The United Nations (UN) Forum on Forests, a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council, held its 19th session from May 6th to 10th, 2024. The purpose of this forum is to guide UN members towards achieving the Global Forest Goals, principles necessary to conserve and restore forests as part of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030. These goals include reversing forest loss, enhancing forest benefits, increasing protected areas, mobilizing finance, implementing sustainable forest management, and enhancing forest-related cooperation. At this session, delegates planned to reflect on progress and address challenges that might prevent reaching key goals by the end of the decade. In my role as one of eight global delegates for the International Forestry Students Association and a youth representative, I had the opportunity to help draft consultations, offer forest policy recommendations, and advocate for the inclusion of youth perspectives in global forest governance.
The two major outcomes of this forum are the High-Level Segment declaration and an omnibus resolution. These documents state the outcome of the midterm review as well as the Quadrennial Programme of Work of the Forum for 2025-2028. Throughout the week, member-state representatives negotiated over the wording of these documents to ensure an agreement was reached by the end of the forum. In addition to plenaries and document consultations, side events were offered throughout the week that gave delegates the opportunity to view deeper examples of sustainable forestry initiatives within select member countries. While I did not attend the omnibus resolution consultations, I observed the plenaries and participated in the High-Level Segment consultations.
Key themes that emerged in the plenaries and consultations included global deforestation challenges and financial accountability. Delegates offered many remarks regarding recent flooding in Kenya and Brazil, and most delegates recognized the urgent threat of climate change. The “triple threat” of forest loss causing biodiversity loss, poverty, and climate change was noted by the Secretariat as a call for more sustainable forest management. A representative from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) suggested a framework called the Model Forest Initiative as a pathway for sharing global forest policy resources, and the UN Statistical Division presented the Statistical Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) as a system to value and monitor forests.
Delegates from all countries present expressed their opinions about the language in the documents and shared personal insights into the forests which they represented. For example, the Ukrainian delegate explained how forest areas in his country are being degraded by the Russian invasion. The delegate from Cameroon advocated for easier access to global climate finance, a sentiment that was echoed many times throughout the conference by developing countries. The Indian delegate, championing their position as one of the most biodiverse countries, implored collaboration with the UN council on biodiversity to explore shared goals. Many countries such as Ecuador and Indonesia called for the development of certifications of sustainable forest management.
Many delegates used terms including indigenous people, local communities, women, and youth across statements as a way to offer inclusivity and support for these underrepresented groups. It was not always clear to me, however, what the mechanisms are for ensuring support and centering of needs for these groups in terms of forest management. Funding is a start, but it is critical to plan detailed actions to ensure that these forest-dependent people are not simply tagged on to a sentence and left without a true platform. Some action items were offered, including by the delegate of New Zealand, who suggested a focus on large-scale transition into sustainable forestry jobs. If societies are left without support in their removal of fossil-fuel employment, many people will remain resentful towards the sustainability movement.
During the High-Level Segment consultations, tensions arose between countries with differing landscapes, commodities, economic states, and priority views. For example, Saudi Arabia and Senegal were adamant about including arid landscapes as part of the language discussing forests, which previously had only mentioned forest ecosystems. In addition, the delegate of Brazil asked to remove agriculture as a driver of deforestation in the High-Level Segment. The United States delegate and myself both remarked that agriculture is a leading driver of deforestation, and its inclusion in the document is critical to ensure countries move toward sustainable practices in providing food while not degrading land. Many countries also mentioned their forestation efforts as an act to be applauded. While these practices are generally a positive step, it is essential that project developers are aware of the habitat in which they are planting and ensure that the ecosystem is properly suitable to host the species being planted. The importance of creating policy based on scientific findings must not be understated, and in my statement, I spoke about the need for solutions such as agroforestry practices that address livelihood needs as well as conserve and restore forests. I also spoke to the need for long-term and high-quality datasets when conducting forest land use analyses, such as for the forestation efforts that delegates shared to clearly detect trends over time and implement adaptive forest management. Although the final consultations to vote on the High-Level Segment were only open to country delegates, I hope that my statement resonated with them. The final draft that was released on Friday shows promise for achieving the global forest goals.
In addition to attending the forum sessions, I also met leaders from the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. These groups participated in the forum to offer a scientific perspective and support local capacity building among marginalized communities. Overall, this event offered a space for forest science to inform political action. Many countries alluded to prior unions, including International Wildland Fire Conference and the Belem Declaration meeting of the Amazon rainforest countries. Events like those, and this 19th Session of the UN Forum on Forests, are essential convenings of concerned organizations and member countries to acknowledge the status of forest conservation and make progress toward meeting the goals upon which our future relies. As a representative from the UNEP stated, forests are shared biomes across country borders, and maintaining a united approach is crucial for the survival of these precious ecosystems worldwide.