COFO Participants Prepare for Final Day

Above: Tree-themed artwork by grahic artist Eleanora Pucci is displayed outside FAO's David Lubin Memorial Library.

On Thursday, delegates gathered for the penultimate day of the 19th session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) at FAO headquarters in Rome. A morning plenary session heard presentations on the Collaborative Partnership on Forests' Strategy on Forests and Climate Change.

Concurrently, other delegates attended special events as part of World Forest Week. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) presented on how forests are included within the upcoming GEF V replenishment and the ITTO presented on how its new Thematic Elements address REDD, forest law enforcement, governance and trade, and other issues.

At lunch, a reception was held by the Government of Argentina to promote the XIII World Forest Congress, scheduled for October 2009, and the International Forestry Students Association presented on their efforts to raise money to send students to this event. The EC presented on its FLEGT programme, and the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission presented on recent forest developments in this region.

Special events continued throughout the afternoon. In an event on access to financing for SFM, several participants expressed concern regarding gaps in financing for particular countries and regions, including small island developing states. In discussion of the National Forest Programme Facility (NFPF), countries shared their experiences, with many countries reporting favorably on the multi-stakeholder processes that these entail.

In an event on adaptation and climate change, panelists discussed how forest ecosystem services could offer a cost effective means to offset threats from climate change for the world's poorest people. Finally, during an event on the FAO-CIC Wildlife Partnership, participants discussed: linkages between the health of forests and wildlife populations; forests and poverty alleviation; reducing human-animal conflicts; and the importance of working across sectors to avoid legislative conflicts.