GFMC and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)
United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)
Cooperation with GFMC
Introduction
In October 2000, the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations (ECOSOC), in its Resolution 2000/35, established the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), a subsidiary body 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 Forest Principles, Chapter 11 of Agenda 21 and the outcome of the IPF/IFF Processes and other key milestones of international forest policy.
- UNFF Website: http://www.un.org/esa/forests/index.html
Documents on UNFF History and Landscape Fires
GFMC provides the following three documents that may serve to understand the History of UNFF
- UNFF – A New Organization in the UN System (IUFRO Paper, 2001)
- UNFF Ministerial Declaration and Message to WSSD (2002)
- Progress in Implementation: Forest Health and Productivity. Report of the UN Secretary General to ECOSOC (E/CN.18/2003/5, Draft, 13 March 2003; for Wildland Fire and GFMC see: sections 46-55, p. 10-11)
The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF)
As part of the new international arrangement on forests, ECOSOC invited the heads of relevant international organizations to form a Collaborative Partnership on Forests, to support the work of the UNFF and to foster increased cooperation and coordination on forests
The Collaborative Partnership on Forests was established in April 2001. CPF is the successor of the high-level, informal Interagency Task Force on Forest, which worked from 1995-2001 in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF).
UNFF joining the UNISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group (WFAG)
At the first meeting of the UNISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire Network, organized by and held at GFMC, Freiburg, Germany, 3-4 December 2004, UNFF Secretariat joined as member. The objective of the meeting was to evaluate the current status of wildland fires globally, to evaluate the consultations of the Regional Wildland Fire Networks
held in 2004 and prepare a recommendation for the development of an International Wildland Fire Accord (International Accord on Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management), directed to the FAO Ministerial Meeting (Rome, March 2004) and the UNFF (New York, May 2005).
UNFF-5 (May 2005)
The GFMC representing the UN-ISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group and the Global Wildland Fire Network attended UNFF-5 (16-27 May 2005) and organized, jointly with and co-sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, a side meeting:
- UNFF-5 Side Event “Development of a Strategy or Agreement on International Cooperation in Wildland Fire Management” (18 May 2005)
The following documents presented at UNFF-5 include cross-references to the Wildland Fire Advisory Group / Global Wildland Fire Network and the FAO Ministerial Meeting on Forests (March 2005):
- Note by the UNFF Secretariat on enhanced cooperation and policy and programme coordination (E/CN.18/2005/5) (see paragraph 37, p. 16) (PDF, 100 KB)
- Statement from the Ministerial Meeting on Forests convened by the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on 14 March 2005 in Rome: Note by the Secretariat (E/CN.18/2005/14) (PDF, 40 KB)
UNFF Country-led Initiative Thematic Area I – Forest Fires / Wildfires (2022)
In preparation of the 19th session of UNFF (6-10 May 2024), the government of India initiated a country led initiative (CLI) with one focus on “Forest Fires/ Wildfires” and hosted a workshop at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, India, on 01 November 2023. In following-up, a delegation of the Government of India visited GFMC for a consultation, which was also held in conjunction of the G20 Global Land Initiative
- Concept Note of UNFF Country-Led Initiative Thematic Area I: Forest Fires / Wildfires – Online meeting 26 October 2023 (PDF)
- G20 Global Land Initiative
- Example of G20 country reports – Germany (PDF)
- Outcome document of UNFF Country-Led Initiative Thematic Area I: Forest Fires / Wildfires – Online meeting 26 October 2023 (to follow)
From left to right: K. Ravichandran (Director of the Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal) – Johann Georg Goldammer (Chief, GFMC) – Bivash Ranjan (Additional Director General of Wildlife at the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change in India.) – Sanjay Kumar Shukla (Inspector General for Forests in the Government of India) – Ishwar Narayanan (UNCCD Expert in India on Land Restoration). Photos: UNCCD Secretariat / Dennis Eapen Pulimittathu.
