A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IPF

The Economic and Social Council, in its decision 1995/226, endorsed the recommendation of the third session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to establish an open-ended ad hoc Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) to pursue consensus and coordinated proposals for action to support the management, conservation and sustainable development of forests. In pursuing its mandate, the IPF is expected to focus on 11 issues clustered into five interrelated categories and submit final conclusions and policy recommendations to the Commission at its fifth session in 1997. The IPF will consider the outputs of a large number of ongoing processes and initiatives and draw upon the expertise and resources of relevant organizations within and outside the United Nations system, as well as from all relevant parties, including major groups. Meetings of experts sponsored by one or more countries, international organizations and major groups will contribute to the work of the IPF. The IPF will hold a total of four meetings and, at its first session, decided that all topics should be left open for discussion during its second and third sessions, but different topics will be emphasized at each session.

THE FIRST SESSION OF THE IPF

The first meeting of the CSD's Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) took place in New York from 11-15 September 1995. At this meeting, delegates elected Sir Martin Holdgate (UK) as Co-Chair from developed countries and Mr. N.R. Krishnan (India) and Dr. Manuel Rodriguez (Colombia) as Co-Chairs from the G-77, with Krishnan serving as Co-Chair for the first two sessions and Rodriguez serving as Co-Chair for the final two sessions. Delegates also adopted the IPF programme of work and attempted to set the dates and venues of future meetings. Several of the issues that have typically divided North and South again proved difficult. Members of the G-77 were resistant to any proposal that could foreseeably lead to a loss of national control over forests and forest products. There was also some concern on the subject of criteria and indicators and whether proposed intersessional workshops should constitute an official part of the Panel process. Developed countries questioned the need to extend the length of meetings of the Panel and expressed serious concerns about the work of the Panel.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin published a summary of this session.

The DPCSD has posted the official documentation.

THE SECOND SESSION OF THE IPF

The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) held its second session from 11-22 March, 1996 in Geneva. Delegates conducted their first substantive discussions of six programme elements: underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation; fragile ecosystems affected by desertification and the impact of air pollution on forests; needs and requirements of countries with low forest cover; international cooperation in financial assistance and technology transfer for sustainable forest management; assessment of the multiple benefits of all types of forests; and methodologies for proper valuation of the multiple benefits of forests. The substantive discussions were based on Secretary-General's reports prepared by the IPF Secretariat and UN agencies participating in the Interagency Task Force on forests.

Delegates also completed initial consideration of the remaining programme elements: progress through national forest and land use plans; traditional forest-related knowledge; criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management; trade and environment in relation to forest products and services; and international organizations and multilateral institutions and instruments, including appropriate legal mechanisms.

During the final two days of the meeting, delegates considered the Co-Chairs' summaries. They labeled these transitional in nature to signify that the summaries did not represent negotiated text. Delegates agreed to begin negotiations at IPF-3 on items that had received substantive consideration at this session, although another substantive discussion is scheduled on the programme element on financial assistance and technology transfer. Delegates left Geneva satisfied that they had expressed national positions on a range of forest issues, but somewhat frustrated that all of their positions were not reflected in the report of IPF-2.

The official documentation has been posted by the UN on their gopher site. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin published a summary issue as well as daily issues from this meeting.

Here is our summary of this session. The basic documents for this session are: The following is a list of the documents that have been prepared for the second session of the IPF, according to the five categories of issues to be considered by the IPF: