Managing forests for Global Warming

8/3/2019 Managing forests for Global Warming

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FAO, working with countries to tackle climate change

through sustainable forest management

Managing forestsfor climate change


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Key terms and conceptsForest management is the process of planning andimplementing practices for the stewardship and use offorests and other wooded land aimed at achieving specicenvironmental, economic, social and/or cultural objectives.[FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005]

Sustainable forest management is a dynamic andevolving concept that aims to maintain and enhance theeconomic, social and environmental value of all types of forests,for the benet of present and future generations.[Description adopted by UN Resolution 62/98, establishing theNon-legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests]

Monitoringand assessment

Policy andgovernanceIntersectoral

cooperation andcoordination

Forest productsand services

Managementplanning andpratctices

FOREST MANAGEMENT: A KEY INGREDIENT IN THECLIMATE CHANGE TOOLBOX

Forests, when sustainably managed, can have a central role in climate change mitigationand adaptation. By strengthening orest management practices, FAO supports countriesto achieve sustainable orest management, which is an e ective ramework or orest-

based climate change mitigation and adaptation. Sustainable orest management alsocontributes to ood security, poverty alleviation, economical development, and sustainableland use, in the wider context o sustainable development.

Good orest management secures the survival o orestecosystems and enhances their environmental, socio-cultural and economic unctions. It can both maximize

orests contribution to climate change mitigation andhelp orests and orest-dependent people adapt to newconditions caused by climate change. Improved orestmanagement practices or climate change mitigation andadaptation should be planned and implemented in tandem,as they are closely linked.

Forests are, o course, managed not only or climate change, but or multiple, usuallycomplementary, objectives: production o goods, protection o soil, water and otherenvironmental services, conservation o biodiversity, provision o socio-cultural services,livelihood support and poverty alleviation. Accordingly, climate change mitigation andadaptation e orts must provide synergies and be balanced with other national and local

orest objectives.

Forests are much more than timber andmuch more than carbon

A narrow focus on ... the role of forestsas carbon sinks at the expense of the otherforest values would be unsustainable.

Strategic framework for forests and climate change.Collaborative Partnership on Forests, 2008

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FAOs integrated approach to sustainable forestmanagement


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WHAT WE DO

FAO works in supporting countries to strengthen the management o orests in a changingclimate and or increasing the extent o orests as carbon stocks, while still consideringthe multiple orest unctions and dimensions. This publication describes the many ways inwhich FAO works to promote good management practices or climate change mitigation

and adaptation, as outlined in the fgure below.When acing new challenges such as climate change, FAO emphasizes the importanceo innovative approaches, best practices and international partnerships, but also buildingon existing knowledge and long experience in orest management (including community-based orest management).

Carbon sequestrationthrough increases in orestsand trees and orest carbon

stock enhancement

Forest carbon stocksconservation

through reduction o de orestationand orest degradation

Strenghtening adaptivecapacity of trees and forests

especially in ragile orestecosystems

Strenghtening adaptivecapacity of forest

dependent communities

Aforestation, re orestation andorest restoration

Increase o tree cover inarming systems (agro orestry),

rural landscapes and citiesEnhancement o carbon stocksand sequestration capacitythrough management practices

Sustainable practices o orest management and use

Integrated re managementManagement o orest healthand vitalityManagement o ` orestbiodiversityManagement o protected areasand wildli e

Management o orestbiodiversityForest health and vitality toreduce vulnerabilityIntensi ying re managementsystemsAdaptive managementpractices

Strengthening coping strategiesDiversi ying orestmanagement-relatedemployment opportunities andlivelihoodsAdaptive land use planning andmanagement

AdaptationMitigation

How forest management helps tackle climate change

Adapted rom: Strategic framework for forests and climate change . Collaborative Partnership on Forests, 2008

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FAOs work ocuses on supporting developing countries, where important orestecosystems are located and where many people depend on orests. Forest loss means notonly increased carbon emissions, but also high costs in terms o diminished, services,livelihoods and cultural values. Billions o people depend on the services provided by the

orests or their livelihoods. Adaptation should be centred on the needs o these people.As poverty is one o the drivers o de orestation, adaptation or and mitigation o climate

change must be addressed in unison with the fght against poverty and actions towardssustainable development and achievement o the Millennium Development Goals.

PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE OF FOREST MANAGEMENT

Community forest management

Important carbon stocks in many forests around the world have been maintained and enhanced thanks to themanagement practices of local communities, which range from conservation to reforestation to community remanagement. Successful forest management related initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change, includingREDD+, must take into account the experiences and lessons learnt in community forest management.

Community forest management embracing various degrees of community involvement, including arrangementssuch as participatory forest management, joint forest management, co- management and community-based forestmanagement can signicantly contribute to reduce forest emissions and increase forest carbon stocks, whilemaintaining other forest benets. Forest-dependent communities are also at the centre of climate change adaptationefforts, which must focus on strengthening peoples adaptive capacity and resilience.

Payments for ecosystem services may be useful in preserving, acknowledging and rewarding good communityforest management practices. However, such schemes require the establishment of transparent and fair benet-sharingarrangements and exploration of possible aggregation mechanisms to reduce transaction costs.

Active participation of communities in all aspects of forest management, taking into account peoples needs,aspirations, rights, skills and knowledge, will contribute to the efciency, sustainability and equity of forest-basedmeasures to tackle climate change.

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FINANCING FORESTS CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATECHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION

Sources o fnancing have emerged to support orest-related mitigation e orts, includingthe Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol and voluntarycarbon markets, and, more recently, the REDD+ Partnership, the Forest Carbon

Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Forest Investment Program (FIP) o the StrategicClimate Fund. REDD+ activities are also actively supported by bilateral and NGOunding.Various unds managed by the Global Environment Facility (e.g. the Adaptation Fund),

as well as other support through multilateral, bilateral and NGO channels, providefnancial assistance or climate change adaptation o orests, orestry and orest-dependentpeople. The need or unding or adaptation measures is growing, as recognized in theCopenhagen Accord, which places equal weight on mitigation and adaptation.

Forest management in REDD+

Under UNFCCC, countries are negotiating REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest

degradation in developing countries) as an instrument that would provide incentives to developing countriesto carry out forest-based climate change mitigation actions. Many countries support an instrument thatprovide incentives for essentially all land-based forest mitigation measures, referred to as REDD+; thisincludes reducing emissions through reducing deforestation and forest degradation, forest conservation,sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Thus far, REDD+ negotiations and national preparations have mainly focused on dening transparentmonitoring, reporting and verication (MRV) systems, and on forest governance and national policiesand strategies for REDD+. While these are key pillars for REDD+construction, improving forest management practices will also be offundamental importance to reach the desired objective of curbingemissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to conserveand enhance forest carbon stocks on the ground. Forest managementwill be fundamental to the successful implementation of national REDD+strategies.

Forests can be net sinks or net sources of carbon, depending on their age, health and susceptibility towildres and other disturbances, as well as on how they are managed. Forest management interventionsthat result in carbon emission reductions or increased carbon sequestration could potentially be rewarded byREDD+.

While most sustainable forest management projects may have a positive impact on climate changemitigation and adaptation, only some forest ecosystems have high potential for REDD+, when theopportunity costs of other alternative land uses, the main drivers of deforestation and degradation, the

additionality of REDD+ and the tenure issues and institutional framework are taken into account. Sustainableforest management must also be promoted and supported for forest ecosystems with low potential to benetfrom REDD+ incentives, as they may still have important environmental, economic and social functions.

Good forest management planningand practices are essential for thesuccess of REDD+ and must beaddressed from the outset.

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Supporting countries toINCREASE CARBON SEQUESTRATION BY FORESTS AND TREES

Forests and trees are important carbon sinks. They absorb carbon dioxide rom theatmosphere and store it as carbon. Carbon sequestration by orests has attracted much

interest as a mitigation approach, as it has been considered a relatively inexpensive meanso addressing climate change immediately.Around 13 million hectares o orest were converted to other uses or lost through natural

causes each year between 2000 and 2010. The world has an estimated 850 millionhectares o degraded orests, which could potentially be restored and rehabilitated to bringback lost biodiversity and ecosystem services, and, at the same time, contribute to climatechange mitigation and adaptation.

