On 9 December on the margins of the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25), the UN-REDD Programme, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN University (UNU) held a side-event “Nature-Based Solutions on the Ground (SDG 15): UN Support to People and Landscapes”. The event, which featured four panels, brought together UN agencies and partners representing indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), the private sector, and youth to demonstrate collaborative actions between agencies, funds and programmes to address climate issues through the lens of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with...

 The role of forests and trees in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of Asia-Pacific countries is very significant, especially in areas of afforestation, forest fire management, reduced deforestation, biodiversity management and improved forest management. Emphasis is increasingly placed on forestry-related actions for climate change mitigation, and 22 out of 25 countries include forestry in their adaptation commitments. The implications of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitments in the forest sector, for domestic and external investment, are becoming clearer and require attention in order for countries to prepare for the implementation of their NDCs.  These implications were addressed at the side-event “Forestry in NDCs...

El uso de imágenes satélites y herramientas tecnológicas para trabajar en mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas y combatir el cambio climático en Costa Rica, se facilita gracias al apoyo de la cooperación internacional al Sistema Nacional de Monitoreo de Cobertura y Uso de la Tierra y Ecosistemas (SIMOCUTE). En setiembre de 2019, la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) realizó el lanzamiento de la nueva versión de SEPAL (siglas en inglés de Sistema de acceso de datos de observación de la tierra, procesamiento y análisis para la vigilancia de la superficie terrestre). Esta...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is joining forces with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to strengthen the accessibility and accuracy of forest monitoring systems in developing countries around the world. With combined funding of almost USD$1 million, FAO and the FCPF will work together to make FAO’s SEPAL 2.1 more accessible than ever through the creation of professional training and guidance material. SEPAL is an innovative cloud-based super computing platform with more than 4,000 active users in 160 countries. The latest version, SEPAL 2.1, launched at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in...

Chile will receive USD 63 million from the Green Climate Fund for having successfully reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from forests. Emissions were reduced by 18.4 million tCO2eq between 2014 and 2016 by the implementation of REDD+ activities. REDD+ is a mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which assigns a financial value to results per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent of reduced emissions or enhanced removals in forests. It also offers incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions while investing in low-carbon, sustainable development. The funds will support an ambitious project designed to implement Chile’s National...