Box 2.19: Managing forests and combatting deforestation
With its resolution 2000/35, ECOSOC created a unique mechanism to support the work of the intergovernmental United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF): the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF). CPF is a voluntary and informal cooperation of 14 organizations, representing UN organizations and agencies (FAO, UNDP and UNEP); convention secretariats (the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change); international research organizations (the Centre for International Forestry Research, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations and the World Agroforestry Centre); intergovernmental organizations (the International Tropical Timber Organization and the World Conservation Union); financial institutions (the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility); and the secretariat of the Forum itself. CPF reports its progress to and seeks guidance from the Forum. Based on the comparative advantages of its members, CPF contributes to the policy deliberations of the Forum and promotes and facilitates sustainable forest management worldwide.
Collaboration among CPF members covers a wide range of issues, including: national forest programmes and action plans; forest law enforcement; reduced-impact logging; community-based fire management; protection of unique types of forest and fragile ecosystems; forest and landscape restoration; rehabilitation and afforestation in low forest cover countries and areas affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami; monitoring, assessing and reporting; and financial mechanisms. Some of its operational achievements include:
the Sourcebook on Funding Sustainable Forest Management, which makes information accessible through an on-line searchable database
the Task Force on Streamlining Forest-Related Reporting, which aims to reduce the reporting burden on countries;
the Initiative on Forest-related Definitions, which serves to foster a common understanding of terms and definitions; and
the Global Forest Information Services, which provides a global internet-based platform for forest information.