Committee on Forestry: High-level forestry talks aim to unlock natural solutions
Driving forward the global agenda on forests
Rome – The 27th session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO 27) and 9th World Forest Week will bring forestry policymakers and experts from over 100 countries together in Rome from 22-26 July to drive forward the global agenda on forests.
The Committee is the highest forestry governing body established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and it meets every two years at FAO’s Rome headquarters. This year discussions will focus on the theme of forests and innovation.
“This is a crucial opportunity to escalate work towards conserving and using our forests sustainably to provide natural solutions to the challenges we face, and innovation is key for accelerating progress,” said Zhimin Wu, Director of FAO’s Forestry Division.
Around 20 ministers and vice-ministers will attend COFO next week, with over 800 delegates and some 60 international and research organizations participating as observers.
Three major publications
A highlight of the week will be the publication of FAO’s flagship report The State of the World’s Forests 2024 with in-depth analysis of forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future.
The latest edition of FAO's international forestry journal, Unasylva, will also be launched with the theme of restoration in the Mediterranean region.
The week will also feature discussion on the FAO Forestry Roadmap - From Vision to Action 2024-2031 – which sets out forest-related contributions to the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–31 as well as on bioeconomy, climate change, ecosystem restoration, urban agrifood systems, green cities, integrated fire management, and agriculture and forestry linkages.
Collaborative Partnership on Forests Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award 2024
The World Forest Week agenda includes high-level dialogues on innovation, scaling up agroforestry and FAO’s statutory bodies in forestry, as well as side events on restoration, mangroves in drylands, wildfire management, food security, bamboo and other bioeconomy solutions, forest monitoring, data transparency and climate resilience.
This year’s winner of the Wangari Maathai forest champions award will be announced by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The award recognizes inspiring individuals who have helped to conserve, restore and sustainably manage forests. A Green Cities award will also be presented at a special event on the Green Cities Initiative.
Bringing youth to the forefront
An innovative series of events will also highlight the achievements of young forestry professionals and foster dialogue, recognition and action on issues concerning youth.
In the run up to the week’s events, a sustainable wood dialogue on 19 July will also review progress on the implementation of sustainable wood pathways identified in the Ministerial Call on Sustainable Wood launch in 2022 at the XV World Forestry Congress.
The Committee was established in 1971 and is open to all countries that are members of FAO. The World Forest Week has been organized in conjunction with the last eight Committee sessions to provide participants and partner organizations with a unique opportunity to exchange, connect, showcase best practice and contribute to global debate.
Both the Committee sessions and side events are hybrid.