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FAO, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Working With countries to mitigateand adapt to climate change throughsustainable orest management

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Working With countriesto mitigate and adapt toclimate change through

sustainable orestmanagement

Above: Sunset over orest-covered mountains, Province o Bac Kan, Viet Nam. © FAO/Joan Manuel Baliellas

Cover: A local market scene with a view o Mt Kilimanjaro, Moshi, Tanzania. © FAO/Simon Maina

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Forests support the livelihoods o more than a billion people living in

extreme poverty worldwide and provide paid employment or over

100 million people. They are home to more than 80 percent o the

world’s terrestrial biodiversity and help protect watersheds that are

critical or the supply o clean water to most o humanity. Climate

change, however, poses enormous challenges or orests and people.

Adaptation and mitigation are the two main responses to

climate change, mitigation seeking to address its causes and

adaptation aiming to reduce its impacts. In the orest sector:

mitigation strategies comprise reducing emissions rom deorestation;

reducing emissions rom orest degradation; increasing the role

o orests as carbon sinks; and product substitution, such as using

wood instead o ossil uels or energy and orest products in place o 

materials whose manuacture involves high greenhouse gas emissions;

adaptation encompasses interventions to decrease the vulnerability

o orests and orest-dependent people to climate change.

Deploying sustainable orest management (SFM)1 can not only lessen the

risks posed by climate change, it can generate opportunities, such as

employment in orest restoration, orest conservation, wood production

and wood-based manuacturing; tenure reorm; and payments ororest-related services. Encouraging SFM and optimizing its role in

climate change mitigation and adaptation will oten require changes in

policies, strategies and practices. Delay in making such changes will increase

their cost and diculty and reduce the opportunities they may create.

Trees also play critical roles in land-use systems other than orests, such as

agriculture and the urban environment. Integrated landscape management

is a key approach in climate change adaptation and mitigation and willhelp ensure that adequate attention is paid to trees outside orests.

FAO, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

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1 SFM is described by the United Nations as “a dynamic and evolving concept that aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social and

environmental values o all types o orests, or the benet o present and uture generations”.

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Working at the oreront o climate change policy and practice, FAO, with

its team o more than 150 orestry proessionals, supports countries to

w, h chc ccy and c cy

v. Recognizing that climate change aects us all, FAO also

c among the orestry, agriculture, sheries and energy

sectors and between climate change and ood security policy-makers.

In addressing the issues associated with orests and climate change, FAO

works with many partners – ar too numerous to list here – at the global,

regional, national and local levels. Inormation on partners can be ound by

ollowing the various links given in this brochure.

STRENGTHENING CApACITIES IN CLIMATE CHANGE

FAO’S ROLE

,

FAO is helping countries build capacity in the orest sector torespond to climate change, such as through FAO projectGCP/MON/002/NET in Mongolia. © S. Gallagher/FAO

The capacity o the orest sector to respond to

climate change varies greatly within and acrossregions, countries and communities. Practitioners

and decision-makers are not always equipped

with the tools, or have access to the inormation

and resources, to enable the most eective

responses to a changing climate. FAO is helping

to build the capacity o countries to respond to

climate change by:

collecting, analysing and disseminating

inormation to countries and stakeholders

through a wide range o publications, a monthlyelectronic newsletter dedicated to orests and

climate change, and the FAO website;

developing guidelines and convening

workshops to disseminate best practices and

exchange experiences;

implementing projects to build climate change

capacity at the national and local levels;

providing training materials on orests and

climate change;

encouraging and supporting regional

cooperation and networks or inormation

exchange.

The ollowing pages give more

detail on the ways in which FAO is

helping to build capacity to respond

to climate change.

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THIS pUBLICATION

This publication summarizes the work that FAO is undertaking, with its

partners, to assist countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change as it

relates to orests, trees and the people who depend on them. It is organized

in our o the ve main areas o FAO’s integrated approach to SFM:

  MONITORING ANd ASSESSMENT

  MANAGEMENT pLANNING ANd pRACTICES 

  pOLICy ANd GOvERNANCE

  FOREST pROdUCTS, SERvICES ANd INdUSTRy .

The th main area o work, INTERSECTORAL COOpERATION ANd COORdINATION, cuts across the other our areas.

