Practitioners and stakeholders from across the global forest sector assembled in record numbers for the Forest Governance and Policy Conference 2024 (FGP24) in Washington DC.
Formerly known as Forest Legality Week, FGP24 attracted more than 200 participants - the largest attendance ever seen for the conference, which first convened in 2016.
The high amount of interest reflects not just a strong program spanning technical sessions on traceability and monitoring, nature crime and law enforcement, and the role of Indigenous Peoples in the protection and management of forests, but also that the issues surrounding forest governance and policy have never been more critical.
Organizations that participated in sessions during FGP24, which was organized by the Forest Governance and Policy team at World Resources Institute (WRI) and funded by USAID and the United States Forest Service, included Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); the United States Department of Justice; the United States Department of State; the United States Forest Service, USAID, Homeland Security Investigations; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime; World Forest ID; Preferred By Nature, ISEAL, Rainforest Alliance, Monitoreo Forestal Independiente, Forêts et Développement Rural (FODER), Kaoem Telapak, Transparency International, FACT Coalition, Organización Regional AIDESEP-Ucayali (ORAU), Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Medio Napo (FECONAMNCUA), Pueblo de Sarayaku, Wildlife Conservation Society, Asociación de Comunidades Forestales de Peten (ACOFOP), Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques, Department of Agriculture, Australia, IPB University;, HSBC, and the Nature Crime Alliance.
Tina Schneider, Director of the Forest Governance and Policy team at WRI, said: “We’re pleased with the extremely positive feedback from delegates at FGP24. We hope the conference helped forge new ideas and partnerships that will go on to drive positive change and better forest government.
“We’re extremely grateful to USAID, the United States Forest Service, and all of our participants for making FGP24 such a successful and fruitful meeting, and we look forward to building on this momentum to enhance collaboration on improving forest governance and policy around the world.”
Alongside the main program, FGP24 also saw a range of side events by organizations including the Nature Crime Alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, Simeone Consulting, European Forest Institute, Preferred by Nature, Forest Stewardship Council, the Goldman Prize, and WRI.