INTRODUCTION

This note has been prepared while the discussions among countries regarding the establishment of the international arrangement on forests are still being pursued. It cannot therefore reflect the very latest situation at the time of COFO. As an aid to delegates, however, it gives the text of the resolution that was adopted by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at its session of 18 October 2000, on which the detailed agreements reached so far for the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) have been based. The note suggests some topics which delegates may wish to consider in relation to the further involvement of FAO in the international arrangement on forests.

OBJECTIVE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE IAF

1. The main objective of the international arrangement on forests is (para. 1 of ECOSOC resolution): to promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to this end. The purpose of such an international arrangement would be to promote the implementation of internationally agreed actions on forests, at the national, regional and global levels, to provide a coherent, transparent and participatory global framework for policy implementation, coordination and development, and to carry out principal functions, based on the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests (Forest Principles), chapter 11 of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/ Intergovernmental Forum on Forests process, in a manner consistent with and complementary to existing international legally-binding instrument relevant to forests.

2. The functions to achieve the objective are described in para. 2 of ECOSOC resolution as follows:

1. Facilitate and promote the implementation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests proposals for action as well as other actions, which may be agreed upon, including through national forest programmes and other integrated programmes relevant to forests; catalyse, mobilize and generate financial resources; and mobilize and channel technical and scientific resources to this end, including by taking steps towards the broadening and development of mechanisms and/or further initiatives to enhance international cooperation;
2. Provide a forum for continued policy development and dialogue among Governments, which would involve international organizations and other interested parties, including major groups, as identified in Agenda 21, to foster a common understanding on sustainable forest management and to address forest issues and emerging areas of priority concern in a holistic, comprehensive and integrated manner;
3. Enhance cooperation as well as policy and programme coordination on forest-related issues among relevant international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments, as well as contribute to synergies among them, including coordination among donors;
4. Foster international cooperation, including North-South and public-private partnerships, as well as cross-sectoral cooperation at the national, regional and global levels;
5. Monitor and assess progress at the national, regional and global levels through reporting by Governments, as well as by regional and international organizations, institutions and instruments, and on this basis consider future actions needed; and
6. Strengthen political commitment to the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests through: ministerial engagement; developing ways to liaise with the governing bodies of international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments; and the promotion of action-oriented dialogue and policy formulation related to forests.

ORGANIZATION

3. The IAF would comprise an intergovernmental body, the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), supported by a Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), for which the existing Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests (ITFF) was offered as a possible model. Paragraph 3 of the resolution describes the UNFF and the CPF. It was decided:

1. To establish an intergovernmental body called the United Nations Forum on Forests;
2. To invite the executive heads of relevant organizations of the United Nations system and heads of other relevant international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments to form a collaborative partnership on forests to support the work of the United Nations Forum on Forests and to enhance cooperation and coordination among participants, and to call upon their governing bodies and their heads to support the activities of the collaborative partnership on forests to achieve the goals of the United Nations Forum on Forests; and
3. That the United Nations Forum on Forests will, inter alia:
1. within five years, on the basis of the assessment referred to in paragraph 2 (e) above, consider with a view to recommending to the Economic and Social Council and through it to the General Assembly the parameters of a mandate for developing a legal framework on all types of forests. This process could develop the financial provisions to implement any future agreed legal framework. The process could also consider recommendations made by expert groups referred to in paragraph 4 (k) below, on the establishment of mechanisms on finance, technology transfer and trade; and
2. take steps to devise approaches towards appropriate financial and technology transfer support to enable the implementation of sustainable forest management, as recommended under the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and Intergovernmental Forum on Forests processes.

4. The ECOSOC resolution made the following recommendation regarding CPF (para. 8): ....the collaborative partnership on forests builds on a high-level, informal group, such as the Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests¹, which would receive guidance from the United Nations Forum on Forests; facilitate and promote coordinated and cooperative action, including joint programming and submissions of coordinated proposals to their respective governing bodies; and facilitate donor coordination. Such a partnership would submit coordinated inputs and progress reports to the United Nations Forum on Forests, operate in an open, transparent and flexible manner, and undertake periodic reviews of its effectiveness.

MEMBERSHIP, WORKING MODALITIES AND RELATIONS WITH OTHER BODIES OF THE UNFF

5. Some excerpts from paragraph 4 of the ECOSOC resolution describe the decision on UNFF relationship to ECOSOC, the membership, the working modalities and the relations with other bodies: ... the United Nations Forum on Forests be established as a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council composed of all States Members of the United Nations and States members of the specialized agencies with full and equal participation, including voting rights, with the following working modalities:

