News: TreesAdapt: A new platform to solve the world’s climate adaptation challenge with trees

Photo by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Version française ici

(SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, 24 October 2022) – In a year marked by one climate disaster after another, the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the gravity of the present and expected impacts of climate change. This affects not only forests, trees and agroforestry systems but also their connected value chains and people who rely on them for their livelihoods. However, forests and trees also offer crucial solutions by reducing climate change risks in multiple sectors, including agriculture.

Protecting forests and planting trees are both forms of adaptation. Countries are increasingly integrating the adaptation of and with forests and trees in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs). Mobilizing the potential of forests and trees for adaptation brings mitigation co-benefits and contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the restoration of biodiversity and land.

But is it all that simple? How can we avoid maladaptation and maximize the benefits of trees and forests? How can we determine which trees to plant, and where and when to plant them?

On 12 November at the GLF Climate: Frontiers of Change hybrid conference alongside COP27, CIFOR–ICRAF will launch TreesAdapt, a transformative partnership platform that supports countries and actors all along the adaptation cycle with solutions based on forests and trees.

In the launch, experts will present how trees can project us into the future by helping ecosystems adapt to climate change and its effects. The platform has been designed to support actors at both local, national and global levels, target implementation on the ground, and share solutions adapted to local conditions.

“TreesAdapt is the much-needed evidence-based response from forests and trees to the urgent challenge of climate change adaptation. Forest- and tree-based sectors – and commodities like coffee, cocoa and rubber – themselves need to adapt. And importantly, trees can support the adaptation of a range of sectors that are facing climate impacts, in agriculture and also in landscapes, from watersheds to cities.” – Vincent Gitz, CIFOR–ICRAF Director of Programs and Platforms. 

WHAT: TreesAdapt: trees and forests to adapt agriculture, land and people

LANGUAGES:  Simultaneous interpretation in English, Spanish and French 

WHEN: 12 November 2022, 10:30–11:15 AM (UTC+2 / Cairo)

WHERE: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and online

WHO:  Experts from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF), and stakeholders: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Réseau des femmes Africaines pour la gestion Communautaire des Forêts (Refacof) and Finland

#GLFClimate #TreesAdapt #Trees4Resilience

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NOTE TO EDITORS

Please contact Kelly Quintero at k.quintero@cgiar.org to obtain a press pass, attend the session as a press member to ask questions live to the panelists online or onsite, request interviews, and for more information about this session.

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About TreesAdapt

TreesAdapt is CIFOR-ICRAF’s response with partners to the huge demand for climate change adaptation, evidence to ground design and selection of the right options, and concrete measures to avoid maladaptation and foster an enabling environment. TreesAdapt aims to be a one-stop for solutions on how to leverage forests, trees, and agroforestry to adapt agriculture, land, and people and to support countries and actors in cross-sectoral implementation. Forests and tree-based systems are key to food security for millions of smallholders. Trees make farming and food systems more resilient, limiting the impact of heat waves. Trees create better microclimates and help better manage water from plot to landscape, limiting the impact of flooding and erosion. Forests and trees can support the resilience of sectors like energy and water and are essential to make cities livable in the future. 

About the Global Landscapes Forum

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable & resilient landscapes. The GLF Climate: Frontiers of Change conference is made possible through our sponsors and working partners. Learn more about the GLF at www.globallandscapesforum.org.