FAO.org

The following recommendations have been elaborated building upon the main findings of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of CFS (HLPE) report on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition. They aim to strengthen the contributions of sustainable management of forests and trees to the achievement of food security and nutrition and contribute to the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security in the overall context of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognizing the essential role of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), and the role of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The recommendations complement the recently adopted United Nations strategic plan for forests 2017-2030 and build upon the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as applicable.

In addition and within this  context, gender responsive implementation of the recommendations is important and thus the promotion of gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment, respecting their rights, and access to forest land and tenure, agriculture and forestry support services, capacity building, and fostering women’s equal participation in decision making is essential to achieving food security and nutrition and should be mainstreamed across all policy recommendations.

These recommendations are particularly important to address the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities and smallholders especially forestdependent people who have a spiritual, cultural, social, political and economic relationship with forests. These include forest hunters, gatherers and workers. They are part of the group of smallholders who contribute significantly to global food production.