The Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) supports REDD+ countries to develop their national forest monitoring systems and associated emissions measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) procedures. GFOI Capacity Building Summits are held to provide an opportunity for partners of GFOI to reflect on progress to date in forest monitoring capacity building efforts and discuss the way forward. Bringing 50 persons from 14 countries together, the 3rd GFOI Capacity Building Summit took place from 18 to 21 September 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Once again, this gathering created a much-needed global forum for capacity building and stocktaking, as well as designing, developing, and operating forest...

The endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) five years ago was commemorated at FAO’s headquarters in Rome from 5 – 10 October.  The events celebrated the importance of the VGGT and the achievements of the last five years in some 78 countries. The guidelines have inspired policy and legal reforms in countries from Gabon to Guatemala, making a real difference in people’s lives. Communities are already using the VGGT to claim, secure and restore their legitimate rights to land, forests and fisheries.

In recent years, the Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) has significantly improved its capacity for monitoring the nation’s vast forests, supported by various partners including FAO through the UN-REDD National Programme and the EU funded National Forest Inventory Project. In support of this work, a new National Forest Inventory (NFI) Office funded by the EU was opened in a ceremony on 3 August 2017 by the EU Ambassador to PNG H.E. Ioannis Giogkarakis-Argyropoulos. The inauguration was also attended by Minister for Forests & Climate Change Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa, Managing Director of the PNG Forestry Authority Mr Tunou Sabuin, and...

The International Institute for Sustainable Development publishes a guest editorial from Tiina Vahanen, FAO's Deputy Director, Forest Policy and Resources Division, on the growing momentum and success of the REDD+ programme. The programme is maturing as countries build the necessary systems to reap the results-based rewards of participation. But, much work and fresh challenges lie ahead as countries move from readiness to implementation.

Deforestation is complex and has many underlying causes; therefore, it is important to understand any recurring patterns and correlations that can help countries to tailor their efforts towards reducing the loss of forests and its associated carbon emission. With the goal to identify such patterns and use them to manage the world’s forests sustainably in the future, a new study “Global deforestation patterns: comparing recent and past forest loss processes through a spatially explicit analysis” by Marieke Sandker, Yelena Finegold, Remi d'Annunzio, and Erik Lindquist was recently published by International Forestry Review. The study compares several global FAO products to assess drivers of...