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The Serapium planted orest near the Suez Canal, Egypt. © FAO/Alberto Del Lungo

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MONITORING ANd

 ASSESSMENT

,

Researchers or the national orest assessment in Viet Nam, supported by an FAO project, use laser technology devices to measuretree height and diameter. © FAO/Joan Manuel Baliellas

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MONITORING ANd ASSESSMENT

monitoring and assessment o orestsand climate change

7 

 /  M ONI  T  OR I  N GANdA S  S E  S 

 S ME NT 

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 c l i  mA

t e  c hAn ge 

Inormation on orests is oten outdated, partialor subjective and lacks estimates o precision and

accuracy. Awareness is growing o the potential

roles o orests in mitigating and adapting to

climate change, making even more urgent

the need to improve orest monitoring and

assessment. With better inormation on the extent

and nature o orest resources, countries will be

better able to design and implement climate

change adaptation and mitigation policies,

improve overall land-use planning and estimaterates o carbon sequestration.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

b w ,

x w ,

- , b w. ao b

w b

 

b:

helping to build institutional capacity by providing

technical assistance in countries and developing

tools to support the design and implementation o 

multipurpose orest inventories and the provision o 

measurable, reportable and veriiable orest carbon

estimates in the context o REDD+2 readiness;

producing manuals, reerence materials, toolkits andsotware applications (e.g. remote sensing tools and

allometric equations or estimating biomass and

carbon) to assist with monitoring and with national

orest and greenhouse gas inventories or the orest

and land-use sectors;

compiling, analysing and publishing inormation,

including through the Global Forest Resources

Assessment, on aspects o orests related to climate

change such as biomass and carbon stocks (ollowing

the guidance o the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change), orest area change, and the

incidence o orest pests and ire;

preparing resource materials such as National 

forest monitoring systems: monitoring and 

measurement, reporting and verification in the

context of REDD+ activities, which draw on

knowledge and experiences gained through theimplementation o the UN-REDD Programme;

providing technical support or the development o 

robust, transparent, consistent and cost-eective

national orest monitoring systems that allow countries

to comply with the requirements o the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

promoting South–South cooperation and acilitating

inormation-sharing at the regional and global levels.

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

g rc a:www.ao.org/orestry/ra 

n m a: www.ao.org/orestry/ma

s m ChC p: www.ao.org/orestry/ma/76453

un-redd p: www.un-redd.org 

A lab technician measures the carbon content o soil samplesat the Sokoine University o Agriculture, Tanzania, as part o an FAO project to conduct a national orest inventory.© FAO/Simon Maina

2 Reducing emissions rom deorestation and orest degradation

in developing countries and the role o conservation, sustainablemanagement o orests and enhancement o orest carbon stocks in

developing countries (REDD+) encourages developing countries to

contribute to climate change mitigation in the orest sector through

the ollowing activities: reducing emissions rom deorestation;

reducing emissions rom orest degradation; conservation o orest

carbon stocks; the sustainable management o orests; and the

enhancement o orest carbon stocks.

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MANAGEMENT pLANNING

 ANd pRACTICES

Map o Yasuni National Park in the Amazon region o Ecuador, where, with the help o an FAO project, local communities arecombining conservation and sustainable land management practices to help secure one o most biologically diverse places on Earth.© Carlos Noguera

,

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Climate change could aect the growth o treesand the requency and intensity o res and the

incidence o orest pests, and it could increase

damage caused to orests by extreme weather

conditions such as drought, foods and storms.

Adaptive approaches to SFM will help to reduce

orest vulnerability, maintain orest productivity

and oster the adaptive capacity o orest-

dependent communities. Specic management

practices can also be adopted to help mitigate

climate change. The implications o changes toorest management practices or the ull suite o 

orest values need to be weighed against the

likely benets.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

b: producing guidelines or orest management in the

ace o climate change;

identiying priority areas or orest-based climate

change mitigation and adaptation measures;

acting as an inormation hub or, and promoting,

aorestation, reorestation and assisted natural

regeneration through voluntary guidelines and ield

projects to increase carbon sequestration;

strengthening country capacities to mainstream

adaptive management approaches and practices such

as integrated ire management; identiying, testing, adapting and promoting

innovative orest management approaches and

techniques adapted to speciic contexts, including

through ield projects that serve as models or the use

o orests and trees outside orests in mitigating and

adapting to climate change;

promoting environmentally sound, economically

easible and socially acceptable orest operations,

including silvicultural treatments, reduced impact

logging, and speciic measures to promote orest

health and or the management o ragile ecosystems.

