29 July 2009: During the final week of its annual substantive session, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted four resolutions and seven decisions on economic and environmental questions.

A decision related to the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) authorizes the holding of a one-day special session of the ninth session of UNFF, scheduled to take place from 24 January-4 February 2011, within existing resources and at the earliest possible date in 2009, to consider the issue of means of implementation. A resolution on human settlements requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on the coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda for consideration by ECOSOC at its substantive session of 2010. In a resolution on review of UN support for small island developing States, ECOSOC decided to consider the issue at its 2010 session. ECOSOC adopted the report of the 17th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the report of the eighth session of the UNFF, as well as reports on dates for the next sessions for both.
During a general discussion, the US indicated it was pleased that UN-HABITAT recognized that it had a role in helping to address the challenges of climate change, particularly through its work with local officials and communities, and would contribute its understanding of sustainable urbanization to the sustainable development dialogue.
Pakistan said climate change posed a transformational challenge to all countries and the situation demanded a vigilant monitoring of the global scenario, assessing country vulnerabilities, and how climate change was affecting them. He also suggested developing a new form of country-classification, based on physical, geographical and climate criteria. [UNOG Press Release]