Sumario: June 12, 2001: The First Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests. Agenda Item 2. Statement by Ambassador Karl-Erik Norrman, Head of Delegation of Sweden on behalf of the European Union (New York)
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union; Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey align themselves with this statement.
First I would like to thank the Secretariat and the Bureau for the efforts they have undertaken to provide us with the Secretary-General's Report "Multi-Year Programme of Work of the United Nations Forum on Forests", which have given valuable input to our evolving thinking.
The UNFF Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPOW) should translate the objectives, principal functions and the specific tasks outlined in ECOSOC Resolution E/2000/35 into concrete activities to be undertaken by the UNFF over the next five years. The overall goal of the MYPOW should be to facilitate and promote implementation at national, regional and global levels of sustainable forest management in all types of forests. The MYPOW must also allow the UNFF to provide a forum for policy guidance and
coordination.
In line with the Secretary-General's report the EU believes that it could be fruitful to focus on a central theme at each session. This theme should be carefully selected and provide focus for most of the elements of a specific UNFF session. This should not however limit the scope of for example addressing emerging issues or themes for the high-level ministerial segments. We will come back to the issue of themes during the more detailed discussions in the working group on MYPOW.
To ensure effectiveness, UNFF should have a manageable agenda. For instance, each session of the UNFF could deal with one crosscutting issue and two other priority issues. These could include issues that arise from national reports dealing with obstacles and achievements in implementation as well as current developments in other processes, in particular forest-related conventions and global programmes. The EU invites the UNFF Secretariat to undertake frequent consultations with these other fora
e.g. the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The high level ministerial segment is a very important political instrument of the UNFF. Its purpose will be to give guidance to the discussions and negotiations on global forest issues and their linkages to sustainable development. The EU thinks that it should be held twice during the UNFF, possibly at UNFF2 and UNFF5, with a duration of 2-3 days and with participation of ministers as stated in the ECOSOC resolution. The segment should have a specific focus and support open discussion. We
believe that the dialogue with the heads of organisations should not be limited to the CPF members.
The EU finds the multi-stakeholder dialogues important to provide opportunities for the private sector and other major groups to give meaningful inputs to the intergovernmental forest policy dialogue and the Plan of Action. Multi-stakeholder dialogues should take place at each of the future UNFF sessions and should be organised at the beginning of each session. This, of course, should not prevent active participation of the stakeholders during and between the UNFF sessions. We appreciate
contacts with the stakeholders during UNFF1, especially to hear their views on how to organise these multi-stakeholder dialogues at future UNFF sessions.
Monitoring, assessment and reporting is one of the key functions of the UNFF. Reporting from countries, regions, organisations or processes should take place at each UNFF session. The ideas, as outlined in the Secretary General's report para 39-41, which identifies three aspects of monitoring, assessment and reporting, provides a good basis for our further deliberations. Focus should be laid on the monitoring and assessment of implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action, based on a
credible, voluntary reporting system. A sample of reports should be subject to presentation and discussion at each session. A fruitful way to work might be a system, which facilitates an innovative exchange of ideas and experiences. Provisions should also be made for third party assessment and reporting in this process, possibly at a regional basis.
To facilitate the UNFF discussions and in support for the MYPOW, we suggest the establishment of:
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