Dar es Salaam – The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), a voluntary inter-agency partnership of 16 international organizations with substantial programmes on forests, convened a one-day roundtable in Tanzania to identify pathways to address policy fragmentation and institutional silos standing in the way of forest landscape restoration – and to accelerate progress toward international forest-related goals and targets.
The event brought together key ministries, agencies, civil society organizations, practitioners and other stakeholders.
“Treating forests in isolation is no longer viable,” said Zhimin Wu, Chair of the CPF and Assistant-Director General and Director of Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in his opening remarks. “We must scale up action by addressing policy fragmentation and institutional silos, strengthening cross-sectoral coordination, and improving integrated planning and financing to accelerate forest restoration.”
Delivering on national and global commitments
Forests are critical to food security, local livelihoods and the supply of renewable biomaterials and energy. They provide habitat for a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity, help regulate the global carbon and hydrologic cycles, and can reduce the risks and impacts of drought, desertification, soil erosion, landslides and floods.
The latest data show that forests cover 4.14 billion hectares – about one-third of the planet’s land area. Yet forest ecosystems worldwide continue to face challenges. Deforestation is still occurring at a rate of 10.9 million hectares per year, while 41 million hectares are degraded by pests and diseases, and 127 million hectares are burned by wildfires.
The drivers of deforestation and forest degradation often originate outside the forest sector and are shaped by complex factors . These complex and often competing demands place increasing pressure on land and forest ecosystems.
Effective restoration requires strong policy coherence and institutional coordination. Progress depends on collaboration with sectors such as agriculture, water, livestock, energy, finance, land and infrastructure, whose policies directly influence land use and restoration outcomes.
Grounding dialogue in evidence: policy coherence analysis and key messages
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has committed to restoring 5.2 million hectares of degraded land under the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, the Bonn Challenge and regional initiatives such as the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100). This commitment is guided by national strategies, including the Forest Landscape Restoration Strategy, the Beekeeping Policy and Strategy, the National Forestry Implementation Strategy and the National Agroforestry Strategy, and contributes to international forest-related commitments, including under the Rio Conventions, and the Global Forest Goals under the UNSPF 2017–2030.
The roundtable, facilitated by CPF members, aimed to build shared understanding and commitment among Tanzanian government ministries, agencies, national focal points of CPF members and other relevant stakeholders regarding their role in forest restoration.
Participants engaged in structured discussions to identify policy inconsistencies and data gaps hindering effective restoration at the national and sub-national level. They also heard lessons learned, experiences and future priorities for enhancing cross-sectoral policy coherence for forest landscape restoration from CPF members – the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), FAO, Center for International Forestry Research and International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – engaged in programmes and projects on the ground in Tanzania and the region.
The roundtable produced several key recommendations for both the short and the long term, including new consultative mechanisms to strengthen institutional and cross-sectoral coordination, improving information sharing and taking practical steps to enhance data compatibility and reporting systems. Participants also emphasized the need to sustain engagement in forest restoration by clearly communicating its value and multiple benefits to a wider range of stakeholders, particularly those outside the forest sector. They further underscored the importance of strong technical guidance and a well-functioning science–policy interface to support effective implementation.
The CPF works collectively to support countries to conserve, restore and sustainably manage forests.
