FAO recognizes 24 nominees for driving progress on forests

Rome – 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.

Connecting science, policy and practice

Forests currently cover around 31 percent of the world’s land area, providing food, income and shelter for billions of people and hosting up to 80 percent of terrestrial biodiversity. For 80 years, FAO has remained at the forefront of global efforts to promote sustainable forest management, renewable resource use, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation.

This year’s ceremony highlighted how cross-border, cross-sector, and cross-generational collaboration remains essential to achieving global sustainability objectives. The event underscored FAO’s enduring leadership in connecting science, policy, and practice.

Alongside the Forestry Division’s recipients, recognition was also given to exemplary initiatives in sustainable livestock transformation; South-South and Triangular Cooperation; land, soil and water resource management; sustainable aquatic food systems; and sustainable plant production and protection – demonstrating the breadth of technical excellence advancing FAO’s vision of a world free from hunger.