The Chair of the 19th session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF19), Zéphyrin Maniratanga (Burundi), hailed the Forum’s outcomes, adopted on Friday afternoon, as “historic.” UNFF19 adopted a high-level declaration signaling high-level commitment to forests going forward, and an omnibus resolution that included the Mid-Term Review of the effectiveness of the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) and set the mandate for specific future actions by the UNFF and its stakeholders.
The Declaration of the High-Level Segment, among other things, commits UNFF Members to take urgent and accelerated actions to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation and prevent land degradation by 2030, while achieving sustainable development.
The Declaration also reaffirms the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 (UNSPF) as a global framework for action at all levels to protect and sustainably manage all types of forests and trees outside forests, to halt deforestation and forest degradation and contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international forest-related instruments, processes, commitments, and goals.
The omnibus resolution adopted by the Forum offers, in light of the Mid-Term Review, a list of actions going forward for UNFF Members, the UNFF Secretariat, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN), and the UNFF Trust Fund. The resolution also suggests actions regarding the UNSPF, the UNSPF communication and outreach strategy, the contributions of the Forum to the 2030 Agenda, the involvement of regional and subregional partners, and the involvement of Major Groups and other relevant stakeholders.
Delegates then addressed the remaining agenda items, including the provisional agenda for UNFF20.
Following the adoption of the report of the session and closing remarks, UNFF19 was closed at 5:34 pm EDT.
UNFF20 was briefly convened to elect by acclamation four Bureau members, with Ismail Belen (Türkiye), nominated by the Western European and Other States Group, selected as Chair for UNFF20-21, and Abderrahim Houmy (Morocco), nominated by the African Group, Javad Momeni (Iran), nominated by Asia-Pacific Group, and Andrés Napurí Pita, nominated by the Latin American and Caribbean Group, as Vice Chairs. A fourth Vice Chair representing Eastern Europe, Maria Sokolenko (Russian Federation), was elected by secret ballot.
Closing Plenary
Binsar Sihotang, International Forestry Students' Association
Co-facilitator of Informal Working Group 2 Maureen Whelan (Canada)
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director, UNFF Secretariat
Martha Nuñez, NGO Major Group
Harrison Ochieng Kojwang, Forest Stewardship Council
Daniel Carl, US
Christine Farcy, Belgium
Informal Working Groups
Co-facilitator of Informal Working Group 1 Leticia Zamora Zumbado (Costa Rica)
Adriano Bonotto, Brazil
Keiran Andrusko, Australia
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director, UNFF Secretariat
Nikita Andrianov, Russian Federation
István György Deák, Hungary
Amal Aldaej, Saudi Arabia
Tomasz Juszczak, UNFF Secretariat
Manuela Ríos Serna, Colombia
Njeri Kariuki, and Barbara Tavora-Jainchill, UNFF Secretariat
Sibylle Vermont, Switzerland
Ramesh Pandey, India
Chunfeng Wang, China
Günter Walkner, Austria
Yufu Guo, China
Linda Luque, Panama
Vladimir Dmitriev, Federal Forestry Agency, Russian Federation
Co-facilitator of Informal Working Group 1 Jaroslav Kubišta (Czechia)
Around the Venue
Yufu Guo, China and Sixian Zheng, China