MANAGEMENT pLANNING ANd pRACTICES

Best practices or climate change

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

s :www.ao.org/orestry/sm

a-z y: www.ao.org/orestry/aridzone

f: www.ao.org/orestry/remanagement

hh: www.ao.org/orestry/pests

p : www.ao.org/orestry/plantedorests 

C Ch p: www.ao.org/orestry/climatechange

a : www.ao.org/orestry/anr

A participant in an FAO project on assisted naturalregeneration plants a seedling on a hill slope in thePhilippines. © FAO/Noel Celis

9 

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MANAGEMENT pLANNING ANd pRACTICES

orests, trees outside orests, anddisaster risk management

,

Forestry interventions can play a crucial role in themitigation o, and long-term rehabilitation in the

wake o, disasters, the requency o which could

increase in the ace o climate change. For example:

flooding: restoring damaged orest ecosystems

or re-establishing orest cover where it has

been cleared will increase protection against

uture loods;

landslides: re-establishing or increasing orest

cover on steep lands that have been aected by

landslides will reduce the risk o uture landslides;

storm surges: coastal orests (mangroves and

other coastal orests) can help protect coastal

inhabitants, inrastructure and productive land

against storm surges.

The orest sector can also assist in emergency

situations by, or example, undertaking salvage

logging o damaged trees; providing wood or

cooking, repairs and the construction o temporary

housing or disaster victims; and generating

employment in tree nurseries and planting schemes.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

 

b:

developing a disaster risk reduction strategy based on

the Hyogo Framework or Action, a ten-year plan to

make the world saer rom natural hazards;

producing normative materials such as

> Fire management voluntary guidelines – an integrated

management approach to the development o 

national policies that integrate ire prevention,

preparedness and suppression, and orest restoration

> New generation of watershed management 

projects and programmes – a conceptual and

operational ramework that links watershed

management to sustainable mountain development

and orest hydrology

> Guide to implementation of phytosanitary standardsin forestry – developed by FAO and partners in

collaboration with the International Plant Protection

Convention with the aim o helping oresters to

minimize pest presence and spread while allowing

sae trade;

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

vy :www.ao.org/orestry/remanagement/46135

phyy : www.ao.org/orestry/oresthealthguide

Wh : www.ao.org/orestry/watershedmanagementandmountains

mv : www.ao.org/orestry/mangrove/3643

 Villagers in Kigoma, Tanzania, perorm a controlled burn o tallgrass as part o an FAO project. © FAO/Simon Maina

acilitating access to comprehensive inormation onthe current and past extent o mangrove orests;

implementing projects to

> help ensure the inclusion o orest-sector actions

in land-use planning and the revision o sector

strategies to be more “disaster proo”

> support aorestation, reorestation, orest

restoration and orest protection in damaged areas

and areas at risk o disaster (e.g. on steep and

unstable slopes, in crucial watersheds, and along

rivers and coasts);

implementing projects to reduce climate-related

disaster risk, such as by encouraging community-

based ire management.

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MANAGEMENT pLANNING ANd pRACTICES

orest Biodiversity and climate change

1 1 

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 GANdp R A C T I   C E  S 

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And

 c l i  mAt e  c hAn ge 

Biodiversity encompasses the variety o existinglie orms, the ecological roles they perorm and

the genetic diversity they contain. It is the key to

orest ecosystem resilience and the adaptation

o orest species to climate change, and it will

also underpin the role o orests in mitigating

climate change. The continued loss o biodiversity,

however, weakens the ability o orest ecosystems

to respond to change. Inadequate inormation and

knowledge on the conservation and sustainable

use o biodiversity in the context o climatechange is an obstacle to identiying issues, needs

and priorities or action.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

b b

b:

strengthening the capacity o countries to adaptto climate change through the conservation and

sustainable management o biodiversity, including

wildlie, in protected areas and production orests;

assessing the world’s orest genetic diversity or

the preparation o the irst edition o The state of 

the world’s forest genetic resources, which will be a

ramework or action to better address needs and

issues, including climate change;

promoting best practices in orest genetic resource

management, speciically in the areas o conservation,

exploration, testing, breeding and sustainable use;

supporting the collection o inormation related

to orest biodiversity through the National Forest

Monitoring and Assessment Programme;

assessing the impacts o climate change on wildlie

and protected areas, as highlighted in the publication

Wildlife in a changing climate;

helping to set up expert networks such as the Asia-

Paciic Forest Invasive Species Network and the Near

East Network on Forest Health and Invasive Species.

