On Tuesday, 1 February, delegates convened for the ninth session of the UNFF. They met in working groups throughout the day to finalize the text of a draft Ministerial Declaration and a draft Omnibus Resolution prepared by the Bureau.
In Working Group I (WGI), delegates met in the morning to continue to provide paragraph-by-paragraph comments on a draft Ministerial Declaration. They proposed edits to paragraphs eight to thirteen, and finalized the first revision of the text of a Ministerial Declaration. In the afternoon, WGI received a compilation of the text on the basis of the interventions made in the morning. Delegates then decided to: request the Bureau to consolidate the various proposals made by delegates on the first seven paragraphs of the draft Ministerial Declaration into a single proposed text for the consideration of WGI on Wednesday, February 2; and reconvene in the evening to deliberate on the operative paragraphs of a draft Ministerial Declaration.
Working Group II (WGII) met in the morning to discuss the Bureau´s Draft Omnibus Resolution. Delegates addressed the issue of Forests for People, Livelihoods and Poverty Eradication and the assessment of progress, with delegates suggesting going through the text, paragraph-by-paragraph, and suggesting amendments. During the afternoon, WGII met again to consider means of implementation. The Co-Chairs for the first Open-ended Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Financing (AHEG-1), Jan Heino (Finland) and Macharia Kamau (Kenya), noted that informal consultations were taking place regarding the report of AHEG-1 and proposed activities to be undertaken during the intersessional period. In order to avoid duplication of work, delegates agreed to wait until the end of the informal consultations, to then consider the outcome of those deliberations in WGII.
In the afternoon, delegates met briefly in plenary to hear back from WGI and WGII on their deliberations. Both working groups then held evening sessions, which continued late into the night. |