Category: Uncategorized

Forest jobs of today are no longer what they used to be.

Over the past few decades, the forest sector has undergone significant structural and organisational changes, from large corporate structures to sectoral fragmentation and the outsourcing of work to contractors. Increased competition among different expectations for forest functions and the rise of ecological awareness impacted forest management objectives. As a result, they evolved from the extraction of natural resources to conservation and focus on a wide range of forest ecosystem services. The employment and working conditions in the forest sector also changed substantially, reflecting a transformation in the perception of occupational risks, health, safety and well-being of forest workers.

Today the traditional forest sector workforce in the UNECE region is decreasing in number, employs few women, minorities and is becoming older. However, the public perception of forest jobs does not reflect all merits of the forest sector. The employment figures do not include an increasing number of professionals working in biodiversity conservation, landscape management, forest education, monitoring, certification, tourism and many others.

It is these professions that will guarantee the future of forests and the sector’s standing up to the challenges of the green recovery and a shift towards a sustainable, circular economy. Forest workforce of tomorrow will rely on innovation, rural and urban connections, links with science and technology as well as equal opportunities for women, young people and minorities.

From 2 of 6 November 2020, the Joint Section will host a “Forest Week”, featuring a series of in-person and online meetings focusing on the contribution of forests to Sustainable Development Goals. Join us for an invigorating discussion at “SDG 15 Day” to learn about the progress towards this goal in the UNECE region, an exhibition showcasing the rich biodiversity found in and around forests, as well as an exhibition featuring the winning submissions to the photography contest “Humans locked down: Nature unlocked”. Finally, join us for this year’s 78th Session of the Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry, where we will discuss the potential of forest landscape restoration, forest products markets and how to build back better with forests.

Find out more here.

Monitoring:

This part of the conference would feature the final meeting for the UNDA project “Accountability Systems for Sustainable Forest Management in the Caucasus and Central Asia” (2016-2020), that was implemented in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Objective of this online meeting is to review results of the project and strengthen capacity on methodologies for data collection for indicators under criteria and indicators’ sets for sustainable forest management. International and national experts will present policy briefs on relevant topics developed within the project.

Restoration:

This part of the conference will provide an opportunity for countries of the region to discuss implementation of the Astana Resolution, as well as explore funding options. Meeting aims to support implementation of pledges under the Bonn Challenge to achieve the restoration of 3 million hectares in the region by 2030. It will provide an overview of Forest Landscape Restoration efforts in the region, challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic and possible solutions.

Read more here.

Join WRI for a presentation detailing the latest advances on tracking tree growth and monitoring forest and landscape restoration.

Thanks to Global Forest Watch, monitoring deforestation with satellites has never been easier. But seeing where trees are growing – and measuring the water, soil, and yield benefits that they bring – is challenging. Now, after years of research, WRI and its partners in governments, companies, and communities have paired the latest advances in AI and remote sensing with local expertise and preferences to make tracking progress toward government and company commitments easier and more accurate than ever.

This webinar is designed for governments, companies, project developers, and community leaders who want to learn what tools they can use to track the progress of their work. Monitoring experts from WRI’s Global Forest Watch and Restoration teams will highlight the key tools and techniques that practitioners, especially members of regional alliances AFR100 and Initiative 20×20, can use to start monitoring. A 20-minute Q&A period will close the event.

Find out more information here.

This webinar series is hosted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Ecosystem Management (IUCN CEM). The objective of the series is to provide a forum for attendees to gain insight and knowledge about ecological restoration and to provide opportunities for networking and direct engagement.

Find out more here.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as in many other African countries, the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is a major national strategic priority. Previously, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has had limited technical capacity to produce and utilize data necessary for monitoring forest cover and changes. Since then, the country has established a national forest monitoring system (NFMS) to promote sustainable forest management practices and to take informed policy decisions on reducing forest loss. The FAO elearning Academy webinar “Forest Data and Transparency: ‘Zoom in’ on the Experience of the Democratic Republic of the Congo” will highlight the country’s experience in establishing NFMS, and explore the various ways it has been upscaled and widely used, as a basis for satellite land monitoring systems, in other countries in the region and globally.