Highlights and images for 8 May 2025

“The Forum is your baby. If you want it to grow, you need to feed it.” Discussions during the morning sessions of the penultimate day of the 20th Meeting of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF20) concentrated on various financial aspects of the Forum’s operations. Following a presentation on the workload, needs, and gaps of the UNFF Secretariat, delegates considered recommendations from an Information paper on the topic and discussed the Forum Trust Fund. In the afternoon, participants were treated to a panel on dryland forests as an emerging issue.

In her presentation of the Information paper, consultant Stephanie Caswell noted a steady increase in the Secretariat’s workload without a matching increase in resources and staffing. She said that the resulting growing reliance on the Trust Fund to support core staff and key activities is not sustainable; donor priorities can and do change, and this causes uncertainty for staff, creates stressful work environments, and impacts deliverables.

In an intervention, the US noted that they had been the largest contributor to the Trust Fund in the past but that “future contributions are not guaranteed.” Parties discussed the recommendations to add five additional Secretariat staff and increase the regular budgetary operating costs for Subprogramme 8 on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). Parties’ support for these measures was lukewarm, prompting UNFF Secretariat Director Biao to stress that while their mandate continues to grow, “the capacity gap has not been addressed.”

When moving on to discussing the Forum Trust Fund, the Secretariat cautioned that any decline in voluntary contributions would affect the Fund’s ability to finance developing country participation at Forum meetings. Parties offered suggestions on how to address funding and staffing shortfalls, including looking to non-traditional sources, exploring “innovation options” for attracting resources, and asking the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) to rebalance its staff to allocate more to the UNFF Secretariat. Parties also highlighted that the Trust Fund was not only essential for developing country participation, but also for technical assistance and many activities under the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network.

During the panel on dryland forests, keynote speaker Liliana Annovazzi-Jakob, Chief, Forests and Bioeconomy Section, UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), pointed out that the world’s drylands contain around 1.1 billion hectares of forests, corresponding to 27% of the world’s forests, illustrating the importance of these habitats. The panelists stressed the essential role of dryland forests in combating desertification, preserving biodiversity, supporting livelihoods, and regulating local climates. Panelists provided examples of how projects promoting agroforestry, the restoration of native species, and the use of drought resilient crops have enhanced the resilience of communities and uplifted livelihoods by supporting food security, biodiversity conservation, and economic empowerment.

In ensuing discussions, several parties highlighted the threats facing their dryland forests, such as deforestation from urban expansion and wildfires. Many offered examples of national programmes and cross-border collaborations for conserving dryland forests. A number called for the prioritization of working with and empowering Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, and youth in projects on the ground.