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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).
SDG 15 - Indicators of sustainable forests and mountains
Mountain forests
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.
Ecuador presents National Strategy on Climate Change 2012-2025newsThe Minister of Environment of Ecuador, Marcela Aquiñaga, has presented the National Strategy on Climate Change. The strategy proposes, among other things, to step up efforts to conserve forest resources, mangroves and paramos, supporting and promoting energy efficiency, improving environmental practices and reducing consumption of resources. Please see complete information in...
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COFO 2012: World Forest WeekeventWorld leaders at Rio+20 agreed that forests have a significant role to play in addressing many sustainable development challenges. To help fulfil this role, the Committee on Forestry (COFO) 2012 will focus on translating the results of Rio+20 into action and strengthening forestry’s many cross-sectoral linkages. In the COFO framework,...
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Intergovernamental Negotiating Committee (INC-Forests) - 3 to 7 September 2012, in Bonn, GermanyeventAt the FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference, held in Oslo from 14 to 16 June 2011, ministers responsible for forests decided to take further international action consisting of the elaboration of a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe and established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee with the mandate to...
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.png "Colombia has new environmental law to the conservation of National Natural Parks and forests")
Colombia has new environmental law to the conservation of National Natural Parks and forestsnewsThe President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, approved the environmental law “Gloria Valencia de Castaño” granting tax benefits to contributors who make donations for the conservation of National Natural Parks and the forests of Colombia. Taxpayers will make donations to the National Parks Unit to fund the conservation of these parks...
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.png "New members of the Mountain Partnership in Latin America")
New members of the Mountain Partnership in Latin AmericanewsFour organizations from Latin America received their membership from the Mountain Partnership. The new members are Instituto Boliviano de la Montaña (The Bolivian Mountain Institute – BMI) based in La Paz, Bolivia; Fundación Cordillera Tropical (Foundation Tropical Cordillera) based in Cuenca, Ecuador; Fundación CoMunidad (Foundation Community) from Panama City and...
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Ten Central African countries agree to improve forest monitoringnewsThe forests of Africa's Congo Basin, approximately 200 million hectares, are one of the world's largest primary rainforests, second only to the Amazon. The region's forests support the livelihoods of some 60 million people. A new regional initiative will help ten Central African countries to set up advanced national forest...
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