Forests and Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities

This book explores and analyzes the dynamic and multifaceted roles that forests play in supporting and accelerating progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development positions forests at the heart of efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food and water security, combat climate change, and conserve biodiversity. Forests are not only integral to Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land) but also provide cross-cutting contributions to the other SDGs, making them indispensable in the broader landscape of global sustainability. The book emphasizes not only conservation or productivity, but also a holistic understanding of forests as agents of change, ecologically, economically, and socially. This book features 24 chapters organized around thematic areas including forest-based climate solutions, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, community livelihoods, forest governance, the green economy, and forest health and education linkages. The chapters examine cases, trends, and region-specific challenges while offering practical pathways and recommendations aligned with the SDGs.