ENB@UNFF-2: 13 March (day 8)

UNFF-2: Second Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests
UN Headquarters || 4-15 March 2002

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Day 8: Wednesday, 13 March
On the eighth day of UNFF-2, ministers and delegates engaged in a dialogue with heads of member organizations of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. Delegates also met in Working Group I in the morning and evening to address combating deforestation and forest degradation, and in a contact group in the afternoon and evening to consider criteria for the review of the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests.

Opening Plenary

< In his opening statement, Juan Mayr, Minister of the Environment of Colombia and Chair of the ministerial dialogue, explained that the topics to be covered woud be: cross-sectoral harmonization, including fostering synergies between forest-related instruments and organizations; forests and current international political and policy agendas; forest conservation, protection and use; and financing for SFM.

Listen to Mayr's statement

< Hosni El-Lakany, Chair of the CPF, explained that the CPF's objectives are to strengthen collaboration and coordination among its members, and support the UNFF's work.

Listen to El-Lakany's statement

< Spain, on behalf of the EU, recommended that the CPF, with the UNFF Secretariat, elaborate a simple reporting framework to guide the preparations for UNFF-3.

Listen to EU's statement

< In his welcoming address, Jag Maini, Head of the UNFF Secretariat, noted that this was the first time ministers would engage in dialogue with heads of CPF member agencies.

Listen to Maini's statement

< Chair Øistad presented the Chair's summary of the multi-stakeholder dialogue, which was held during the first week of UNFF-2.

Listen to Øistad's report

< Venezuela, on behalf of the G-77/China, noted that dialogue with heads of CPF organizations will help developing countries to formulate national policies.

Listen to G-77/China's statement

Critical issue #1:
Cross-sectoral harmonization

< Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director, highlighted the important role of forests in carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and in overcoming poverty.

Listen to Töpfer's statement

< Costa Rica stressed that the multi-functionality of forests requires cross-sectoral approaches, and highlighted the need for cross-sectoral coordination and harmonization of policies in national-level planning.

< Dennis Tirpak, UNFCCC Coordinator, discussed recently-agreed forestry and land use activities under the Kyoto Protocol, which should lead to new sources of income for forest owners who want to "grow" carbon. He also highlighted development of new good practice guiding for reporting, and a joint liaison group to address synergies between the UNFCCC, the CBD and the CCD.

Listen to Tirpak's statement

Critical issue #2:
Forests and current international political and policy agendas

South Africa stated that deforestation and forest degradation continue, despite adoption of SFM policies, and noted that forest degradation can only be addressed by reversing the cycle of poverty and powerlessness in underdeveloped regions.

Listen to South Africa's statement

< Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, noted the "tremendous erosion of public funding for forestry." He underscored the importance of connecting the forest agenda with the broader agenda of sustainable development.

Listen to Desai's statement

Above, from left to right: David Kaimowitz, Director General of CIFOR; Desai; Maini; Mayr; Vladimir Zelenov, ECOSOC Secretariat; and Frank Pinto, UNDP; during the ministerial dialogue on forests and current international political and policy agendas.

Critical issue #3:
Forest conservation, protection and use

< Hama Diallo, UNCCD Executive Secretary, advocated restoration to combat land degradation and poverty, and called for participation of all stakeholders.

Listen to Diallo's statement

< Andrew Deutz, IUCN, stressed the need to balance conservation with sustainable livelihoods, and highlighted progress in forest landscape restoration. He stated that at WSSD, countries could repeat what was agreed to in Rio, or they could forge the partnerships required to make those commitments happen. He said that "those who want to see a workable marriage between development and conservation should shift attention from the myth of win-win - supposing that all parties can get everything they want - to a practical understanding of how land-use trade-offs can be equitably balanced."
Listen to Deutz's statement

> Donwload the statement in PDF format

< The US stressed innovative public-private partnerships, and discussed areas where it is working through greater consistencies in policies, planning and implementation and through partnerships, including forest health and wildfires, watershed approaches, invasive species, illegal activities, stakeholder involvement, and coordination of planning and policy frameworks. Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, he stated that "conservation means development as much as protection". He emphasized the importance of domestic production and consumption.

Listen to US's introductory statement

< Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of the CBD, said the action-oriented work programme on forest biological diversity under consideration addresses conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing; creation of institutional and socioeconomic enabling environments for implementation of the work programme; and knowledge assessment and monitoring. He said plantations have a role to play, but cannot compensate for loss of primary forests or biodiversity.

Listen to Zedan's statement

Critical issue #4:
Financing for sutainable forest management

< Mohamed El Ashry, CEO of the GEF, stressed the need to leverage private capital, and to strengthen policies and institutions, for the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals for action.

Listen to El Ashry's statement

< Manoel Sobral, ITTO Executive Director, iterated that the lack of private investment in natural forest management can be explained by the fact that in economic terms, natural forests are not an efficient way to produce timber. Noting falling levels of ODA, he suggested a campaign to educate populations in developed countries on the global services provided by forests, especially those in the South, and to encourage the North to pay for these services.

Listen to Sobral's statement

< Malaysia called for increased ODA, a new international financial architecture, and a global forest fund.

Listen to Malaysia's statement

< Odin Knudsen, World Bank, highlighted the Bank's recently adopted forestry policy. He said SFM is going to be funded primarily through the private sector, and stressed the importance of attracting socially and environmentally responsible investment. He highlighted issues related to governance, including community resource management, illegal logging, financial instruments, monitoring and evaluation of targets and goals. He noted that illegal activities represent major losses of revenue for governments.

Listen to Knudsen's statement

Working group & contact group

Above: After two day of postponement , delegates met in
the contact group to consider the criteria for review of the
effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests.
The group was chaired by Stefan Leiner (European
Community, center).

As was the case yesterday, delegates met in late-night sessions.
Above, Working Group I met on the 23rd floor of the Two UN Plaza
building, while the contact group on criteria for evaluation met one
floor below.

Side event: Support for National Forest Programmes

This side Event co-hosted by the Programme on Forests (PROFOR) and the National Forest Programme Facility focused on how these two programmes support countries pursuing national forest programmes (NFPs).

Christian Mersmann, Director of PROFOR (left), noted the objectives of PROFOR include to: generate and share information on issues important to national forest programmes; assist in positioning NFPs in relation to overarching national strategies on poverty reduction, sustainable development and biodiversity conservation; provide case studies and experiences on NFP processes; and build national capacity to support NFPs. He highlighted PROFOR's recent relocation from UNDP to the World Bank as its host organization, and explained that PROFOR will continue to operate as an independent programme governed by its Management Board.

Michael Martin, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, right), overviewed the NFP Facility which is housed in the FAO. He said the NFP Facility will provide catalytic funding to countries in support of their NFP and a knowledge-sharing platform in support NFPs. He stressed the importance of cooperation between PROFOR and NFP Facility in this regard.

In the ensuing discussion, participants stressed the need for more comparison and synthesis of experiences from NFP processes. They also touched upon the importance of bringing such information into the public domain, and the need for sharing of experiences between practitioners in countries, possibly through regional workshops. One participant emphasized that NFP process support should be long-term to be effective. Another participant underscored making the link between NFPs and overarching agendas such as structural adjustment processes, sustainable development and poverty reduction strategies.

For more information:
http://www.profor.info/
http://www.fao.org/forestry/foda/nfp/nfp-e.stm

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