The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is organising a Country-Led Initiative (CLI) event as part of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) from 26-28 October, 2023 at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
This meeting will host discussions amongst the participating states on these issue areas. This will be attended by more than 80 delegates participating from over 40 countries and 20 international organizations, both in person and online.
The United Nations Forum on Forests promotes the management, conservation, and sustainable development of all types of forests. India holds the distinction of being a founding member of UNFF.
The UN General Assembly adopted the first-ever UN Strategic Plan for Forests for the period of 2017-2030. This Strategic Plan serves as a global framework for actions at all levels to achieve the sustainable management of all types of forests, including trees outside forests, and to combat deforestation and forest degradation.
The formal meeting will commence on 26th October 2023. The programme includes two days of deliberations and exchange on guiding themes- forest fires and forest certification- and a one-day field trip. The deliberations on the thematic areas- forest fires and forest certification- will promote sharing of good practices on these areas to support global actions in advancing the Global Forest Goals of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests (UNSPF).
The UN Forest Instrument has adopted several policy measures to encourage sustainable forest management through promoting and implementing voluntary instruments such as voluntary certification systems or other appropriate mechanisms in a transparent manner.
The meeting is expected to come out with implementable frameworks and recommendations for management of forest fire and forest certification leading towards Sustainable Forest Management, which will be considered for discussions at the 19th session of UNFF scheduled at UN Headquarters, New York in May 2024.
