The international community will gather in Rome, Italy, from 25 to 28 November 2024 for the global forum "Enhancing forest monitoring through global collaboration: A south-south knowledge exchange". Over 120 participants are expected to attend the event, including representatives from many tropical forest countries across Latin America, Africa, South-East Asia and the Pacific.

This south-south knowledge exchange on emerging contexts for forest monitoring will be hosted by the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) and its lead partner the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), under the Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests) programme funded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Forest country governments and international partners from across the GFOI community will gather at FAO headquarters in Rome for these important discussions.

As a global forum, this is a key opportunity for tropical forest countries to share lessons, exchange knowledge and experiences, and collaborate with the international community on how to best monitor their forests and associated GHG emissions. The discussions throughout the week will cover the various challenges that tropical countries face in these monitoring efforts and allow for the exchange of solutions from countries who have experienced such challenges before.

Agenda: South-south knowledge exchange

The forum will start on Monday 25 November with a joint session on the evolving context of national forest monitoring. This will be broadcast globally to reveal a panel discussion and the launch of notable resources. Readers can also register for the Zoom sessions to have their questions answered in real time. For more information on the sessions from 10.00 to 12.00 and 15.30 to 17.00 CET on 25 November, please click here.

From 26 to 28 November, the forum will then see three in-person workshops occur in parallel:

1.     country-led planning for national forest monitoring systems;

2.     forest monitoring and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) technical and methodological aspects; and

3.     forest monitoring for transparent commodity value chains, co-hosted with the Forest Data Partnership.

Forest monitoring and MRV for climate change

Forest monitoring and MRV systems are essential for tackling climate change. These systems help countries track changes in forest cover and carbon stocks, ensuring that they have accurate data to support efforts like reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). By providing transparent and consistent data, MRV systems enable nations to report on their climate commitments under international frameworks like the Paris Agreement.

The GFOI supports the development of these systems by offering guidance and tools through its Family of Resources to improve forest monitoring capabilities. This strengthens countries' ability to assess the impact of forest management on carbon emissions, enhancing accountability and enabling better policymaking to protect forests and mitigate climate change.

We invite readers to keep an eye on this webpage and the GFOI’s social media accounts (LinkedIn, X and Facebook) for more updates before, during and after the week!