Restoration 
Plantations and tree crop commodities 
Enhanced nutrition and food security 
Biodiversity, safeguarding and conservation 
Nationally determined contributions 
Bioenergy and biomaterials 
Blue carbon and peatlands 
Climate change adaptation 
Landscape governance 
Gender 
Silvopastoral systems 
Market-based agroforestry-forestry 
Farm-forest policy interface 
Agroecology 
Livelihood trajectory modelling and assessment 
Inclusive finance and business models 
Innovating finance for sustainable landscapes 
Public and private commitments to zero deforestation 
Orphan tree crops 
Effectiveness of approaches to sustainable supply 
Quality of FTA research for development 
Sentinel landscapes 
Foresight 
Seeds and seedlings delivery systems 
Smallholder tree-crop commodities 
Following the recommendations of the ‘Third Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study’ that was published in 2019, FAO and CIFOR — lead center of the CGIAR research programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) — have begun developing two inter-related roadmaps for primary forest conservation and innovative forest technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. The full list of 49 Asia-Pacific countries and territories covered by the roadmaps is accessible here.
These roadmaps will include key recommendations that are informed by science and directed toward different stakeholder groups (e.g., public and private actors, civil society and local communities, research and academic institutions) at different scales (local, national, regional). They are being developed through an inclusive and participative process, involving key regional stakeholders and technical experts. The development of the roadmap on innovative technologies pays specific attention to contributions of students and young people engaged in the forest sector in the region.
This webpage provides regularly updated information on the process of development of these roadmaps, starting from the more recent to the oldest steps.
5 September 2022 – All Roadmaps publications available now!
- Working papers:
- Briefs:
- Youth publication:
17 May 2022 – BRIEF: Asia-Pacific Roadmap for innovative technologies in the forest sector
One of the five final deliverables of the Roadmap’s initiative, this brief builds upon state-of-the-art knowledge and extensive consultation with 425 key regional stakeholders. It suggests a set of ten overarching recommendations for policy- and decision-makers that are further detailed in 59 specific options to facilitate the dissemination and adoption of innovative technologies in Asia and the Pacific.
In summary, this short publication identifies two main barriers to scaling up innovative technologies, namely: (i) the lack of capacity (e.g. infrastructures and equipment, human capital and financial resources); and (ii) rigid legal frameworks (policies and regulations) often lagging far behind rapidly evolving technologies.
Overcoming these barriers will be key in the coming decades in order to sustainably meet the increasing demand for wood, other forest products and ecosystem services while halting and reversing deforestation. These goals are aligned with the international community’s commitment at COP26 in Glasgow.
23-24 November 2021 – Final Online Expert Validation Workshop
A final online expert validation workshop on the two topics of the Roadmap (primary forest conservation and technology and innovation) was organized on 23-24 November 2021 to discuss the main findings and recommendations in the two domains, as well as proposing way forward for the sector. Presentations included the main findings and recommendations on innovative forest technologies, a stock take of the diversity, the status, trends and threats of the primary forests in the Asia Pacific region as well as a roadmap for primary forests conservation and innovative technologies in Asia and the Pacific.
–> DETAILED WORKSHOP REPORT ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
–> EXPERT PRESENTATIONS ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
Innovative forestry for a sustainable future. Youth contributions
In November 2021, following a peer review process, FAO and FTA co-published the first publication of the Asia-Pacific Roadmap. This report assembles selected papers prepared by youth from the Asia-Pacific region on innovative forest technologies and their contribution to sustainable forestry and sustainable forest management.
Following an open call for abstracts, FAO and FTA selected the best studies to be featured in a co-publication. These 13 papers illustrate, in various contexts, the potential of innovative technologies to advance sustainable forestry and sustainable forest management. They demonstrate how technologies, both new and repurposed, can improve and facilitate monitoring and reporting; strengthen citizen engagement in forest monitoring and management; and support the optimization of processes and products for sustainable forestry and sustainable forest management.
As technology enthusiasts and forest managers of the future, young scientists are the individuals and cohorts to take leadership and generate momentum through collaboration and social media, transform rigid institutions from within, and participate in the uptake and upscaling of innovative technologies in the forest sector of the region.
The studies were also presented at the last GLF Climate hybrid conference, “Frontiers of Change.” in Glasgow, on Friday 5 Nov. 2021. The session, co-organized by FAO and FTA, highlighted the important role innovation can play to make the forest sector more attractive to young people and how the youth has an active role to play in the uptake and scaling-up of these forest technologies. Read more about the event here.
