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Forests Policy & Practice
Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe
(INC-Forests3)

Highlights for 31 January, 2013

On Thursday, 31 January, the Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement (LBA) on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests3) opened with a report by Facilitator Ingwald Gschwandtl (Austria) on the results of the contact group on compliance, reading proposals that delegates addressed one-by-one. The EU, supported by Switzerland, proposed two additional paragraphs on a review mechanism for implementation reports. The contact group's proposed section on compliance remains in brackets side-by-side with the EU proposal for a compliance section.

INC-Forests3 began the third reading of the draft negotiating text, agreeing ad referendum on a number of paragraphs during the afternoon plenary in the chapters on objectives and principles, and portions of the chapter on general provisions.

The plenary held a preliminary discussion of the roadmap for the negotiation process, with Poland confirming its invitation to host INC-Forests4 from 10-14 June 2013 in Warsaw, and the Russian Federation offering to hold an intersessional meeting from 3-5 April in St. Petersburg. The EU requested that each of the four organizations considered to serve as the LBA secretariat — the European Forest Institute (EFI), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) — submit detailed information during the intersessional period on projected costs and services if they are selected.

In the evening, an informal group met to consider possible editorial changes in the draft negotiating text, bringing it in line with the legal language required of conventions.
Dais Huddle
Delegates conferred with the Chair, Secretary and members of the Secretariat before the afternoon plenary.
Daily web coverage (click on the following links to see our daily web pages)
28 Jan - 29 Jan - 30 Jan - 31 Jan - 1 Feb
Dais Shot

A view of the dais (L-R): David Mowat, Secretariat, Ewald Rametsteiner, Secretariat, INC Chair Jan Heino, Finland, and INC Secretary Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs

Jolyon Thomson
Jolyon Thomson, UK, speaking for the EU
Ingwald Gschwandtl
Ingwald Gschwandtl, Austria
Ewald Rametsteiner
Ewald Rametsteiner, Secretariat
Beate Berglund Ekeberg
Beate Berglund Ekeberg, Norway
Liubov Poliakova
Liubov Poliakova, Ukraine
Wendy Altobello
Wendy Altobello, Belgium, speaking for the EU
Kenan Kiliç
Kenan Kiliç, Turkey
Alexander Panfilov
Alexander Panfilov, Russian Federation
Sibylle Vermont
Sibylle Vermont, Switzerland
Nina Dobrzynska
Nina Dobrzynska, Poland
Jon Geir Petursson
Jon Geir Petursson, Iceland
Peter Csoka
Peter Csoka, FAO
Paola Deda
Paola Deda, UNECE
Risto Paivinen
Risto Paivinen, EFI
Ivonne Higuero
Ivonne Higuero, UNEP
up to top
Around the INC
Beydağları mountains

A view of the Beydağları mountains, some snow-capped, across the gulf of Antalya on a sunny day

Mia Crawford and Taina Veltheim
Mia Crawford, Sweden, conferred with Taina Veltheim, Finland.
Knut Øistad and Risto Paivinen
Knut Øistad, Norway, conferred with Risto Paivinen, EFI.
Sunset
The sun set behind the mountains across the gulf.
Happy Birthday Eugenia!
The IISD reporting team wished writer Maria Eugenia Recio a happy birthday.
Related Links
Meeting resources
*Meeting website and documents
*Annotated provisional agenda
*Draft negotiating text
*Oslo Mandate
*INC-Forests1 website
*INC-Forests2 website

Other resources
*FOREST EUROPE
*UN Forum on Forests (UNFF)
*UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Forestry Department

IISD RS resources
*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 Ninth Session of the UNFF (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
*Global forest policy backgrounder
*Forests-L - A news and announcement list on forest policy issues
*Forests Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Adressing Forests Policy
*Chemicals and Wastes Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Adressing Chemicals and Wastes Policy
*Land Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of Activities Adressing International Sustainable Land
*Biodiversity Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of UN and Intergovernmental Activities Addressing International Biodiversity Policy
*SIDS Policy and Practice - A Knowledgebase on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States
*Water Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of Activities Addressing Sustainable Water and Sanitation
*Sustainable Energy Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of Sustainable Energy Activities
*Sustainable Development Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of International Activities Preparing for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development
*Climate Change Policy & Practice - A Knowledgebase of UN and Intergovernmental Activities Addressing Global Climate Change Policy
*Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news
*African Regional Coverage
*Latin America and Caribbean Regional Coverage
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