6-10 May 2019 | UN Headquarters, New York
Highlights for Wednesday, 8 May 2019
On Wednesday, delegates at UNFF14 resumed discussions on the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Reform Pertaining to UNFF. Delegates asked for clarification on:
- the options proposed for restructuring the UNFF Secretariat;
- implications that these options would have on the operations of the Forum, budget and human resources;
- how the reforms would affect UNFF’s capacity to fulfill its mandates; and
- when the position of the UNFF Director would be filled.
Juwang Zhu, Officer-in-Charge, UNFF Secretariat, assured delegates that the operation and functions of UNFF would not be affected by UN DESA reforms, and that the UNFF’s Secretariat’s capacity to deliver on the Forum’s mandates would be strengthened. He also assured the Forum that the Director’s position is still under consideration.
The Forum then addressed Means of Implementation, noting progress on the activities of the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (G3FN). They also heard from the Co-Chairs of the Expert Group Meeting on the Clearing House of the G3FN held in January 2019, where the core elements of the Clearing House Mechanism were decided.
Governments discussed at length the procedure for setting up of a satellite G3FN office in Beijing, China, urging for information on operational and budgetary arrangements. They requested consultation with Member States on this issue.
Throughout the day, the Forum also engaged in interactive discussions in the following panels:
- Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting (MAR), which discussed the challenges associated with data collection on socioeconomic and financing indicators for the global core set of indicators, as well as related challenges in national and regional reporting on Global Forest Goals (GFGs); and
- Means of Implementation for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), which addressed G3FN priority 4, “serve to contribute to the achievement of the GFGs and targets as well as priorities contained the Quadrennial Programme of Work (4POW) for 2017-2020”.
The third day of the Forum, begun with discussions on UN DESA reforms, and ended on Means of Implementation. Both issues ignited spirited discussions on the impacts these reforms would have on the UNFF Secretariat and on the G3FN office in China. Grievances were aired by the Forum Members with regards to the lack of information and transparency in both issues, with one major donor to G3FN announcing that they would freeze their contributions until this information deficit is resolved.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) meeting coverage, is providing daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from UNFF14.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
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