18 January 2013: The UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) second meeting of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Financing (AHEG 2) has prepared options from the co-chairs on forest finance recommendations for consideration by the tenth meeting of UNFF (UNFF 10).

The options put forth include country actions towards: good governance; stakeholder engagement and partnership building; cross-sectoral collaboration (including watersheds, rangelands, energy, agriculture and tourism); capacity building; enhancing formal and informal markets and the role of the private sector; developing national forest financing options; addressing gaps in knowledge and data on sustainable forest management; improving access to financing and development assistance; and enhancing regional cooperation.

The proposed recommendations also invite donors to take action to improve coordination and address gaps in forest economic development, in addition to supporting new and emerging funds. The recommendations also call for the establishment of a voluntary global fund for sustainable forest management and the integration of forests into the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Discussions during the AHEG focused on the 2012 Advisory Group on Finance (AGF) Study on Forest Financing, the outcomes of the Organisation-Led Initiative (OLI) on forest finance, the findings of the Facilitative Process Meetings on forest financing, progress on actions on forests and economic development, the study of the impacts of the price of carbon on forest financing, and the private sector’s role in forest financing.

In addition, working groups considered the “Identification of National and International Actions/Strategies to Mobilize Financing for Forests.” The meeting took place from 14-18 January 2013, in Vienna, Austria. [Publication: Report of the Second meeting of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Financing (Advanced Un-edited Version]