11 April 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a publication titled, ‘Guidelines for Formulating National Forest Financing Strategies,’ which focuses on finance options in support of sustainable forest management (SFM) in the Asia and the Pacific region.

The guidelines note the persistent undervaluation of forest goods and services in spite of the increased attention to the multiple values of forests promoted through the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF). They further outline the key considerations for forest financing, namely the viability of the project and the rates of returns on investments.

The guidelines draw from four sub-studies on: the role and concerns of governments and other public institutions; safeguarding the interests of rural communities; incorporating Payment for Ecological Services (PES) in forest financing strategies; and private investment as an important component of national forest financing. Each sub-study is included in the report along with a number of issue-specific recommendations.

Overall, the guidelines present a number of recommendations on actions to promote national strategies for forest financing, which range from attracting investors and enhancing links with PES and REDD+ to land tenure reform and securing access rights.

For each recommendation, actions are proposed for relevant stakeholders including governments, multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies, civil society and private industry and their associations. [Publication: Guidelines for Formulating National Forest Financing Strategies]