People and forests

Micro, small and medium-scale forest enterprises

News

New research provides updated estimates on global forest-sector employment

14/04/2026

Joint study by FAO, ILO and Thünen Institute of Forestry includes first global sex-disaggregated employment estimates for the forest sector

FAO launches ‘4 WINS’ approach to advance women’s entrepreneurship in forest economies

06/03/2026

As part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has unveiled a new model for strengthening women’s leadership and entrepreneurship in the world’s forest sectors.

New FAO tools to help countries halt deforestation through sustainable agrifood systems transformation

16/12/2025

A new suite of tools launched today by FAO will help countries identify practical, systemic solutions to halt deforestation while advancing sustainable agrifood systems.

Publications

Capturing wild food and neglected and underutilized species in dietary assessments at scale

2026

The development of this guidance note was motivated by numerous calls to improve the availability of globally comparable and population-level data on food biodiversity, in particular, wild species and neglected and underutilized species.

Scaling up land restoration to expand Africa’s Great Green Wall Action Against Desertification 2026, Policy brief, No. 1

2026

This policy brief highlights key lessons learned from restoration interventions, and provides actionable recommendations to scale up efforts across the Great Green Wall (GGW)

Updated methodology to quantify forest-sector employment: global and regional estimates

2026

This study introduces an updated methodology – the Forest EMployment (FEM) model – for assessing the magnitude of global forest-sector employment.

Videos

Forest monitoring and Indigenous-led restoration in Brazil

17/11/2025

From satellite-based monitoring to community and indigenous-led restoration, Brazil’s approach is inspiring a global movement for forest protection...

The Green Cities Initiative – In my Green City

27/10/2025

In this video, eight people aged between 6 and 18 years share their experiences and ideas of what life in a sustainable, just and green city might look...

The Green Cities Initiative - a better future for all

15/10/2025

Cities around the world are grow rapidly. This growth offers immense opportunities but also creates rising pressure on infrastructure, resources and...

The Green Cities Initiative – in Action for Africa

15/10/2025

With support from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the FAO’s Green Cities Initiative is helping ten cities in five...

The Green Cities Initiative - a virtual Green Cities walk

14/10/2025

Step into a reimagined urban world – a world in which cities are not just growing, but thriving.

‘Greening’ the humanitarian response in Uganda and Djibouti

20/06/2025

The Greening the Humanitarian Response project, funded by the European Union and implemented by FAO in collaboration with UNHCR, aims to strengthen...

Nepali women’s community group is turning fire prevention into a climate-resilient green enterprise

22/04/2025

Women from the Binayi Triveni Municipality in Nepal’s western region collect forest litter – the bark, leaves and sticks on the forest floor that can...

Transforming the asaí value chain in Bolivia through traditional methods and modern ingenuity

27/03/2025

In Porvenir, Bolivia, Indigenous communities are proving that forest conservation and prosperity can go hand in hand.

Schoolchildren learn about forests and food security in Rome’s FAO Park

21/03/2025

More than five billion people use forest and non-timber forest products for food, medicine and livelihoods. Watch the video and see how schoolchildren...

Rodrigo Pacheco's edible forest

21/03/2025

FAO National Goodwill Ambassador for Ecuador and world-famous chef Rodrigo Pacheco takes us on a walk through his own edible forests.

Elearning Academy

Farmer Field School programmes

30/09/2024

Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory education approach that brings together a group of small-scale food producers to solve production problems...

An introduction to urban and peri-urban forestry

23/05/2024

This course introduces the concepts of urban and peri-urban forestry, outlining the important ecosystem services provided by urban forests and the challenges...

Developing bankable business plans for sustainable forest-based enterprises

01/09/2023

This course has been developed to improve the capacity of small-scale producers and small and medium-sized enterprises to access investment and other...