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Amid a worsening climate crisis and slow progress in cutting greenhouse gases, sustainable agrifood systems practices can help countries and communities to adapt, build resilience and mitigate emissions, ensuring food security and nutrition for a growing global population. FAO is working with countries and partners from government to community level to simultaneously address the challenges of food security, climate change and biodiversity loss. But none of this will ultimately succeed unless the world commits to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of climate finance.

Global instruments such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the Principles on Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI) endorsed by the Committee for World Food Security (CFS) provide critical guidance on responsible investments in land and forests to address global challenges of food insecurity, poverty, and inequality while supporting sustainable management of natural resources. Applying these global instruments to the assessment of concrete cases can help to identify better practice models for implementation. This document presents a review of selected [...]

As a contribution to the new FAO Green Cities programme, the Forestry Division has developed in close collaboration with the Regional Offices in Africa, Asia and the Near East a new global programme: the Green Urban Oases Programme. The overall objective of the programme is to turn dryland cities into “green urban oases” and strengthen their overall resilience to climatic, health, food and economic crisis, as well as to reduce the impact of urbanization on biodiversity and the surrounding natural environment. The present document is intended to be used to provide a solid background to the role of urban forests [...]

The Issue Brief includes an overview of global trends on forests, energy, and livelihoods, and related policy and research. It analyses the nexus and interlinkages of forests, energy, and livelihoods, including the contribution of forests and forest products to wood-based bioenergy. It considers measures to: i) address the negative impacts of bioenergy; ii) promote and ensure access to efficient and clean bioenergy; iii) reverse deforestation, forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change, and; iv) improve livelihoods, reduce poverty, and promote decent employment and health through a just transition. The Issue Brief also offers recommendations for integrated policies on forests, energy, [...]

The purpose of this Sourcebook is to provide advice on how to incorporate disaster risk reduction and resilience building into the watershed management process. As an increasingly heavier toll is exerted on agriculture and food systems by drought, floods, wildfires, and other extreme events, adopting risk reduction and management practices must become an integral part of watershed management. While the steps involved to incorporate resilience building are similar to those routinely carried out in integrated watershed management, this Sourcebook stresses the importance of understanding disaster and climate risks, adopting a landscape approach and targeting vulnerable groups (e.g. women, youth, indigenous [...]

Trees in dryland forests and wooded areas provide key ecosystem services such as animal feed, timber, fruits and, regulation of soil and water cycles. Equally, the presence of livestock in dryland woody areas can also play an important role in the local ecosystem; not only are they a source of income for local communities, but they also help vegetation and mobilise stored biomass. When both of these ecosystem elements are wisely combined – livestock and trees – it creates an integrated agricultural system that can boost the local ecosystem, representing a welcome agro-ecological transition in livestock farming. The ‘Grazing with [...]

This report provides an overview of the potential use of wood residues as feedstock for bioenergy production as part of the transition towards a sustainable and circular forest bioeconomy. While data and examples are abundant from developed countries, a specific focus will be put on the role and potential of wood residue-based energy in developing countries. The study is structured around the following four main objectives, each corresponding to a chapter: - define key terms and concepts related to wood residues and bioenergy value chains (Chapter 2); - characterize the status and trends in renewable energy, modern bioenergy and the forest-based bioeconomy and [...]

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of FAO’s Committee on Forestry, this edition of Unasylva showcases ways in which forests are delivering the "four betters" and underscores how forests are crucial for resilient and sustainable agrifood systems in a changing climate. As FAO’s longest running periodical, Unasylva focuses on issues and themes relevant to forestry and forest industries and aims to bring globally significant developments in forestry to policy-makers, forest managers, technicians, researchers, students and teachers around the globe.

The 2022 edition of The State of the World’s Forests explores the potential of three forest pathways for achieving green recovery and tackling environmental crises, including climate change and biodiversity loss against the backdrop of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use and the pledge of 140 countries to eliminate forest loss by 2030 and to support restoration and sustainable production and consumption.The three interrelated pathways are halting deforestation and maintaining forests; restoring degraded lands and expanding agroforestry; and sustainably using forests and building green value chains. The balanced, simultaneous pursuit of these pathways can generate sustainable economic [...]

Forest-based adaptation is an ensemble of climate actions that employ forests and trees in support of climate change adaptation and resilience, including sustainable forest management, forest conservation and restoration, reforestation and afforestation. Forest-based adaptation can help address the gaps between current adaptation actions and the adaptation needed for reducing climate-related risks and impacts, while contributing to most of the Sustainable Development Goals and promoting strong synergies with mitigation.This FAO technical paper unpacks the concept of forest-based adaptation and describes policy spheres that could bolster the role of forests and trees in providing adaptation and resilience benefits. It introduces a set [...]