The FAO, the United Nations agency for food and agriculture, has designated Embrapa Florestas as a Reference Centre on Planted Forests. It is the first centre of its kind in the world for this field. The announcement was made on 2 October in Rome, during World Forest Week and the session of the FAO Committee on Forestry.
Embrapa Florestas is one of the units of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation). As a reference centre, it will work with the FAO and its member states through technical advice, data, research, training and technology transfer, contributing to productive, resilient and low-carbon planted forests.
The centre’s areas of expertise include silviculture and sustainable forest management, genetic improvement, forest health and biological pest control, carbon metrics and the forest bioeconomy. According to figures cited in the report, planted forests cover around 304 million hectares worldwide and around 10.4 million in Brazil.
Embrapa’s president, Silvia Massruhá, described the designation as a seal of excellence that will allow the country to take part in technical training, knowledge exchange and joint projects with the FAO.
