Greetings!

 
The 4th Resource this year features stories from UN-REDD partner countries that have achieved remarkable milestones in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to identify opportunities for restoring degraded land. The urgency of fighting the climate emergency, while also conserving habitats and species and fostering economic growth has become more obvious than ever. Leaders in politics, international development, civil society, and business are now acknowledging a post-COVID recovery must not mean a return to business as usual. They are increasingly calling on governments and the private sector to invest in nature-based solutions, such as forests, as the most mature NbS, as part of the green global recovery plan. This would serve to deliver both climate and economic ambitions in the short and long term.

In his State of the Planet address on December 2, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, highlighted the importance of working with nature to preserve our forests and tackle climate change: “One of our best allies is nature itself. Drastically reducing deforestation and systematically restoring forests and other ecosystems is the single largest nature-based opportunity for climate mitigation.”

To be truly effective, forest protection and restoration needs to be gender responsive, as our story from Colombia shows. Women act as forest stewards and play vital roles for their communities’ food security, hence strengthening the dialogue between women and men becomes vital for sustainable forest management.

We are also pleased to announce the launch of the webpage for the UN-REDD regional initiative in the Lower Mekong Region. Find out more about our work to promote sustainable forest trade at: https://www.un-redd.org/lower-mekong