الغابات في الأراضي القاحلة وشبه القاحلة مثل تلك الموجودة في العديد من البلدان الناطقة باللغة العربية، توفر السلع والخدمات البيئية الحيوية، وهي تساعد على منع التصحر والتخفيف من آثار تغير المناخ، وتعمل كمصدر للغذاء والطاقة وسبل العيش. وفي العديد من الأماكن حول العالم، الغابات لها أيضا أهمية دينية وثقافية. فالعديد من بلدان الشرق الأوسط أو الشرق الأدنى  لديها غطاء غابي منخفض في البداية، مما يجعل حماية الموارد الغابية أكثر حيوية في هذه المناطق. ومع ذلك، لا تزال معدلات إزالة الغابات في جميع أنحاء العالم مرتفعة، حيث تقدر ب 10 ملايين هكتار  سنويا (2015-2020)، وفقا لتقييم الموارد الغابية العالمية (FRA)2020 ، إن تقرير...

The book, National Forest Inventories of Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards the harmonization of forest information, is the result of the work of 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that have combined their efforts to compile, review and illustrate their experiences implementing National Forest Inventories (NFI), as well as identifying common points and differences in the definitions, designs, methods and estimation protocols applied in those countries. NFIs are the fundamental pillar of a multipurpose National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS), providing precise information on the extension, distribution, composition, condition of forests and the changes that occur in these areas...

The climate crisis demands global action. One of the most recognizable initiatives implemented at this scale is the Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries, which aims to limit global average temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Under the Paris Agreement, countries have outlined individual climate goals, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). To ensure each country is contributing to the Paris Agreement, the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) was developed, which improves transparency and builds trust in the process. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has implemented the two-year project, “Building global capacity to increase transparency...

Forests have significant climate change mitigation potential. Improving the transparency of forest-related data and information is needed now more than ever, particularly with respect to the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement. But what steps are being taken at the community, country and global levels?   The CBIT-Forest global project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is supporting developing countries to collect, analyze and disseminate forest-related data to improve data transparency and accessibility in line with the ETF. The CBIT-Forest activities aim to boost institutional capacity and increase technical capacity in partner countries, as well as encourage global knowledge sharing.   A closer look at NFMS assessments  Under this project, FAO has developed the National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) assessment tool for identifying needs and gaps to help establish or strengthen a country’s forest monitoring system (information note English, French and Spanish). The tool presents good...

Producing sound data on forests and land-use has become easier with the launch of a new phase of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) state-of-the-art forest and land monitoring platform SEPAL. The second phase of SEPAL - System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring – can directly support FAO member countries in their efforts to generate transparent, accurate and consistent geospatial data, which is critical for reducing deforestation and degradation, and accelerating restoration. It will also help to ward off the worst impacts of climate change, protect against biodiversity loss, and safeguard the...