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United
Nations Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to
the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, 4th part |
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16–27
January 2006 | Geneva, Switzerland
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Highlights from Monday, 16 January 2006
Delegates convened at the Palais des Nations in Geneva,
Switzerland for the opening of the UN Conference for the
Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International
Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 (ITTA, 1994), Fourth Part.
In the morning, delegates gathered for a brief plenary
session before breaking into two working groups. Working
Group I, chaired by Alhassan Attah (Ghana), facilitated
discussion on the text's Preamble and Objectives, while
Working Group II, chaired by Jürgen Blaser (Switzerland),
discussed the agreement’s financial arrangements. The
working groups reconvened in the afternoon to address
outstanding issues. UN Conference President Amb. Carlos
Antonio da Rocha Paranhos emphasized the importance of
finding agreement on contentious issues by next Tuesday, to
enable legal drafting of the new Agreement and finalization
of the text by delegates.
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Morning Plenary
During the opening plenary, Pres. Paranhos noted progress
made at ITTC-39 during informal discussions on the ITTA's
new financial arrangement and urged delegates to
successfully conclude their discussions at this session.
Lakshmi Puri, Director, Division for International Trade in
Goods and Services and Commodities, recognized the unique
function of the ITTA as a commodity agreement and the
urgency of concluding negotiations, since the ITTA, 1994
expires at the end of 2006. |
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Left
to right: Alexei Mojarov, UNCTAD, Lakshmi Puri,
UNCTAD, Manoel Sobral Filho, ITTO Executive
Director, President Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos,
Brazil, Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD, and Carlos
Moreno Mericaechevarria, Advisor, Legal Services |
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UN Conference President,
Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos urged
delegates to reach agreement by next Tuesday |
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Morning plenary session |
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Working
Group I
Chair
Attah guided WGI through the Preamble and Objectives,
addressing outstanding issues such as the inclusion of
the phrase "indigenous peoples," the placement
of "ecosystem services" and the reference to
International Labour
Organization conventions. Notably, delegates also agreed
to keep the name of the Organization as International
Tropical Timber Organization instead of changing it to
the International Forest Products Organization.
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Left to
right: Alexei Mojarov, UNCTAD, WGI Chair
Alhassan Attah, Ghana, and Hannah Davies, UNCTAD |
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Inga Magistad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Norway, suggested using the stronger term “promote”
instead of “encouraging” information sharing on
market based mechanisms such as certification |
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Swiss delegation proposed keeping reference to
“ecological services," left to right: Jacques Borel,
Department of Foreign Affairs, James K. Gasana,
Swiss Foundation for Development and International
Cooperation, and Franz Xaver Perrez, Swiss
Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape |
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Erika del Rocio López Rojas, Head of
International Financing and Cooperation, Mexico,
proposed keeping either “ecological services” or
“environmental services” |
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Iwan Krolis, Suriname,
said that the issue of creating regional offices was tricky
given the need to be more cost effective |
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Ouro-Djeri Essovrê, Ministry of Environment
of
Togo, requested keeping reference to “ecological
services at local, national and global levels” |
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Stephanie Caswell, US, proposes compromise
language on the importance of regional offices |
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Sheam Satkuru-Granzella, Malaysia, suggested including "promoting/encouraging
information sharing on voluntary mechanisms to
promote trade in tropical timber from sustainably
managed forests |
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Nchemo Maile,
Lesotho discussed the issue of encouraging members
to develop national policies aimed at sustainable
utilization and conservation of timber producing
forests and their genetic resources |
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On encouraging members to develop national policies
aimed at sustainable utilization and conservation of
timber producing forests and their genetic
resources, Koulangna Koutou, Cameroon, said
the term “genetic resources” should be kept, as a
definition of it will be needed |
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On recognizing the importance of the multiple
economic, environmental and social benefits provided
by forests, including “timber and non-timber
products and ecological services,” J. C. Kala,
India, suggested deleting “ecological services” |
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Malaysia suggested including "promoting/ encouraging
information sharing on voluntary mechanisms to
promote trade in tropical timber from sustainably
managed forests". Left to right: Mohd Nazuri
Hashim Shah, Aziyah Mdhd, and Sheam
Satkuru-Granzella |
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Informal European consultations |
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The European Commission clarifies the term "legally
harvested" sources |
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The Indonesian delegation suggests adding the term
"poverty reduction" in the Objectives section.
Left to right: Bambang Tri Hartono,
Wahjudi Wardojo, and Tri Tharyat |
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Left to right: Zhang Zhongtian and Mr. Panhoa, China |
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Simone Meira Dias and Valeria Rigueira
Losito, Brazil consult on proposed language
"encouraging" the certification of tropical
timber-producing forests |
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Working
Group II
In the morning and afternoon sessions, WGII
Chair Jürgen Blaser (Switzerland) facilitated discussion on
outstanding issues in Chapter VI (Finance), Chapter VII
(Operational Activities) and Chapter XI (Final Provisions).
Delegates considered contentious issues, including the level
of assessed contributions for Producer and Consumer members.
In the afternoon, a brief session was held to consider a
proposal by Producer members on Consumers’ funding of the
Special Account, Bali Partnership Fund and a “Thematic
Programme Account.” |
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WGII Chair Jürgen Blaser, Switzerland, and
Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD |
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Left to right: Charlotte
Cudby, New Zealand, Sandra Ribey, Canada, and Tony Bartlett,
Australia |
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Enzo Barattini, Directorate-General for
Development, European Commission, stated a European
preference for a 50:50 split for contributions to
administrative work and a 70:30 split for key policy
work |
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Fredua Agyeman, Ministry of Lands and
Forestry, Ghana, requested further clarification on
the specific mechanism for the transfer of resources
from donor members to the Bali Partnership Fund |
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Around ITTA-4 |
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up to top |
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Links
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UNCTAD’s website for the ITTA, 1994 renegotiation, 4th part. Includes the provisional agenda and supporting documents
ITTO Secretariat
UNFF Website
FAO
UNFF Secretariat
UNFCCC Secretariat
CBD Secretariat
ENB coverage of ITTC-39
ENB coverage of the UN Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the ITTA, 1994 -
Part 1|
Part 2 |
Part 3
YMB summary of the Country-Led Initiative “Scoping for a Future Agreement on Forests”, 16-18 November 2005, Berlin, Germany (HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
ENB summary from UNFF-5: (English:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
(Spanish:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
(French:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
YMB summary from the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Conference, 6-8 June, 2005 Moscow, Russia: (HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
YMB coverage the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Conference, 22-25 November 2005, St. Petersburg, Russia
ENB archives of forestry meetings
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