Forest-based bioeconomy approaches sustainably use forests and related ecosystems—trees outside forests, agroforestry, urban and peri-urban forests, and restored landscapes—to produce renewable resources, goods, and services. Grounded in the principles of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), it balances economic growth with conservation, climate mitigation, biodiversity protection, and inclusive livelihoods.

Sustainable forest-based bioeconomy approaches offer a transformative model for sustainable development, extending the benefits of traditional SFM frameworks to broader sectors and global challenges, by connecting ecological, social, and economic goals.

Sustainable forest-based bioeconomy approaches:

• Support decarbonization by replacing fossil-based materials with renewable, low-carbon forest products across sectors such as construction, energy, and textiles.
• Leverage science, technology, innovation, and ancestral knowledge including remote sensing, artificial intelligence in forest management, and value-chain optimization, to improve resource monitoring, efficiency, and market access.
• Enable the development of novel bioproducts and enhance value addition while integrating smallholders and local enterprises into forest-based value chains, including wood, non-wood forest products (NWFP) and wood energy and linking sustainable production with responsible consumption.
• Promote equity and livelihoods, creating green jobs, and supporting inclusive economic growth in urban and rural areas.

Strategic Framework 2022–31

Bioeconomy is a Programme Priority Area (PPA) under Better Environment (BE2) “Bioeconomy for Sustainable Food and Agriculture” which aims to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and combat climate change (reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management) through more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, including sustainable forest management. FAO promotes bioeconomy in food and agriculture through technological, organizational and social innovations that are inclusive of rural, indigenous and vulnerable or disadvantaged communities, youth and women producers and consumers.  

The Forestry Division (NFO) supports and co-leads the PPA through various activities, including its team on Forest Products and Bioeconomy. It also contributes to the FAO Forestry Roadmap: From Vision to Action 2024–2031 and leads implementation of its Priority Action 11 to “promote a sustainable bioeconomy by further enhancing the efficient and sustainable use, supply and value-adding of legal and sustainable forest products and related value chains …, ensuring fibre security, and promoting green employment and long-lived products”.[1]

FAO, through its Forestry Division (NFO), helps member countries enhance the contribution of forests and forest products to a sustainable bioeconomy and to upscale viable forest-based bioeconomy approaches. It promotes forest-based innovations related to wood and NWFP to advance the transition to carbon neutral societies. 

FAO’s work on sustainable forest-based bioeconomy approaches is organized into three main areas:

1. Forests – Sustainable Production and Consumption

Forests provide Fibres, Fuelwood, Food, Feed (“4F”), and other ecosystem services essential to bioeconomy. Meeting these needs requires sustainable production and consumption.

• FAO supports countries in managing forests sustainably.
• It helps ensure biomass supply and trade-offs are well understood.
• Efforts align with goals on ecosystem restoration, climate mitigation, land degradation neutrality, and biodiversity.
  

2. Opportunities – Stronger Value Chains

Forest-based bioeconomy approaches also depends on optimizing value chains. This means improving processing, adding value, and ensuring legality and sustainability.

• FAO helps build strong forest-based value chains that prevent deforestation and follow the “4Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Residual management.
• It promotes innovation, technology, monitoring systems and policies to improve efficiency and productivity.
• FAO also supports smallholders and local enterprises for improved market access and financing, ensuring equity, livelihoods, and employment. 
  

3. Reinforcing – Climate Action and Bioeconomy Potential

Forests provide renewable products such as timber, pulp, paper, woodfuel, and NWFP (e.g. food, medicine, cosmetics). It will not be possible to reach a sustainable bioeconomy and the global climate goals set without tapping in the carbon sequestration, storage and substitution (“3S”) potential of these forest products.

• FAO supports the expansion of both existing and emerging products provided by wood and NWFP, leveraging their climate action potential as a key value proposition in reinforcing bioeconomy approaches.
• The key focus is on harnessing the “3S” potential in sustainably harvested wood products (HWP) and NWFP, and facilitating their inclusion in national bioeconomy and climate strategies.

Data, Norms, and Standards	Policy Dialogue, Advocacy and Partnerships	Value Chain Development, Innovation and Investments	Knowledge Generation and Capacity Development
Priority: Improve access to reliable data, indicators, and standards to support informed decisions and foster transparent, sustainable forest product production and use.	Priority: Lead inclusive policy dialogue and advocacy efforts to elevate the sustainable forest-based bioeconomy approaches' objectives on global, regional and national agendas, while building strategic partnerships and engaging stakeholders.	Priority: Advance the development, sustainability, and innovation of forest product value chains through targeted support, catalyzing investment in value-added and long-lived products, improving resource efficiency and 4R-based approaches, and supporting forest employment opportunities.	Priority: Strengthen institutional and stakeholder capacities by delivering targeted knowledge, tools, and training to support effective implementation of sustainable forest-based bioeconomy approaches.
Core interventions (examples): FAOSTAT-Forestry database and FAOSTAT – Pulp and paper capacities, survey Global Core Set (GCS) Indicators (wood fuel, employment)  Standards (NWFP)  Supply and demand scenarios  Wild Foods Zambia	Core interventions (examples): Committee on Forestry (COFO) and Regional Forestry Commissions  Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries (ACSFI)  FAO’s Programme Priority Area (PPA) under Better Environment (BE2) “Bioeconomy for Sustainable Food and Agriculture”   Country and Organization-Led Initiative on Sustainable Forest-based Bioeconomy Approaches (COLI)  World Bioeconomy Forum (WBF)  International Bioeconomy Forum (IBF)  Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP)  IUFRO Taskforces (Bioeconomy; Innovation)  Other regional/national policy dialogues or thematic initiatives and partnerships	Core interventions (examples): Wood  NWFP   Wood Energy Greening the humanitarian response in displacement settings	Core interventions (examples): Forest Products Statistics Capacity Building workshops  NWFP harvesting guidelines  Forest product supply and demand scenarios (e.g. Global forest sector outlook 2050)  Carbon in harvested wood products (HWP)  Strengthening country capacities to enable forest-based contributions to healthy and sustainable agrifood systems