Reducing deforestation and forest degradation, restoring forests, and sustainably managing forests are all critical pathways to meeting the 2030 global goals. Since 1990, more than 420 million hectares of forest have disappeared. Although deforestation rates have slowed, 10 million hectares of forest are still lost every year. World leaders have committed to halting deforestation and restoring more than 1 billion hectares of degraded land. However, progress has been hindered due to the lack of information at various levels.
Leading the way to more effective forest monitoring
To address such challenges, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have launched AIM4Forests, a six-year programme that aims to support forest monitoring based on modern monitoring technologies and technical innovation, as well as the use of space data and remote sensing.
The new programme is all about leveraging technical innovation to create data and information to inform the right courses of action to reduce deforestation and restore forests. AIM4Forests will leverage everything that technology and innovation offers such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. In addition, it will also make sure that the capacity is transferred to countries, including IPs and local communities who manage the forests – only that way can we see real change.
Highlights
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AIM4Forests Impact Report 2024/25
Click here to discover last year's AIM4Forests journey (April 2024 - April 2025).
Young Forest Champion: Interview with Elizabeth Maanda Sianga (AIM4Forests, Zambia)
05/12/2025
Elizabeth Maanda Sianga, Zambia Young Forest Champion supported by FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, shares her experience in promoting forest conservation, climate action, and sustainable livelihoods. She participated in the World Food Forum side event “Young Forest Champions: Indigenous and Rural Yo...
Young Forest Champion: Interview with Duncan Katam (AIM4Forests, Kenya)
05/12/2025
Duncan Katam, Kenya Young Forest Champion supported by FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, shares his experience in promoting forest conservation, climate action, and sustainable livelihoods. He participated in the World Food Forum side event “Young Forest Champions: Indigenous and Rural Youth in Action...
Main publications
Towards the institutionalization of forest data
07/07/2025
This publication explores how countries can improve forest data governance by institutionalizing data management and sharing within national forest...
Enhancing Ghana’s forest monitoring system for climate action through AIM4Forests
01/04/2025
Ghana’s commitment to sustainable forest management and climate action has been further strengthened through the assessment of needs and gaps. The application...
Forest monitoring for transparent commodity supply chains
19/11/2024
Over the last two decades, consumers have grown more aware of the environmental and social impacts of commodity production. Many companies have started...
Options for addressing the risk of non-permanence for land-based mitigation in carbon crediting programmes
05/11/2024
To mitigate climate change, global efforts must focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing atmospheric CO2. Carbon crediting programmes...
A Land Indicator for traditional knowledge, land tenure and use on Indigenous and traditional territories
03/10/2024
Land governance is fundamental to the achievement of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the secure land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local...
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Towards a digital public infrastructure for deforestation-related trade regulations What is in that plot? (Whisp) solution to implement convergence of evidence
31/05/2024
This is a collaborative effort between partners and programmes such as the European Union’s Team Europe Initiative (TEI), the AIM4Forests and the Forest...
Technological innovation driving transparent forest monitoring and reporting for climate action
21/03/2024
This paper reviews how countries are benefiting from technical innovations in their monitoring and reporting of forest-related emissions and removals...
Good practices in sample-based area estimation
14/02/2024
This paper seeks to enable donors, academia, and countries that currently use or want to use sample-based area estimation (SBAE) for generating activity...
National Forest Inventories of Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards the harmonization of forest information
20/07/2021
This publication represents a milestone in the beginning of the harmonization process towards data transparency within the forestry sector in Latin...
Estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation: An overview of country experience
02/05/2023
This booklet provides an overview of the methodological options available to countries to address these challenges while collecting the emerging experience...
Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests
04/05/2023
AIM4Forests is a five-year programme that aims to support forest monitoring based on modern monitoring technologies and technical innovation, as well...
Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests
04/05/2023
AIM4Forests is a five-year programme that aims to support forest monitoring based on modern monitoring technologies and technical innovation, as well as the use of space data and remote sensing.
E-learnings
Introduction to Forest Mapping and Monitoring Tools for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
01/10/2024
In this self-paced course, you will gain basic information about popular forest mapping and monitoring tools and understand how they can help Indigenous...
Sharing the experience on “Forest and land monitoring for climate action – SEPAL” facilitated course
17/06/2024
The overall objective of this course is to support knowledge and skills development to operationally apply high-resolution satellite imagery to critical...
E-learning series: National forest inventory
02/01/2024
The national forest inventory (NFI) e-learning series consisting of eight courses provides an overview of the key phases of an NFI, from planning to...
Why a national forest inventory?
01/10/2023
This course describes the goals and purpose of a national forest inventory (NFI) and explores how NFIs inform policy- and decision-making in the forest...
Data management in a national forest inventory
01/10/2023
This course provides an overview of information gathering and data management for national forest inventories (NFI).
Our activities
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AIM4Forests: One year of impact
22/04/2024
More from FAO
- FAO Forest Monitoring and Data Platforms Team
- AIM4NatuRe
- Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring
- Open Foris
- SEPAL
- CBIT-Forest
- Forest Data Partnership
- REDD+ programme
- Global Forest Resources Assessments