Changing our Unit’s name: from FLEGT and REDD to the International Partnerships Facility
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.
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 our work has evolved over recent years. The scope of our work has expanded and no longer takes place solely in the context of FLEGT and REDD+ processes. Today, our work addresses illegal logging, as well as agricultural drivers of deforestation, such as the unsustainable production of cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle and palm oil. We also put 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 to better reflect our current reality, our longstanding focus on supporting policy and governance reforms remains unchanged. We will continue to help protect and restore forests and maximise their role in supporting green growth, addressing climate change and alleviating poverty.
We will keep fostering legal, deforestation-free and sustainable timber, and agricultural commodity production and trade. We will carry on our support to FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements and emerging EU policies addressing deforestation and other sustainability risks in supply chains. And our team will continue to work with our partners in Central & South America, Central & West Africa, Asia and Europe.
The change in our name aligns us 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. The International Partnerships Facility is a global centre of knowledge and expertise that can help deliver on this approach. Learn more about the work, the programmes and the team of the International Partnerships Facility.