Forest management practices that increase carbon sequestration include:a orestation, re orestation and orest restoration;increase o tree cover through agro orestry, urban orestry and tree planting in rurallandscapes;enhancement o orest carbon stocks (in both, biomass and soils) and sequestrationcapacity through the modifcation o orestry management practices.


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Afforestation, reforestation and forest restoration

Increasing orest area and density through a orestation, re orestation andorest restoration results in increased absorption o carbon dioxide rom the

atmosphere. Once the trees are harvested, new trees can grow in their place andcontinue to sequester carbon. Planted orests today cover around 264 million

hectares and absorb an estimated 1.5 gigatonnes o carbon rom the atmosphereeach year.The rates o carbon sequestration on orest land depend on the management

practices adopted, the tree species involved, and the geographic area covered. Forthe conversion o agricultural land to orests by way o a orestation, or example,sequestration rates will vary considerably depending on the region and speciesinvolved. In accordance with tree growth, carbon sequestration rates share astandard pattern o initially rising rates ollowed by gradually declining rates.On average, a planted orest in a temperate zone can sequester about 4 tonnes o carbon per hectare each year.

FAOS SUPPORT

FAO is an in ormation hub or thesustainable management o planted

orests and the promotion o re orestation,a orestation and orest restorationpractices that contribute to combatingclimate change. FAOs voluntary guidelines

or responsible management o plantedorests set a normative ramework or

establishing and managing planted orestsaccording to economic, environmental andsocial principles.

FAO also supports feld projects in anumber o countries that serve as role

models or the use o orests and trees inmitigating and adapting to climate change.Here are two examples:

In China, FAOs International PoplarCommission has supported large-scale re orestation with poplars insmallholder woodlots, agro orestryproductions systems and watersheds.The plantings have helped to stabilizeriver banks, mitigate soil erosion,

lessen the impact o sand- andwindstorms, enhance wildli e habitat,support rural livelihoods and boosteconomic development through athriving wood industry, while alsoincrease carbon sequestration.In the Philippines, a three-year FAO-fnanced project is promoting assistednatural regeneration or e ectivelow-cost orest restoration, as a meansto halt urther orest degradationwhile increasing carbon sequestrationand contributing to climate change

mitigation. Assisted naturalregeneration aims to accelerate, ratherthan replace, natural successionalprocesses by removing or reducingbarriers to natural orest regenerationsuch as soil degradation, competitionwith weedy species, and recurringdisturbances (e.g. fre, grazing andwood harvesting).

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/plantedforestswww.fao.org/forestry/anr

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Increase of tree cover outside forests

Trees outside orests include agro orestry systems on agricultural landsand arms, trees in the rural landscape and along roads, rivers and humansettlements, and trees in and around cities. While contributing to environmentalsustainability, they also provide income and a range o goods and ecosystem

services or rural households, thus contributing to ood security and povertyeradication.Throughout the world, trees outside orests help mitigate climate change by

storing carbon, halting land degradation, providing uel to substitute ossiluels and fxing nitrogen to reduce the use o ertilizers. Trees in agricultural

landscapes represent a globally important carbon stock: almost hal o theworlds agricultural land has at least 10 percent tree cover. The contribution o trees outside orests to climate change mitigation can be increased by promoting

agro orestry systems andurban orestry.

Trees outside orests canalso have an importantrole in climate changeadaptation, throughdiversifed land-usepractices, livelihoods andsources o income, andthrough enhancement o agricultural productivityand bu ering againstweather-related productionlosses, enhancing resilienceagainst climate impacts in

arming systems.

Large-scale and reliable in ormationon the extent o agro orestry practice islimited, making it di fcult to quanti y

its importance and justi y increasedinvestments in tree-based systems atlarge. Consequently, FAO is carryingout a thematic study on the assessmento trees outside orests which takes intoaccount the in ormation requirements o the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) and other internationallyrecognized reporting processes.

FAO also supports countries in enablingthe most appropriate ramework to promote

tree planting outside orests, maximizingull opportunities or increasing carbon

sequestration in all land uses.

