The UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) held technical discussions on the implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 and highlighted synergies with other global efforts on forests, land degradation, biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable development. In all discussions, the main question was “how to do more with less,” the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) reports.

Setting the scene, the ENB summary report of the meeting notes that forests cover around one-third of the world’s land surface. Forests are crucial for planetary well-being as they help mitigate climate change and harbor most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. They also improve soil, air, and water quality and are a source of livelihoods for more than 1.6 billion people worldwide who depend on forests for food, shelter, energy, medicine, and income.

Under the current format for the Forum’s two-year thematic cycles, the 20th meeting of UNFF (UNFF20), which convened in New York, US, from 5-9 May 2025, had a technical focus, while UNFF21 in 2026 will address policy dialogue, development, and decision making.

Delegates held discussions on the interlinkages between the Global Forest Goals (GFGs), the SDGs under review by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at its July sessions in 2025 and 2026, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), and other international forest-related agendas.

Participants also reflected on the challenges facing the UNFF Secretariat in light of “expanding mandates and task lists amid understaffing and financial precarity for many of its core tasks,” according to ENB. Acknowledging that UNFF has faced human and financial constraints for years, the ENB analysis of the meeting highlights additional challenges posed by the current global financial context and the liquidity crisis facing the UN, including a warning by the US – the largest contributor to the UNFF Trust Fund in past years – that “future contributions are not guaranteed.” “While nothing was agreed, discussions were productive, and suggestions for solutions from an information paper on the topic, and from Member States, were put forward for consideration at UNFF21,” ENB reports.

Underlining the technical discussions during UNFF20 were three thematic priorities:

• GFG 1: Reversing the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management (SFM);
• GFG 3: Increasing significantly the area of protected forests worldwide and other areas of sustainably managed forests, as well as the proportion of forest products from sustainably managed forests; and
• GFG 5: Promoting the governance frameworks to implement SFM, including through the UN Forest Instrument, and enhance the contribution of forests to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Panels of speakers updated the Forum on: valuing forest ecosystems in national policy and strategy; the significance of a global hub on data, information, and knowledge on forest financing opportunities and best practices; and dryland forests. [ENB Coverage of UNFF20]