The GFOI Plenary 2023 took place from 9 to 11 May 2023 at the Headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome and online. It brought together the global community of practitioners who support tropical countries working in forest monitoring and the implementation of the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Plenary focused on the overarching theme of the role offorest information in addressing climate change with the following sub-topics: REDD+, Nationally Determined Contributions, Restoration and Blue Carbon.  The Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI) Secretariat,...

Countries have made significant progress in developing and operationalizing their national forest monitoring systems (NFMS) to comply with the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) framework under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These systems provide better forest data to support decision-making and domestic policies, implementing the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement. It is crucial to make these efforts visible and inform students and young professionals about the advances in data transparency and forest inventories. This knowledge empowers them to  help adapt local knowledge and practices to a changing world The FAO Sub-Commission of the International...

Innovation and technology are crucial in driving progress, and it is crucial to recognize the potential of gender equality in promoting innovation, especially as we celebrate International Women’s Day. The theme for this year's celebration is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” which acknowledges the contributions of women and girls in advancing transformative technology and digital education. Collaboration is essential in promoting gender equality in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and digital fields, as it is the best way to innovate.  The National Forest Monitoring Team of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)'s Forestry Division uses...

“Building global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector (CBIT-Forest) – the initiative from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – aimed to help countries meet their Paris Agreement goals and pledges by promoting the use of robust and transparent forest data. Funded by GEF, CBIT-Forest is characterized by three main goals – boost institutional capacity, strengthen technical capacity and increase knowledge sharing. From its launch at the end of 2019 to its completion in June 2022, the project has reached almost 10,000 people (61% men; 39%...

The Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP 27) opened with a shared sense of urgency, as speakers underscored the devastating climate impacts that have occurred this year. During the opening ceremony, speakers shared pressing messages from climate science, highlighted the current geopolitical challenges and their effects on energy and food systems and emphasized the necessity of focusing on implementation (IISD, 2022). Read more here.