Inaugural Session-Welcome Address

Trudie Styler, Co-Founder of The Rainforest Foundation

Trudie reflected on the beginnings of The Rainforest Foundation 20 years ago. It all started with a trip to the Amazon in Brazil and seeing first-hand the devastation taking place in the forest and the impact on those dwelling in the forest.

Click here for Trudie's opening statement.

Lars Løvold, Director, Rainforest Foundation Norway, welcomed participants to the conference and outlined the 3 main issues that would be taken up: the role of forests as forests (in a climate change perspective), the role of the people of the forests as it pertains to climate, and the economics of standing forests or in other words, how much it would cost to make the trees stand.

Lars questioned the present development model asking if forests need to fall in order to spur development?

55 indigenous and civil society organizations are represented at the conference along with leading world experts and decision makers working on the issue of rainforests and climate.

The conference coincides with the Rainforest Foundation's 20th anniversary.