10 November 2011: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the National Forest Programme Facility have released a publication titled, “Climate Change for Policy-Makers: An approach for integrating climate change in forest programmes in support of sustainable forest management.” The report aims to assist senior officials in government administrations and representatives of other stakeholders to prepare the forest sector for the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change.

The report seeks to help policy makers support forest-related responses to climate change, and achieve coherence with other sectors and national strategies on climate change. It outlines and provides guidance on an operational approach for integrating climate change in national forest programmes (NFPs), clarifying forest and forest-related land use issues that should be considered in climate change policies at the national level, and strengthening cross-sectoral coordination on climate change between forestry and other land-use sectors.

Following an introductory section providing background context on the need to integrate climate change into NFPs, the report outlines desired outcomes at a strategic level, and operational actions needed to achieve them, for six elements of the NFP framework: policies and strategies; legislation; institutional framework; information, communication and research; capacity; and financial arrangements. The approach includes phases for gathering evidence and analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation for each element. The report also lists relevant information, case studies and tools to undertake the approach. [Publication: Climate Change for Policy-Makers: An Approach for Integrating Climate Change in Forest Programmes in Support of Sustainable Forest Management]