With the Paris Climate Change Agreement now in place, countries have an ever-growing need for access to credible information on the extent and condition of their forests and their contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. As forest landscapes contribute significantly to the global GHG cycle, collection of improved information on emissions and removals from this sector is vital in helping countries to tackle climate change.

Forest monitoring and associated GHG accounting systems generate the information needed by countries to help them to meet their international reporting requirements, establish baselines, track progress and develop effective interventions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

GFOI is an informal partnership of countries and institutions that collaboratively assist developing countries on these issues for the purposes of reporting for REDD+ results-based payments, monitoring progress towards meeting their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), reporting for the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and other performance-based funds, informing the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), building capacity for national GHG inventories and other country needs.

GFOI is a flagship programme of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). It was founded in 2011, building on the pilot GEO Forest Carbon Tracking (FCT) initiative, which was founded in 2009.