INFORM Bridging the gap between Indigenous Forest Knowledge, science, and policy to halt and reverse the forest loss

Each year the world loses enough forest trees to fill Portugal. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 420

million hectares of forests disappeared between 1990 and 2020, exacerbating climate change and biodiversity loss, and jeopardizing

the livelihoods of indigenous communities. Realizing the importance of protecting the world's forests and minimizing the risk of

deforestation, a number of international agreements including the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forest and Land Use (2021), and

the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022), set out an ambitious goal to halt and reverse forest loss and land

degradation by 2030 and the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are identified as critical

to achieving the goals of halting and reversing forest loss. Studies show that while IKS have a wide range of positive impacts on

people and ecosystems, they often remain marginalized and misframed as inferior to modern science, and are rapidly eroding.

Collaborating with the University of Leeds, UK, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the Indigenous Peoples Observatory

Network (IPON) the proposed project aims to strengthen IKS by facilitating knowledge transfer between different Indigenous

communities and co-creating generalizable insights to bridge the gap between IKS, science, and policies to halt and reverse forest

loss and degradation. In line with the European Commission's Responsible Research and Innovation framework that stresses 'design

science with and for society, this project will set up a Virtual Living Lab together with IPs, scientists, and decision-makers. Findings

from this project will contribute to the goals of global initiatives to halt and reverse forest loss as well as the European Commissions

2019 Communication, to step up the actions to restore the world's forests while respecting rights, culture, and the knowledge of Indigenous communities.