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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.
.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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Endangered species in the Karakorum Mountains: a threat to biodiversity in the ParknewsMining, uncontrolled deforestation and hunting. These are the factors that seriously threaten the biodiversity of the Karakorum Mountains home to 10 species of mammals and 12 species of birds in danger of extinction. The alarm has been launched in past days by Muhammad Zafar Khan, head of WWF in Pakistan....
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The future potential of European Mountain forests - Final Conference of the MANFRED projecteventThe Final Conference of the European Project Management Strategies to adapt Alpine Space Forests to Climate Change Risks (MANFRED) will be held on 28 June 2012, on the premises of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome (Italy). The conference, titled “The future potential...
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Call for papers: FLEGT/VPA workshop - GhananewsThe ACP-FLEGT Support Programme in partnership with the Forestry Commission of Ghana and the EFI EU FLEGT Facility, is soliciting papers for a regional workshop on “Experiences from the FLEGT/VPA process in West and Central African countries”, which will be held from 23 to 25 October 2012 in Accra, Ghana....
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