FAO provides technical assistance toimprove the management o agro orestrysystems, tree systems and urban andperiurban orests so as to enhance thepotential o trees outside orests toaddress global challenges o poverty,land degradation, climate change andbiodiversity loss.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/tof

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Enhancement of forest carbon stocks

E ective implementation o goodmanagement practices ensures themultiple unctions o orests andcan increase orest carbon stocks.

Specifc management practices e.g.silvicultural treatments (tendingoperations, enrichment o gaps, etc.),species selection, modifcation o rotation cycles, can be adopted toenhance orest carbon stocks and theclimate change mitigation potentialo stands, keeping in mind theimpact on other orest values as wellas the multiple interactions withinecosystems.

FAO works in bridging the gap betweenscience and practical implementation incountries. Research is generating specifc

data or di erent orest ecosystems andbiomes and is discovering new in ormationon relevant topics such as the di erentmanagement options that in uence carbonsequestration in biomass and soils; thecomplex interactions between increased

carbon sequestration and other orestunctions; and the impact o harvesting on

carbon stocks and carbon storage in orest

products.FAO collects and disseminates thisin ormation, making it available tocountries and acilitating its use in thesupport o international processes andnegotiations.

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Supporting countries toCONSERVE FOREST CARBON STOCKS

De orestation and orest degradation, whether due to human activities or naturalcauses, result in carbon stock reductions and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as loss

or impairment o other orest goods and services, threatening livelihoods, environmentalunctions and other socio-economic values. Forest conservation endeavours to recti y suchdeleterious impacts that cause orest degradation, and ultimately de orestation.

Forest threats include fres, pests and diseases, poor management and harvesting,overexploitation, grazing and other disturbances. Management measures must be adaptedto the specifc threats o the site.

Forest management activities that conserve carbon stocks in orests include:sustainable practices o orest management and use;integrated fre management;management o orest health and vitality;management o orest biodiversity;management and extension o protected areas.


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Sustainable practices of forest management and use

Sustainable management practices can ensure that productive or multipurposeorests continue to store carbon and maintain their capacity to provide other

goods and services or the beneft o current and uture generations. Managementpractices need to be actively planned, tailored to each specifc ecosystem and

evolving situations, so as to avoid overexploitation and orest degradation.Forest management plans and practices will also need to be adapted tomodifcations caused by climate change, both gradual and abrupt. Adaptive

orest management will be essential to address arising challenges and reduceorest vulnerability. Adaptation measures might include, or example, selection

o pest-resistant or drought-tolerant varieties, use o stocks rom a range o provenances, underplanting o genotypes o species adapted to expected newclimate conditions, or assisted natural regeneration o unctional species. Themeasures need to be adapted to orest condition (primary, secondary, degraded)and the specifc site.

FAO supports countries in improving orestmanagement planning and practices orsecuring the continuity o orests and their

unctions, and or increasing the resilienceo ecosystems, through the ollowingactivities.

identi ying, testing, adaptingand promoting innovative orestmanagement approaches andtechniques adapted to each specifccontext, e.g. through support ormodel and demonstration orests;planning and supporting feld projectson sustainable management o orestsand woodlands in a changing climate;

promoting environmentally sound,economically easible and sociallyacceptable orest operations, includingsilvicultural treatments and reduced-impact logging (see FAO Model Codeo Harvesting Practice);supporting exchange o experiencesto acilitate legal, transparent andaccountable orest managementpractices (e.g. strengthening legal

rameworks and law en orcement,involving communities inmanagement, supporting orestryinterventions that address poverty asa driver o de orestation, etc.);collecting, analysing anddisseminating in ormation tocountries and key stakeholdersthrough databases, case studies,Web-based in ormation systems,publications and exemplary cases o sustainable management o orestsand woodlands;developing manuals and guidelinesand organizing workshops

and seminars to acilitate thedissemination o best practices andexchange o experiences;

acilitating the translation o conceptso sustainable orest management intopractice through capacity building;supporting networks, partnershipsand twinning arrangements amongcountries and institutions.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/sfmwww.fao.org/forestry/modelforestswww.fao.org/forestry/harvesting

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Integrated re management

Wildfres are a signifcant source o greenhouse gas emissions, and their incidenceis likely to increase because o climate change. Integrated fre management isessential or orest conservation and as a part o climate change adaptationstrategies.

