Forestry in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries: a key pathway towards resilient communities

Deputy Director of the FAO Forestry Division Ewald Rametsteiner participated at a meeting of the Sub-Committee on Sustainable Development of the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

In his intervention, he briefed the meeting  on three interrelated forest pathways for a green recovery and for building inclusive and sustainable economies:

i) halting deforestation and maintaining forests;
ii) restoring degraded lands and expanding agroforestry; and
iii) sustainably using forests and building green value chains.

Empowering forest and farm producers and strengthening investment will need to play a key role in all three pathways, the Deputy Director underscored.

He flagged several international events as key opportunities to put forward concrete solutions that can contribute to recovery and help to build communities that are more resilient. These include the 27^th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), scheduled to be held from 6 to 18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt as well as the 15^th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which will take place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May. He also noted the importance of  the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), currently in its second year, for the future of sustainable forests. 

You can read more about the state of the world’s forests here.