The United Nations Forum on Forests concluded its eighteenth session today, approving a draft decision that its nineteenth session will be held at United Nations Headquarters from 6 to 10 May 2024 along with the draft provisional agenda for that session, sending both texts to the Economic and Social Council for formal adoption following week-long discussions on topics ranging from the importance of sustainable forest management to the potential offered by wood-based bioenergy.

As the Forum on Forests addressed its preparations for the midterm review on the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests and the status of its Trust Fund, as well as emerging issues facing forest management, speakers today underlined the need to improve transparency, increase funding and build on the forests-energy-livelihoods nexus.

Building countries’ capacities to increase data collection and develop financing that supports sustainable forest management is much needed, speakers stressed, as the United Nations Forum on Forests today considered means of implementation and the monitoring, assessment and reporting of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030.

Sharing national best practices on the protection of forests, speakers today deliberated ways of enhancing sustainable forest management in achieving global forest goals and explored their linkages with other major international frameworks and agreements, as the United Nations Forum on Forests continued its session.

With 2023 a pivotal year for the United Nations Strategic Plan on Forests and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, the United Nations Forum on Forests must identify concrete forest-based actions, address interlinkages and advance progress towards combating climate change and ensuring sustainable development, speakers today stressed as the Forum commenced its eighteenth session.

The Forum on Forests concluded its seventeenth session today, approving its omnibus resolution and a draft decision that its eighteenth session will be held at United Nations Headquarters from 8 to 12 May 2023, sending both texts to the Economic and Social Council for formal adoption.

Discussion in the Forum on Forests today was dominated by proposals to support the functioning of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests — a voluntary arrangement among 14 international organizations dedicated to improving the sustainable management, conservation and trade of forest-based products around the world.

Home to 80 per cent of all terrestrial species and hailed as “the lungs of the planet” for their ability to generate oxygen, forests hold boundless potential to help solve the most pressing global challenges, speakers in the United Nations Forum on Forests stressed today, as they offered alternatives to the many activities threatening their health, from logging and oil exploration to well-intentioned but ill-conceived conservation efforts.

The Forum on Forests, meeting in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, concluded its sixteenth session today with speakers calling for more effective use of its trust fund, which currently stands at $2.8 million, as the United Nations promotes its Strategic Programme for Forests and its six global forest goals.

The Forum on Forests, meeting via video-teleconference, continued its sixteenth session today with speakers discussing the progress achieved so far in launching the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network clearing house, as well as monitoring, assessment and reporting issues.