United Nations Forum on Forests

Fifth Session

11^th & 12^th Meetings (AM & PM)

Un forest forum concludes two-week session at un headquarters;

 

Fails to reach full agreement on future global plan

Chair Says Session’s Response to Challenges Inadequate;

Unable to Take Necessary Decisions to Strengthen Forest Protection

Having fallen well short of full agreement on the future international arrangement on forests during the past two weeks, the United Nations Forum on Forests this afternoon closed its fifth session, deciding to conclude, during its next session, efforts to elaborate a global plan for protection of the world’s forests.

The Forum’s response to the challenges posed it by the fifth session had been inadequate, stressed Forum Chairman Manuel Rodriguez Becerra (Colombia) in closing remarks.  In the opening days of the session, many had made strong statements on the need to “bet it all” on the current session, in order to send a strong signal to the world.  Yet, the Forum had ultimately been unable to take the necessary decisions to strengthen the international arrangement on forests.  The body’s members should collectively lament the fact that they had not responded to pending challenges.  On the whole, very little had been achieved.

Also making brief concluding remarks was Pekka Patosaari, Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests secretariat, who agreed that the bulk of the body’s work continued to lay ahead of it, at the sixth session.

At the outset of its final meeting, the Forum approved a draft decision, as orally revised, by which it decided to complete the consideration, at its sixth session, of items outlined in its multi-year programme of work and contained in a draft Chairman’s text annexed to the decision.

By that text, the Forum would recognize the need to strengthen the international arrangement on forests to ensure effective implementation of internationally agreed actions on sustainable forest management at all levels.  In addition to establishing seven goals for sustainable forest management, the text would make recommendations related to the provision of the means of implementation, enhanced cooperation and policy and programme coordination, modalities for the Forum’s work, and elaboration of an instrument on the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

Reflecting the progress made during the current session, ad referendum agreement had been achieved regarding four of the seven goals.  They related to reversing the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, enhancing the contribution of forests to the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including those in the Millennium Declaration, significantly increasing the area of protected and sustainably managed forests and the proportion of forest products from such forests, and reversing the decline in official development assistance for sustainable forest management.

Following the decision to continue negotiations on the framework of the future international arrangement on forests at its sixth session, the Forum approved, as amended, a draft decision by which it recommended the Economic and Social Council approve the draft provisional agenda of that session and decide to hold it from 13 to 24 February 2006, in New York.

In conjunction with its approval of the preceding decision, the Forum decided to submit four annexes, which would contain summaries of the discussions held during Asia and Pacific Day, the High-Level Ministerial segment, and the two high-level round tables.

The draft report on the Forum’s fifth session (document E/CN.18/2005/L.1) was then adopted as the final action of the session.

Immediately following the close of the fifth session, the Forum briefly opened its sixth session in order to elect the officers for that session. 

Elected by acclamation were Tono Kruzic of Croatia, on behalf of the Eastern European Group, and Frank Perrez of Switzerland, on behalf of the Western European and Others Group. 

In the absence of nominations from the African, Asian and Latin American and Caribbean regional groups, the remaining members of the bureau for the Forum’s sixth session would be elected at the reopening of the session in 2006.

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