A new program for Accelerating Innovative Monitoring of Forests (AIM4Forests), led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has supported 11 countries and trained more than one thousand people in its first year. Source: Timberbiz
The five-year program (2023-2028), with US$30.53 million funding from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, aims to empower countries to monitor their forests using modern technologies, technical innovation, space data and remote sensing.
“Supporting countries to create better data on forests is key to halting and reversing forest loss,” said Zhimin Wu, Director of FAO’s Forestry Division. “AIM4Forests sets out to accelerate innovation in forest monitoring and help countries gather more comprehensive and accurate data, and it has already made significant progress.”
More than 420 million hectares of forest have been lost since 1990, with 10 million hectares still lost to deforestation annually. World leaders have committed to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.
A summary of the project’s achievements so far confirms that it has provided technical assistance to 11 countries (Bolivia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam) focusing on four areas in which data is key: better resource management, deforestation-free commodities, measurement reporting and verification (MRV) of mitigation results, and tracking progress in ecosystem restoration.
The program has trained 1,268 individuals (40% women and more than 100 members of Indigenous Peoples and local communities) to strengthen their forest monitoring capacities.
Technical assistance has supported some countries to measure and report their forest mitigation efforts in order to unlock climate finance.
At the same time, the program has made e-learning accessible so that individuals can increase their knowledge and skillsets in different aspects of forest monitoring. Some 4,677 English, Spanish and French speaking e-learners have completed five courses alongside the successful launch of a new e-learning curriculum.
Through AIM4Forests, FAO is rapidly advancing methods and technology used to monitor forests and made new tools, platforms and datasets available for governments to use for free. During the last year the program has produced four new technical publications overcoming methodological challenges, and three innovative new open-source technical solutions.
Under AIM4Forests, FAO has also partnered with the International Land Coalition to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities to play a key role in forest monitoring and mapping and in relevant decision-making affecting their territories and livelihoods.
In its second year, AIM4Forests will expand its reach to include two more countries – Colombia and Zambia and continue to support countries to report their forest mitigation efforts and accelerate innovative forest monitoring.
