Key messages
- @FAO
Innovation and technology have transformed countries’ ability to monitor and report on their forests
13.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide forest emission reductions or enhancements have been reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, thanks to innovative and transparent forest monitoring.
- ©FAO Panama
New technological innovations are needed to halt deforestation and forest degradation
With 10 million hectares of forest lost to deforestation and approximately 70 million hectares affected by fires annually, technological innovations are needed for early warning systems for fires and forest loss, and to enable sustainable commodity production.
- ©FAO
Technological innovations can empower Indigenous Peoples through mapping and securing customary land
Indigenous Peoples are custodians of much of the world’s remaining intact forests, and mapping and securing customary lands and enabling access to climate finance can help ensure their crucial role in biodiversity conservation and carbon storage.
- ©UNEP/Taufany Eriz
Innovation is advancing ecosystem restoration as a powerful nature-based solution to multiple global challenges
Innovative approaches under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – including restoring forests and planting trees on degraded land – can contribute one third of the total climate mitigation needed to limit warming to below 2°C by 2030, while boosting food security and livelihoods.
- ©IISD/ENB
Research and science are pushing the boundaries of what we can do with wood and other forest products.
From construction to medicine, innovations in forest products are helping create alternatives to unsustainable materials such as concrete, steel, plastics and synthetic fibres, while sustainable wood products store carbon for their lifetime.