FAO

FORESTRY
DEPARTMENT

Hiroto Mitsugi
Assistant Director-General
 Introduction

• Programme priories have been largely

identified (RFCs, COFO24, Council)

• 2nd year of the biennial FAO

Programme of Work and Budget

• 2nd year of the FAO Medium Term

Plan 2018-21

• Upcoming changes in management:

new DG, 1 August
 8 Priorities approved by
COFO 24

1. Halting deforestation globally, particularly

from agriculture

2. Addressing forest degradation and

promoting Sustainable Forest
Management

3. Increasing forest cover through

restoration, reforestation and afforestation

4. Improving forest-based livelihoods,

prosperity and human well-being
8 Priorities approved by
COFO 24
5. Mitigation of and adaptation to
climate change and strengthening
resilience of ecosystems and
communities to climate change
through forests

6. Mainstreaming forests through

cross-sectoral and inter-agency
approaches at all levels

7. Increasing means of
implementation from all sources

8. Strengthening governance
frameworks at all levels
 COFO also recommended
that we work on
• Contribution to global forest goals and targets
and standard setting activities
• Sustainable integrated land use as well as forest
degradation
• Global forest data and capacity-building for
countries to gather and manage forest-related
information
• Better articulation of work related to forest fire
management
• Long-term scenarios and solutions for sustainable
supply and demand of forest products
ADG’s guidance on priorities

• Climate change adaptation and resilience of

ecosystems and communities

• Value chains and new finance initiatives

• Forest education
• Integrated land management and planning
• Importance of continued resource mobilization
Key corporate/departmental deliverables in 2019
• International Day of Forests, 21 March
Theme: “Forests and Education”
• Regional Forestry Commissions
• International Decade of Family Farming, launch
on May
• FAO Biodiversity Strategy
To be considered at 41st Session of the FAO
Conference in June
• FAO Biodiversity Mainstreaming Platform
To help adopt good practices across all agricultural
sectors
To build bridges between the agricultural sectors and
the environmental sector
To develop integrated approaches
SOFO 2020 will focus on biodiversity
Key corporate/departmental deliverables in 2019
• UN 2019 Climate Summit, 23 September
Convened by UN Secretary-General to mobilize political
and economic energy at the highest levels to advance
climate action
Theme: “A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win”
Among the 6 action areas: nature-based solutions
• FO’s role
Strong presence by FO
Staff inputs in preparations
Information sharing from focal points
Identify opportunities to reach out, share knowledge,
publish FO’s work and influence (use and update event
calendar)
Key corporate/departmental deliverables in 2019

Looking forward: New opportunities

• Maintain and strengthen FAO’s leadership in
forestry globally
• Tap on and contribute to innovation and related
initiatives, e.g. UN Innovation Network
– What we do and how we work
• Continued strong input to UN Agenda 2030 for
Sustainable Development and SDG implementation
• UN SG reform: focus more on people and less on
process, more on delivery and less on bureaucracy
• Changes are around the corner: we need to prepare
strong FO inputs to strategic planning processes
 THANK
YOU!

Hiroto Mitsugi
Assistant Director-General