1. The United Nations Forum on Forests should be open to all States and operate in a transparent and participatory manner. Relevant international and regional organizations, including regional economic integration organizations, institutions and instruments, as well as major groups, as identified in the Agenda 21, should also be involved;
2. The United Nations Forum on Forests shall operate under the rules of procedures of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council providing that this is not in contradiction with paragraph 4;
3. The supplementary arrangements established by the Economic and Social Council for the Commission on Sustainable Development in its decisions 1993/215 and 1995/201 will also apply to United Nations Forum on Forests. Within the rules of procedure, the work of United Nations Forum on Forests should build upon the transparent and participatory practices established by the Commission on Sustainable Development, Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and Intergovernmental Forum on Forests;
4. The Bureau of the United Nations Forum on Forests will consist of one Chairperson and four Vice-Chairpersons, one of whom would also act as the Rapporteur, in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution;
5. The United Nations Forum on Forests shall report to the Economic and Social Council and through it to the General Assembly;
6. The United Nations Forum on Forests will seek ways and means of strengthening synergies and coordination in policy development and implementation of forest-related activities, inter alia, through making the reports of its sessions available to relevant United Nations bodies and other international forest-related organizations, instruments and intergovernmental processes;
7. The United Nations Forum on Forests would work on the basis of a multi-year programme of work, drawing on the elements reflected in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Forest Principles, Chapter 11 of Agenda 21 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests proposals for action;
8. The United Nations Forum on Forests should maintain close links with the Commission on Sustainable Development, including, inter alia, through the convening of joint bureau meetings, taking particular account of the importance of ensuring the coherence of its activities with the broader sustainable development agenda carried out by the Commission on Sustainable Development;
9. ...
10. The United Nations Forum on Forests would initially meet annually, for a period of up to two weeks, subject to the review referred to below. The United Nations Forum on Forests would have a high-level ministerial segment for two to three days, as required. The high-level segment could include a one-day policy dialogue with the heads of organizations participating in the collaborative partnership on forests, as well as other forest-related international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments. The United Nations Forum on Forests should ensure the opportunity to receive and consider inputs from representatives of major groups as identified in Agenda 21, in particular through the organization of multi-stakeholder dialogues; and
11. The United Nations Forum on Forests may recommend, as appropriate, the convening of ad hoc expert groups of limited duration, involving experts from developed and developing countries, for scientific and technical advice, as well as to consider mechanisms and strategies for the finance and transfer of environmentally-sound technologies; and encourage country-sponsored initiatives, such as international expert meetings.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNFF

6. Provision was included for a short organizational meeting (scheduled to be held on 12 February 2001 in New York), in order to elect the officers of UNFF, decide the duration of their term of office and consider all proposals and options on the location of the secretariat, in conjunction with four days of informal consultations regarding the draft multi-year programme of work (para. 7(a) of the ECOSOC resolution).

7. Provision was also made for the provisional agenda of the first substantive session of the UNFF (para. 7(b)):

1. adoption of the multi-year programme of work;
2. develop a plan of action for the implementation of Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests proposals for action, which will address financial provisions;
3. initiation of the United Nations Forum on Forests' work with the collaborative partnership on forests;
4. provisional agenda, date and venue for its second substantive session in 2002; and
5. propose venues of future United Nations Forum on Forests sessions.

8. It was resolved under paragraph 9 that: The United Nations Forum on Forests should complete its consideration of the issues in paragraph 3 c (ii) above, as a matter of priority in the context of the multi-year programme of work.

THE SECRETARIAT

9. The ECOSOC resolution (para. 10) requested the UN Secretary-General to: establish a compact secretariat, comprised of highly qualified staff, constituted in accordance with established rules and procedures of the United Nations and strengthened through staff from secretariats of international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments, to support the work described above. The secretariat should service the United Nations Forum on Forests and support the collaborative partnership on forests. It should also coordinate its activities with the Commission on Sustainable Development secretariat.

10. It also encouraged (para. 12): the executive heads of relevant organizations of the United Nations system and heads of other relevant international and regional organizations, institutions and instruments to support the United Nations Forum on Forests secretariat, including through seconding staff, as done during the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests process; and called on (para. 16): interested donor Governments, financial institutions and other organizations to make voluntary financial contributions to a trust fund to be established in order to facilitate, in particular, an early start of the work of the United Nations Forum on Forests and the secretariat.

REVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARRANGEMENT

11. The ECOSOC resolution decided that: the international arrangement on forests should be dynamic and adapt to evolving conditions and that the effectiveness of this arrangement would be reviewed in five years, and decides further, that the five year review of this arrangement will also address the institutional framework of the United Nations Forum on Forests, including its position within the United Nation system.

MATTERS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF COFO

12. Member countries have, in previous sessions of COFO, endorsed the involvement of FAO in the IPF/IFF process and in the ITFF. Given the broad correspondence between FAO's mandate and programmes in forestry related to the objectives of the international arrangement (para. 2 of the ECOSOC resolution above), they may wish to endorse and further support the role that FAO will play in the international arrangement on forests, in particular:

• the ongoing contribution that FAO is making to the ITFF and can make to the proposed Collaborative Partnership on Forests, particularly through its lead role in nfps, rehabilitation of forest cover, fragile ecosystems affected by desertification and drought, supply and demand for wood and non-wood forest products and services, impact of airborne pollution on forests, technology transfer and information, assessment of multiple benefits of all types of forests, and criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management;
• the means by which FAO may contribute to strengthening synergies and coordination in policy development and implementation of forest-related activities, especially through its relationships with other international forest-related organizations, instruments and intergovernmental processes as well as through its Task Manager role for Agenda 21 chapters 11 (Combating deforestation) and 13 (Sustainable mountain development);
• the support that FAO can offer to resolution of the issues to be addressed in the multi-year programme of work of the UNFF;
• the contribution that FAO can make to the plan of action for the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action.

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1  At present, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests is composed of the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Center for International Forestry Research, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank and is chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.