On 25 October, Forests and Water Day convened in the margins of the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 16). The Day included distinct sessions focused on the interlinkages between forests and water-related ecosystems as key to implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Several publications and initiatives were also launched.

During the high-level opening, Meike van Ginneken, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, the Netherlands, noted the critical role of forest and water interlinkages for conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of resources.

The day-long event featured the launch of a joint publication by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) titled, ‘The Forest Factor: The role of protection, restoration and sustainable management of forests for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.’

Calls were made to: better integrate forests into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and to include Indigenous Peoples in decision making based on the recognition of land rights, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), access to direct financing, protection of life, and respect for traditional knowledge. 

Juliette Biao, UNFF Director, said achieving effective GBF implementation is impossible without leveraging the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2023. Brazil’s commitment to restoring 12 million hectares of native vegetation, including on private lands, and its goal of achieving zero deforestation, was also mentioned.

Subsequent sessions highlighted a human rights-based approach to conserving forest landscapes, and biodiversity as a safeguard for resilient forest landscapes in the face of climate change, which is exacerbated by deforestation. During the latter, speakers highlighted the Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests), which focuses on supporting government and Indigenous-led forest monitoring and conservation efforts. A new collaboration between FAO and the International Land Coalition (ILC) to scale up support to Indigenous Peoples for forest and land monitoring and mapping was also launched.

With more than 60 countries having reported detailed forest reference levels to the UNFCCC, speakers stressed the need for a similar scaling up of monitoring and reporting across GBF targets for NBSAPs.

Other sessions explored the role of various stakeholders along the supply chain in ensuring sustainable forest management (SFM) and highlighted multiple tools and initiatives focused on freshwater ecosystems, including the Freshwater Ecosystem Explorer, which uses satellite imagery. They also stressed the importance of integrated water resources management (IWRM) for both water and climate issues and discussed whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to conserving and restoring water-related ecosystems.

A final session considered implementation and monitoring and needs, barriers, and opportunities to include water and water-related ecosystem targets in NBSAPs. The Global Pact for Water and Biodiversity was launched. 

Forests and Water Day was co-organized by the CBD, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), WWF, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, UN-Water, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and UNFF.