Key messages

• The world’s forests play a central role in combating climate change by absorbing and storing carbon from the  atmosphere in their vegetation and soils.
• Almost as much carbon is stored in forests (650 billion tons) as in the atmosphere (760 billion tons).
• Forests are crucial in helping us adapt to climate change as they help ensure water availability, protect against landslides, prevent desertification and provide alternative livelihoods for people.
• Protecting forests conserves the biodiversity that is vital for plants, humans and other animals to adapt to climate change.   
• Forests have four major roles in climate change: their clearance, overuse and degradation contribute about one-sixth of global carbon emissions; they react sensitively to a changing climate; when managed sustainably, they produce woodfuels as a benign alternative to fossil fuels; and finally, they have the potential to absorb about one-tenth of global carbon emissions projected for the first half of this century into their biomass, soils and products and store them - in principle in perpetuity. 

Videos

Sustainable wood: Climate-friendly cities Built with wood, cities could become extensions of our forests, helping to combat climate change and keep the planet healthy. Wood is renewable and stores carbon for its lifetime, helping to keep it locked away from the atmosphere. Buildings and the construction sector currently emit almost 40% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions globally. [more]

Sustainable forests: a powerful ally against climate change Climate change is subjecting our planet to unsustainable pressures. Forests and trees trap and store carbon as they grow – standing at the frontline against climate change. [more]

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Publications

The key role of forest and landscape restoration in climate action 24 November 2022 Forest and landscape restoration has “huge potential” to strengthen, accelerate and scale up local-level and national capacity for climate action. Forest and landscape restoration aims to recover the ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested and degraded landscapes. Forest and landscape restoration practices have also proven to have significant benefits for addressing the impacts of climate change. These include carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improving the resilience of landscapes and reducing disaster risks. [more]

Peatlands and climate planning 17 November 2022 Peatlands contain huge carbon stocks yet they cover only 3 percent of the world’s land area. Improved peatland management provides climate change mitigation and adaptation opportunities. Peatland conservation and restoration also secures ecosystem services that support adaptive capacity and resilience. This brief is part of the Global Peatlands Initiative’s work to support national governments in the process of enhancing their climate commitments, such as the nationally determined contributions as well as the long-term strategies through the inclusion of climate action on peatlands. [more]

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Press releases and editorials

Charting a transparent path for global forest data and innovative climate action 8 January 2024 Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today launched a new phase of work – supported with $2 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – to assist developing countries in monitoring and reporting data on both the state and changes in their forest cover more effectively and transparently. [more]

Forest and landscape restoration has “huge potential” to tackle climate change – FAO report 24 November 2022 Rome - Forest and landscape restoration has “huge potential” to strengthen, accelerate and scale up local-level and national capacity for climate action, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched today. [more]

Peatlands must be wet to reach climate neutrality by 2050 16 November 2022 Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt - Humanity still has an opportunity to turn the tide on climate change by ensuring that all peatlands are wet by 2050, according to a new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). [more]

More press releases

Expert interviews

Mediterranean forests: recognizing a major asset in the global climate-change agenda 12 April 2019 Although Mediterranean forests are an important asset in the global agenda to combat climate change, to a certain extent their contributions have been overlooked. [more]

ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Framework on Climate Change is a unique platform for cross-sectoral dialogue 24 July 2018 Doris Capistrano, Senior Advisor, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change, explains how the ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Framework on Climate Change: Agriculture and Forestry towards Food Security (AFCC) is a unique platform. [more]

Audio

Towards a better conservation of forest resources in Viet Nam 
Monitoring carbon stocks in Tanzania