The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) has published a new global scientific assessment highlighting the need for an integrated approach to managing forest and water resources in order to achieve the environmental, social and economic targets set out under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This important report details the current state of knowledge surrounding forest-water-climate interactions at the landscape scale and challenges us to re-focus on managing forested landscapes for forests and water (and not just for carbon sequestration) in order to ensure the long-term health of the planet and people. The document explicitly highlights the ongoing efforts of WeForest and the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) in drawing attention to the benefits of forest-water interactions and for our efforts to develop a quality standard for FLR.

This comes ahead of the AFR100 annual partnership meeting and the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) being held in Nairobi during 29 – 30th August 2018 where the focus will be to explore the prospects and opportunities for Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa. This international meeting will bring together key players from across multiple sectors to galvanise action on restoring Africa’s degraded landscapes.

WeForest is holding a special event on FLR in Nairobi during 31st August – 1st September in collaboration with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).  The event, entitled ‘Forest and Landscape Restoration: Implementation for Quality A Dialogue on FLR Standards and Application to the African Context’ will engage stakeholders from Africa and beyond in discussing the need for and development of FLR quality standards for Africa.