17 June 2010: The Bureau of the Ninth Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF 9) held its fourth meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 17 June 2010.

The Bureau appointed officers for the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Financing and considered the meeting’s organization of work. The Bureau was informed of a recent meeting among forest-related regional processes, multilateral development banks and international institutions, organized by the UNFF Secretariat. The meeting had concluded that: forests should be elevated on the agenda of major events; financial resources should be explored beyond REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of carbon stocks); and the importance of UNFF forest financing process should be emphasized. The Bureau took note of a progress report on the Facilitative Process, which included case study reports on identifying gaps, obstacles and opportunities in forest financing in seven small island developing States (SIDS) and low forest cover countries. The Bureau also discussed preparations for UNFF 9, agreeing that the High-level Segment should result in a Ministerial Declaration that can provide input into the Rio +20 Summit.

Several Bureau members expressed concern about attempts to reinterpret the concept of sustainable forest management (SFM) in other fora, and were made aware of the outcome of a meeting of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests on advancing a common message on SFM, which took place in April 2010.

The Bureau was also briefed on a REDD+ coordination meeting, which sought to increase coordination among separate implementation operations in various countries where REDD+ was being implemented. [UNFF 9 Bureau Meeting Minutes]