GFMC and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)
United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)
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 Wildland Fire
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-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)
