Summary
On Friday, 20 January 2017, the UN Forum on Forests concluded Working Group discussions at UN Headquarters in New York City, and in a Special Session adopted the UN’s first strategic plan for the world’s forests.
In the morning, following informal negotiations that went until 3:30 am the night before, delegates returned to discuss a revised proposal for the quadrennial Programme of Work 2017-2020 (4POW).
In the afternoon, delegates resumed discussions on the Strategic Plan, to finalize the global forest goals and targets, implementation framework, review framework, and the communication and outreach strategy. Some of the issues discussed included how to refer to the Global Environment Facility, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and new indicative thematic areas for actions. The Working Group reached consensus on all elements of the Strategic Plan and the 4POW and concluded at 6:05 pm.
Immediately following this, a Special Session of the UNFF was held, and the report of the UNFF Working Group and the draft Report of the Forum at its Special Session was adopted. UNFF12 Chair Peter Besseau closed the meeting at 6:15 pm.
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.
Luca Perez, EU, suggested additional thematic areas for the Programme of Work, including biodiversity, sustainable consumption and production, energy.
Christoph Dürr, Switzerland
Delegates confer
Delegates follow on-screen editing of the draft Strategic Plan on Forests.
Manoel Sobral Filho, Director, UNFF Secretariat, gavels the Working Group to a close.
Manoel Sobral Filho, Director, UNFF Secretariat, gives the floor to UNFF12 Chair Besseau
The delegation from Papua New Guinea (L-R) Dambis Kaip and Fred Sarufa
Co-Chair Mohammad Ali Zarie Zare, Iran and Hans Hoogeveen, the Netherlands