Throughout the week, participants at the 20th meeting of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF20) have spoken at length and breadth about the importance of forests for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enabling climate resilience, combating biodiversity loss and desertification, while also promoting the well-being of communities living among them. Convening briefly on the Forum’s last day, delegates emphasized the role of the UNFF in laying the path towards sustainable forest management (SFM), before heading home to continue their work to this end.
In the morning, delegates reviewed the Chair’s draft summary of the week’s technical discussions on the implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests, which have covered everything from collaboration with other multilateral processes and organizations to the challenging workload of the Secretariat to the Forum's Trust Fund. Chair Ismail Belen stressed that he would accept written submissions regarding the summary until Friday, 16 May 2025. Delegates then addressed the remaining agenda items, including agreement that UNFF21 will be held in New York from 11-15 May 2026.
In closing remarks, Director Juliette Biao thanked delegates for constructive engagement in discussions at the Forum. She observed that the current global economic uncertainty and triple planetary crisis cut across all regions of the globe, impacting both developed and developing countries, and pointed to the fundamental role forests can play in resolving these challenges. She stressed the critical role of the Forum in offering a blueprint towards achieving the Global Forest Goals by 2030, and called on countries to double down on efforts in this final stretch. She also called for Member States' support with the core budget and Trust Fund.
Chair Belen thanked Member States for their spirit of cooperation and strong commitment to “forests and our common future.” He praised the tenor of discussions at UNFF20, noting they were marked by an atmosphere of trust, friendship, and purpose; “each of us spoke as independently as a tree standing tall and free, yet we worked together in harmony like a forest.” After thanking the UNFF family, he reminded everyone to “stay safe, stay strong, and may the spirit of the forest stay with all of us.”
Chair Belen gaveled UNFF20 closed at 10:51 am.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For this meeting, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Angeles Estrada Vigil
Selected Images
UNFF20 Rapporteur Maria Sokolenko (Russian Federation)
Aysha Ghadiali, US
Luiz Eduardo Andrade de Souza, Brazil
