Tress are good for you: The magic of measurement 

Description

Reconciling the growing demand for food production with protection of natural resources is one of the greatest global challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. While considerable progress has been made with MDG target 1 and 7, one in four children is still affected by chronic undernutrition and millions of hectares of the worlds tree resources are lost every year, reducing the services available to rural people and leaving communities less resilient, especially under less predictable climate conditions. We strongly believe that a fundamental obstacle for progress in both MDG targets is the lack of solid empirical evidence for objectively assessing the relationships between environmental health, forests and trees and natural resource use, food security and human well¬being. The CGIAR Research Program on Forest, Trees and Agroforests has initiated a unique, massive—and massively ambitious—research initiative, spanning nine landscapes across 20 countries on three continents. It involves scores of scientists and practitioners from 60 organizations, and employs a panoply of research methods from household surveys to soil sampling, from vegetation inventories to satellite imagery. Taking advantage of this years congress theme this event brings together scientists and practitioners that work on forests, trees and livelihoods to share cutting edge results from data driven initiatives and to discuss how knowledge and monitoring can not only measure progress, but drive it, by supporting a more consensual definition of the problem, reducing uncertainty, changing political positions, and ultimately strengthening the effectiveness of investments towards sustainable development goals.

Convening organizations 

• ICRAF World Agroforestry Center 
• CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research 
• IFRI International Forestry Resources and Institutions 

Contact:

• Anja Gassner (a.gassner@cgiar.org)

Presentations