 15 December 2022 Conserving biodiversity and combating climate change, land degradation and desertification - while striving to end hunger in world with a growing population – are challenges that require a clear response and a clear pathway for improvement. This issue of Unaslyva focuses on FAO’s response to these issues: a strategic framework that strives for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all – leaving no one behind - and the ways in which forests contribute to the achievement of these goals. [more] |
 28 October 2020 This Unasylva issue aims at showcasing forest and landscape restoration (FLR) opportunities and recent developments that have the power to upscale restoration, in order to achieving the Bonn Challenge pledge and other national and international commitments (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) Post-2020 Agenda, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Land Degradation Neutrality, Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) and addressing the needs of the UN Decade 2021-2030 on Ecosystem Restoration. [more] |
 5 December 2019 Forested watersheds provide an estimated 75 percent of the world’s accessible freshwater resources, on which more than half the Earth’s people depend for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental purposes. Forests therefore, are vital natural infrastructure, and their management can provide “nature-based solutions” for a range of water-related societal challenges. This edition of Unasylva explores that potential. [more] |
 21 March 2018 Cities need forests. The network of woodlands, groups of trees and individual trees in a city and on its fringes performs a huge range of functions – such as regulating climate; storing carbon; removing air pollutants; reducing the risk of flooding; assisting in food, energy and water security; and improving the physical and mental health of citizens. Forests enhance the look of cities and play important roles in social cohesion; they may even reduce crime. This edition of Unasylva takes a close look at urban and peri-urban forestry – its benefits, pitfalls, governance and challenges. [more] |
 3 March 2017 Wildlife management is the focus of considerable international debate because of its importance for biodiversity conservation, human safety, livelihoods and food security. Local people have been managing wildlife for millennia, including through hunting. Sufficient examples are presented in this edition to show that sustainable wildlife management is also feasible in the modern era. In some cases, a sustainable offtake – by local people, trophy hunters and legitimate wildlife traders – is proving vital to obtain local buy-in to wildlife management and to pay the costs of maintaining habitats. No doubt the debate will continue on the best ways to manage wildlife; this edition of Unasylva is a contribution to that. [more] |
 12 January 2017 Forests are essential to life on our planet, to mitigating and adapting to climate change, ensuring adequate supply of fresh water, enhancing biodiversity and providing sustainable incomes and livelihoods, including food security. But they face unprecedented and unrelenting pressures. This issue includes a broad selection of the best papers submitted to the XIV World Forestry Congress (Durban, September 2015), as well as an overview of the Congress’s ambitious agenda and outcomes. [more] |
 9 November 2016 Where do forests and forestry stand today in international climate change negotiations? What exactly does it mean to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)? What are the opportunities and risks for forests in today’s changing climate and is there a clear path forward? The articles in this issue address these and other questions. [more] |
 8 December 2015 In order to succeed, restoration initiatives need to engage a range of stakeholders, from policy-makers to local communities and from governments to the private sector. This is one of the main threads running through the articles in issue 245 of Unasylva, FAO’s forestry journal, released on 5 December on the theme of Forest and landscape restoration (FLR). Bringing together case studies from different continents and biomes, the issue maps out progress made in FLR and the challenges that lie ahead, covering approaches that range from “close-to-nature” planted forests in China to Africa’s Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative. Published to coincide with the Paris Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP) and the Global Landscapes Forum 2015, Unasylva 245 demonstrates the relevance of FLR’s holistic approach, which takes into account human well-being and the ongoing interactions between people and the landscape. [more] |
 11 March 2015 This double issue of Unasylva aims to tease out the complex interrelationship between forests, trees and disasters, and to examine the ways in which forests and trees can best be managed both to resist shocks and to protect from shocks. The articles in this issue cover a range of disasters and crises. Most refer to natural disasters such as typhoons, fires and earthquakes, although some deal with human-induced disasters and other complex crises including war and the Ebola virus public health emergency, all of which are closely interlinked with forests and the environment. [more] |
 4 August 2014 Mediterranean forests are interwoven with the lives of the people of the region. They provide wood, cork and other products and services, and are a source of income for many. Yet they are under increasing pressure from both changes in human activities and climate-related stresses such as temperature increases, reduced rainfall and prolonged periods of drought. The positive message is that there is a strong technical basis and political will across the Mediterranean to tackle these issues collaboratively. [more] |
 17 December 2013 Forests and trees are essential for food security and nutrition as producers of foods and income and providers of ecosystem services. Achieving an optimal mix of trees in landscapes, however, requires much more interaction between forestry and agriculture. Unasylva 241 explores how to best use forests and trees to ensure food security, adequate nutrition and the elimination of poverty and hunger. [more] |
 19 July 2013 Three hundred years ago this year, a book was published that, according to some, marked the start of the modern concept of sustainable forest management. This edition of Unasylva explores this claim and reports on efforts worldwide to manage forests sustainably for the long-term benefit of people and the environment. [more] |
 28 December 2012 This edition of Unasylva comes in the wake of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, which, among other things, produced a document called The Future We Want . In it, world leaders renewed their commitment to sustainable development and recognized the enormous capacity of forests to address many of the most pressing sustainable development challenges. The articles in this edition of Unasylva suggest that awareness of the role of forests, and a willingness to pay for that role, will grow in coming decades; forests are too culturally, ecologically, economically and socially important to be neglected for much longer. Their move into the mainstream of development policy will do the world a power of good. [more] |
 9 March 2012 Unasylva closes the International Year of Forests 2011 with a selection of papers on forest degradation. These were developed as part of a special study FAO and its partners conducted to create a set of indicators on the state of forest degradation. Also featured is a major study that analysed remote sensing imagery to understand forest-cover and land-use change; and a way to use such data to map the myriad opportunities for forest landscape restoration. [more] |
 8 February 2011 FAO inaugurates the International Year of Forests with a special photographic issue of Unasylva . More than 100 international days are celebrated throughout the year, in recognition of a vast range of issues, occupations, activities and cultural values important to humanity. This beautiful compilation of images illustrates that forests have a link to almost all of them. While the international days are the thread that holds the collection together, the organization is thematic, rather than chronological, the better to catalogue forests’ place in many sectors. The issue expresses the theme of the international year – “Forests for people” – by showing how forests are important to nearly all kinds of human activity. [more] |
last updated: Thursday, December 15, 2022