New Panel to combat forest degradation: use of fuels, coral reefs, oceans reviewed.

• Position: United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Forests

A New Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, set up by the Commission on Sustainable Development on 28 April, will review all existing agreements on forests and assess whether a broad-based international legal convention on all types of forests would be needed.

It also will: examine the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation; devise strategies to combat them; and promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

The Commission, at its two-week session (11-28 April, New York), established the Panel to promote multidisciplinary action at the international level, consistent with the Nonlegally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests, adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development.

Particular attention is to be given to the impact on forests of such factors as consumption and production patterns, poverty, population growth and pollution.

The Panel is to monitor actions to support afforestation, reforestation and restoration of forest systems, particularly in countries with fragile ecosystems and those affected by desertification and/or drought. It will propose steps to promote the conservation of low forest cover, particularly in unique types of forests, in developing countries.

In other action, the Commission called for national plans to reduce the levels of lead used in petrol. Wealthier countries were asked to assist developing States in obtaining the technology needed to make the transition to lead-free products. Voluntary changes in patterns of production and consumption were urged.

The Commission supported the International Coral Reef Initiative by which "stakeholders" - Governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), industry and local communities - would protect and sustainably manage coral reef ecosystems.

It also set up two working groups - one, on sectoral issues, to assess progress made in protecting the atmosphere, oceans and seas: and the other, on cross-sectoral issues, to look at the changing patterns of production and consumption and finance for sustainable development.

Financing of sustainable...