New world accord on forests should contribute to sustainable development: senior UN official

A new international agreement on forests should aim to advance sustainable forest management and reverse deforestation, a senior UN official said here Wednesday.

Addressing the high-level segment of the 11th Session of the UN Forum on Forests, Martin Sajdik, president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), said that the international arrangement on forests (IAF) should harness its full potential to mobilize further political support and resources required to fulfil its objectives.

The agreement should also integrate forests and sustainable forest management into sustainable development at the global, regional, national and local levels, he said.

A strengthened and effective IAF beyond 2015 would enable the UN Forum on Forests to provide further contributions to the UN council's efforts to support the achievement of sustainable development, he said, adding that a strong ministerial declaration from the current Forum would "send a signal" on the importance of further elevating the profile of forests and serve as a concrete input to the post-2015 development agenda.

At present, the United Nations is leading all its member states in efforts to hammer out the post-2015 development agenda, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals, to replace the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by the end of 2015.

Sajdik said the Forum had been successful in integrating the multiple benefits of forests and their contributions to sustainable development into the broader development agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

This was one of several ways in which the Forum had promoted management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests over the past 15 years and become an "indispensable" member of the ECOSOC system.

"One of the most significant contributions made by the Forum is the agreement on the non-legally binding instrument on all types of forests, also known as the Forest Instrument," he said. "The impact of the work of the Forum has been visible in other forest-related intergovernmental bodies and processes, as well as sustainable development processes."

The council president also stressed how well-placed the Forum is defining the role of forests in sustainable development, and contributing to the work of the ECOSOC High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). < "You are approaching the decision on the IAF beyond 2015, and are about to shape the framework for the next fifteen years," he said. "I look forward to a constructive and energetic policy dialogue on the integration of forests in the post-2015 development agenda, and renewed commitments to the implementation of the IAF beyond 2015." Endit