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FOOD PRODUCTS AND PROCESSING EQUIPMENT

comed the FAO-FIFF inspired Food Shock order to achieve the Elmau commitment, tion of smallholder farmers in sustainable
Window introduced by the International he said. This will require prioritizing a mix value chains, and invited all countries to
Monetary Fund, but said too few countries of least-cost measures with large hunger support FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative,
have so far benefited from this mechanism. and malnutrition reduction and a lower which seeks to engage the private sector to
“G7 members should support a more trade-off to our environment. He pointed scale up interventions and investments in
flexible arrangement and less conditionality to FAO’s efforts to provide public goods the most vulnerable countries and regions
needs to be developed so that a meaningful by improving the availability of soil maps, to eradicate poverty, hunger and malnu-
mechanism is in place that can truly benefit extension and advisory services and ad- trition, and to reduce inequalities.
all countries in need,” he said. vocating for more research and improved
infrastructure in rural areas.
Thirdly, Qu stressed that “the right in-
vestments are needed now, urgently,” to In addition, the private sector must be
transform global agrifood systems and engaged in this transformation, and so far
make them more efficient, more inclusive, remains under-engaged and under-utilized,
more resilient and more sustainable. G7 the Director-General said. He praised Ja-
countries need to double their efforts in pan’s efforts to support increased private
sector initiatives to facilitate the participa-

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FAO AND THE UNITED KINGDOM LAUNCH

5-YEAR AIM4FORESTS PROGRAMME

To celebrate Earth Day, the Food and cal information needed for domestic for- efforts to monitor forest areas, further
Agriculture Organization of the United est-related priorities and policies, including strengthening their role as forest stewards.
Nations (FAO) and the United Kingdom on land-use decisions. The new £24.5 million programme is part
today launched AIM4Forests, a five-year Well-designed NFMS enable govern- of the UK’s International Climate Finance
programme designed to accelerate country ments to report emission reductions in- commitment to spend £11.6 billion be-
capabilities in forest monitoring as a part ternationally through Measurement, Re- tween 2021/22 and 2025/26, including
of global efforts to stop deforestation and porting and Verification (MRV) processes. at least £3bn on solutions that protect and
forest degradation, and restore forests. This is a key step towards accessing climate restore nature. The programme will run
finance and raising levels of ambition of until 2028 and work with 20 countries
international commitments under the Paris across Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and
Agreement. Latin America. The new programme will
To address such challenges, the AIM- be implemented by the National Forest
4Forests programme (Accelerating Inno- Monitoring team of FAO’s Forestry Division
vative Monitoring for Forests) will support working in collaboration with UN-REDD
domestic forest monitoring based on mod- and GFOI to coordinate country technical
ern technologies and technical innovation, assistance on MRV and NFMS.
and also leveraging UK expertise in ac- Background
ademia, research & development and in
More than 420 million hectares of forest the use of space data and remote sensing. FAO has been supporting its member
have disappeared since 1990. And although countries on the collection of forest in-
deforestation rates have slowed down “FAO welcomes the partnership with the formation for national and international
significantly, 10 million hectares are still United Kingdom, which will be fundamental needs for 70 years, with the motivation
being lost every year. Through the pledges in supporting Member countries’ efforts that better forest information leads to
made at the UN's climate talks in Glasgow in to sustainable forest management and better decisions and actions.
2021, world leaders committed to working restoration, supporting the achievement To date, FAO has provided tailored and
collectively to halt and reverse forest loss of their commitments such as nationally fit-for-purpose country support that
and land degradation by 2030, sustain- determined contributions (NDCs). Forest has directly resulted in over 50 countries
able land use, and to the conservation, and land use data are critical for overall land submitting a reference level to the United
protection, sustainable management and use planning in an integrated manner, to Nations Framework Convention on Climate
restoration of forests, and other terrestrial transition to sustainable production, ad- Change (UNFCCC) in Asia, Africa and Latin
ecosystems. dress biodiversity loss and climate change,”
said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria America – a critical step in MRV under
One barrier to progress has been a lack Helena Semedo. She added “This contribu- the UNFCCC. In addition, over 90 percent
of information. Those that are responsible tion from the United Kingdom will support of the 60 countries submitting a REDD+
for forests need accurate data to inform key areas of FAO’s strategies on climate Forest Reference Emission Levels to the
the right course of action. In this regard, change and biodiversity.” UNFCCC have used FAO’s Open Foris, and
countries urgently need national forest platforms such as SEPAL, FAO open-source
monitoring systems (NFMS) embedded The role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Digital Public Goods that help countries
in government institutions that deliver Communities (IPLC) in forest management measure, monitor and report on forests
high-quality data, and provide the criti- and conservation is increasingly recognized. and land use.
The programme therefore supports IPLC
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8 Vol. 39 No. 4