17 October 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), in collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa and with the support of the Government of Belgium, released a forests and climate change working paper, titled ‘Forests, Rangelands and Climate Change in Southern Africa.’

The paper highlights the importance of forests and rangelands in Southern Africa, as well as their vulnerability to the projected impacts of climate change. The paper further explores links between forests, rangelands and climate change mitigation, noting the numerous REDD+ initiatives underway in the sub-region.

The paper also notes forest-related climate change adaptation priorities, including forest fire management, afforestation and reforestation, and sustainable forest management (SFM). The paper further discusses challenges in addressing climate change in forests, including a lack of institutional capacity and data, poor coordination and limited awareness.

The paper concludes by highlighting requests for assistance from countries in the region, including for technical expertise in geographic information systems (GIS) and climate change modeling, and greater capacity to access and manage financial resources for climate change adaptation and REDD+. [Publication: Forests, Rangelands and Climate Change in Southern Africa]