There is no healthy economy without a healthy planet, we need forests to restore both

Environmental degradation is contributing to climate change, loss of biodiversity and the appearance of new diseaseswarned the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), stressing that forests and trees can play critical roles in addressing these crises and moving towards sustainable economies.

in the report “The State of the World’s Forests 2022”the UN agency warns that there will be no healthy economy without a healthy planet and lays out three interlinked pathways based on forests and trees that can support economic and environmental recovery.

Most the advances of humanity have had a considerable environmental costsays the FAO, highlighting the intensification of agricultural production processes and the felling of forests to increase the availability of food and other goods, which have caused great degradation of nature and contribute to the climate crisis.

“It is not feasible to continue with the current ways of agri-food production”, he warns, emphasizing the need for the world to recover from the crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 and that it restores the health of the planet.

To achieve that recovery and combat climate change and biodiversity loss – the two looming environmental crises – societies must recognize the crucial role of forestshe insists.

Three ways to get it

According to the study, the three interlinked pathways that would allow for better benefits from forests and trees while fighting environmental degradation, recovering from crises, preventing future pandemics, increasing resilience and transforming economies are:

• stop deforestation and conserve forests
• restore degraded land and expand agroforestry
• use the forests and create green value chains in a sustainable way

Halting deforestation and conserving forests could avoid the emission of 3.6 +/– 2 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year between 2020 and 2050 in a cost-effective and would protect more than half of terrestrial biodiversity.

Restoration, meanwhile, would benefit 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land and increased tree cover could boost agricultural productivity in another billion hectares. Degraded land restored through afforestation and reforestation could absorb up to 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere between 2020 and 2050.

Using forests sustainably and creating green value chains would help respond to future demand for materials and would support sustainable economies.

Stimulate investment

The report explains that the three pathways reinforce each other and can lead to climate and environmental improvements, as well as increase the potential for sustainable development, the ability to adapt and the resilience of communities.

But this requires policy changes intended to divert financial flows away from measures that are harmful to forests and incentivize investment in conservation, restoration and sustainable use activities.

FAO emphasizes that meeting climate, biodiversity and land degradation neutrality targets requires triple funding to the three forest roads by 2030that is, exceed 200,000 million dollars a year allocated to the establishment and management of forests.

Indigenous villages

The work of family farmers, small producers, forest communities and indigenous peoples is essential in the recovery of forests since manage more than 4 billion hectares of forest and agricultural land -almost half of the land dedicated to these activities-, with gross annual income of around 1.29 billion dollars.

There are currently more than 8.5 million producer organizations helping local actors adopt pathways to green recovery.

Various studies show that the ecological situation of 91% of the lands of indigenous peoples is good or moderate, which shows their capacity to reduce deforestation and improve forests cost-effectively.

In this line, the FAO emphasizes that securing indigenous lands in some Latin American countries it would cost less than 1% of the revenue that could be derived from carbon storage alone.

Regarding the risks involved in adopting the three forestry routes, the report argues that they are greater for small producers, whose investments could fail due to the absence of favorable policies and institutions, so calls on the relevant authorities to manage the threats related to climate changesuch as greater vulnerability to fires, plagues and droughts.

There is no time to lose

“There is no time to waste: action is needed now to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, reduce the risk of future pandemics, ensure food security and nutrition for all, eliminate poverty, conserve the biodiversity of the planet and offer young people the hope of a better world and future for all”, points out the general director of the organization, Qu Dongyu, in the presentation of the report.

Qu adds that FAO is committed to assisting member countries “to explore the potential of the three forest pathways in order to increase investment and implement the pathways effectively, in close collaboration with partners.”