Sumario: EU Presidency Statement - United Nations Forum on Forests (13 February 2006: New York)
Sixth Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests; Opening Statement by Mr. Ingwald Gschwandtl, Head of the Austrian Delegation, Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, on behalf of the European Union, New York
Madame Chair,
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
During the sixth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests, Austria has the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
The EU thanks the UNFF Bureau and Secretariat, and the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, for their valuable work in preparing the sixth session of the Forum and for their efforts in ensuring that our deliberations can take place in a favourable environment and in a well-structured manner.
The EU was disappointed that, nine months ago, at the fifth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests in May 2005, the international community failed to reach a consensus on a new framework on forests.
However, the EU warmly welcomes the numerous positive efforts that have been made in the last months to improve the understanding of the issues to be addressed. We would like to make particular reference to the International Expert Meeting "Scoping for a Future Agreement on Forests", held on November 16 - 18, 2005 in Berlin, Germany. The EU thanks all countries and organisations that contributed to this important initiative which has provided us with valuable input and which was characterised
by an outstandingly positive spirit of dialogue. The EU hopes that this spirit can also be maintained during the deliberations at UNFF6 and will make all efforts to contribute to a constructive dialogue.
Madame Chair,
Strong efforts have to be made to promote and implement sustainable forest management in all its dimensions and to fully capture its contribution to improving human livelihoods and reducing poverty. The international community continues to be confronted with the urgent need to effectively address and reverse the current trend of deforestation and forest degradation worldwide. This session of the UNFF provides us with a fresh opportunity to tackle these challenges, and one that we should not
fail to seize. The importance of strengthening the conservation, sustainable management and development of all types of forests and their contribution to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals have also been highlighted at the 2005 World Summit.
In addition, the EU considers that the ongoing developments related to forests in other fora, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the International Tropical Timber Organization, demonstrate the urgent need to achieve a meaningful result at this session, in order to decisively contribute to a coherent and an effective approach towards the sustainable management of
all types of forests.
The EU continues to believe that the most effective means for dealing with forest issues on a global scale would be a legally binding instrument on forests. However, bearing in mind that the achievement of a consensus on a legally binding instrument is not a realistic prospect at the moment, the EU wishes to engage in a pragmatic dialogue with all its partners in order to achieve a satisfactory outcome at this sixth session that will see the global forest process taking a major step
forward.
Madame Chair,
The EU considers that to strengthen and improve the International Arrangement on Forests requires the setting of overarching goals and specific targets; the establishment of clear links with regional and thematic processes; the significant improvement of implementation mechanisms, including the allocation of financial resources and the promotion of technology transfer; adequate monitoring, assessment and reporting and compliance procedures; as well as the effective participation of stakeholders
and a strengthened role of and clear guidance to the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. In this regard, partner countries should exercise effective leadership over their development policies and strategies and coordinate development actions in order to ensure sustainable forest management in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
The EU believes that the bracketed chairman's text of UNFF-5 should be used as the starting point for the deliberations at this session. A full reading of this text should be achieved in the shortest possible time so that you, Madame Chair, will be in a position to provide us with a new draft for negotiations as early as possible.
Given the limited time available for our negotiations, all efforts should be made to clarify as a matter of urgency how the issue of a possible instrument on all types of forests will be addressed in the course of this session.
In conclusion, Madame Chair, the European Union would like to congratulate you for being elected as Chair of the sixth session of the Forum on Forests and expresses its confidence that our negotiations will benefit greatly from your leadership. We look forward to focused and constructive deliberations.
Thank you very much.
* Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process
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