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

vy:www.ao.org/biodiversity/components/orests

a-pcfc ivv sc nwk: www.ao.org/asiapacic/rap/nre/links/invasives

n e nwk Hh ivv sc: www.ao.org/orestry/51295

W c : www.ao.org/orestry/wildlie

s h w' c c: 

www.ao.org/orestry/gr/64582

A researcher rom the University o Kasangani conrms theidentity o a bird caught in a bird net in the Yoko Forest,Democratic Republic o the Congo, as part o FAO-supportedresearch. © FAO/Guilio Napolitano

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MANAGEMENT pLANNING ANd pRACTICES

integrated landscape approaches inresponse to climate change

,

Challenges related to climate change,

deorestation, ecosystem degradation,

desertication, the loss o biodiversity, ood

insecurity and poverty call or integratedapproaches to landscape management that

increase synergies among multiple land-use

objectives. In practice, however, the management

o orests is oten dealt with in relative isolation.

There is a clear need – and real scope – or the

integration o natural resource management

through improved multisectoral land-use

planning, especially in the ace o climate change.

Integrated approaches to landscape management

can increase synergies among multiple land-useobjectives, may require new policies, investments,

market incentives, institutions and capacities,

and should consider the perspectives, needs and

interests o all stakeholders and sectors.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

b: developing capacities and acilitating access to

knowledge, lessons learned and best practices,

including as part o the Global Forest Landscape

Restoration Partnership;

supporting multi-stakeholder processes or the

ormulation o guidance and policies conducive to

putting landscape approaches into practice;

supporting the development and implementation

o ield projects and programmes demonstrating

landscape approaches on the ground in di erent

contexts, such as through the Model Forest and

Mangroves or the Future initiatives;

encouraging multisectoral approaches, in partnership

with other FAO areas o exper tise;

supporting the assessment o trees outside orests to

improve data or decision-making;

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

a-z y: www.ao.org/orestry/aridzone

dy v: www.ao.org/orestry/aridzone/restoration

sv m: www.ao.org/orestry/silvamed

g g W h sh sh iv:www.ao.org/partnerships/great-green-wall

th m ph: www.mountainpartnership.org

ay: www.ao.org/orestry/agroorestry

u - y: www.ao.org/orestry/urbanorestry and http://km.ao.org/urbanorestry

c: www.ao.org/cit

A rural landscape in Ecuador. Among other things, FAOis helping to raise awareness o the global need or thesustainable management o mountain ecosystems andlandscape approaches to natural resource management.© Carlos Noguera

supporting urban and peri-urban orestry or resilientcities, including through the preparation o guidelines

or policy-makers;

promoting resilient landscapes and arms by

co-publishing Advancing agroforestry on the policy 

agenda – a guide for decision-makers and promoting

their implementation;

raising awareness o the global importance and the

need or the sustainable management o mountain

ecosystems through the Mountain Partnership;

in drylands, developing and promoting, with partners,

the implementation o guidelines or building

landscapes resilient to global change;

supporting the Arican Union Commission and

13 partner countries to plan and implement the Great

Green Wall or the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative,

which aims to build the resilience o Arican drylands

to climate change and improve the ood security and

living conditions o people depending on them;

in collaboration with the Institut de recherche pour le

développement , the World Agroorestry Centre, CATIE

and CIRAD, preparing the thematic report Towards the

assessment of trees outside forests in the ramework o 

the Global Forest Resources Assessment;

playing an active role in the Collaborative Partnership

on Mediterranean Forests on the adaptation o 

Mediterranean orest landscapes to climate change;

promoting watershed natural resource management

as part o local development processes, or

example through the Integrated Natural Resources

Management Project in the Fouta Djallon Highlands,

and normative products.

