Led by the National Forestry Commission of Mexico (CONAFOR) and with the Mexico REDD+ Project and the UN-REDD Programme’s support, Mexico has worked to design and establish its REDD+ National Safeguards System since 2014. In December 2017, CONAFOR launched a REDD+ Safeguards Information System.  Mexico’s Safeguards Information System is planned and built upon existing systems and information sources at the national level, and will serve to present integrated information and issue periodic reports on how REDD+ safeguards are addressed and respected. 

Over 40 forest monitoring experts from Pacific Island countries - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga,  Indonesia and the Pacific Community (SPC) met in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, for a Pacific Regional Workshop on Forest Monitoring from 5 to 9 December 2017.  National experts shared National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) achievements and challenges, and improved their knowledge of FAO forest monitoring tools, including Open Foris and SEPAL, through hands-on training, including a field demonstration of Open Foris tools in the Sogeri forest. In addition, participants developed their capacities on National Forest Inventory design, and learned more about the...

By watching the forest from a different perspective, we can understand the impact forests have on our way of life. Thomas Pesquet, an ESA astronaut, had a unique opportunity to do just that. After 196 days spent on boardof the International Space Station, the French astronaut shared his life-changing experience in a video produced in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), raising awareness about climate change among millions of viewers. However, outer space does not only give us a different perspective; space-based Earth observation tools are valuable for addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is...

Each year, more and more countries recognize forests’ potential in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). This October, two events took place in West Africa to improve the Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and Enhanced Transparency, including MRV for REDD+ activities, and facilitate knowledge exchange at both regional and national levels. The first event, “The Second Annual Meeting of the West African South-South Network on MRV and Transparency”, hosted by the Government of Senegal in Dakar on 11-13 October 2017, gathered more than 60 participants from 14 West African countries to expand regional collaboration on MRV and enhanced transparency1...

While Tunisia’s forest cover is relatively low (approx. 6.6 per cent), this remaining forest is critically important to the Mediterranean ecosystem and plays an important role in climate mitigation.  As in many countries, Tunisia’s state forest boundaries are unclear, and encroachment has become a major challenge.  Over time, boundaries preserved on maps dating from the time of the French protectorate (i.e. 1881 - 1956) have diverged from the reality on the ground where population and demand for agricultural land have increased.  Native Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) forests are gradually being replaced with olive groves, wheat fields, and settlements. A comprehensive...