Myanmar has one of the highest proportions of forest cover in mainland Southeast Asia. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2015, 44.2% of the country’s territory is covered with forests. A considerable amount of these forests is still relatively intact, hosting exceptional biodiversity, including fishing cats, sun bears, dholes, binturongs, pangolins and more than 1,000 bird species. Moreover, an estimated 70% of the country’s population is living in rural areas and heavily dependent on forests for their basic needs. To protect the country’s natural wealth, while also fulfilling various national and...

23 January 2020, Rome, Tsukuba, Japan -FAO will bolster the scale and scope of its geospatial monitoring toolkit thanks to collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will expand the capacity of FAO's accessible platforms for forestry and land-use assessments. A three-year agreement signed today will enhance the access of FAO member states and other users to JAXA data sets and more "ground-truthing" evidence through FAO's forest monitoring platforms. "As deforestation and land-use changes are one of the leading sources of global carbon emissions, satellite-based information has a critical role to play in supporting countries to achieve their commitments on...

Le Fonds National de Réduction des Emissions dues à la Déforestation et à la Dégradation des Forêts (FONAREDD) à travers les fonds de l’Initiative pour la forêt de l'Afrique centrale (CAFI) et le Royaume de Suède ont contribué à hauteur de 10 millions de dollars à un projet mené par l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO) en partenariat avec le Fonds Mondial pour la Nature (WWF). Le Programme Intégré REDD+ pour un développement résilient basé sur des moyens d’existence durable dans la province de l’Equateur (PIREDD Equateur), d’une durée de quatre ans, vise à appuyer les communautés locales...

Director-General QU Dongyu and Green Climate Fund (GCF) Executive Director Yannick Glemarec today jointly hosted a high-level  event to celebrate the partnerships between FAO and GCF, supporting countries to take urgent climate action. Thanks to $430 million in GCF funding, FAO is supporting large scale projects that will build resilience and mitigate the effects of climate change in Chile, El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan and Paraguay, with smaller projects supporting climate readiness action in 12 additional countries. The event took place on the sidelines of the COP25 climate summit in Madrid and was attended by COP25 President, and Minister of Environment of...

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu today called for a transformational change aimed at addressing food security, agriculture and forestry together - through a holistic approach. "It is possible to reconcile food security, agriculture production and forest conservation," said the FAO chief at a dialogue on "turning the tide on deforestation" on the margins of COP25. To this end, FAO is working with countries to coordinate land use approaches across sectors, ensuring integrated management of forests and agriculture so that both food security and forestry objectives are met. Qu pointed out that a number of countries have managed to reduce the number of undernourished people...