characterised by 1 a relatively old age existence of large old late-successional tree species with ages close to their life expectancy mean age half the lifespan of the dominating trees 2 structural and compositional features witnessing self-replacement through gap-phase dynamics uneven-aged regeneration of shade-tolerant species presence of canopy gaps large snags and logs in varying stages of decay . The question arises whether it matters in the context of international environmental agreements if forests are in their late stages of succession. This chapter summarises the present status of old-growth forests in global environmental agreements and discusses promising options to include old-growth forests in future phases of these agreements. The following sections 1 give an introduction to the UNFCCC CBD and UNFF and show the role of forests in these UN political processes 2 highlight characteristics of old-growth forests relevant for the UNFCCC