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Forests Policy & Practice
Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally-Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests4)

10-14 June 2013 | Warsaw, Poland

Daily web highlights (click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
Highlights for Friday, 14 June 2013
INC-Forests4 opened on Friday, 14 June, with Chair Heino reviewing item-by-item, the issues discussed by the contact group he facilitated late on Thursday night, and asking if there were any changes in the positions of delegations regarding the title and articles 12 (COP), 13 (right to vote), 14 (secretariat), 15 (compliance) and 23 (entry into force). The only new change involved the withdrawal of one of three suggested options for deciding on the participation of observers at the COP. Regarding article 14, the Chair proposed a new compromise that would move a contentious paragraph, on designating which entity or entities would be entrusted with the secretariat functions, from the convention text to the draft resolution to be presented to Ministers at the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference to be held in November. Two delegations objected.

Facilitator Stephen Lowe, UK, reported on the contact group on interim governing arrangements. He said the group supported having such arrangements “until adoption” of the convention and that it recommended text inviting the relevant intergovernmental body/bodies to provide interim governing arrangements, as may be necessary, until the adoption of the Convention. Responding to a delegation's request for more time to reflect on the recommendation, the plenary postponed taking a decision on the matter.

The plenary then suspended early to allow for informal consultations on institutional matters between the Chair and the heads of delegations. While plenary was originally scheduled to resume at 5:30 PM, it has been postponed until 8 PM.

UPDATES:
*9:33PM - Plenary decides to try again to negotiate a package deal in closed informal group of Chair & heads of delegations, starting @ 10:00pm
*11:04PM - Attempt at compromise package fails. Committee decides to suspend, to be resumed in autumn at dates and place TBC. Session suspended @ 11:18pm
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Chair Heino conferring with the Russian Federation delegation before start of Friday morning plenary (photo courtesy of INC-Forests Secretariat)
EU delegation contemplates a text proposal offered on-screen (photo courtesy of INC-Forests Secretariat)
Predrag Jovic, Republic of Serbia
Aljoscha Requardt, Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF)
Delegates met late-night Thursday in a standing-room only contact group personally facilitated by Chair Heino to try to break impasses in the draft negotiating text.
Delegates conferring before the start of Friday morning plenary
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Delegates in Thursday's late-night contact group celebrate agreement on seeking gender balance in the convention's compliance committee (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)
Daily web highlights (click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
Related Links
Meeting resources
*Session website
*Session documents
*Session annotated provisional agenda
*Draft negotiating text
*Oslo Mandate
*INC-Forests1 website
*INC-Forests2 website
*INC-Forests3 website
*Resumed INC-Forest3

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 Tenth Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF10), 8-19 April 2013, Istanbul, Turkey
*IISD RS coverage of Resumed INC-Forest3, 3-5 April 2013, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
*IISD RS coverage of INC-Forests3, 28 January - 1 February 2013, Antalya, Turkey
*IISD RS coverage of 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 UNFF9, 24 January - 4 February 2011, UN Headquarters, New York, United States of America
*IISD RS coverage of the Twentieth Session of the Committee on Forestry of the FAO, 4-8 October 2010, FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy
*IISD RS archive of forestry meetings and backgrounder
*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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