SPC Announces Awards for International Year of Forests

To commemorate the 2011 International Year of Forests (IYF), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) announced it will offer awards for forest-related activities, along with a poster and essay competition. The competition aims to recognize the contributions of individuals, groups, communities and companies that contribute to the sustainable management and development of forest and tree resources.According to SPC, award categories include: the Forest Entrepreneur Award, awarded to an individual or company for outstanding effort or achievement in developing new value-added timber or non-timber products for (domestic or export) trade; the Agro-forester Award Forest Leadership Award, awarded to an individual for efforts to develop agro-forestry systems to improve yield, soil/land management and the development of tree products for income generation and food security in their country; and the Forest Leadership Award, to be awarded to a Pacific individual based on leadership in developing the forestry sector and promoting sustainable management of forest resources in the country or region.