Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena delivers the keynote speech at the Committee on Forestry meeting.

Rome, Italy - Senior government officials from around the world today gathered at FAO to focus on ways to step up global efforts in the forestry sector aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.  

"Urgent action is needed to sustain and preserve the planet's forests in order to achieve our global goals," FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in a video message to the opening of the week-long Committee on Forestry meeting.