Anyone who decides to visit my country, Bhutan, will undoubtedly admire its unique flora and fauna. Bhutan’s virtually untouched forests are located at a wide variety of altitudes and climatic areas. Travellers visiting Bhutan are often guided through mountainous hiking trails that stretch throughout these forests and along the most beautiful rivers. But breathtaking views are not the only reasons why Bhutan’s forests are so treasured.   Protecting Bhutan’s forests Located between China and India, Bhutan is the only country whose forests fully manage to keep the country carbon neutral. With a total population of only about 800,000 people, we place environmental conservation...

In Sudan, forests are considered among the most important natural resources. Their environmental role in making the first and last defence line against desert creeping southwards, protecting the Nile watershed system and contributing to carbon sequestration in these barren zones of the world give their importance a regional and a global dimension. To protect the country’s natural wealth and at the same time fulfil various national and international commitments, Sudan is taking significant steps to implement activities to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supports the country in the development...

Agroforestry is gaining new ground in the quest for climate-smart agriculture practices, due to its ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change while increasing the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of rural development. However, insecure land and resource tenure is still representing a major obstacle to its promotion and upscaling. Considerable research has established that the likelihood of farmers being able to adopt and reap benefits from agroforestry increases if they have long-term, secure tenure to a sufficiently large area of land and what grows on it. Clarifying land-use policies and regulations, and securing farmers’ access to land is therefore...

Forests as a leading front in nature-based climate solutions, was the key message of the United Nations Climate Action Summit Side Event “Catalysing forest solutions to the climate emergency” organized by the UN-REDD Programme. The event took place as a part of the four-day Nature4Climate Hub, focusing on showcasing climate solutions for forests, soils, food and agriculture, freshwater, ocean and marine ecosystems and wildlife. At the 2008 UN Climate Change Summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg launched the UN-REDD Programme. Precisely eleven years later, the UN-REDD Side Events marks the eve of the 2019...

Promoting zero deforestation agriculture, the case of cocoa farming (agroforestry)