ABUJA – The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will on Monday present the key findings of its biannual flagship publication on the State of the World’s Forests (SOFO), according to a statement.
The statement released from organisation’s headquarters in Rome, Italy said the FAO’s Committee on Forests (COFO) would review the report in a meeting this week.
“This year’s issue focuses on the role of socio-economic benefits provided by forests, including income and employment, wood energy and forest products in housing.
“It will also focus on the need to shift attention from trees to people, both for data collection and policy making.
“In this context, the meeting of COFO in Rome between June 23 and June 27, 2014 will review forest policy measures which promote sustainable production and consumption.
“It will also discuss the ownership and management rights; access to resources, markets and financing; equitable benefit sharing; and valuation of forest products and services,’’ it said.
The statement also said FAO would at the meeting appoint Prince Laurent of Belgium as its Special Ambassador for Forests and the Environment.
It said the appointment was in recognition of Laurent’s long-standing efforts to promote global development and sustainable technologies.
COFO is the highest FAO forestry statutory body.
The biennial sessions of COFO bring together heads of forest services and other senior government officials, international organisations and non-governmental organisations as well as other stakeholders.(NAN)
