A workshop was held recently to promote local actions on forests and forest ecosystems and develop synergistic processes in this sector in order to contribute to more effective implementation of the Rio conventions.

Held from 5-7 April 2004, in Viterbo, Italy, this workshop was organized by the Secretariats of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in cooperation with the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On Monday, participants heard presentations by the Rio conventions’ secretariats, and considered presentations and country case studies on Theme I, ‘Potential for synergies through forest landscape management and soil conservation,’ and on Theme II, ‘Ecosystem services and poverty reduction.’ On Tuesday, participants convened in eight working groups on synergy at the local level. On the last day, delegates listened to a presentation on and discussed the outcomes of the working groups, exchanged views on synergy among Rio conventions focal point representatives, discussed financing for synergy and adopted the workshop’s report. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report outlining these discussions in detail can be found at: http://enb.iisd.org/desert/cwfee/