EU Presidency Statement - UN Forum on Forests

Summary: March 5, 2002: Statement on concepts, terminology and definitions at the Second Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (4-15 March 2002), (New York)

Mr. Chairman,

1. The EU welcomes the Secretary-General's Report on monitoring, assessment and reporting (MAR) ,which provides suggestions on the three components of MAR and a valuable overview on progress in developing concepts, terms and definitions. The EU would like to express its appreciation of the expert meeting on MAR held in Yokohama, Japan in November 2001.

2. We recognize the importance of the initiatives already undertaken by members of the CPF concerning the harmonization of concepts, terms and definitions and capacity building. A common understanding of major concepts, terms and definitions is of utmost importance for the entire international forest regime and for any future deliberations on forests.

3. The EU stresses that MAR should be approached in close relation to the implementation function of the international arrangement on forests as outlined in the MYPOW and the PoA. However, the UNFF should address MAR also under its coordination function, considering other monitoring, assessment and reporting systems.

4. With regard to progress in implementation, in order to guide the preparations for UNFF 3 more effectively, the EU proposes a focused questionnaire which should be used for voluntary country reports on the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals for action (para. 9, 22 and 23 of PoA), which should be completed in a participatory manner drawing on a wide range of sources. Such questionnaire should be elaborated by the Secretariat with support of the CPF and serve as a tool to

Inform the UNFF if and how countries have approached the implementation and integration of the IPF/IFF proposals for action in their entirety as to use them as a strategic tool to strengthen national forest programmes or similar national processes
Present lessons learnt in a coordinated and "easy to digest" manner, including achievements, gaps and obstacles to implementation, inter alia, on means of implementation
Focus on the specific IPF/IFF proposals for action under the different elements to be reported upon by UNFF 3
Inform the UNFF if and how developing countries are supported in their national processes to implement the IPF/IFF proposals for action.

5. Concerning progress towards sustainable forest management of all types of forests, the proposed questionnaire for UNFF 3 could include analyses of trends in current practices towards sustainable forest management using criteria and indicators of respective regional or international processes (e.g. MCPFE, Montreal, ITTO, Tarapoto).

6. The EU supports the proposal of the Secretary General's report to invite CPF members to carry out a comprehensive study, including gaps and overlaps, on the existing forest-related data and reporting sources to assist the UNFF and its ad-hoc working group on MAR.

7. With regard to the conclusions and suggestions for consideration by UNFF 2 contained in the Secretary's General report the EU proposes to evaluate these recommendations with already adopted decisions to avoid duplications and expresses concern on the need for such new decisions of UNFF 2.

Ref: PRES02-023EN
EU source: EU Presidency
UN forum: ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council), (including functional Commissions)
Date: 5/3/2002

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