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EU Presidency Statement - UN Forum on Forests

Mr. Chairman:

1. During this second session of the United Nations Forum on Forests, Spain has the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following Central and East European Countries associated with the European Union align themselves with this statement.

2. The European Union would like to thank the Bureau and the Secretariat of the UNFF and the CPF member institutions and organisations involved in the Preparations for this session for their hard and valuable work. We appreciate the substantial work done by the Secretariat in order to prepare the reports of the Secretary General and all other background documents.

3. Since UNCED in 1992 we have considered the needs and appropriate steps for implementing the Rio declarations and agreements related to forests. The multipurpose role of forests and a holistic approach have been the guiding principles in enhancing sustainable management of forests. Various new initiatives at different levels have already been launched including the valuable proposals for action elaborated during IPF and IFF. Effective implementation of these initiatives inter alia through national forests programmes offers great potential for future progress but in many places such implementation has yet to get underway. The need for implementation is even more urgent since the recent estimates in FAO`s latest Report on the State of World's Forest show that forest loss and degradation is continuing at a fast rate.

4. The EU is working individually and collectively as well as in wider European cooperation to implement the IPF/IFF Proposals for Action. The following are examples of the progress made:

• The experience gained and progress made in the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE), e.g. on forest biodiversity and protected areas; monitoring, assessment and reporting; national forest programmes.
  
  
• The European Community is establishing Natura 2000 as a comprehensive European network of representative protected sites, the majority of which are forests. Outside the EU there is a complementary system of protected sites called the Emerald network.
  
  
• Most EU Member States and the European Community have engaged in an nfp process and have recently adopted new forest laws and strategies at national and sub-national level.
  
  
• Several countries within Europe and the EU collectively are implementing National Strategies for Conservation and Sustainable use of Biological Diversity and National Action Programmes to Combat Desertification.

5. The EU is playing an important role in the pursuit of global sustainable development. It is the world's largest donor of development aid, and a major source of direct private investments. The EU has long been committed to the UN target for official development assistance of 0.7% of GDP and recognizes that the downward trend since Rio needs to be reversed. As a result, the leaders of the EU at their Summit in Goteburg in June 2001 committed themselves to achieving concrete progress towards reaching the target before the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The EU is currently examining the means and timeframe for each Member State's achievement of the target and is also committed to continuing its efforts to improve development cooperation instruments. Mobilizing and generating financial resources that would enable all countries and regions to participate in the implementation of IPF/IFF Proposals for Action is a key concern. In order to increase the effectiveness of its own support, the EU has agreed a Strategy for Forest Development Cooperation and a Code of Conduct to provide coherent and coordinated assistance.

6. It is against this background that we approach our work over the next two weeks. For us UNFF2 should be an important step towards the implementation of the main objectives, purpose and principal functions of the international arrangement on forests as set out in the United Nations ECOSOC Resolution E/2000/35, the UNFF Multi-year Programme of Work and the Plan of Action.

7. The EU stresses that this session should provide a good opportunity for UNFF members, participants, CPF members, civil society representatives and other stakeholders, to openly exchange lessons learned in implementing the IPF/IFF proposals for action, at national, regional and global levels, with regard to the agenda particularly with regard to the environmental aspects of forests which are the specific theme for the session.

8. We look forward to a constructive result of the multistakeholder dialogue and think it is essential that civil society should be able to make its input throughout UNFF 2. Our discussion should highlight progress made and obstacles encountered in the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, and lead to specific recommendations to all relevant actors, especially the CPF.

9. In the view of the EU UNFF2 should adopt specific titles, composition, terms of reference, scheduling and reporting of the expert groups in line with the decision of UNFF1.

10. The EU expects UNFF2 to accelerate a process for a credible, voluntary reporting system. However, implementation of the system will inevitably take time. Thus in order to improve the information base for UNFF3 a provisional questionnaire on implementation should also be adopted at the current session.

11. Mr Chairman, the EU recalls the importance of adopting at UNFF2 specific criteria for reviewing the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests The EU stresses the need to adopt these criteria at UNFF2 in accordance with the wish expressed in paragraph G5 of decision 1 / 2 of UNFF1. We need to know now what the review criteria to be used by UNFF5 will be, so that the work at UNFFs 2 to 4 can proceed on a constructive basis.

12. Forest law enforcement and governance aimed at combating illegal logging and related trade are emerging issues and should be addressed at this session.

13. The Ministerial Declaration to be adopted at the High Level Ministerial Segment, should, inter alia:

• emphasize ministerial commitment to national implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action thus promoting sustainable forest management, including cross?sectoral coherence in the framework of national forest programmes;
  
  
• underline UNFF's role, mandate and functions, as outlined in the ECOSOC Resolution, and commit themselves to making UNFF a success in accordance with the criteria to be adopted at this session
  
  
  
• endorse the UNFF "Plan of Action" (PoA) adopted at the first session of UNFF and welcome the "Multi-Year Programme of Work" (MYPOW), and jointly with high level representatives of CPF members endorse also the "UNFF decision on the initiation of the work with the CPF";
  
  
• provide a message to the WSSD, emphasising the multipurpose role of forests and their significance to sustainable development and poverty eradication. This message should urge the WSSD to explore solutions to the current problems such as illegal logging and to position forest-related issues in both international and national agendas, issues closely linked to the sustainable economic, ecological, social and cultural development. The message also needs to stress that synergies between forest related international fora and organisations should be strengthened;
  
  
• provide a message to the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, welcoming the preparation of a revised, action oriented CBD work programme on forest biological diversity for adoption at COP 6, which would inter alia help in implementing the IPF/IFF Proposals for Actions relevant to forest biological diversity;
  
  
• encourage effective cooperation and coordination between the CBD and UNFF, through the secretariats identifying areas of mutual interest contained in their respective work programmes, and collaborating on work in these areas taking into account the outcome of the Accra Workshop;
  
  
• highlight the need for cross-sectoral cooperation and coherence among CPF members, regional processes and governments regarding policies and practices affecting forests, both at national and international level.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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