FAO shares global best practices at panel on sustainable management of Zagros Forests

The panel was organized by the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization (NRWMO) and the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office. The outcomes of these panels will feed into the “International Conference on Sustainable Zagros Forest Management,” scheduled to take place later in June in Tehran.

During the Special Panel on “International Cooperation, Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Sustainable Management of Zagros Forests,” hosted by the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Illias Animon, FAO Forestry Officer from Regional Office of Asia Pacific, joined virtually to share FAO’s perspectives and experiences.

Animon presented various dimensions and approaches of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and the relevance of integrating SFM as a key component of agrifood system transformation. He cited the global aspirations of increasing forest cover by 3% and emphasized the need of adopting SFM practices at local level for meeting this and other goals.

Presenting global case studies from Nepal, Cameroon, Vietnam, Gambia, South Africa and China, he emphasized the importance of active community engagement, institutional reform, and participatory approaches as some ingredients for success. He also cited results of global analysis on the excellence in SFM and community forestry.

Animon presented major challenges in the Zagros Forest, including land use change, soil erosion, limited local community awareness and engagement, climate change impacts, oak charcoal disease, and inadequate integration of management approaches. He stressed the need for coordinated action and proposed solutions such as adaptive learning and management, stakeholder engagement, investment in alternative models, good governance, resilience building and landscape-based approaches.

He also highlighted various FAO tools and FAO-supported projects in Iran that contribute to sustainable forest and land management, including oak dieback response project, resilience oak decline, rehabilitation of degraded land and enhancing Iran’s access to climate finance through the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

He emphasized the need of building on these projects and integrating community-oriented conservation, restoration, and sustainable and inclusive value chains of products and services, working across landscapes and marginalized communities to ensure (a) sustainable ecosystem services flow and (b) building a meaningful bioeconomy with circularity.

This can pave the way toward a more resilient and sustainable future for Iran’s forest ecosystems—particularly in the Zagros Mountains.