Strengthening capacities to prevent wildfres or to reduce risk o largedisastrous wildfres can contribute to protecting storage and sequestration o carbon in natural or planted orests, and also in other vegetation types such asrange and ood lands.

With the increased risk o wildfres, integrated fre management is a keycomponent o both climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Firemanagement practices will need to be intensifed and adapted as the contextevolves with climate change.

FAO promotes integrated fre managementthrough capacity building and the use o the Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines at the global level, as well as through feldprojects.

The guidelines address strategic actionssuch as prevention, monitoring, awarenessraising, preparedness and suppressiono fres, as well as restoration o a ectedareas, which should be part o nationalvegetation fre policies, and planningand management, integrated in broaderlandscape policies. They also address theinvolvement o all stakeholders and sectors.

They deal with both uncontrolled wildfresand the use o fre as a management tool.

FAO supports community-basedapproaches, since the communities thatsu er most rom wildfres are likely to bemost motivated to prevent or suppressthem. Strengthening communitiescapacities to prevent and suppressdevastating wildfres and to use fre wiselyas a management tool not only contributesto enhancing their livelihoods, but alsoaddresses global issues such as reducingde orestation and carbon emissions.

For more in ormation:www. ao.org/ orestry/fremanagement

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Management of forest health and vitality

Increased temperatures and levels o atmospheric carbon dioxide as well aschanges in precipitation and in the requency and severity o extreme weatherevents are having notable impacts on the condition o the worlds orests, orexample by making winters warmer or a ecting the length o growing seasons.

Climate change, particularly extreme weather events, can a ect orest pestsand the damage they cause by directly impacting their development, survival,reproduction and spread; altering host de ences and susceptibility; andindirectly impacting ecological relationships such as changing the abundance o competitors, parasites and predators.

Insects and diseases may be the frst indicatorso climate change, and there are already numerousexamples where insect and pathogen li ecycles or habitshave been altered by local, national or regional climaticchanges. For example, the mountain pine beetle( Dendroctonus ponderosae ) in western North Americahas shown decreases in generation time and wintermortality resulting in exponential population growthand major range extension. Warmer temperatures haveresulted in range expansions o pests such as pineand oak processionary caterpillars ( Thaumetopoea

pityocampa and Thaumetopoea processionea ) inEurope and red band needle blight ( Mycosphaerella pini ) in the United States.

Research has suggested that insect outbreaks can signifcantly a ect the carbonsink or source status o a large landscape. Thus preventing and reducing pestimpacts on orests may also provide an opportunity to mitigate climate change.Management o pests and prevention o their spread helps ensure that orestsremain healthy, reducing the risk o orest degradation and increasing resilienceto climate change.

FAO assists, advises and supports countriesto sa eguard the health and vitality o

orests, orest ecosystems and trees outsideorests, with special re erence to insects,

diseases and other harm ul biotic andabiotic agents.

In 2010, FAO has developed a tool to helporesters deal with the increasing threats

to orests posed by pest movement throughexpanded global trade, coupled with localclimatic change which may increase thepotential or establishment o pests in new

areas.A Guide to implementation of

phytosanitary standards in forestry ,prepared through a multistakeholderprocess, provides clear and conciseguidance on orest health practices.Strengthening country capacity toimplement the guide will be a strong ocus

rom 2011.

For more in ormation:www. ao.org/ orestry/pests

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Management of forest biodiversity

Biodiversity is key to resilience o orest ecosystemsto climate change, and there ore or conservation o

orest carbon stocks.Forests are among the most important repositories

o terrestrial biological diversity. Together, tropical,temperate and boreal orests o er very diversehabitats or plants, animals and micro-organisms.Biological diversity is the basis or a wide arrayo goods and services provided by orests. In theirgreat variety, orest trees and shrubs have a vitalrole in the daily li e o rural communities in manyareas, as sources o wood and non-wood products, as contributors to soil andwater conservation, and as repositories o aesthetic, ethical, cultural and religiousvalues.

