The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) is a high-level intergovernmental policy forum. The forum includes all United Nations member states and permanent observers, the UNFF Secretariat, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, Regional Organizations and Processes and Major Groups.

History

In 1992, the

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Su ...

, ("Earth Summit") held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, adopted the ''Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests'' (

Forest Principles The Forest Principles (also Rio Forest Principles, formally the Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests) is a 1992 document ...

) together with

Agenda 21 Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...

, which included a chapter (Chapter 11) on "Combating Deforestation". Following the Earth Summit, the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and its successor, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF), to implement the

and Chapter 11 of

. From 1995 to 2000, the IPF/IFF processes dealt with such issues as underlying causes of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

; traditional forest-related knowledge; international cooperation in financial assistance and

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

; development of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management; and trade and environment. The IPF/IFF processes resulted in a set of 270 proposals for action for the promotion of the management,

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

and

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

of all types of forests. In 2000, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) with the main objective to promote "… the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to this end…" based on the

Rio Declaration The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations "Conference on Environment and Development" (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. The Rio Decl ...

, the

, Chapter 11 of

and the outcome of the IPF/IFF Processes and other key milestones of international forest policy...

Principal functions

* To facilitate implementation of forest-related agreements and foster a common understanding on

sustainable forest management Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management has to keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. ...

; * To provide for continued policy development and dialogue among Governments, international organizations, including major groups, as identified in

as well as to address forest issues and emerging areas of concern in a holistic, comprehensive and integrated manner, * To enhance cooperation as well as policy and programme coordination on forest-related issues * To foster international cooperation and * To monitor, assess and report on progress of the above functions and objectives * To strengthen political commitment to the management, conservation and

of all types of

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Global Forest Goals

The UN Strategic Plan for Forest (2017 – 2030) has adopted a set of six Global Forest Goals and 26 associated targets to be reached by 2030, which are voluntary and universal. Goal 1: Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation and contribute to the global effort of addressing climate change Goal 2: Enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people Goal 3: Increase significantly the area of protected forests worldwide and other areas of sustainably managed forests, as well as the proportion of forest products from sustainably managed forests Goal 4: Mobilize significantly increased, new and additional financial resources from all sources for the implementation of sustainable forest management and strengthen scientific and technical cooperation and partnerships Goal 5: Promote governance frameworks to implement sustainable forest management, including through the United Nations forest instrument, and enhance the contribution of forests to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 6: Enhance cooperation, coordination, coherence and synergies on forest-related issues at all levels, including within the United Nations system and across member organizations of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, as well as across sectors and relevant stakeholders

''United Nations Forest Instrument''

On December 17, 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted the
Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests
negotiated by the UNFF earlier that year. The purpose of this instrument is: * To strengthen political commitment and action at all levels to implement effectively sustainable management of all types of forests and to achieve the shared global objectives on forests; * To enhance the contribution of forests to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the

Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenniu ...

, in particular with respect to

poverty eradication Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics cl ...

and environmental

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

; * To provide a framework for national action and

international cooperation In international relations, multilateralism refers to an alliance of multiple countries pursuing a common goal. Definitions Multilateralism, in the form of membership in international institutions, serves to bind powerful nations, discourage u ...

; On December 22, 2015, the UN General Assembly renamed the instrument to the ''United Nations Forest Instrument'' though the content of the instrument did not change. The UN General Assembly also extended the objectives outlined in the global objectives to 2030, in line with the 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development.

Collaborative Partnership on Forests

The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), a grouping of 15 forest-related international organizations, institutions and convention secretariats, was established in April 2001, following the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council of the

. The CPF works to support the work of the UNFF and its member countries and to foster increased cooperation and coordination on forests.

Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award

In 2012, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests launched the Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award to honour the life and work of Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Wangari Maathai Wangarĩ Muta Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental and a political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the Un ...

. Winners include: * 2012 Narayan Kaji Shrestha; an honourable mention to Kurshida Begum * 2014 Martha Isabel Pati Ruiz Corzo; an honourable mention to

Chut Wutty Chut Wutty ( km, ឈុត វុទ្ធី; 1972–2012) was a Cambodian environmental activist who was founder and director of the Natural Resource Protection Group (NRPG). He was best known as the country's most vocal critic of the military' ...

* 2015 Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi * 2017 Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva * 2019 Léonidas Nzigiyimpa * 2022 Cécile Ndjebet

References

External links

*
United Nations
– official website
United Nations Economic and Social Council
– official website
Collaborative Partnership on Forests
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Nations Forum On Forests Forum on Forests Organizations established in 2000 International sustainability organizations International forestry organizations World forestry Forest law Forest certification