People and forests
News
On your marks, get set, cocoa!
01/08/2021
Next time you bite into a square of fairtrade chocolate, stop a moment to reflect on where your sweet treat has come from. About six million people around the world depend on farming cocoa for their livelihoods.
Joint study shows importance of wild forest fruits to diets in rural Zambia
30/06/2021
Households in rural Zambia rely heavily on fruits collected from forests for a more balanced diet, reports a new study carried out by FAO and the Center for International Forestry Research.
Education is a key lifeline for world’s forests
24/06/2021
Forest education at all levels is insufficient in many countries of the world, according to the results of a global survey led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organization and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations.
Publications
FAO Forestry Paper 179: National socioeconomic surveys in forestry
2016
Forests and trees contribute in multiple ways to reducing food insecurity, supporting sustainable livelihoods and alleviating poverty. As FAO’s State of the World’s Forests 2014 (SOFO 2014; FAO, 2014a) shows, for about one-third of the world population wood is the primary or only energy source, demonstrating the relevance of “wood security” in food security in many regions.
FAO Forestry Paper 176: Forty years of community-based forestry
2015
Since the 1970s and 1980s, community-based forestry has grown in popularity, based on the concept that local communities, when granted sufficient property rights over local forest commons, can organize autonomously and develop local institutions to regulate the use of natural resources and manage them sustainably.