At a joint meeting of the Bureau of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Chairpersons of its functional commissions, Arvid Ozols, Chair of the ninth session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF 9), delivered an address on recent achievements of the UNFF with regard to sustainable forest management and its contributions to gender equality and internationally agreed development goals. On 29 January 2010, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, Ozols stated that the theme of the 2010 Annual Ministerial Review, “Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to gender equality and the empowerment of women,” is an integral part of the Forum’s work, noting that one of the purposes of the Non-legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests is to enhance the contribution of forests in achieving the millennium development goals and, inter alia, gender equality. He also highlighted that UNFF 9’s theme, “Forests for people, livelihoods and poverty eradication,” would include a discussion on the needs of women who are highly dependent on forests.
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UNFF 9 Chair’s statement, 29 January 2010