Boosting transparency of forest data

3rd edition of the massive open online course (MOOC) “Forests and Transparency under the Paris Agreement.”

13/07/2021

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is launching its third edition of the massive open online course (MOOC) “Forests and Transparency under the Paris Agreement.” Developed under the project “Building Global Capacity to Increase Transparency in the Forest sector (CBIT-Forest),” in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This course further explores the connections between aspects of the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement, and the collection, analysis and dissemination of reliable and transparent forest information. The MOOC will teach participants that the support needed to maintain a sustainable National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) also enables countries to meet the reporting requirements of the ETF.  

Course timeline: 20 September – 8 October 2021  

To register for this course, use the following link; deadline for registration is September 12: https://forms.office.com/r/HwdNr37x3P 

For more information, please refer to the following resources: 

About this Course:  

With the development of NFMS, countries secure a source of reliable forest information to guide national forest policies, planning and sustainable development. In addition to providing national forest inventory data, these systems also report on greenhouse gas emission factors. Therefore, NFMS can help countries track progress on achieving international commitments, such as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Article 5 of the Paris Agreement acknowledges the influence forests have on greenhouse gas emissions. Forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing emissions from the atmosphere. But deforestation and forest degradation reduce the ability of forests to store carbon. For this reason, forest management and sustainability play a key role in long-term climate mitigation.  

This MOOC will guide participants through four modules, each of which details a particular aspect of NFMS and the ETF. In addition to reviewing key principles of each and examining the connections between them, participants will have the unique opportunity to interact with international experts in the fields of forestry, land use, and climate change. Two live webinars will be held- one is designed to explore the process of creating and implementing an NFMS, and the other focuses on how to make a seamless transition from the measurement, reporting and verification framework to the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement. Both webinars will be delivered in all three languages of the course - English, Spanish, and French - simultaneously.   

The course concludes with a final 24-question exam, in which participants must obtain 75 percent or higher to obtain the Digital Badge Certification. Along with the badge, participants are presented with a Certificate of Participation upon completion.   

The MOOC will follow this structure:   

  • Welcome Module: Introduction to the platform and users log in;   

  • Module 1: The enhanced transparency framework and forests;  

  • Module 2: The National Forest Monitoring System;   

  • Module 3: Forest data for the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement;   

  • Module 4: Interactive international webinars with simultaneous interpretation;  

  • Closure Module: Video, certification, digital badge and survey.   

Each module is unlocked on a certain date, and all resources will remain available until the last day of the course - 8 October 2021. On average, participants will spend about 6 hours working on the MOOC each week.   

Target Audience:  

This course is intended for professionals and officers from public organizations who work within the forest, land use, and climate change sectors. However, it is available to anyone interested in learning about how the ETF and forest-related data are interrelated. The course is particularly accessible, as it is offered in three languages (English, French and Spanish) and is self-paced within the 3-week period it runs for, meaning participants can learn according to their own time zones and schedules.   

Learning Objectives:  

It is expected that, by the end of the course, participants will be better positioned to:   

  • Recognize the role and importance of forests in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement;  

  • Identify the progressive changes in moving from the current measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) framework to the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement;  

  • Better understand the foundation and concept of a National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS), its main principles and elements;  

  • Learn how open and transparent forest-related data can support countries’ activities of reporting under the enhanced transparency framework;