Collaborative Partnership on Forests.

• Position: Brief Article

When the United Nations Forum on Forests concluded its first-ever substantive session in June, it seized the opportunity to define its scope of work for the next five years and design new approaches to international cooperation through the newly formed Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF). Established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a subsidiary body with full membership, the Forum plans to lay the groundwork for the promotion of management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, as well as to strengthen long-term political commitment to that end. The multi-year plan highlights the three pillars of sustainable forest development: integration of environmental, social and developmental forestry concerns. It also encompasses other cross-cutting issues, such as transfer of technology, finance, capacity-building and trade.

The Forum also adopted its plan of action, which it saw as an evolving process, directed at the international, regional and subregional levels. The plan's implementation would require the establishment of national focal points, effective cooperation among CPF members, bilateral donors and countries, and public/private partnerships, as well as active stakeholder participation. The plan also calls for countries to set their own national priorities, targets and timetables for the implementation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IPF/IFF) proposals for action in their national context, urging countries to develop or strengthen national forest programmes. It also includes elements that are important tools for such implementation, including criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, forest-related scientific knowledge, monitoring, assessment and reporting, and concepts, terminology and definitions, as well as financial resources. Concrete, process-oriented targets should be considered, with a view to being adopted, if possible at the Forum's next session.

The plan also notes that financing, technical assistance and capacity-building for...