Boosting transparency of forest data

News

11/07/2025

The Gambia is transforming how it monitors and manages its forest, leaving behind paper-based data collection and embracing digital solutions to map, measure, and manage its forests with greater accuracy and efficiency. Led by the Gambia's Department of Forestry and supported by the Food and A...

07/07/2025

Forests are more than trees. They support food, water, and energy security. They regulate the climate and shelter millions of people. But to protect them, countries need solid information. And that means better data. Reliable forest data helps answer key questions: How much forest has been lost? Where is it growing back? Which policies are working - and which don’t?

Forest Data Without Borders: Latin America and the Caribbean Strengthen Their Commitment to Forest Transparency
07/07/2025
Close to 20 countries from the region are meeting in Guatemala to enhance their forest monitoring systems, advance methodological harmonisation, and promote open data, in response to the growing international demand for transparent and verifiable forest information.
24/06/2025

To inspire the next generation of forestry professionals, FAO welcomed 18 students from the Global Forestry (GLOFOR) master’s programme, the International Forestry Students’ Association (

The Democratic Republic of the Congo Strengthens Transparency of Its Forest Data
12/06/2025
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has taken a major step toward increasing transparency in forest data and promoting the sustainable management of its natural resources by publishing the metadata and resources of its National Forest Inventory (NFI) on the FAO’s Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue
07/05/2025

Marking the start of a collaborative journey to strengthen national forest monitoring systems, nearly 3 000 professionals from around the world will engage in the “Institutionalization of Forest Data” online facilitated course, which officially begins today. The four-week course, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), underscores the critical role that robust and transparent national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) play in supporting forest-based climate actions.

24/04/2025
On Earth Day 2025, FAO brought together global partners, national experts, youth leaders and Indigenous representatives to mark two milestones: the second anniversary of the AIM4Forests programme and the launch of the new AIM4NatuRe initiative.
08/04/2025

8 April 2025, Tashkent, Uzbekistan – A workshop convened today in Tashkent underscored Uzbekistan's commitment to enhanced climate reporting transparency through adaptation measures. The event, focusing on the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the Ca...

03/04/2025

The project “Global capacity-building towards enhanced transparency in the AFOLU sector” (CBIT-AFOLU), has concluded in Cuba after four years of implementation. This initiative, led by the Ministry of Agriculture with technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unite...

02/04/2025

As the world faces increasing climate and biodiversity crises, transparent forest data is more essential than ever. In the Asia-Pacific region, where forests support over 450 million people and play a crucial role in climate resilience, sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation, t...

01/04/2025

FAO has published a new visual report capturing key results from the first year of implementation of the project “Building global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector (CBIT-Forest)” – Phase II, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

27/03/2025

Bangkok - Forests across Asia and the Pacific region cover 740 million hectares, accounting for 18 percent of global forest cover. These forests are not only critical for the livelihoods of more than 450 million people, but also play a critical economic role, with annual trade in primary fores...

18/03/2025

Countries in West Africa are strengthening their technical and institutional capacities to support REDD+ readiness, with assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through a dedicated training series on Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV). Thi...

Revolutionizing eLearning for Forest Monitoring: A Global Training Experience
14/03/2025
The National Forest Inventory (NFI) online facilitated course plays a key role in strengthening forest data transparency by equipping professionals with essential skills in forest monitoring, reporting, and data management. This course aligns with FAO’s Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue, a global initiative aimed at enhancing access to reliable forest-related data to support climate action, sustainable forest management, and policy development.  
14/03/2025

Mongolia has taken a major step towards ensuring greater forest data transparency with the publication of the country’s Multipurpose National Forest Inventory (NFI) and make it available to the global audiences through the

12/03/2025

Nepal has taken a significant step toward forest data transparency and sustainable forest management by making its National Forest Inventory (NFI) metadata and resources available on the Food a...

24/02/2025

On February 12, 2025, the Capacity-Building Initiative for Transparency-Global Support Programme (CBIT-GSP) held its sixth Closing Conversations webinar as a part of its knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement activities.  

This episode covered the

10/02/2025
The Open Foris Arena platform, a free and open-source solution, has reached a new milestone with the launch of Arena 2.0. This latest version introduces significant enhancements, making it easier to capture, store, manage, and process survey data in a secure, web-based platform—representing a maj...
Lao People’s Democratic Republic Advances Forest Data Transparency with FAO Support
05/02/2025
Vientiane Capital, Lao People's Democratic Republic – The Department of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has taken a significant step towards enhancing forest data transparency by registering its national forest monitoring system (NFMS) data on the Food and Agriculture Microdata Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) Catalogue, developed...
Learning opportunities for all: Forest monitoring for climate action
03/12/2024
The recent webinar, Learning Opportunities for All: Forest Monitoring for Climate Action, that took place on December 26 at FAO headquarters, convened global experts and participants, including 128 online attendees and around 50 in-person participants, to explore FAO's approach to strengthening capacities in forest monitoring. The session showcased significant progress in eLearning resources particularly for National Forest Inventories (NFIs).