Summary
On Thursday, 19 January 2017, a Working Group of the UN Forum on Forests entered its fourth day of discussions at the UN Headquarters in New York City, with a view to establishing the UN’s first strategic plan for the world’s forests.
In the morning, delegates received a new draft text issued by the Co-Chairs. Discussion resumed at 12:00 pm, addressing outstanding issues, such as financial resources for implementation, reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and illegal logging.
Delegates met in regional groups during the lunch break, and then resumed discussions in the afternoon to finalize the global forest goals and targets, implementation framework, review framework, and the communication and outreach strategy. Following a break, the Working Group resumed discussions at 8:00 pm and continued into the night in a small group, addressing outstanding issues including on mobilization of resources including financing sustainable forest management.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web updates from the UNFF Working Group and Special Session. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report of this event, which is available in HTML and PDF.
Nancy Céspedes, Chile, stressed the need to give special consideration to the needs of developing countries in gaining access to funds.
Cécile Ndjebet, Women’s Major Group, spoke about the role of the Major Groups Partnership on Forests in implementing the Strategic Plan
Norway called for a reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Jessika Carvajal, Colombia
Elena Polyakova, Belarus
Delegates during the lunch break
Delegates debate the merits of the Strategic Plan.
Iran, Indonesia and India discuss the draft text.
The Chinese delegation discusses the draft text.