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Fifth Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests
United Nations Headquarters, New York | 16-27 May 2005 
     

Earth Negotiations Bulletin - ENB
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UNFF continues deliberations on Chair's draft text


On Monday, delegates met in working groups and in a contact group. Working Group I met in morning and afternoon sessions to negotiate the Chair's draft decision on the international agreement on forests. A contact group met in the morning to work on goals and means of implementation, after which Working Group II convened to continue this discussion and to negotiate the draft ministerial declaration.

Monday, 23 May
Morning Plenary

Working Group I Co-Chair Rezlan Ishar Jenie of Indonesia signaled for his microphone to be turned on at the beginning of the morning session.
Peter O'Donohue of the United States proposed a paragraph reaffirming the relevance of the Johannesburg Declaration and the Forest Principles.
Stefano Toscano of Switzerland added a preambular paragraph on strengthening the regional approach, and suggested a two-year work cycle.
Contact Group

Participants in the morning contact group on goals and means of implementation.
Afternoon

Morocco added text emphasizing the importance of economic growth and achievement of MDGs.
Oleg Shamanov of the Russian Federation stressed taking into account the modalities of preparation for September's high-level General Assembly session.
Hussein Sabbagh of Syria suggested text referring to the special requirements of low forest cover countries (LFCCs).

Cecep Herawan of Indonesia requested a general reference to multilateral environmental agreements, rather than mention of specific conventions.
Ghana stated that the African Group would be submitting text by the end of the day for integration into the Chair's draft decision.
Peru supported recognizing the need to highlight the contributions of forests and their economic value.

Abdullah Alrasheed of Saudi Arabia supported proposals stressing rehabilitation and conservation in LFCCs and inviting the CPF to strengthen the Tehran Process.
Hiro Miyazono of Japan preferred a reference to "illegal logging and associated trade" instead of "trade from illegal logging."
Abdul Alim of Bangladesh expressed concern that the Least Developed Countries were not mentioned in the Chair's draft decision.
Around UNFF5


Delegates discussed the day's documents in the morning.
Stefan Toscano of Switzerland and Oleg Shamanov of the Russian Federation conferred after the morning session.
Galuh Sekar Arum of the International Forestry Students' Association posed a question during a side event on Forest Landscape Restoration.

Some delegates greeted each other with an embrace.
Claudio Gutierrez of Argentina pointed out a paragraph on-screen to a fellow delegate during editing of the Chair's draft decision.
As discussions drew to a close, Marilyn Headley of Jamaica conferred with the delegation from Guyana.

Relevant weblinks

United Nations Forum on Forests
UNFF 5 Provisional Agenda
UNFF 5 Organization of Work (PDF)
UNFF 5 Background Documents
UNFF 5 Official Documents

ENB's coverage of recent Forestry sessions

FAO Committee on Forestry: 14-19 March 2005
ITTC-37: 13-18 December 2004
UNFF Experts Group: 7-10 September 2004
ITTC-36: 20-23 July 2004
UNFF4: 3-14 May 2004