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pOLICy ANd GOvERNANCE

Community members meet in Oshampula, Namibia. FAO is supporting the involvement o all stakeholders in integrating climatechange issues in national orest policies. © FAO/Marguerite France-Lanord

1  3 

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hAn ge 

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pOLICy ANd GOvERNANCE

integrating climate change intonational orest policy rameWorks

,

To ensure an ecient and coherent policyapproach to orests and climate change,

policy-makers need to integrate climate change

strategies and plans with national orest policy

rameworks and other sectors that aect orests.

Equally importantly, orest-based adaptation

and mitigation priorities should be refected

in national climate change strategies. Several

countries have identied the need or legal reorm

to implement national strategies on REDD+, and

orestry institutions may need to strengthen theirstructures, operations and capacities. Other major

processes with implications or the management

and governance o orests, such as those related

to orest law enorcement, governance and trade

(FLEGT), should also be taken into account.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

w

 

b:

publishing Climate change for forest policy-makers,

providing an approach or integrating climate change

into national orest programmes in support o SFM,

which countries can adapt to national circumstances;

convening regional and national workshops toacilitate discussion between stakeholders on how to

address the impact o climate change on orests and

helping to initiate national orest policy reviews or

revisions to integrate climate change, with the support

o the Sustainable Forest Management in a Changing

Climate Programme and the ormer National Forest

Programme Facility (now the Forest & Farm Facility);

supporting countries to strengthen the capacity o 

orestry institutions to enable them to better ollow

up on changed policies and strategies and to respond

more eectively to climate change;

through the European Union (EU)-FAO FLEGTProgramme, supporting developing countries to

improve policy, legal and regulatory rameworks or

addressing illegal logging and related trade;

supporting the integration o REDD+ and FLEGT

actions into national orest policy rameworks and

acilitating activities that can strengthen coordination

and synergies between these two processes, an

initiative involving the UN-REDD Programme and the

EU-FAO FLEGT Programme;

through the UN-REDD Programme in collaboration

with the United Nations Development Programme

and the United Nations Environment Programme,

supporting the development o robust and coherent

legal rameworks or REDD+ implementation at the

national level by

> assisting countries to increase understanding o 

legal and regulatory aspects o REDD+ at the

national level

> supporting the participatory development

o coherent legal rameworks or REDD+

implementation

> contributing to the ormulation o recommendations

or legal reorms to implement REDD+ in response

to national priorities.

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

C ch :www.ao.org/orestry/climatechange/64862

un-redd p: www.un-redd.org

n : www.ao.org/orestry/np

eu-ao legt p:www.ao.org/orestry/eu-fegt

dv w: www.ao.org/legal/development-law

y : www.ao.org/orestry/institutions 

s m Ch Cp: www.ao.org/orestry/ma/76453

& cy: www.ao.org/partnerships/orest-arm-acility

FAO is convening regional and national workshops to acilitatediscussion between stakeholders on how to address climatechange and orests. © FAO

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pOLICy ANd GOvERNANCE

orest tenure, and governanceassessment and monitoring

1  5 

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 C E 

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 c l i  mAt e  c 

hAn ge 

The success o orest-based climate changeadaptation and mitigation in countries depends

largely on the quality o orest governance. A

widely accepted, comprehensive ramework or

identiying areas to be addressed and monitoring

the results o corresponding responses would

acilitate and harmonize eorts to improve

orest governance. Since conditions vary widely,

systems or orest governance assessment

and monitoring need to be tailored or each

country, taking into account a range o otherorest-related governance issues, including

orest law enorcement. Many countries have

also identied the need to address tenure,

which cuts across the various land-use

sectors. Thereore, integrated approaches

to the governance o tenure are needed.