In orests, biological diversity, in particular genetic diversity, allows speciesto adapt continuously to evolving environmental conditions (including climate

change), to maintain the potential orselection and improvement to meet

uture needs and changing end-userequirements, and to support ecosystem

unctions. However, inadequatein ormation and knowledge is generallyan obstacle in identi ying issues, needsand priorities or action in conservationo biodiversity in the context o climatechange, at national and global levels.

Biodiversity underpins forest resilience,which in turn underpins the permanenceof forest carbon stocks. For these

and numerous other reasons theachievement of biodiversity benets areessential for the success of REDD+.

Summary of Forest Day 3.CIFOR, 2009

FAO is actively working with countriesto assess the state o genetic diversity inthe worlds orests and to fnd solutions tothe threats acing them, including climatechange. The Organization also promotesbest practices in orest genetic resources

management, specifcally in the areas o conservation, exploration, testing, breedingand in ormed use o new biotechnology.

To meet the in ormation needs at thenational level, FAO supports the collectiono in ormation related to biodiversitythrough the National Forest Monitoringand Assessment (NFMA) programme. Atthe international level, FAO works closelywith other orest-related international

and regional organizations to harmonizein ormation and requirements orreporting on orests. FAO provided orest-related in ormation or the Third GlobalBiodiversity Outlook and incorporatedthe indicators or the 2010 Biodiversity

Target and other orest-related biodiversityindicators into the Global Forest ResourcesAssessment (FRA) 2010. The preparationo the frst report on the state o the worlds

orest genetic resources and the expansiono the NFMA approach should contribute tothe development o additional indicators ormonitoring orest biological diversity andthe e ectiveness o conservation measures.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/fgr

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Management of protected areas and wildlife

Protected areas are among the most important tools or orest and wildli econservation. Accordingly, improved management, and possibly expansion, o protected areas is considered one o the REDD+ mitigation options.

Climate change is greatly adding to human-induced pressures on wildli e and

protected areas (e.g. the unsustainable and o ten illegal hunting and trade inwildli e and its products) by modi ying habitats and increasing the prevalenceo threats such as fre, pests and pathogens. Wise management o wildli e andprotected areas is critical or success ul conservation and sustainable use o wildanimals in the prospects o a changing climate. Priority activities include:

developing adapted strategies, policies and legislation;setting up long-term monitoring and reporting schemes or indicator plantand animal species;transboundary cooperation;better involvement o local people;implementing measures that help reduce non-climate related, human-induced pressures, e.g. rom habitat loss or degradation and illegal huntingand trade, and thus overall vulnerability to climate change;expanding or shi ting protected area boundaries or conservation o orest

ecosystems and species atrisk rom climate change;improving habitatconnectivity andproviding migrationcorridors and seasonal

eeding areas or migratoryspecies;integrating carbonsequestration andstorage, along with otherecosystem services,into managementand fnance plans.

FAOs Wildli e and Protected AreaManagement Programme has identifed theimpacts o climate change as a priority areao work. It seeks to strengthen countriescapacities to adapt to climate changethrough actions that sustain conservationand sustainable management o protected

orest ecosystems and wildli e.

To this end, the programme developsmaterials and publications that show the

acts and problems and identi y prioritymeasures or action. The fndings o suchanalyses will eed directly into the design o technical assistance projects on the ground.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/wildlife

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Supporting countries toMANAGE FRAGILE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

Some orest ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to climate change:mountain orests and watersheds;

dryland orests;coastal orests.These ecosystems, with their unique eatures and resources, also have an important

role or climate change mitigation on a global scale, as well as providing many otherenvironmental, economical, social and cultural unctions. Management measures are o tencritical to reduce their vulnerability and acilitate their adaptation to climate change.


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Management of mountain forests and watersheds

Mountains are among the regions most a ected by climate change. The expectedincrease in temperature and extreme weather events will ampli y hazards inmountains worldwide and change the hydrological cycle, in which mountainsplay a key role. Melting o glaciers and movement o perma rost to higher

altitudes will exacerbate the danger o rock all, debris and mud ows and therisk o glacial lake outburst oods. Climate change will alter precipitation andruno patterns. For large parts o the world, this will mean reduced availabilityo water when it is most needed.

