The European Forest Institute (EFI) has renamed its FLEGT and REDD Unit, which is now called the International Partnerships Facility. The new name brings to light what has always been at the core of the Facility’s work: facilitating partnerships between producing and consuming countries. Source: Timberbiz
To protect and restore the world’s forests, partnerships are needed. Only in partnership with others – governments, civil society, the private sector, international organisations and the scientific community – can the world’s forests be safeguarded.
The change also reflects how the work has evolved over recent years. The scope has expanded and no longer takes place solely in the context of FLEGT and REDD+ processes. Today, the work addresses illegal logging, as well as agricultural drivers of deforestation, such as the unsustainable production of cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle and palm oil.
There is also a stronger emphasis on the role of gender and the integration of smallholders, customary groups, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in sustainable supply chains.
While this evolution called for a new name the unit will continue to help protect and restore forests and maximise their role in supporting green growth, addressing climate change and alleviating poverty.
The change in the units’ name aligns it directly with EFI’s vision of a world where forests significantly contribute to sustainable wellbeing, as outlined in EFI’s Strategic Implementation Plan for 2022–2025.
The change is also in line with larger developments taking place in the environmental and forest sector. There is growing recognition that only by addressing the multiple drivers of deforestation, and in partnership with others, can we protect and restore the world’s forests.