FAO’s respOnse

ao  

b:

collaborating with partners to develop the Framework 

for assessing and monitoring forest governance and

other normative material;

working with countries to strengthen capacities

and mechanisms or orest governance assessment,

including through the Participatory Governance

Assessments or REDD+ initiative, which acilitates

participatory processes to identiy and address key

governance issues related to REDD+ implementation; through the Sustainable Forest Management in a

Changing Climate Programme, supporting countries

to integrate the monitoring o orest governance with

national orest-related monitoring systems;

providing technical assistance through the UN-

REDD Programme on policy, legal, administrative

and operational aspects o tenure related to

REDD+, drawing on the Voluntary guidelines on the

responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries

and forests in the context of national food security ;

strengthening the capacity o countries to implement

orest-tenure reorms that guarantee the rights o local communities to own, manage and beneit rom

orest resources.

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

vc :

www.ao.org/orestry/governance/monitoring/71390

un-redd p:www.un-redd.org

 Vy h vc :www.ao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines

:www.ao.org/orestry/tenure

Ch : www.ao.org/orestry/tenure/china-reorm

s m ChC p: www.ao.org/orestry/ma/76453

Community members engage in a participatory ruralappraisal o local resources in Cambodia. FAO is helping tostrengthen the capacity o countries to implement orest-tenure reorms that guarantee the rights o local communitiesto own, manage and benet rom orest resources.© FAO/Kata Wagner

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pOLICy ANd GOvERNANCE

orests, livelihoods and ood security in a changing climate

,

Forests are oten critically important to theood insecure because they are one o the most

accessible productive natural resources available

to them. Forests and trees outside orests improve

the resilience o people to climate change by

acting as a protective resource and a saety net

and thus mitigating calamities. Small-scale orest-

based enterprises can increase rural income and

the resilience o rural communities to climate

change, and they can also respond quickly to local

climate change with adaptive approaches to SFM.

FAO’s respOnse

ao b

- b:

deepening the understanding by stakeholders o the

importance o orests, trees and agroorestry systems

or the ood security, nutrition and livelihoods o rural

people and encouraging intersectoral collaboration;

supporting countries in the development o 

orest policies and climate change strategies that

acknowledge and strengthen the role o orests and

trees in improving local livelihoods and ood security

as a response to climate change;

integrating orests and trees into climate-smart

agriculture strategies to encourage intersectoral

approaches or achieving the “triple win” o 

adaptation, mitigation and ood security;

supporting countries to embrace participatory

and inclusive approaches that ensure increased

tenure rights, responsibilities and control over themanagement and use o orests by local communities,

smallholders, indigenous groups and amilies in a

gender-balanced way;

documenting the knowledge gained rom successul

experiences in the ormulation and implementation

o policies and strategies or rural development and

natural resource management and adaptation to a

changing climate, or example in Latin America and

the Caribbean;

promoting the development o community-based

orest enterprises, including by improving capacities

or the development and management o small andmedium orest enterprises and through normative

work such as Guidelines for institutionalizing and 

implementing community-based forest management 

in sub-Saharan Africa;

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

pcy y:www.ao.org/orestry/participatory

Cy- v:www.ao.org/orestry/enterprises

Cc:http://orestconnect.ning.com

Cy- -sh ac: www.ao.org/docrep/016/i2786e/i2786e00.htm  

r v c : www.rlc.ao.org/es/programabrasilao/proyectos/politicas-agroambientales

Women in the Democratic Republic o the Congo sell orest-harvested mumbwa leaves (Gnetum africanum) in a localmarket. Small-scale orest-based enterprises can increaserural income and the resilience o rural communities toclimate change. © FAO/Guilio Napolitano

supporting the establishment o orest producerorganizations and their resilience in the ace o 

changing opportunities created by, and challenges

posed by, climate change, including through the

Forest Connect alliance.

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pROdUCTS, SERvICES ANd

INdUSTRy 

Wooden houses and boat, Sabinsky district, Tatarstan Republic, the Russian Federation. © FAO/Vasily Maksimov

