Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Name:	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Abbreviation:	FAO
URL to homepage:	http://www.fao.org
Country:	Italy

Mandate

The FAO collects, analyses, interprets and disseminates information relating to nutrition, food and agriculture. In its Constitution, the term "agriculture" and its derivatives include fisheries, marine products, forestry and primary forestry products.
The FAO promotes and, where appropriate, recommends national and international action with respect to:

scientific, technological, social and economic research relating to nutrition, food and agriculture;
the improvement of education and administration relating to nutrition, food and agriculture, and the spread of public knowledge of nutritional and agricultural science and practice;
the conservation of natural resources and the adoption of improved methods of agricultural production;
the improvement of the processing, marketing and distribution of food and agricultural products;
the adoption of policies for the provision of adequate agricultural credit, national and international;
the adoption of international policies with respect to agricultural commodity arrangements.

FAO also has the function:

to furnish such technical assistance as governments may request;
to organize, in cooperation with the governments concerned, such missions as may be needed to assist them to fulfil the obligation arising from their acceptance of the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture and of this Constitution; and
generally to take all necessary and appropriate action to implement the purposes of the Organization as set forth in the Preamble.

In the area of forests the FAO has the Mission:

To enhance human well-being through support to member countries in the sustainable management of the world's trees and forests. With the Goals:

To enhance the contribution of trees and forests to sustainable land use, food security and to economic and social development and cultural values at national, regional and global levels;
The conservation, sustainable management and improved utilization of trees and forest systems and their genetic resources;
Collection, analysis and dissemination of worldwide information on all aspects of forestry and primary forest products.

Relevance to forests by key words

sustainable forest management, silviculture, natural forests, woodlands and trees, low forest cover countries, forest fire, pest management, forest genetic resources, fragile ecosystems, mountains, dry-lands, biological diversity, wildlife, forest plantations, agroforestry, urban and peri-urban development, assessing and monitoring, information, forest policy, carbon sequestration, wood energy, trade, harvesting, forest products, non-wood forest products (NWFP), forest industry, Forestry Sector Outlook Studies, national forest programmes, transfer of technology, fiscal and tenure measures, valuation, inter-agency work, international instruments, Committee on Forestry (COFO), Forest Resource Assessment (FRA), Regional Forestry Commissions, World Forestry Congress.