United Nations Forum on Forests

Tenth Session

11^th Meeting (PM)

United Nations Forum on Forests Briefs Delegations on Status of Work

 

at Tenth Session’s Midpoint, Looks Ahead to Next Week

 

Midway through its two-week session, the United Nations Forum on Forests this afternoon considered plans, including the introduction of draft resolutions by its two Working Groups, for the second week’s discussion.

Mario Ruales Carranza ( Ecuador), Forum Chair, said the texts compiled by each Working Group would be e-mailed to delegates on Saturday to serve as the basis for further discussion.  Those texts would be introduced next week.

He said that earlier today, the Forum’s two working groups had held parallel meetings.  Working Group 1, which is co-chaired by Shuli Davidovich ( Israel) and Anna Masinja ( Zambia), discussed the Secretary-General’s report on forests and economic development (E/CN.18/2013/4) and his report on conclusions and recommendations for addressing key challenges of forests and economic development (E/CN.18/2013/5).

Working Group 2, which is co-chaired by Srećko Juričić (Croatia) and Saiful Azam Martinus Abdullah (Malaysia), looked at the Secretary-General’s report on the means of implementation for sustainable forest management (E/CN.18/2013/11) and the report on the second meeting of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Financing (E/CN.18/2013/12).

Meeting since 8 April in Istanbul, Turkey, the Forum, recognizing that healthy forests support a broad range of economic development activities, has been considering various measures to improve sustainable forest management.  Thus far, the discussions, which kicked off Monday with a high-level ministerial segment, have focused on measures to catalyse actions by all countries to:  reduce deforestation; improve the economies of people who derive their livelihoods and sustenance from forests; increase the forests under protection; and increase assistance to developing countries to improve forest management.

The Working Groups are scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m., on Monday, 15 April, to continue their discussion of the above-mentioned themes.

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For information media • not an official record