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Forests Policy & Practice
Resumed Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests3)

3-5 April 2013 | Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Highlights for Friday, 5 April 2013
Daily web coverage (click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
 

On Friday, 5 April, the Resumed Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement (LBA) on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests3) opened with a short presentation by Poland on its plans for hosting INC-Forests4 from 10-14 June 2013 in Warsaw.

A non-paper summarizing in chart form the responses from FAO, UNECE and UNEP regarding the various issues and options involving bringing the LBA under the UN umbrella was distributed to the Commitee.

Facilitator Liubov Poliakova, Ukraine, reported on the results of the contact group on terms and definitions. The Committee discussed the section's text paragraph-by-paragraph, making significant progress. Outstanding issues remain, including on the definitions of "forest," "goods," "forest fragmentation" and "forest degradation."

Facilitator Stephen Lowe, UK, reported on the results of the legal expert group's review of the final clauses and the draft annex on arbitration. Lowe noted that the group had removed brackets from the final clauses except where the question went beyond the group's mandate and required a decision by the full Committee. As for the draft annex, the group recommended some minor textual changes but left it up to the Committee to make the political decision of whether it wanted such an annex. The INC then reviewed the group's suggested textual changes.

The Committee also discussed provisions relating to the Conference of the Parties, the right to vote and the secretariat, clarifying options and adding new text. These articles remain partially bracketed.

In the afternoon plenary, the Committee removed brackets from the preamble and finished agreeing ad referendum all its paragraphs. The INC Secretariat presented an oral report on the status of the Trust Fund for INC-Forests, and Hungary and Sweden announced new pledges for the Fund of 10,000 Euros and US$10,000, respectively. The Committee then amended and approved a provisional agenda for INC-Forests4, and the draft report of INC3.

During the closing plenary, the EU, Switzerland and Chair Heino all noted the cooperative spirit that had resulted in progress being made at INC-Forests3, but cautioned that many key tasks still faced the final round of negotiations at INC-Forests4.

Return to this webpage on Monday, 8 April 2013, for the IISD RS summary of the resumed session of INC-Forests3.

The Resumed Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally-Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe)
Room view during the plenary
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Jan Heino, INC-Forests Chair, Finland
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Marta Gaworska, Poland
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Mia Crawford, Sweden
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Peter Csóka, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Eugene Hendrick, Ireland, speaking for the EU
Liubov Poliakova, Ukraine
Knut Øistad, Norway
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Stephen Lowe, UK
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Christoph Dürr, Switzerland
Mona Ali Khalil, UN Office of Legal Affairs
Beate Berglund Ekeberg, Norway
Noel Holleran, Ireland, speaking for the EU
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Sibylle Vermont, Switzerland
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Alexandra Orekhovich, Russian Federation
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A room view of the Bureau meeting that took place during lunch break.
Participants Networking
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Related Links
Meeting resources

*Meeting website and documents

*Annotated provisional agenda

*Draft negotiating text for a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe as of the end of INC3 Plenary session on the afternoon of 1 February 2013

*Draft Annex on arbitration and other annexes to the draft negotiating text

*Updated Roadmap for the negotiation process

*Oslo Mandate

*INC-Forests1 website

*INC-Forests2 website

*INC-Forests3 website


Other relevant resources

*FOREST EUROPE

*UN Forum on Forests (UNFF)

*UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forestry Department


IISD RS resources

*IISD RS coverage of INC-Forests3, 28 January - 1 February 2013, Antalya, Turkey

*IISD RS coverage of the Twelfth Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change, 5 November 2012, Washington, DC, United States of America

*IISD RS summary report of INC-Forests2, 3-7 September 2012, Bonn, Germany (HTML - PDF)

*IISD RS coverage of the FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference Oslo 2011, 29 14-16 June 2011, Oslo, Norway

*IISD RS coverage of the Ninth Session of the UNFF (UNFF9), 24 January - 4 February 2011, UN Headquarters, New York, United States of America

*Forests-L - A news and announcement list on forest policy issues

*Forests Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Adressing Forests Policy

*Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news
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