Mongolia has taken a decisive step toward modernizing its forest monitoring system by advancing the digital management of its national forest inventory (NFI) through the Open Foris Arena platform developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

From May to July 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)  and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, carried out two missions to Kenya under the AIM4Commodities work stream and the AIM4Forests programme. As one of four pilot countries, alongside Colombia, Viet Nam and Lao PDR, Kenya is testing and scaling up approaches to strengthen forest monitoring, enhance supply chain traceability, and promote sustainable land use through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).  

Forests are home to a wealth of biodiversity; they protect our climate and support a wide range of livelihoods. Recognizing the critical role of forests and as part of its commitment to sustainable biodiversity conservation and forest management, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme, has launched a regional training programme for sustainable forestry – equipping participating countries with inclusive planning approaches and cutting-edge digital solutions.

Rome and Bandung, Indonesia – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations today unveiled the first major redesign of its open-source forest monitoring platform, Open Foris, since its launch over 15 years ago. 

Developed as FAO’s first open-source project, Open Foris has grown into a widely used suite of digital solutions for forest and land monitoring, with more than 250,000 users in 196 countries.

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 Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the country is preparing for the next National Forest Inventory (NFI) – a key effort to track forest resources and guide decision-making.  

From 12 to 16 May 2025, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and in close collaboration with the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST), launched project activities under the AIM4Commodities project in Viet Nam. The country is one of four pilot countries globally—alongside Colombia, Kenya and Lao PDR—supporting efforts to improve forest monitoring, increase supply chain transparency and strengthen smallholder resilience in the face of growing market demands for deforestation-free commodities. 

In 2020, during the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, a bold idea emerged: estimate deforestation trends and associated drivers of deforestation across six Central African countries using FAO’s SEPAL platform.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have teamed up to create a suite of free, public tools that farmers anywhere in the world can use. Here’s how these tools are already being put into use in Kenya.

Cameroon’s cocoa thrives in rich agroforestry systems, where cocoa trees coexist with towering forests, fruit trees like mango and avocado, and non-timber species such as bush mango and jansang. This sustainable approach preserves biodiversity and boosts ecosystem services. However, for Cameroon’s cocoa to access the EU market, its major outlet, it needs to comply with the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) which is reshaping cocoa markets by requiring proof that commodities have not been produced by converting forests to agricultural and other land uses, known as deforestation after 31 December 2020.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), inaugurated the national workshop marking the start of the AIM4Commodities (A4C) project activities in Colombia. The event took place on 22 and 23 April in Bogotá, bringing together nearly 50 participants, including representatives from government agencies, cocoa cooperatives, exporters, and national and international technical partners. 

Forests, data, and digital innovation took center stage at the Earth Observation for Forests session during the GEO Global Forum 2025 on 6 May. Co-hosted by FAO’s Forest Monitoring and Data Platforms team, alongside partners from the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI), the session showcased how cutting-edge earth observation and open-source technologies are transforming the way we monitor forests, restore ecosystems, and bring transparency to global supply chains.

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 forest p...

Libreville - Trente-deux experts forestiers de toute l'Afrique centrale ont achevé à Libreville un atelier de formation intensif organisé par l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO). Cet atelier visait à renforcer leurs compétences en télédétection satellitaire et à produire des informations essentielles sur l'étendue, les tendances et les moteurs de changement des forêts de la sous-région entre 2000 et 2024.

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 major step forward in how we monitor and manage forest survey data worldwide.

To enhance a digital public infrastructure for deforestation-related trade regulations, FAO's Open Foris has developed a suite of innovative solutions to help smallholders, decision-makers, operators and third party verification actors to assess the deforestation risk related to commodity production at the plot level using innovative forest monitoring.  

For Forest and Water Day, FAO launched a new Digital Public Good, Open Foris Whisp, which will help Indigenous Peoples and smallholder farmers produce forest monitoring information and support compliance with deforestation regulations. The open-source solution provides insights on different datasets from satellite-derived forest, land-use and tree-cover maps, combining information to gain a more detailed understanding of a particular area.

FAO today launched two new solutions for countries to monitor and report progress towards the conservation and sustainable management of mountain ecosystems. The user-friendly solutions are designed to help countries analyse Earth Observation data for their territories and extract information on changes in the extent of mountain ecosystems. This information is needed to assess global progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, Life on Land. The first solution, based on FAO’s platform SEPAL...

Sierra Leone used Collect Earth Online (CEO) to collect data for their National Forest Inventory (NFI) field inventory sampling frame design. To support and implement their work, the team has created an 

FAO’s groundbreaking open-source technical solutions Open Foris and SEPAL have jointly won a prestigious Google Geo for Good Impact Award. FAO forest and land monitoring platforms Open Foris and SEPAL (System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring), provide access to satellite data and processing capabilities powered by cloud-based super computers, and use Google Earth Engine technology.