The fourth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-4) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 3–14 May 2004.

Over 600 delegates representing governments, intergovernmental organizations and major groups were in attendance. Throughout the two-week meeting, delegates considered progress in implementation with respect to the following thematic areas: social and cultural aspects of forests; traditional forest-related knowledge; forest-related scientific knowledge; finance and transfer of environmentally sound technologies; and monitoring, assessment and reporting and criteria and indicators. The Forum also considered issues common to each UNFF session, including: enhanced cooperation and coordination with other international organizations; and intersessional work.
As with other UNFF sessions, delegates to UNFF-4 convened a Multi-stakeholder Dialogue, during which the Major Groups participating in the UNFF process gathered with country delegations and international organizations to discuss the social and cultural aspects of forests and traditional forest-related knowledge. Unique to UNFF-4, delegates also spent two half-day sessions considering country experiences and lessons learned. One session was focused on African countries, and the other on small island developing states. Particular emphasis was given to negotiating a resolution on the process for facilitating the review of the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests at UNFF-5.
UNFF-4 adopted five resolutions on: social and cultural aspects of forests; forest-related scientific knowledge; monitoring, assessment and reporting and criteria and indicators; finance and transfer of environmentally sound technologies; and the review of the effectiveness of the international arrangement on forests. Delegates failed to adopt resolutions on traditional forest-related knowledge and enhanced cooperation. ENB’s full coverage of this meeting, including daily and summary reports, photographs and Real Audio recordings, is available at: http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/unff/unff4/