On Earth Day 2025, FAO brought together global partners, national experts, youth leaders and Indigenous representatives to mark two milestones: the second anniversary of the AIM4Forests programme and the launch of the new AIM4NatuRe initiative. 

Ethiopia marked a significant milestone in its sustainable forest management journey with the third Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the REDD+ capacity enhancement project (MRV Phase II). The project focuses on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and on measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today on Earth Day launched Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Nature Restoration (AIM4NatuRe), a new initiative with GBP 7 million from the United Kingdom to improve monitoring and reporting of global ecosystem restoration efforts.

Bangkok - Forests across Asia and the Pacific region cover 740 million hectares, accounting for 18 percent of global forest cover. These forests are not only critical for the livelihoods of more than 450 million people, but also play a critical economic role, with annual trade in primary forest p...

Zambia’s forests are essential for livelihoods, biodiversity, water resources and climate. They provide food, fuel and materials for local communities, support diverse ecosystems, and help regulate water cycles and address climate change. To promote their sustainable management, FAO with the support of the AIM4Forests and the UN-REDD programmes, is working with the Forestry Department of Zambia to enhance forest data collection and decision-making in North-Western Province—the country’s most forested region and home to the headwaters of the Zambezi River. Key activities include a forest inventory in Manyinga District, conducted in 2024, and the development of a forest management plan in 2025 to guide long-term sustainable use.

Ghana has established itself as a leader in the climate and forest agenda, implementing innovative programs such as the Ghana Cocoa Forest Programme and the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project. The country has made significant progress in accessing climate finance, becoming one of the first in Africa to propose emission reductions under global standards and expanding its role in international partnerships like the LEAF coalition.

The Young Forest Champions Initiative, launched under FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, has generated a remarkable response from youth worldwide, receiving 1,521 applications in just two weeks from late January to mid-February 2025. Originally designed to empower young people in forest monitoring, conservation and restoration across five focus countries—Ghana, Kenya, Peru, Uganda, and Zambia— the initiative has attracted global attention, highlighting the growing international interest among young people in forest monitoring, conservation, and restoration. 

On February 14, 2025, FAO hosted the first event of the Private Sector Brown Bag Lunches Series, highlighting its decade-long collaboration with Google. The event, organized by FAO's Private Sector Unit (PSUS), demonstrated how innovative technological solutions can transform agricultural and environmental challenges on a global scale.

The further humans encroach upon the rainforests of our planet, the more the natural barriers that protect us from wild animal diseases disappear. Up to 75 percent of new human infectious diseases originate from animals, and as human activities push deeper into biodiverse ecosystems, the likelihood of pathogen spillover increases. 

Tropical forests play a crucial role in tackling climate change, providing critical ecosystem services that support global resilience, food security, and sustainable livelihoods. To meet international commitments like the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries need robust forest data, effective monitoring systems, responsive forest-related policies, and stakeholder collaboration.

The Open Foris Arena platform, a free and open-source solution, has reached a new milestone with the launch of Arena 2.0. This latest version introduces significant enhancements, making it easier to capture, store, manage, and process survey data in a secure, web-based platform—representing a major step forward in how we monitor and manage forest survey data worldwide.

An FAO hybrid webinar Enhancing national forest monitoring systems for climate action: Tools, plans and approaches, supported by the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI), was conducted as part of the South-South knowledge exchange on enhancing forest monitoring in collaboration with the Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests) programme.

More than 150 experts from across the globe convened in Rome, Italy, from 25 to 28 November 2024 to enhance collaboration on forest monitoring efforts. The south-south knowledge exchange  emphasized collaboration on country-led planning; forest monitoring and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) procedures; and forest monitoring for transparent commodity value chains. 

The recent webinar, Learning Opportunities for All: Forest Monitoring for Climate Action, that took place on December 26 at FAO headquarters, convened global experts and participants, including 128 online attendees and around 50 in-person participants, to explore FAO's approach to strengthening capacities in forest monitoring. The session showcased significant progress in eLearning resources particularly for National Forest Inventories (NFIs).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new project to help countries improve their forest-related data at a four-day South-South knowledge exchange taking place in Rome this week.

To enhance a digital public infrastructure for deforestation-related trade regulations, FAO has developed a suite of innovative solutions to help smallholders, decision-makers, operators and third party verification actors to assess the deforestation risk related to commodity production at the plot level.  

In response to the pressing need for durable forest-based climate solutions, FAO has released a new publication titled "Options for addressing the risk of non-permanence for land-based mitigation in ca...

To advance sustainable forest management, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in partnership with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and with funding support from the European Union delegation in Freetown, conducted an in-depth training program in Kenema for the country’s first National Forest Inventory (NFI). The program was designed to equip local experts with critical knowledge and state-of-the-art forest measurement tools for effective data collection. 

On 30 October 2024, hundreds of delegates and observers of the 16th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity gathered at Restoration Day, to learn about and discuss the latest developments in partnerships, monitoring tools, implementation and innovative finance for achieving Target 2 of the Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention. Under this target, countries committed to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems – across all ecosystem types, terrestrial and aquatic, until 2030. If achieved, this target will be critical across all three UN Rio Conventions – in addition to reversing biodiversity loss, ecosystem restoration is synergetic for meeting the Paris Climate Agreement and the Land Degradation Neutrality Goals. 

Rural youth are the next generation of forest and farm producers, and they are at the heart of a food-secure future. As participants heard at the World Food Forum at FAO Headquarters in Rome today, they have much to offer and are essential in global sustainable production efforts, with their decisions directly impacting agricultural and forest landscapes and ecosystems.