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Editorial: Indigenous peoples and sustainable forest management
by Myrna Cunningham Kain, FAO Special Ambassador for the International Year of Family Farming 2014, and President of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples
 Many indigenous peoples live in and immediately around forests. These peoples are extremely knowledgeable about the forest and its resources, and often see themselves as its true owners and guardians, thereby having the right to benefit from any forest harvesting. Extractive industries also believe that they have full rights to harvest the forest if official permissions have been granted by the state. Forests have therefore become, in some instances, major areas of conflict. However, the concept of free, prior and informed consent provides a possible avenue for developing common understanding between the various parties. Read more ...
9 August is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. This year, global commemorations will be held under the theme Post-2015 Agenda: ensuring indigenous peoples' health and well-being.
FAO Forestry news
The honour of leading FAO Forestry – Eduardo Rojas-Briales
 FAO's Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, Eduardo Rojas-Briales, leaves the Organization at the end of July 2015. In this article he looks back over his years leading the forestry programme of the largest specialized agency in the United Nations system, recalling some landmark achievements and highlighting major opportunities for global forestry in the post-2015 agenda.
Read more...
XIV World Forestry Congress, Durban, South Africa:
7-11 September 2015
Congress newsletter issue No. 5 now online
Issue 5 of the Congress trilingual newsletter is out now. Read it here, and also join the social media conversation on the Congress using the #Forests2015 hashtag.
Forestry and its future: the perspective of the world's youth
The Congress has made the global youth community one of its highest priorities, offering young people with an interest in forests unique opportunities to provide the youth perspective in its proceedings and debates. Activities organized by young people for young people include a pre-Congress event, with presentations by the three youth speaker competition winners, and a discussion forum on Forests for the future.
Read more about youth engagement in the Congress here, including the pre-Congress event on Sunday, 6 September Youth – setting the stage and the 8 September youth event, Forests for the future. Also view the video presentations of the three winners of the youth-led initatives competition.
Also learn about the UN’s involvement with youth as it leads celebrations to mark International Youth Day on 12 August under this year’s theme of Youth civic engagement.
Forests and people photo contest winner announced
Sofía Alvarez Capuñay of Peru has won the public vote for her photo Eres una hoja (You are a leaf) after it was shortlisted, together with those of five other finalists, by renowned Magnum Photos photographer, Stuart Franklin. Read more on the story behind the photo.
Honing forest leaders' skills to meet 21st century challenges
To be effective in forestry policymaking, senior officials need a clear and profound understanding of global changes and of societies’ evolving expectations. This awareness and related skills can be increased through specialized training, as FAO has provided to more than 150 senior officials and forest managers in 25 Asia-Pacific countries in a series of co-organized executive forest policy courses. At the latest course, in Myanmar, participants gained professional insights into 21st century policy challenges in the ASEAN region.
Read more about the eighth Executive Forest Policy course and related presentations People, land use and forests in the ASEAN region: policy challenges in the 21st century, held in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, 22 March–3 April 2015. Also read the new policy brief co-produced by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific on Drivers affecting forest change in the greater Mekong subregion.
Tarapoto+20: assessing criteria and indicators for SFM in Latin America and the Caribbean
Twenty years after the launch of the Tarapoto process on criteria and indicators (C&I) for the sustainable forest management (SFM) of the Amazonian forest, forestry experts from Latin America met in the Peruvian city to assess the impact of C&I in national and regional forestry programmes and policies. The workshop also produced a set of recommendations, “Manifiesto de Tarapoto + 20”, to help guide and improve the future application of C&I for SFM in the region.
Read more about Tarapoto+ 20, the last in a series of four regional C&I workshops organized by FAO in 2015, held in Tarapoto, Peru, from 17–19 June 2015, including the presentations and the Manifiesto Tarapoto+20. Also read about FAO’s work on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management.
Assessing the effectiveness of community-based forestry
In community-based forestry (CBF), local people with a direct stake in forest resources are party to all decisions affecting their living conditions and livelihoods. At a recent FAO meeting, experts met to develop a framework to assess how effective this form of engagement has been. Key issues and challenges of existing frameworks, global assessments and criteria and indicators helped informed the discussions, which included the drafting of a roadmap for the framework’s roll-out.
