21 March : International Day of Forests. Tune in!

 

(Source: FAO - International Day of Forests)

Wood is considered humankind’s very first source of energy. Today it is still the most important single source of renewable energy providing about 6% of the global total primary energy supply. More than two billion people depend on wood energy for cooking and/or heating... Private households’ cooking and heating with woodfuels represents one third of the global renewable energy consumption, making wood the most decentralized energy in the world (Wood Energy - FAO).

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A number of events took place across the globe to mark the International Day of Forests 2017! (check also: Hashtag: #IntlForestDay) 

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Did you know forests are nature’s powerhouse and a vital resource for meeting the world’s renewable-energy demand?

Moreover, did you know that:

(Source: Forests & Energy - FAO)

Besides: 

  • Wood energy powers economic development;
  • Wood and trees contribute to optimal urban living and lower energy bills;
  • Wood energy mitigates climate change and fosters sustainable development (United Nations - Internationa Forests Day 2017).

To find out how much do you know about forests and energy, you can take the quick #IntlForestDay FAO quiz and share your results!

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GREENING THE CHARCOAL VALUE CHAIN 

1. Promote multiple simultaneous interventions at scale across the entire value chain to substantially reduce GHG emissions.

2. Ensure the financial viability of a green charcoal value chain by improving tenure arrangements and legal access to resources for growing and purchasing wood and other biomass for charcoal production, generating evidence-based assessments of the benefits of a green charcoal value chain for national economies, putting a fair price on wood resources, incentivizing sustainable practices, and attracting investments for the transition to a green charcoal value chain.

3. Develop comprehensive national policy frameworks for the sustainable management of the charcoal value chain and integrate charcoal into wider efforts across sectors to mitigate climate change, including by making the charcoal value chain a specific component of NDCs.

4. Support national governments and other stakeholders in their efforts to green the charcoal value chain by contributing to research in the following areas:

• systematic life-cycle assessments of the charcoal value chain in the main charcoal-producing countries;

• systematic data on GHG emissions in the various stages of the charcoal value chain;

• the role of charcoal production in deforestation and forest degradation, including in combination with other deforestation and forest degradation drivers in the vicinity of cities; and

• the socio-economic and environmental outcomes and trade-offs of a green charcoal value chain at the local, subnational, national and regional levels.

5. Disseminate the lessons learned from pilot projects, success stories and research that take into account the entire charcoal value chain.

(Read the full FAO report "The charcoal transition: greening the charcoal value chain to mitigate climate change and improve local livelihoods").

DISCOVER - LEARN - SHARE:

FAO - Forestry (Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Toolbox - The forestry communication toolkit ... )

UN Climate Change Newsroom

The UN-REDD Programme:  supports partner countries in integrating biodiversity and other forest benefits into their planning, and in developing country approaches to safeguards and safeguards information. 

Upcoming 39th Session Joint ECE/FAO Working Party on Forest Statistics, Economics and Management29-31 March 2017, Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to the working party session three Teams of Specialists meetings, ToS on Sustainable Forest ProductsToS on Forest Products Statistics and ToS on Forest Policy, take place in parallel on 28 Mach 2017.

Accountability Systems for Sustainable Forest Management in the Caucasus and Central AsiaUnited Nations Development Account (UNDA) project 2016-2019

The SLOPE project aims to address some of the organizational and technical problems posed by forest harvesting in mountain conditions, improving spatial information

Forests in the ECE Region: Trends and Challenges in Achieving the Global Objectives on Forests (video, UNECE)

Trends and Challenges in Achieving the Global Objectives on Forests. This UNECE/FAO study is the contribution of the ECE Region to the Eleventh Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests.

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Learn more visiting FAO- Forestry