Chile's forests cover 19 percent of the country's territory and represent a valuable biological treasure that has sustained native peoples for generations. As ecosystem threats become more pressing, Chile is now taking significant steps to protect and preserve this treasure.  Through the CONAF-led National Strategy on Climate Change and Vegetative Resources (ENCCRV), and in collaboration with numerous partners, Chile is addressing the climate crisis through measures focused on the proper management of vegetative resources. In this framework, Chile also aims to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and subsequently, drought, desertification and land degradation.  In November, 2019, the Board of...

We are in the midst of a confluence of crises. Climate change and biodiversity loss threaten our natural and human systems. COVID-19 has disrupted lives and livelihoods across the planet, driving up to 130 million people into chronic hunger and 124 million people into extreme poverty over the past year. Greater reliance on forests for food, fuel and shelter and increased incidents of illegal harvesting of forest resources add to pressures on forest ecosystems. The world must meaningfully – and urgently – address these pressures to collectively turn the tide on deforestation and to achieve the ambitions set out in Agenda...

Transforming food systems can deliver on a multitude of commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How we produce, process, trade and consume food products influences poverty (SDG 1), good health and well-being (SDG 3), greenhouse gas emissions and the ability to adapt to a changing climate (SDG 13), and biodiversity loss and deforestation (SDG 15)- to name just a few. However, the challenge of achieving healthy, sustainable and inclusive food systems lies in their complexity. Concerted and concurrent actions are required across both forestry and agriculture sectors. These challenges were explored during a World Forestry Week event, held alongside the Committee on Forestry (COFO).   Forest protection has long been a primary strategy to reduce forest conversion, but it has...

The Paris Agreement was adopted at a 2015 international climate conference, galvanizing countries around the world to initiate drastic action to mitigate climate change. It also helped kickstart global recognition of the critical role of indigenous peoples in environmental governance, as their rights, needs, and knowledge are acknowledged in the agreement. To help track progress towards emission reduction goals outlined in this global agreement, countries have been developing and implementing National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS). To create NFMS, countries must recognize indigenous rights and learn to integrate traditional forest monitoring practices. FAO projects around the world are doing just this,...

Covering 31 percent of global land area, forests are major carbon sinks that play an important role in combatting climate change. Despite the critical need to remove carbon from the atmosphere, forests continue to face ongoing threats from deforestation and forest degradation. Governance interventions are needed to dramatically slow the loss of forest area. As part of these interventions, recognition of the tenure rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities is a key step towards reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Countries such as Nepal, Peru, Tanzania, Liberia, Indonesia and Zambia, among others, have begun to promote the recognition of...