Media advisory: Launch of the State of the World’s Forests 2022

With the world facing multiple crises, including COVID-19, conflicts, climate change and loss of biodiversity, our forests and trees can help us overcome some of the impact of these challenges if we step up action to unlock their potential.. And there is an urgent need for more investment in conservation, restoration and sustainable use of forests worldwide.

In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is launching two key reports, the State of the World’s Forests 2022 (SOFO) at 11:00 Korea Standard Time (04:00 CET) on 2 May and the Global Forest Resources Assessment Remote Sensing Survey (FRA RSS) at 12:30 Korea Standard TimeT (05:30 CET) on 3 May at the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul.

The SOFO sets out how halting deforestation and maintaining forests could avoid significant greenhouse-gas emissions – about 14 percent of the reduction needed up to 2030 to keep planetary warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. It could also safeguard more than half the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity. Sustainably using forests and building green value chains would help meet future demand for materials – with global consumption of all natural resources expected to more than double from 92 billion tonnes 2017 to 190 billion tonnes in 2060; Restoring degraded lands and expanding agroforestry: 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land – an area twice the size of Australia – would benefit from restoration, and increasing tree cover could boost agricultural productivity on another 1 billion hectares. Afforestation and reforestation could cost-effectively take up to 1.5 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year out of the atmosphere (similar to taking up to 325 million gasoline-powered passenger cars off the road each year) between 2020 and 2050.

The SOFO 2022 launch event will take place at  a Special event High-level dialogue - Building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests  (11:00 Korea Standard Time) , followed by a technical launch, (12:30 Korea Standard Time) which will include a Q and A with the report’s authors.

Speakers include:
QU Dongyu, Director-General, FAO
Byeong-Am Choi, Forest Service Minister, Republic of Korea
Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director, Green Climate Fund
Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy, Republic of Congo
John Parrotta, President, International Union of Forest Research Organizations
Chey Tae-won, Chairperson and CEO, SK Group

Meanwhile, the FRA 2020 Remote Sensing Survey will provide  new data on global deforestation. It gives a clearer understanding of the trends and drivers of deforestation, with new information on land use, land-use changes, and direct deforestation driver estimates at global, regional, and ecological zone levels.

The FAO-led study was conducted using satellite data and tools (open-source Collect Earth Online) developed in partnership with Google, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Spatial Informatics Group (SIG).

Both SOFO 2022 and FRA 2020 RSS events can be followed by registering here.

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