Report
State of the World’s Forests 2014. Enhancing the Socioeconomic Benefits from Forests
The 2014 edition of the State of the World’s Forests report (also known as SOFO) has been released by FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This coincides with the opening of the 22nd Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) and the World Forest Week.
SOFO 2014 deals with the existing knowledge gaps on the socioeconomic benefits provided by forests. It gathers and analyses data already available on the topic. It also makes recommendations to improve this information.
The lack of information about the socioeconomic dimension of forests and the need to fill this gap was also one of the main conclusions of the FOREST EUROPE Workshop on Green Economy and Social Aspects of Sustainable Forest Management, which took place on 29-30 April 2014 in Santander, Spain. As was recognised during this meeting, this information is needed for a better understanding of the socioeconomic challenges that the forest sector needs to address. It is also essential for coherent action planning and decision taking.