In Colombia’s municipality of Segovia, in the department of Antioquia, on the eastern edge of the Andes, lies one of the country's great gold reserves, most of which lie under natural forests with great ecosystem richness. Its people identify as peasants because they were born "in the mountains, where the sun shines, where the eagle nests, where the nightingale sings, where the moon lights the paths and where they take care of the land with the furrow of their hands,” says Madonna Zapata Bolívar, Social Mission Professional, FAO Colombia (FAOCO). In particular, the community of El Tamar has been dedicated for many...

More than 50 stakeholders participated in an online meeting focused on Gender and Forestry organized by FAO with the support of ECOWAS and Sida in the framework of the project “Global transformation of forests for people and climate, a focus on West Africa” funded by Sida. This meeting, held on 30 May 2022, increased awareness of gender and forestry issues in the West Africa region and promoted dialogue on strategies, actions and priority needs to address these issues. Gender is a central and cross-cutting theme for this regional project and is mainstreamed throughout its components, including improving knowledge of forest ecosystems...

The XV World Forestry Congress was held this year in Seoul, South Korea from 2-6 May. Jointly organized by the Korea Forest Service (KFS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Congress provided an opportunity for the international community to gather and evaluate the state of the world’s forest resources, as well as share strategies, tools and ideas for building a green, healthy and resilient future. Over 15,000 registered participants, from over 160 different countries,represented governments and public agencies, international organizations, the private sector, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local community and...

The global rate of deforestation was estimated to be 10 million hectares per year between 2015 and 2020, with nearly 90 percent of forest loss between 2000 and 2018  driven by agricultural expansion. A recent study also found that the global food system produces as much as one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. These alarming statistics highlight the need to ramp up global efforts to make food systems more sustainable and to better understand and manage trade-offs between agriculture and forestry. Taking action to remove forest conversion from agricultural value chains offers significant potential to achieve climate mitigation, enhanced livelihoods and food security. The global community has...

The recent 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) resulted in several widely hailed agreements between member states including the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests. Signed by 141 nations, this declaration emphasizes the role of forests in enabling the world to meet its development, ecosystem and climate change goals. It recognizes the importance of indigenous people and local communities (IPLCs) as forest guardians and critical partners in addressing climate change. More specifically, the declaration calls on members to “reduce vulnerability and enhance rural livelihoods…while recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as local...