Read more about the expert group meeting held at FAO headquarters in Rome from 26–27 May 2015 and on FAO’s work in participatory forestry. Community-based forestry will also feature at September’s Durban Congress, in particular at the pre-Congress event Building momentum for community-based forestry, forest and farm producer organizations.
Helping to restore the agricultural productivity and water supplies of Nepal's rural and mountain communities
Some of the less well-known impacts of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015 include the disappearance of water supplies and landslide-induced disruptions to food production. As part of FAO’s coordinated emergency response, its senior expert in watershed management and landslides, Thomas Hofer, travelled to Nepal to discuss with local stakeholders holistic measures for sustainable landslide stabilization and water supply restoration.
Read more about the issues that Nepalese farming and mountain communities face that were identified and discussed during this visit and the actions proposed. Also read about FAO’s work in mountain and watershed management and the Mountain Partnership’s work in Asia and the Pacific.
Global news
World Day to Combat Desertification takes centre stage at Milan Expo 2015
This year’s global observance of the World Day to Combat Desertification took place at Milan Expo 2015, where several high-level speakers spoke of the grave risks associated with the neglect of soils and lands. In her statement, FAO’s Helena Semedo recalled the strong links between food, soils and the fight against desertification, and referred to FAO’s EU-ACP–funded Action Against Desertification programme and the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism, both of which support the strengthening of country capacities in prevention measures through sustainable land management and restoration of degraded lands.
Read more about the Milano Expo 17 June World Day to Combat Desertification commemorative events, held under the 2015 theme No such thing as a free lunch. Invest in healthy soils, including all keynote presenters’ statement. Also view the World Day to Combat Desertification editorial by Ms Monique Barbut, Executive Director, UN Convention to Combat Desertification in inFO news 31.
"Let me benefit from the forest and the forest will benefit from me"
With 70 percent of Africa’s population living in rural areas and dependent on wood and non-wood forest products to meet their basic human and livelihood needs, governments and other parties are being urged to take stronger action in support of these communities. The Resolution of the Africa Farm/Family Forest Producers Organizations, the outcome document of a recent conference, will be a key input to discussions on forest and farm producers at September’s World Forestry Congress.
Read the Resolution of the Africa Farm/Family Forest Producers Organizations Conference, adopted at the conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, 9–11 June 2015, organized by the International Family Forestry Alliance, in collaboration with the Forest and Farm Facility, FAO and other partners. Also read about the XIV WFC Pre-Congress event Building momentum for community-based forestry, forest and farm producer organizations.
New guidelines to help steer Latin American and Caribbean agro-environmental policies
New voluntary guidelines on agro-environmental policies are being seen as an important tool for addressing rural poverty and environmental degradation in Latin America and the Caribbean. At a meeting in Bogota, representatives used successful experiences from the region to further develop the guidelines, which will ultimately support more integrated and holistic implementation of the goals of the Post-2015 agenda.
Read more on the regional workshop on the voluntary guidelines on agro-environmental policies, Bogota, Colombia, 8–9 July, attended by 40 country representatives and partners from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay. It was organized within the framework of an FAO-implemented, Brazilian cooperation-funded South-South collaboration project.
Raising the profile of Amazon protected areas systems
Increasing understanding and awareness of the forest sector is a key component of modern-day sustainable forest management. In early July, communication officers from four countries of the Amazon Countries Protected Areas Systems and other organizations from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru gathered in Lima, Peru, to further develop the Amazon protected areas’ visibility plan. The meeting was organized by IAPA – Amazon Vision, an FAO-coordinated project being implemented with the support of IUCN, WWF and UNEP.
Read more about the communicators meeting held in Lima, Peru, from 2–3 July 2015.
Meetings and events
Meetings
Regional Forestry Commission meetings 2015–16
Collaborative Partnership on Forests events calendar
United Nations events 2015
Expo Milano 2015
Feeding the planet - energy for life, Milan, Italy, 1 May to 31 October 2015
International Days - June to August 2015
Publications
Forestry Technical Network
Read about the June meeting of the Forestry Technical Network and the arrival of new colleagues in the FAO Forestry Department here.
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