The report of the country-led initiative on “A pathway to a green economy in the context of sustainable development: focus on the role of markets and the promotion of sustainable forest management” has been submitted as input to the tenth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests, (UNFF 10) to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in April 2013.
6 March 2013: The report of the country-led initiative on “A pathway to a green economy in the context of sustainable development: focus on the role of markets and the promotion of sustainable forest management” has been submitted as input to the tenth session of the UN Forum on Forests, (UNFF 10) to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, 8-19 April 2013. The initiative, which focused on the role of sustainable forest management (SFM) in the green economy, was jointly organized by the Governments of Viet Nam and the Netherlands and co-sponsored by the Government of Finland and the UNFF Secretariat.
The report of the meeting, held from 10-13 January 2012, discusses the role of market-based instruments and private and government procurement policies in addressing sustainable forest management, as well as efforts to combat desertification, and timber trade in support of a green economy.
The meeting, and therefore the report, specifically address: lessons learned on forest governance and forest law enforcement practices; ways and means to enhance international trade in legally produced timber; options for promoting enhanced coherence, coordination and collaboration between existing forest-related initiatives; lessons learned on maximizing the benefits from the legal and sustainable production of timber and forest products; the role of forest land tenure and community participation in SFM and legal trade in timber and forest products; and options to address illegal timber trade.
Key messages in the report highlight the need for: strengthened cooperation with regard to finance and trade in sustainably produced forest products; enhanced technology transfer; capacity-building and improved governance; and a more prominent role for the private sector.
The report concludes that SFM should be a component of any green growth strategy and that such a strategy should integrate agriculture, food security, poverty alleviation and SFM within the broader landscape approach to green growth. [Publication: Letter dated 4 March 2013 from the Permanent Representatives of Viet Nam and the Netherlands to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General]