Last week, the UN High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda met in Bali, Indonesia. The political commitment from last year’s Rio+20 conference to agree on a set of post-2015 goals addressing the broad challenges of poverty eradication, environmental protection and sustainable consumption and production (the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs) remains strong. At the same… Read more
Today is the first annual International Day of Forests. From 1972 until now, 21 March was celebrated as World Forestry Day, but last year the UN General Assembly upgraded it to an official UN Observance Day. There are currently 115 international days proclaimed by the UN, and 21 March is a particularly popular date. It… Read more
I had the pleasure of reading the excellent 2012 Global Food Policy Report, released on 14 March by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of CIFOR’s partners in the CGIAR. This report illustrates well how the food system must be seen as part of the overall sustainability equation and conversely how forestry and… Read more
We seem to have a new debate in international forestry circles following our recent initiative to hold a global forum on landscapes at the 2013 UNFCCC COP in Warsaw. Most reactions to our combining of the former forest and agriculture days have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Creating an alliance between forestry and agriculture is… Read more
There are increasing expectations that policies should be evidence based. This extends to the use of public funds for development assistance, for example Government initiatives such as those promoted by national Governments and supported by initiatives such as those of the Overseas Development Institute’s RAPID programme, Research to Action and 3ie. While recognizing that… Read more
The political talks towards new global goals are on. The Rio+20 congregation came up with the idea to agree on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that would set the stage for action under the post-2015 development agenda and supposedly define “The future we want” as stipulated in the Rio+20 outcome document. Meeting calendars and travel schedules… Read more
BOGOR, Indonesia (11 December, 2012)_The UNFCCC COP-18 in Doha worked overtime to finally agree not to disagree. The Secretariat was quick to make a release that declares success and highlights four results: Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol; Timetable for negotiating a 2015 agreement; Decisions on new UNFCCC institutions, including the Green Climate Fund; Reiterating the… Read more
The evolution of Forest Day into a proposed Landscape Day at future UNFCCC COPs, involving agriculture and rural development stakeholders, has triggered a number of comments and questions. Will forest issues stay visible? Will agriculture issues stay visible? Who will set the agenda? And what is meant by a ‘landscape’ anyway? This blog entry addresses… Read more
In an earlier blog entry, I discussed how the annual global deforestation area is determined and the fact that this number has been used as a universal indicator of how the world’s forests are faring. I also promised to return to this topic, with a new way of illustrating forests and forestry. Instead of a… Read more
On 2 December 2012, I shall have the honour of opening the sixth edition of Forest Day at the 18th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP18) in Doha. This will undoubtedly be another inspiring and well-attended event on the fate of forests and the future of forestry. Forest… Read more
Last week, the UN High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda met in Bali, Indonesia. The political commitment from last year’s Rio+20 conference to agree on a set of post-2015 goals addressing the broad challenges of poverty eradication, environmental protection and sustainable consumption and production (the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs) remains strong. At the same… Read more
Today is the first annual International Day of Forests. From 1972 until now, 21 March was celebrated as World Forestry Day, but last year the UN General Assembly upgraded it to an official UN Observance Day. There are currently 115 international days proclaimed by the UN, and 21 March is a particularly popular date. It… Read more
I had the pleasure of reading the excellent 2012 Global Food Policy Report, released on 14 March by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of CIFOR’s partners in the CGIAR. This report illustrates well how the food system must be seen as part of the overall sustainability equation and conversely how forestry and… Read more
We seem to have a new debate in international forestry circles following our recent initiative to hold a global forum on landscapes at the 2013 UNFCCC COP in Warsaw. Most reactions to our combining of the former forest and agriculture days have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Creating an alliance between forestry and agriculture is… Read more
There are increasing expectations that policies should be evidence based. This extends to the use of public funds for development assistance, for example Government initiatives such as those promoted by national Governments and supported by initiatives such as those of the Overseas Development Institute’s RAPID programme, Research to Action and 3ie. While recognizing that… Read more
The political talks towards new global goals are on. The Rio+20 congregation came up with the idea to agree on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that would set the stage for action under the post-2015 development agenda and supposedly define “The future we want” as stipulated in the Rio+20 outcome document. Meeting calendars and travel schedules… Read more
BOGOR, Indonesia (11 December, 2012)_The UNFCCC COP-18 in Doha worked overtime to finally agree not to disagree. The Secretariat was quick to make a release that declares success and highlights four results: Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol; Timetable for negotiating a 2015 agreement; Decisions on new UNFCCC institutions, including the Green Climate Fund; Reiterating the… Read more
The evolution of Forest Day into a proposed Landscape Day at future UNFCCC COPs, involving agriculture and rural development stakeholders, has triggered a number of comments and questions. Will forest issues stay visible? Will agriculture issues stay visible? Who will set the agenda? And what is meant by a ‘landscape’ anyway? This blog entry addresses… Read more
In an earlier blog entry, I discussed how the annual global deforestation area is determined and the fact that this number has been used as a universal indicator of how the world’s forests are faring. I also promised to return to this topic, with a new way of illustrating forests and forestry. Instead of a… Read more
On 2 December 2012, I shall have the honour of opening the sixth edition of Forest Day at the 18th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP18) in Doha. This will undoubtedly be another inspiring and well-attended event on the fate of forests and the future of forestry. Forest… Read more