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,

,

pROdUCTS, SERvICES ANd INdUSTRy 

orest products

Forests have always provided a multitude o products, but their role in mitigating climate

change has gone largely unnoticed. Wood-based

products are made o raw materials derived rom

the photosynthesis o trees and thereore enable

renewable and low-carbon cycles o production

and consumption and the long-term storage

o carbon in useul wood products. The orest

products industry aces a challenge, however, in

convincing people that wood products are better

or the climate and the environment than productsbased on non-renewable minerals and ossil uels.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

b:

supporting the development o sustainable orest

industries, including> preparing orest industry opportunity studies,

assessing easibility and creating roadmaps or

ostering investment in sustainable orest industries

> developing, with the United Nations Economic

Commission or Europe (UNECE), an action plan

to maximize the contribution o the European and

North American orest sectors to a green economy,

including through their role in mitigating and

adapting to climate change

> helping micro, small and medium-sized orest

product enterprises to enter supply chains or

the building and housing industry

> producing data, analysis and communication

materials on the climate-related beneits o 

wood-based products in sustainable production

and consumption, such as Impact of the global 

forest industry on atmospheric greenhouse gases

> promoting, with partners, the use o wood to help

mitigate climate change, such as through the

international conerence The art and joy of wood 

> encouraging the use o liecycle assessment as

a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts,

including on climate change, o wood products

such as construction timber or entire buildings,

and pellets or energy production

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

:www.ao.org/orestry/industries

s-c :www.ao.org/orestry/enterprises

W y:www.ao.org/orestry/energy

uneCe/ao y t sc: www.unece.org/orests.html

th jy w: www.artjoywood.org

Wooden houses under construction in Hunter village near theForest Breeding and Seed Centre in Leshoz Saba, Sabinskydistrict, Tatarstan Republic, the Russian Federation. FAOis producing data, analysis and communication materialson the climate-related benets o wood-based products insustainable production and consumption.© FAO/Vasily Maksimov

> helping countries to assess their current wood

energy situation and supporting policy-makers to

develop sound policies or sustainable wooduel

production and consumption

> acilitating communication and collaboration

between the energy and orest sectors;

collecting, analysing and disseminating wood energy

statistics and inormation;

supporting countries in ossil-uel substitution

through the modernization and eicient use o 

wooduel, including by convening marketing

workshops and conducting economic analyses o 

markets or processed wooduel.

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pROdUCTS, SERvICES ANd INdUSTRy 

inance, markets and economics

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Economic viability is an important actor that mustbe considered in any measures to promote climate

change benets in the orest sector. In particular,

investments in climate change mitigation and

adaptation in orestry have to demonstrate

avourable returns when compared to alternative

investments in both orestry and other climate-

related interventions. The impacts o climate

change, as well as mitigation and adaptation

measures, also need to be considered in the wider

context o existing investments in orestry andthe orest industries and the markets or orest

products and services.

FAO’s respOnse

ao

f,

b:

supporting policy development and capacity-buildingon orest inancing at the global, regional and national

levels through activities such as

> the Organization-led Initiative on Forest Financing

> the Heads o Forestry Dialogue on Forest Financing

> the Asia-Paciic Forest Policy Think Tank

> the integration o climate change unding into

national orest inancing strategies

> helping communities to access orest-related

voluntary carbon markets;

producing studies on the impacts o climate change

policies on trade and markets, including

> Bioenergy development: issues and impacts for 

poverty and natural resource management (with

the World Bank)

> The orest-sector carbon markets chapter in the

Forest products annual market review (a UNECE-

FAO annual publication)

> European forest sector outlook study II (with UNECE)

> An assessment o the potential impacts o orest

product legality regulations and REDD+ on orest

products production and trade in the Asia-Paciic

region;

mOre inFOrmAtiOn

ecc fc:www.ao.org/orestry/nance

-c k : www.ao.org/orestry/outlook and www.unece.org/esos2

FAO generates inormation on the impacts o climate changepolicy on trade and markets, including or wood energy.© FAO/Korea Forest Service

analysing the costs and beneits o storing carbonin wood products compared to other orest-related

mitigation options (such as wood energy development

and REDD+) to see where the promotion o wood

products would be easible and would make a cost-

eective contribution to climate change mitigation

eorts in the orest sec tor.

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ao y dwww.ao.org/orestry

ao l ofc – dv lw www.ao.org/legal/development-law

ao n rc m ev d www.ao.org/nr

ao tchc C d www.ao.org/tc

ao r ofc :

acwww.ao.org/arica

a h pcfcwww.ao.org/world/regional/rap

e C awww.ao.org/europe

l ac h Cwww.rlc.ao.org

n ewww.ao.org/world/regional/rne

ac oz h u n

 Viale delle Terme di Caracalla

00153 Rome, Italy

Phone: +39 0657051

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