FORUM ON FORESTS CONCLUDES FIRST-EVER SESSION, OUTLINING FIVE-YEAR WORK SCHEDULE, FRAMEWORK FOR PLAN OF ACTION

United Nations Forum on Forests

First Session

12^th Meeting (PM)

FORUM ON FORESTS CONCLUDES FIRST-EVER SESSION, OUTLINING

FIVE-YEAR WORK SCHEDULE, FRAMEWORK FOR PLAN OF ACTION

When the United Nations Forum on Forests concluded its first-ever substantive session on Saturday afternoon -- two weeks of formal and informal meetings capped by more than 20 hours of intense negotiations -- it seized the opportunity to define its scope of work for the next five years, initiate a framework for a plan of action, and design new approaches to international cooperation, expanding coordination through the newly formed Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF).

By adopting a five-year programme of work, the Forum would lay the groundwork for the promotion of management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests as well as strengthen long-term political commitment to that end.  The multi-year plan highlights the three pillars of sustainable forest development:  an integration of environmental, social and developmental forestry concerns.  It also encompasses other cross-cutting issues, such as transfer of technology, finance, capacity-building and trade.

The Forum decided that each future substantive session would focus on certain topics.  Its 2002 session would concentrate on combating deforestation and forest degradation.  That session would also highlight forest conservation and the protection of unique forests and fragile ecosystems, as well as conservation strategies for countries with low forest cover. 

The Forum decided that that its 2003 session would focus on the economic aspects of forests, including forest health and productivity, as well as maintaining forest cover to meet present and future needs.  Its fourth session would focus primarily on traditional forest-related knowledge and forest-related scientific knowledge.  It would also consider social and cultural aspects of forests, as well as monitoring, assessment and reporting.

Future sessions would also review means of implementation.  The Forum decided that there would be several recurrent items for each session, particularly multi-stakeholder dialogues, presentations of emerging issues relevant to country implementation programmes and promoting public participation.

The Forum also adopted its plan of action.  That plan is a holistic and comprehensive response to the call for action, with the aim of advancing the implementation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF)/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) proposals for action in the context of sustainable forest management at various levels.  The Forum saw the plan as an evolving process, directed at the international, regional and subregional levels in so far as the

proposals are addressed to international and regional actors and their institutions.

     The implementation of the plan would require the establishment of national focal points, effective cooperation among members of the CPF, bilateral donors and countries and public/private partnerships, as well as active stakeholder participation.  The plan also calls for countries to set their own national priorities, targets and timetables for the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action in their national context, urging countries to develop or strengthen national forest programmes.

The action plan also includes elements that are important tools for the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action.  Those included criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, forest-related scientific knowledge, monitoring, assessment and reporting, and concepts, terminology and definitions, as well as financial resources.  Further to the plan, concrete, process-oriented targets should be considered with a view to being adopted, if possible at the Forum’s second session.

The Plan also notes that financing, technical assistance and capacity-building for implementing the IPF/IFF proposals for action will be provided by bilateral and multilateral cooperation, stakeholders and domestic resources.  In that regard, it also urges governments of developed countries to increase the quality and quantity of official development assistance (ODA).

In another decision, the Forum initiated its work with the CPF.  By that decision the Forum invited the governing bodies of the CPF member organizations to identify practical means for mobilizing their diverse strengths and resources to support the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action, focused on country-level implementation.  It also invited the CPF to consider the need to make enhanced cooperation and coordination among international organizations, institutions and instruments one of its main priorities.

The Forum would encourage governments and other participants in the United Nations Forum on Forests to work collaboratively to provide consistent messages to the governing bodies of the CPF member organizations in order to improve coherence and cooperation between them.  It calls on governments and others to mobilize technical and financial resources necessary to allow the CPF to operate effectively and efficiently and catalyse supporting activities. 

The CPF and its member organizations were invited to facilitate and/or assist countries’ efforts to implement the IPF/IFF proposals for action, and to make information easily accessible on financial resources and environmentally sound technologies.

In other action, the Forum decided on the venue and dates of its second session and approved its provisional agenda.  It was decided that the session would take place in Costa Rica in March 2002.  Part of that session would be a high-level ministerial segment, providing an opportunity to strengthen political commitments and mobilize support for sustainable forestry at national, regional and global levels.  It was further decided that the outcome of that segment would transmit its deliberations, decisions and recommendations as a contribution to the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development, scheduled to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002.

At the conclusion of the session, the Forum adopted its report, describing the proceedings on 11-22 June.

Forum Highlights

During this, its first meeting since its establishment by the Economic and Social Council as a subsidiary body with full membership, the Forum focused on several substantive issues, including the identification of a five-year global forest agenda and the development of an action plan to advance the implementation of agreed initiatives on forests.  The Forum's work during the session also featured the active participation of the CPF -- a partnership of forest-related international organizations and instruments.  It was also set to decide on its contribution to the upcoming 10-year review of the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit.

In order to facilitate its deliberations during the session, the Forum considered the report of the Secretary-General on the multi-year programme of work, which contained the basic framework of the programme, the contents of which were designed to promote management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and strengthen long-term political commitment.  It also considered the report on the Plan of Action, that proposed a two-step approach towards the development of the Forum’s plan of action.  As a first step, the Forum would decide on the programmatic components of the plan and approaches for addressing key issues such as financial provisions.  The next step would be the adoption of the plan of action.

Opening the session, Chairman Mubarak Hussein Rahmtalla (Sudan) said that the Forum's establishment was among the most concrete legacies of "Agenda 21" (the comprehensive plan for global action in all areas of sustainable development), which was adopted in Rio in 1992.  The new body took on particular significance as the world community prepared for the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development, informally known as "Rio +10", in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

He went on to say that the Forum had an opportunity to define its own scope of work, initiate a framework for a plan of action, design new approaches in international cooperation, and expand coordination through the newly formed collaborative partnerships on forests.  The success of the new enterprise would be defined by action on the ground.  Initiating a plan of action was central to the Forum.

M. Hosny El-Lakany, Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) and Chairman of the CPF said the session would set the course for intergovernmental forestry deliberations and action.  To that end, the partners had agreed to expand its membership slightly, and three new institutions had been invited to join.  Those were the secretariats of the Convention to Combat Deforestation, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control.  He was pleased to note that the GEF would join the Collaborative Partnership.

He added that there were two major tasks for the near future.  First, to implement the proposals of the IPF and the IFF, and assist countries in their national implementation, in particular through the development of their national

forest programmes.  The second major task was to assist the Forum in monitoring, assessing and reporting on progress towards its objectives.

During the session the working group Chairmen reported on the status of the ongoing negotiations.  Knut Oistad (Norway) Chairman of Working Group I, reported on the multi-year programme of work, and Slamet Hidayat (Indonesia), Chairman of Working Group II, reported on the development of a plan of action for the implementation of the proposals for action of the IPF and the IFF, the Chairman of that Group, and the initiation of work of the Forum with the CPF. 

Following those status reports, the Forum heard a briefing by Warren Sach, Director of Programme Planning and Budget Division on the programme budget implications that would arise from the adoption of the multi-year programme of work.  It was estimated that there would be requirements in the amount of $2.25 million under the programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003.

During this session, the Forum also granted observer status to the following relevant intergovernmental organizations to participate in its work during this session:  Centre for International Forestry Research; International Tropical Timber Organization; and Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe.

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