In its 18th Session, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF18) convened from UN headquarters in New York from 8 to 12 May, with the FAO delegation at UNFF18 led by Zhimin Wu, Director of the FAO Forestry Division and Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF).

FAO and the CPF – an inter-agency partnership of 16 international organizations, institutions and secretariats working on substantial programmes and initiatives around forests, and which is housed at FAO – actively contributed to UNFF18 discussions and deliberations. These included taking stock of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 and outlining key interlinkages between its Global Forest Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under review at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2023 (HLPF) taking place this year in July.

With the midterm review of the International Arrangement on Forests approaching in 2024, UNFF18 also considered the assessments and activities in preparation for review in the ten areas outlined in ECOSOC resolution 2022/17.

UNFF18 also revisited the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets and discussed other emerging issues at the crossroads of forest conservation, restoration, development, and sustainable use priorities and trade-offs.