It has been ten years since the global climate community agreed that a financial mechanism to support reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) must play a role in fighting climate change. Since then, a vast number of research projects have studied how REDD+ can be implemented in practice, and it has become apparent that paying local landowners for keeping trees is not a fix for sustainable forest management in its own right.

A new study finds that in the state of Pará alone, selective logging, road-building, fires and other disturbances have reduced biodiversity as much as clearing 92,000–139,000 km2of pristine forest.

This blog is written by Larissa Stiem and Focali member Torsten Krause based on results presented in their article

A new EBA report based on a systematic review of impact evaluations about our understanding of the double objectives, climate benefits and poverty reduction, shows a ‘know-do gap’. Three Focali members, Gunnar Köhlin, Madelene Ostwald and Eskil Mattson, were part of the review that focused on forest conservation and household energy transitions.

The 21st of March 2016 marks the International Day of Forests. Every year one day is especially allocated to highlight and celebrate the importance of trees in our landscape in a changing climate and the theme for this year is Forests and Water.

Apart from being a major mechanism for climate mitigation, forestry is also an important economic segment in many industrial countries, including Sweden, supporting thousands of jobs.

Growing world population drives the demand for food, feed and fiber. And since no country can produce all the products we now can buy in supermarkets, this demand is met through the export of agricultural commodities on the global market. Partly, the global demand is met through a rising productivity on the already established agricultural land.

Landscape management workshop co-arranged by the SIANI-Focal theme held at Chalmers 15-16 March. Contact Eskil Mattsson eskil.mattsson@chalmers.se if you want to take part of the workshop outcomes.

Can we ensure that the food sold in our supermarkets is delivered through a sustainable supply chain? This is not an easy question to answer, but consumers who want to be responsible face it on a daily basis. Certification schemes are one way of dealing with this issue.

A new initiative for restoring degraded land – the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) - was launched during COP21 in Paris. The goal of AFR100 is that 100 million hectares of land will be restored or in the process of being restored by 2030.