25th Session Committee on Forestry

Forests and the SDG Decade of Action: solutions for climate change, biodiversity and people

The Twenty-fifth Session of the Committee on Forestry was convened virtually from 5 to 9 October 2020. The Session was planned to take place from 22-26 June 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The 25th Session and the 7th World Forest Week explored the contributions that the forest sector can make to the SDG Decade of Action as well as to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, including on solutions for climate change, biodiversity and people. At the 25th anniversary session of the Committee on Forestry, two flagship reports were presented: The State of the World’s Forests 2020 report and the Global Forests Resources Assessment 2020.

The Committee examined a range of key global issues, including:

• The impacts of COVID-19 on the forest sector and how to respond;
  
• The State of the World’s Forests 2020: links between forests, biodiversity and people;
  
• Key findings of FRA 2020 and ways forward, focusing on digitalization;
  
• FAO Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity across Agricultural Sectors;
  
• Forests as a nature-based solution for climate change;
  
• Forests and their role in transforming food systems;
  
• Contributions to the UN Decades on Family Farming and Ecosystem Restoration;
  
• Preparations for the XV World Forestry Congress;
  
• Food systems transformation, including stepping up action to halt deforestation, and the UN Food Systems Summit 2021; and
  
• The strategy and vision for FAO’s work in nutrition.

7th World Forest Week

The seventh World Forest Week – a series of meetings and events hosted by FAO and its partner organizations and institutions – was held back-to-back with COFO25, on Friday 2 October and on Monday 12 October. It provided participants with a unique opportunity to exchange, connect and find responses for the forest sector to the issues discussed in COFO25, including the COVID-19 crisis, action on the SDGs, climate change, biodiversity and people.

 

• Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 and the way forward
• Food systems transformation, land use and deforestation
• Vision and strategy for FAO’s work in nutrition – a forestry perspective

COVID-19 Forestry Webinar Week

Building back better: COVID-19 pandemic recovery contributions from the forest sector
22-25 June 2020

The COVID-19 Forestry Webinar Week featured a series of virtual sessions in the week in which COFO and the World Forest Week were originally scheduled. The sessions comprised high-level events as well as technical thematic sessions. Thematic sessions were organized by the FAO’s Forestry Department with partners within and outside FAO.