National Forest Monitoring and Assessment - NFMA

Support to National Forest Assessments

All countries are aware of the importance of the multiple benefits of forest and tree resources, such as contributions to rural livelihoods, poverty alleviation, storing carbon and conservation of biological diversity. For this reason, national forest programmes, and similar policy processes, address forestry with an inter-sectoral perspective, contributing to e.g. poverty reduction strategies.

However, the lack of knowledge on the status, trends, uses and benefits of forest resources remains a limiting factor for decision-making in most countries, especially in the developing world. To help strengthen national capacity and facilitate knowledge-based policy dialogue, FAO works with member countries and other partners to enhance national forest and land use monitoring, assessment and reporting through National Forest Assessments (NFA). The focus is on institutional collaboration and information requirements by policy processes, including international reporting, in the country.

Status of projects & country pages

As of 2010, NFMA has worked with over 50 countries in all regions of the world. Direct support to National Forest Monitoring and Assessments has occurred with over 15 countries that have implemented national field inventories in collaboration with FAO, 20 more countries are expected to follow suit. Regional workshops have gathered more then 30 countries for dialogues on improving national monitoring of natural resources.