Sound orest management and a orestation o degraded areas reduce erosion,increase slope stability and hence contribute to the provision o essentialenvironmental servicessuch as a regulated water

ow and protection againstnatural hazards. Sustainablemountain development andcollaborative and integratedapproaches to watershedmanagement are there orevital or climate changemitigation and adaptation.

In orest hydrology, watershed managementand sustainable mountain development,FAO addresses the needs o governments,technicians and local stakeholders mainlythrough the ollowing activities.

Advancing concepts: FAOprovides state-o -the-art reportson current issues and contributes

to the advancement o conceptsand approaches. Findings andrecommendations are feldtested, which allows continuousimprovement.Supporting international processes onintersectoral topics: In particular, thetopic o orest and water interactions,which is strongly linked to watershed

management, sustainable mountaindevelopment and adaptation andmitigation o climate change, hasgained visibility in international ora.Capacity-building, institutionalstrengthening and demonstration o technical innovations: Field projects,

or example in West A rica, Pakistan,

Ecuador, Mauritania, Morocco andTajikistan, target issues such asprotection and sound managemento highland orests and waterresources; adaptation to climatechange and enhanced resilience o integrated livelihood systems; andpost-emergency rehabilitation o watersheds.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/forestsandwater

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Management of coastal forests

Coastal orests including mangroves, beach orests, peat swamp orests andlowland moist tropical orests have a number o important roles:

environmental: protecting against shoreline erosion and surge-tide damage,providing wildli e re uges, sa eguarding water quality, stabilizing land,

trapping sediments, providing nutrients to inshore waters;social: protecting human settlements, o ering aesthetic and recreationalvalues;economic: as productive ecosystems, providing income-generatingopportunities or the local population; providing nursery grounds or manycommercially valuable fsh and shellfsh species.

The risk o sea-level rise due to climate change, combined with existing threatscaused by population pressure such as overexploitation, conversion to other uses(ports, resort development and other in rastructure as well as aquaculture andrice cultivation) and marine pollution, poses a threat or many natural coastal

orests.The management o these orests requires an integrated multidisciplinary

approach, defned as integrated coastal area management (ICAM). Theirprotection and restoration are important to mitigate the impact o climatechange, while adaptive management will needto be adopted to secure their existence.

Peatlands are particularly carbon-richecosystems, whose orests have much morecarbon below the ground than above it. When

orests in peatlands are burned, drained or cut,they are a huge source o carbon emissions anda major contributor to climate change.

FAO supports countries in therehabilitation, conservation, sustainable useand extension o coastal orests through the

ollowing activities:feld projects in more than 35countries to strengthen themanagement o coastal orests in a

changing climate, while supportinglocal livelihoods through inclusiveparticipation and co-management bylocal communities;technical support or therehabilitation and management o coastal orests in the a termath o natural disasters, such as tsunamis;compiling in ormation on damagecaused by natural disasters to coastal

orests and their potential role inlessening the impacts o tsunamis andsimilar events in the uture;institutional strengthening andcapacity building;collecting, analysing anddisseminating worldwide in ormation

on mangroves (e.g. World atlas of mangroves [2010], a joint initiativeby six organizations; assessment studyon the worlds mangroves 19802005[2007]; and Web site);FAO is one o the ounding partnerso the Mangroves or the Futureinitiative, which promotes investmentin coastal ecosystem management.

For more in ormation:www.fao.org/forestry/icamwww.fao.org/forestry/mangroves

FAOS SUPPORT

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FAO 2010

Photo credits

cover: FAO/24683_0403/G. Napolitanop. 2: FAO/24683_0439/G. Napolitanop. 4: FAO/22401/R. Faidutti; FAO/18475/P. Cenini;

FAO/6354/F. Bottsp. 6: M. Medina del Vallep. 8: FAO/FO-6769/M. Kashiop. 9: C. Sabogalp. 10: W. Kollertp. 12: FAO/14185/R. Faiduttip. 13: Bugwood.org/USDA Forest Service Archive/2251050p. 14: R. Cenciarellip. 15: Bugwood.org/USDA Forest Service/1374562/T. Spiveyp. 16: FAO/CFU000412/R. Faiduttip. 17: T. Hoferp. 18: FAO/15854/R. Faiduttip. 19: W. Kollert

Documents

Managing forests for Global Warming