On the 2nd February 2011, the Launch Ceremony of the International Year of Forests took place in New York. The aim of this initiative taken by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization is to encourage the awareness of the relevance of the role of forests and the importance of a sustainable management, viable development and conservation of forests.

Forests are a very important resource for biodiversity and humans. First of all, forests provide food and shelter for numerous species, then they also have a very important role on the soil protection and on the climate regulation. On the other hand, each year approximately 210,000 km² of forests are destroyed around the world, with the consequent loss of services and benefits that forests daily provide us; for these reasons, on the 20th December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution proclaiming 2011 as International Year of Forests (IYF).

Each nation or organization is thus invited to participate actively to the celebration of the International Year of Forests, through a series of activities spread over the year, in order to get involved more people as possible and to raise awareness on the importance of the forests and the exigency to preserve them for the current and future generations.