Earth Today | CANARI, FAO launch forest strategy

THE CARIBBEAN Strategy for Climate-Resilient Forests and Rural Livelihoods, developed by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is officially launched.

The goal, according to CANARI, is to ensure the “continued climate mitigation and adaptation roles of forests, as well as to protect their important goods and services”.

“Caribbean forests have a critical role to play in climate change mitigation and adaptation, in addition to providing communities with forest-based goods and ecosystem services,such as supporting rural livelihoods,” the entity said in a December 12 news release.

“In terms of mitigation, forests are critical for carbon sequestration, while forests’ role in climate adaptation range from reducing soil erosion to source water protection. Caribbean forest-based livelihoods include ecotourism, the harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and the artisanal production of timber,” it added.

Circulated widely and shared on CANARI’s website, the strategy was formally published by the FAO this year – the result of a strategic alliance between the two entities and consultations with the region’s forestry stakeholders, including government agencies, academia, civil society, and the private sector.

“These stakeholders identified and prioritised the forestry sector’s climate resilience needs and identified strategies to address these needs, including past successful projects and programmes which could be scaled out across the region. Possible funding streams for Caribbean forest-related projects and programmes were also documented,” CANARI said.

Among the objectives of the strategy is the development of resilient forest products that involve the protection of forest germplasm, building the capacity of local entrepreneurs to adapt to a changing environment and identifying climate resilient non-timber forest products (NTFPs).

And it identifies the varying impacts of climate change on forest-based enterprises, entrepreneurs and the need to develop and implement relevant adaptation strategies, including focusing on climate-resilient NTFPs and timber products.

“These would include those species that are resilient to the hotter, drier conditions and more intense storms the Caribbean is expected to experience, according to regional climate change scenarios,” the release said.

The strategy has also noted the need to enhance connectivity of forested areas, such as through the use of climate-resilient agroforestry between forest patches and adding green spaces in urban areas; and knowing the value of forest ecosystems.

“There is a growing movement in the region to conduct economic valuation studies to make informed decisions about how best to manage forest ecosystems. Take, for example, the Grenada national ecosystem assessment, a project being managed by CANARI, which focuses heavily on incorporating the results of an assessment into national decision-making and policy formulation. Ecosystem valuation studies are thus important tools that can be cited, for example, by forestry departments, to justify requests for larger portions of the national budget,” CANARI explained.

It said, too, that regional and national and sectoral forest policies need to be updated to reflect and address climate change. These include frameworks and mechanisms to address sustainable forest management on private lands.

The strategy is to be implemented by the FAO regional and national offices, working in partnership with national government agencies, civil society, academia, and other key stakeholders. CANARI is expected to assist in the implementation.