The XV World Forestry Congress was held this year in Seoul, South Korea from 2-6 May. Jointly organized by the Korea Forest Service (KFS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Congress provided an opportunity for the international community to gather and evaluate the state of the world’s forest resources, as well as share strategies, tools and ideas for building a green, healthy and resilient future. Over 15,000 registered participants, from over 160 different countries,represented governments and public agencies, international organizations, the private sector, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local community and Indigenous organizations. The Congress helped to set global agendas for forest-positive action, share knowledge and resources, and make information-based recommendations for addressing deforestation, climate change and other crises. In addition to simply emphasizing the urgency of challenges related to climate change and deforestation with the Seoul Forest Declaration, WFC marked a path forward by defininga clear set of action pointsfor each of the Congress's sixsub-theme sessions. 

WFC hosted events at all scales, ranging from high-level dialogues, main sub-theme sessions and side events. FAO personnel,working on issues related to REDD+ and forests and climate change, teamed up with various organizations, including the UN-REDD Programme, KFS, the Tropical Forest Alliance and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, to deliver a variety of such events. Key topics covered turning the tide on deforestation and forest degradation, including by boosting transformational change for forests and land use; opportunities for scaling up forest finance;market-based measures to address deforestation;tools for assessing drivers of deforestation; and managing and disseminating forest data. Cross-agency and cross-team collaboration ensured REDD+ topics were reflected across multiple sub-themes, particularly sub-themes 1 and 5. Special events, such as the Ministerial Forum on Forest Finance, explored topics of REDD+ and scaling up of investments into sustainable production and management. Participating panellists and invited speakers represented diverse organizations, the private sector and countries from around the world, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Ugandaand the United Kingdom.

Explore in detail all the REDD+ related events hosted by FAO at the following link, including event recordings: https://www.fao.org/redd/information-resources/international-fora/xv-world-forestry-congress/en/

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