1. Negotiations

UN Forum on Forests – UNFF

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) promotes the management, conservation, and sustainable development of all types of forests. UNFF was established in 2000 following a five-year period of forest policy dialogue within the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). In October 2000, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in resolution 2000/35, established the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF), including the UNFF as a subsidiary body of ECOSOC. UNFF also established the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), a partnership of 14 major forest-related international organizations, institutions, and convention secretariats.

UNFF adopted the United Nations Forest Instrument, which provides countries with a framework for promoting sustainable forest management. The Instrument articulates a series of agreed policies and measures at the international and national levels to strengthen forest governance, technical and institutional capacity, policy and legal frameworks, forest sector investment and stakeholder participation.

Events

Showing 1 - 10 of 30 results

20th Session of the UNFF

UNFF delegates will discuss implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 and their three priorities of reversing the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, increasing the area of protected forests worldwide, and promoting governance frameworks to implement sustainable forest management.
Event 5 May 2025 - 9 May 2025

19th Session of the UNFF

After a challenging week, delegates successfully adopted a declaration signalling high-level commitment to forests, and an omnibus resolution that reviewed the effectiveness of the International Arrangement on Forests and set the mandate for specific future actions to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation.
Event 6 May 2024 - 10 May 2024

18th Session of the UNFF

Technical discussions during the week included interlinkages between the Global Forest Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Speakers informed delegates on: regenerative agriculture; the role of the Global Environment Facility, the Adaptation Fund, and regional development banks; the forests-energy-livelihoods nexus; and the potential of carbon markets for forest finance.
Event 8 May 2023 - 12 May 2023

17th Session of the UNFF

Meeting in person for the first time since 2019, governments adopted a two-year roadmap of actions on forest policy issues, while recognizing the importance of forests in combatting climate change, biodiversity loss, and disaster risk reduction—and providing people with food, water, wood products, vital medicines, shelter, jobs, and security.
Event 9 May 2022 - 13 May 2022

16th Session of the UNFF

With the world focused on COVID-19, global economic shocks, and climate change, UNFF16 met to remind the world that forests provide multiple socio-economic and environmental services and can help address these crises.
Event 26 April 2021 - 29 April 2021

15th Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF15)

The UN Forum on Forests was scheduled to convene from 4-8 May 2020 in New York but became yet another casualty of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of meeting in person, the Forum held virtual informal consultations and adopted an omnibus resolution that ensures continued progress on the UN forest agenda.
Event 4 May 2020 - 4 June 2020