Highlights and images for 6 May 2024

The Chair of the 19th session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF19), Zéphyrin Maniratanga (Burundi), opened the session by praising the preparations and informal consultations on the Mid-Term Review (MTR) to determine the effectiveness of the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF), and on the draft declaration intended for adoption by a High-Level Segment (HLS) on Thursday, 9 May 2024. He called both “true manifestations of stakeholders’ commitment” to forests.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

The Director of the UNFF Secretariat, Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, told UNFF19 that “the world is off track” for achieving the agreed Global Forests Goals (GFGs) by 2030, saying that while financing for forestry has improved it is still well short of what it is needed. She emphasized the need to strengthen the Secretariat.

With this framing, UNFF19 briskly reviewed Secretariat documentation on:

• implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF), including activities in support of the three 2023-2024 UNFF thematic priorities; means of implementation; and monitoring, assessment and reporting;
• preparations for the MTR;
• work on the draft HLS declaration;
• the draft UNFF Quadrennial Programme of Work for 2025-2028; and
• the status of the Forum’s Trust Fund.

Delegates also heard reports by India, on its country-led initiative in October 2023 on the theme of “forest fires, forest certification and sustainable forest management,” and by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Asian Development Bank on revising forest legislation globally through the Model Forest Act Initiative they co-lead with UNFF and other partners. In addition, delegates heard a two-person panel discuss issues in accounting for and valuing forest ecosystems for national policy and strategy purposes.

After a general discussion on the aforementioned documents, initiatives and presentations, UNFF19 Vice-Chair Javad Momeni (Iran) introduced the “zero drafts” of the HLS declaration and the UNFF19 omnibus resolution. Explaining the participatory process followed during 2023, he said the draft documents incorporated comments made during three rounds of intersessional consultations. Delegates then split into two groups to start informal consultations on each text.

In the group on the HLS declaration, co-facilitated by UNFF19 Vice-Chairs Leticia Zamora Zumbado (Costa Rica) and Jaroslav Kubišta (Czechia), delegates discussed inclusion/deletion of references to:

• local and/or forest communities;
• demand for forest and agricultural products;
• the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use;
• language on halting degradation; and
• "fiber security."

Delegates also discussed possible addition/deletion of a paragraph on sustainable financial resources and capacity building and adding reference to the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The working group on the omnibus resolution was co-facilitated by the Co-Chairs of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Expert Group on preparations for the MTR (AHEG), Maureen Whelan (Canada) and Avhashoni Renny Madula (South Africa). Delegates commented on paragraphs on actions to be taken in the MTR by UNFF Members, the UNFF Secretariat, and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and its member organizations. Opinions differed on whether to propose new text for paragraphs that had been drafted in the AHEG.