23-25 March 2021 — Expert online workshop on “Roadmap for Primary Forest Conservation in Asia and the Pacific”
An online expert workshop on primary forest conservation was organized on 23-25 March 2021 to take stock of the progress made in the development of the roadmap and prepare the next steps. Building upon the annotated outline circulated ahead of the workshop, and reproduced in Appendix 4, participants were invited to: (i) examine the extent, status and diversity of forest types in the region, as well as the forest typology to be used in the roadmap (Session 1); (ii) discuss the multitude of threats and increasing pressures faced by different types of primary forests in diverse contexts (Session 2); (iii) link threats to forest types in order to identify priority areas for primary forest conservation (Session 3); and, (iv) review the governance mechanisms and measures that can support primary forest conservation at different scales (Session 4). Finally, based on these discussions, participants were invited to suggest collectively broad areas for policy recommendations regarding (i) classification and mapping of primary forest ecosystems and of the threats they face in the region; and, (ii) governance strategies and action plans to strengthen and enhance primary forest conservation (Session 5). These areas of recommendations will be further refined during the development of the roadmap. Discussions were stimulated by expert presentations illustrating the wide diversity of situations encountered across the region. Breakout sessions in smaller groups were organized as appropriate to allow more dynamic, interactive and fruitful exchanges. This workshop serves as yet another critical milestone in the overall development of the roadmap.
–> DETAILED WORKSHOP REPORT ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
–> EXPERT PRESENTATIONS ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
30 Nov, 1st & 3rd Dec 2020 — Expert online workshop on “Innovative technologies for sustainable forestry and sustainable forest management in Asia and the Pacific”
An online expert workshop on innovative forest technologies was organized on 30th November, 1st and 3rd December 2020 to take stock of the progress made in the development of the roadmap and prepare the next steps. During this workshop, invited experts: (i) identified the main promising innovative technologies for the forest sector in the region; (ii) explored the different functions they can perform along the value chain; (iii) illustrated their associated challenges and opportunities in different contexts with some specific case studies; and, (iv) discussed the main technical, socio-economic and institutional bottlenecks to technology dissemination and adoption and the needed transformations.
Based on these very rich discussions, participants collectively suggested possible recommendations for decision-makers, directed specifically to four different stakeholder groups: (i) public actors; (ii) private actors; (iii) civil society and local communities; (iv) research and academic institutions. This workshop has been recognized as an important milestone in the development of the roadmap.
–> DETAILED WORKSHOP REPORT ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
–> EXPERT PRESENTATIONS ACCESSIBLE HERE <–
Oct–Dec 2020 — Youth contributions to innovative forest technologies — Call for abstracts
To support youth participation to the development of the roadmap on innovative forest technologies, FAO and FTA, have organized a call for contributions directed to students and young people (18-35 years old), citizens and/or residents of a country or territory of the Asia-Pacific region, engaged in the forest sector. This call is organized in two steps: (1) a call for abstracts (now closed); (2) the development of the selected contributions (ongoing).
The call for abstracts attracted numerous contributions. A committee made of FTA and FAO experts reviewed and scored each abstract based on a set of criteria including: clarity, originality and potential for transformative impact on the forest sector in the region, selecting 20 abstracts for further development.
These youth papers, along with the contributions received through expert interviews and open online consultation, will serve as inputs to develop the roadmap on innovative forest technologies.
High-quality papers will be published online and the authors of the best papers will have the opportunity to present them during a dedicated workshop gathering key regional stakeholders.
Oct–Dec 2020 — Open consultation
An open online consultation was organized (19th October to 15th December 2020) to collect from a broad range of stakeholders scientific and local/traditional knowledge, experience and best practices, views and perspectives, suggestions and recommendations on primary forest conservation and on innovative forest technologies in the Asia-Pacific region.
In parallel, additional contributions are collected by FTA on these two topics, through expert interviews, still ongoing.
Oct 2020 — Scoping notes
The purpose, expected outcomes, and process for development of each roadmap, as revised after the inception workshop, are presented in more detail in two scoping notes accessible below. A technical paper will be elaborated on each topic, as well as a policy brief gathering the main findings and the recommendations emerging from this work.
30th July 2020 — Inception workshop
An online inception workshop was organized on 30 July 2020 to launch the process of development of the roadmaps and associate to this work a wide range of interested partners. This workshop attracted a wide and diversified audience, representative of the key stakeholder groups in the region (international organizations, governments, private sector, civil society, research and academia). This workshop showed the high level of interest and enthusiasm shared by many stakeholders in the region for the two roadmaps. It was the occasion: (i) to gather ideas and feedbacks on the scope and general orientation of the studies; and, (ii) to start building a strong and diverse community to accompany the development of the roadmaps.
• READ MORE ABOUT THE INCEPTION WORKSHOP •
For any question, please contact: cgiarforestsandtrees[at]cgiar[dot]org
