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Fourth Session
of the United Nations Forum on Forests
Geneva,
Switzerland, 3- 14 May 2004
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| Earth
Negotiations Bulletin
- ENB |
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UNFF-4 HIGHLIGHTS
Tuesday, 11 May
Delegates
convened in Plenary to hear country experiences from small island
developing states (SIDS). In the afternoon, delegates met in parallel
working groups to negotiate Vice-Chair's draft text on the process
for reviewing the effectiveness of the international arrangement
on forests (REIAF), and on the ad hoc expert group on finance
and transfer of environmentally sound technologies (AHEG FINTEST).
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View
of Geneva from the Palais des Nations, UNFF-4's location. |
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Above
photo (left to right): SIDS plenary panelists Eugene Hendrik; Rolph
Payet; Rafael F. de Moya Pons; Moderator Joanne DiSano; UNFF Coordinator
Pekka Patosaari; Chair Yuriy Isakov; Secretary Moncef Khane; Mette
L. Wilkie; Simione Rokolaqa; Graham Watkins.
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UNFF-4
participants heard 6 presentations during this morning's plenary.
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Panel
moderator Joanne DiSano
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Mette
Loyche Wilkie gave a general overview of forests and forestry in
SIDS.
Rolph Payet described ecotourism in the Seychelles.
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PLENARY
SIDS Day: National experiences in Small Island Developing States
 Listen
to:
- Moderator
Joanne Disano's Introduction
- Mette
Loyche Wilkie, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO.
- Graham
Watkins, Acting Director General, Iwokrama Project, Guyana.
- Rafael
Francisco de Moya Pons, Minister of the Environment and Natural
Resources of the Dominican Republic.
- Rolph
Payet, Agriculture Adviser, NEPAD.
- Eugene
Hendrik, Director, National Council for Forest Research and
Development, Minister of Agriculture, Ireland.
- Simione
Rokolaqa, Permanent mission of Fiji to the United Nations
in New York.
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Graham Watkins described the promotion of sustainable human development
through forestry in low-lying coastal states.
Rafael
Francisco de Moya Pons explained how to promote sustainable forest
management in a shared island.
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Eugene
Hendrik explainied how sustainable forest management can positively
affect climate change in islands.
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Moderator Joanne DiSano and UNFF Coordinator Pekka Patosaari
open the floor to general discussion.
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Simione Rokolaqa presented an economic, cultural and spiritual perspective
on forests and trees outside forests in the South Pacific.
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4 photos (left to right): delegates from Jamaica, Indonesia, Nicaragua
and Grenada participating in the plenary discussion on SIDS. JAMAICA
listed their efforts at SFM and encouraged further international
support. INDONESIA emphasized the need to integrate SFM with social
development and biodiversity protection. NICARAGUA stressed the
importance of reforestation and water management, and asked for
help in calculating carbon dioxide emissions. GRENADA lamented that
most SIDS are not present at UNFF-4, called for enhancing their
participation. |
WORKING GROUPS
Working Group
1: Finance and Technology Transfer
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On
support for micro-credit, Ireland on behalf of the European Union,
proposed inviting member states and CPF members to facilitate
an assessment of micro-credit.
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Working
Group 1 Chair George Talbot. |
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On
partnerships, the G-77/China added references to North-South and
triangular cooperation, and suggested deleting references to partnerships
as well as text on support to regional meetings.
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Vice-Chair George Talbot (Guyana) tabled a Vice-Chair's draft
text on the Ad Hoc Expert Group (AHEG) on Finance and
Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies. (FINTEST).
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Working
Group 2: Review Process:
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Working
Group 2 participants briefly suspended this afternoon's meeting
for further consultations on the text, resuming thirty minutes
later to consider a G-77/CHINA proposed text.
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Jan
McAlpine (US) discussing the text with Vice-Chair Gede Ngurah Swadjaya
(Indonesia).
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Working
Group 2 European Union participants proposed references, in both
preambular and operational paragraphs, that quantifiable benchmarks
are "still to be developed or proposed."
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Working Group II considered a Vice-Chair's text on a process to
facilitate the review of the effectiveness of the international
arrangement on forests (REIAF).
A number of delegations lamented the lack of detail in the text
and sought clarification from the Secretariat on the scope of
the questionnaire, the type of baseline information, and how quantifiable
benchmarks would be developed.
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G77/China participants in Working Group 2 proposed: blending four preambular
paragraphs into one; deleting a preambular paragraph referring to a
General Assembly Resolution; and changing operational paragraphs to
make them consistent with previous UNFF decisions.
AROUND
THE PALAIS:
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Above photo, left to right: ENB writers Tamilla Gaynutdinova;
Nicole Schabus; Maria Gutierrez; and Rado Dimitrov hard at work
capturing the day's events..
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Leslie Paas, ENB's UNFF-4 digital editor.
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Andrew
Baldwin, ENB's UNFF-4 team leader.
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ENB's
UNFF-4 Logistics Coordinator Angeles Estrada de Riveiro.
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The
Amazonian Countries held an informal meeting this afternoon in
order to discuss the region's participation in the UNFF.
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UN
Security Guards at the Palais des Nations.
Links
to more information:
- United Nations
Forum on Forests (includes UNFF4 documents and information on
previous Sessions):
http://www.un.org/esa/forests/
- ENB
coverage of the Third Session of the United Nations Forum on Forest
(UNFF-3), 26 May - 6 June 2003, Geneva, Switzerland:
http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/unff/unff3/
- SD coverage
of the Interlaken Workshop on Forestry, Switzerland, 27-10 April
2004:
http://enb.iisd.org/crs/forest/sdlak
- ENB coverage
of thePreparatory Committee for the Negotiation of a Successor
Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA),
1994 (PREPCOM II), 10-12 November 2003, Yokohama, Japan: http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/itto/prepcom2/
- ENB coverage
of the 35th Meeting of the ITTC, 3-8 November 2003, Yokohama,
Japan: http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/itto/ittc35/
- SD coverage
of the World Forestry Congress 21-28 Sept. 2003, Quebec City,
Canada: http://enb.iisd.org/crs/wfc12/
- Linkages'
Portal on Forests, Deserts and Land:
http://enb.iisd.org/process/forest_desertification_land.htm#forest%20enb
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