Recognizing the role of forests as a cornerstone of resilient and sustainable agrifood systems
On the occasion of its 80th anniversary, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will celebrate eight decades working towards global food security and sustainable development.
To commemorate its 80th anniversary, FAO launched a call for nominations to recognize global forestry champions that have made outstanding contributions to sustainable forest management and agrifood systems transformation as well as other global processes that are relevant to FAO’s mandate.
Recipients
The Forestry Division honoured 24 distinguished nominees at the FAO Global Technical Recognition Ceremony, held on 15 October 2025 at FAO headquarters in Rome.
Part of the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of FAO’s founding in 1945, the ceremony paid tribute to best practices and innovative approaches from around the world that are driving progress in global food security, sustainable development, and agrifood systems transformation across six technical areas.
For the area of sustainable forest production and protection, which called for nominations across four historical periods and ten themes, the Organization received more than 340 nominations from nearly 100 countries. From these, 24 nominees were recognized for their exemplary achievements in advancing sustainable forest production and protection to promote FAO’s Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.
The full list of those recognized is as follows:
- Three-North Program, for 32 million hectares of afforestation completed and 1.6 million hectares of farmland shelterbelts planted to create the Green Great Wall of China. Over 300 million jobs created with 15 million people lifted out of poverty.
- Africa’s Great Green Wall Initiative, which aims to restore 100 million hectares, create 10 million green jobs, and sequester 250 million tons of CO₂-eq by 2030.
- Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme, which aims to conserve and sustainably manage wildlife in forests, savannas, and wetlands, improving livelihoods and reducing zoonotic risks.
- Global Environment Facility, which has supported 750 forest-focused projects, investing USD 5 billion and leveraging USD 25 billion in co-financing since 1991.
- Technologies for sustainable forest management developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.
- Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative, which addresses climate change, land degradation, and deforestation and has planted over 40 billion seedlings.
- Promoting sustainable forest management in countries around the Mediterranean by the International Association for Mediterranean Forests.
- International Model Forest Network, which promotes sustainable development by balancing social, environmental, economic, and cultural values.
- Indigenous women’s forest restoration in Kenya by the Paran Women’s Group.
- Sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation research and practices by Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development.
- 80 years of forest research in the Russian Federation conducted by the Northern Research Institute of Forestry.
- Improving livelihoods for rural communities in Bhutan run by Mountain Hazelnuts.
- Forest and peatland research and innovative technologies for sustainable management and community benefits by the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute.
- Improved tools for forest management resulting in historic lows of deforestation led by National Forestry Institute of Paraguay.
- Agroforestry improvements in Haiti where more than 7,000 small-farmers grow and look after trees to earn “tree-currency” to exchange for other agricultural services supported by the Smallholder Farmers Alliance.
- Science Panel for the Amazon, which unites over 300 scientists, Indigenous leaders, and experts to support Amazon conservation and sustainable development.
- Positive impacts of coffee cultivation on nature conservation and livelihoods based on nearly 100 years’ experience of the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers.
- Community forest management benefits developed by Colombia Community Council of the Black Communities of the Tolo River Basin and Southern Coastal Zone.
- The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve supported by ALTERNARE A.C.
- The Treetracker app for transparent monitoring of reforestation projects developed by Greenstand.
- Mangrove protection through blue carbon in Myanmar supported by Worldview International Foundation.
- A global reforestation initiative in over 80 countries supported by One Tree Planted.
- Community forest conservation and restoration in Papua New Guinea practised by Dika Suna Nature Conservation.
- Innovative training to promote safer and more productive forestry jobs developed by the Argentine Forestry Association.
Selection process
Recognition was given in one or more of the following ten thematic focal areas and achievements may span any period in the past 80 years.
To guide nominations, FAO has divided global forestry development over the past 80 years into four historical periods, each marked by shifting priorities, innovations or paradigm shifts.
Theme 1: Evolution of sustainable forest management practices
Sustainable yield, improvement of forests stocks, criteria and indicators, national forest programmes, forestry policy and legislation development, forest institutional development and improvements (e.g. formation of national forestry agencies and improvements in capacity), forest governance, integration of landscape approaches, forest certification systems, forest management plans, silviculture and forest research.
Theme 2: Social and community forestry, and livelihoods
Community forest management, Indigenous Peoples and local communities as forest stewards, forests for enhanced livelihoods, human-wildlife co-existence, inclusive forest-based value chains, forest tenure, land rights and social protection.
Theme 3: Forest products and trade, finance and economics
Wood based industries (timber, pulp and paper etc.), bioeconomy, Payments for Environmental Services (PES), forest finance, responsible investments, forests’ contribution to poverty eradication, traceability, monitoring and reducing illegal activities, forestry in national accounting, and sustainable value chains etc.
Theme 4: Forest biodiversity and genetic resources conservation and sustainable use
Forest protected areas, species conservation, national parks, ecological corridors, primary forests identification and management, conservation and productive use of genetic resources, seed banks, mainstreaming biodiversity in forestry, invasive species management, water and soil management, and combating desertification.
Theme 5: Afforestation, reforestation and forest restoration
Achievements in implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Bonn Challenge etc., large scale and impactful national and regional tree planting programmes and initiatives, community driven restoration, landscape restoration approaches, etc.
Theme 6: Forest foods, nutrition, water and One Health
Food, medicine, non-wood forest products, catchments for irrigation, integrated water management, sustainable wildlife management for food & conservation, urban forestry, green cities, healthier air, human physical/mental well-being, One-Health approach.
Theme 7: Forests for disaster preparedness, reduction, rehabilitation and resilience
Reduced risks of wildfires, pests and diseases, drought, storm damage, flooding and landslides through integrated risk management. Preventing, halting and reversing loss of nature through Integrated Fire Management (IFM), Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and One Health approach.
Theme 8: Forests and climate change
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) strategies and actions, Results Based Payments (RBPs), halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation, forest-based adaptation and resilience.
Theme 9: Forest monitoring and data for improved forest management
Improvements in national forest inventories, satellite monitoring and remote sensing, local community and crowd sourcing of data and reporting, etc.
Theme 10. Technological revolutions and innovations
Mechanization improvements in production, efficiency, safety, and monitoring, digital innovations including the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and blockchains in forestry.
Cross-cutting themes across all main themes:
- Science-policy interface in the forest sector
- Gender, youth, tenure and social protection (ref. to FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure), traditional knowledge
- Forestry education
1945–1971: Building foundations for multifunctional forestry
Milestone events: Founding of the FAO Forestry Division (1945), first global forest resources assessment (1948), first World Forestry Congress (1950)
1972–1991: Integrating forestry into environmental and development agendas
Milestone events: UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference 1972)
1992–2015: The Rio Forest Principles and sustainable development
Milestone events: Rio Earth Summit and the Forest Principles (1992), Kyoto Protocol (1997), Millennium Development Goals (2000), United Nations Forum on Forests (2001), UNFCCC Paris Agreement (2015)
2015–2025: Decade of innovation-driven transformation
Milestone events: UNFCCC Paris Agreement (2015), United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2019), FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 (2021), Convention on Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2023)
FAO's 80th anniversary - 365 days of action
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