Forestry for a low carbon future. Integrating forests and wood products in climate change strategies

Following the introduction, Chapter 2 provides an overview of mitigation in the forest sector, addressing the handling of forests under UNFCCC. Chapters 3 to 5 focus on forest-based mitigation options – afforestation, reforestation, REDD+ and forest management – and Chapters 6 and 7 focus on wood-product based options – wood energy and green building and furnishing. The publication describes these activities in the context of UNFCCC rules, assessing their mitigation potential and economic attrac tiveness as well as opportunities and challenges for implementation. Chapter 8 discusses the different considerations involved in choosing the right mix of options as well as some of the instruments and means for implementation. Chapter 8 also highlights the co-benefits generated by forest-based mitigation and emphasizes that economic assessment of mitigation options needs to take these benefits into account. The concluding chapter assesses national commitments under UNFCCC involving forest miti gation and summarizes the challenges and opportunities

Estimating wooden kitchen furniture’s contribution to climate change mitigation

The climate change impacts of using harvested wood products (HWPs) have attracted attention in recent years from Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period to the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015 (FAO 2016). This segment includes wood-based products, which in comparison to competing materials, have a low global warming potential (GWP). Studies have been conducted since the early 1990s on this aspect and despite this, studies analysing the benefits of the furniture sub-sector are rare. This paper estimates the climate change mitigation potential associated with the use of wood in kitchen cabinet, based on an evaluation of its storage and substitution benefits in selected countries in Western Europe. Results indicate that this wood furniture segment could poten- tially store an average of about 15 million t C annually and avoid the additional production of about 7 million t CO2. The results presented constitute a benchmark analysis that may be useful for integrating the wooden furniture sub-sector in climate change mitigation strategies

Trees as hotspots: Using forests, trees, and agroforestry to foster diverse sustainable landscapes

Forests, trees, and agroforestry (FTA) are ecosystem hotspots. They exemplify the contributions of biodiversity to sustainable and resilient landscapes, green circular economy and to sustainable agriculture and food systems for healthy diets. However, most research on these topics have been performed separately and lack comparison. The International FTA-Kunming Conference 'Forests, trees and agroforestry for diverse sustainable landscapes' 22nd–24th June 2021, focused on these contributions, brought together scientists NGOs, and policy makers to further the understanding of tree diversity; provided a communication platform for scientists to share their research results; evaluated the role of tree diversity in agroecology and circular agriculture; assessed benefits of landscape restoration; and explored applied research in mountain ecosystems and food security. The goals were to gather evidence that ground the design of solutions that can contribute to the implementation of the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and towards the UN Food Systems Summit, and the overall implementation of the SDGs. This paper summarizes the outcomes of the international FTA Conference in Kunming 2021 and points out the highlights of research involved in six major themes