SDG indicators 15.1.1 and 15.2.1 - Forest area and sustainable forest management
This course has been developed to guide countries in reporting on Indicators 15.1.1 and 15.2.1. It illustrates the rationale of the indicators, the definitions and methodologies on which monitoring activities are based, and explains the process and the tools available for compiling data related to the two indicators through the Global Forest Resources Assessment Programme (available in English, French and Spanish).
Mountains cover around 27 percent of the earth’s land surface, and forests cover more than 40 percent of the global mountain area.
Healthy mountain forests are crucial to the ecological health of the world. They protect watersheds that supply freshwater to more than half of humankind. They also harbour wildlife, provide food and fodder for mountain peoples and are important sources of timber and non-wood products. Moreover, they protect the earth and contribute to shielding the atmosphere from CO2 emissions.
Protecting these forests and making sure they are carefully managed is an important step towards sustainable mountain development. In the last decades, tropical mountain forests have been disappearing at an astounding rate. Deforestation is generally driven by population growth, the expansion of intensive agriculture, uncertain land tenure, inequitable land distribution and the absence of strong and stable institutions.
Crucially, mountain forests perform a protective function against natural hazards, so that when forest cover is lost and the land is left unprotected, runoff and soil erosion increase, provoking landslides, avalanches and floods, to the detriment of villages, transport systems, human infrastructure and of the food security of vulnerable populations.
Putting power back into the hands of mountain people is one important step towards alleviating their poverty and, in turn, protecting mountain forests. Measures that could accomplish these aims include providing incentives for biodiversity and agro-biodiversity conservation as well as the inclusion sustainable forest management plans into national policies.
![]() Mountain summer course in Italy to openpeak to peakIssue 106 – Month 7 – Year 2017 The July issue of Peak to Peak begins with an announcement of the opening of the 2017 International Programme on Research and Training on Sustainable Management of Mountain Areas (IPROMO) on 5 July in Ormea and Pieve Tesino, Italy. The newsletter... Download » |
![]() FAO's Work in Sustainable Mountain Development and Watershed Management—A 2017 UpdatepublicationThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provides an update on its activities related to sustainable mountain development and watershed management in this 2017 platform statement published in Volume 37, Issue 2 (May 2017) of Mountain Research and Development. Download » |
![]() Keeping an Eye on SDG 15publicationThis publication presents the three forest-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators for which the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the custodian agency, including SDG indicator 15.4.2, the Mountain Green Cover Index. It contains 3-4 pages for each indicator, covering the following: a) context of goal... Download » |
![]() High-level mountain conference announcedpeak to peakIssue 105 – Month 6 – Year 2017 The June issue of Peak to Peak announces the high-level conference on mountains “Mountains under Pressure” that will be held on 11 December 2017 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. The newsletter continues with... Download » |
![]() Contest on Andean forests and climate changenewsThe Andean Forests Programme has announced the call for the 2017 Research Grants Fund. The contest aims to promote the generation of scientific information on the impacts and response options of Andean forests to climate change. The contest will finance research carried out in the Andean forests of Argentina, Bolivia... Read more » |
![]() Mountains, one year after the Paris AgreementnewsOne year ago, on 22 April (Earth Day) 2016, 175 of the 197 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York to sign the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to address climate change. As of today, one year after... Read more » |
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