Bangkok (TDI): The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) introduced the “National Forest Inventory (NFI) Learning Journey” at a regional workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.
This revolutionary, self-paced learning program aims to support member nations in organizing, conducting, and evaluating their national forest inventories.
According to the FAO, the initiative would offer continuous access to essential resources to enhance national capacities and forest data management systems.
The Deputy Regional Representative of FAO, Robert Simpson said, “Accurate, accessible, and transparent forest data tailored to national frameworks, allow countries to monitor ecosystems, track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which is why National Forest Inventories (NFIs) are so important for collecting and analyzing this data for decision-making”
Even though artificial intelligence and remote sensing have advanced forest monitoring, the FAO stated that the NFI would still be the best way to collect comprehensive, factually correct data that satellites alone are unable to obtain. This would include species composition, biomass, forest degradation, and soil conditions.
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Consistent, high-quality forest data would serve as the foundation for national measures such as restoration, conservation, and sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation strategies, evidence-based policymaking, and FAO forest data reporting (Forest Resource Assessment).
NFI data would also be used to develop National Forest Monitoring Systems and would report on forest mitigation activities to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Julian Fox, FAO Senior Forestry Officer, said, “Reliable forest data empowers countries to take informed forest actions on the ground. It is critical that we empower those that have the responsibility to manage this precious resource, with the best available knowledge and technical solutions.”
She further stated, “By strengthening national capacities in forest monitoring, we are equipping nations with the tools they need to safeguard their forests and build a more resilient future.”
The NFI Learning Journey would also assist users through all key phases of a national forest inventory, from planning and implementation to data gathering and reporting.
Furthermore, the course would be available to users in several languages including English, Spanish, and French, to help forestry professionals, government agencies, researchers, and others working in national forest inventories.
The training would be tailored to different levels of experience, which would include subjects such as field data collection, sampling, data analysis, and reporting. Users who pass the final assessments will receive digital badges indicating their competency in national forest inventory methodology, the FAO reported.
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According to the FAO, the initiative of NFI Learning Journey has been supported by several key partners including the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the “Building Global Capacity to Increase Transparency in the Forest Sector (CBIT-Forest)” project.
The United Kingdom’s Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests) Initiative is also among the key partners of the program.
FAO’s efforts to improve national forest monitoring systems (NFMSs) have been crucial for increasing forest data transparency and accelerating climate action across Asia and the Pacific.
As Member Nations progress in forest management, improving the regional NFIs would also be critical for delivering consistent and accurate data as it would assist the member nations in realizing their responsibilities to sustainable forest management, ecosystem health, and climate mitigation, FAO stated.
FAO invited all relevant stakeholders—governments, forestry experts, academics, and global and national institutions—to explore the NFI Learning Journey and improve their national forest monitoring capabilities.
