New era for forest finance in UNFF
11 March, 2010
Finance for forests, just as with land, is an issue that has dominated discussions on natural resource management for the last two decades. As it became increasingly evident that discussions on forest finance needed a profound and strategic exploration of viable options, a “facilitative process” – much like the work carried out by the GM – was looked to as a breakthrough in assisting countries to mobilize finance for sustainable forest management efforts in the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) process.
The UNFF is leading this “facilitative process” and has established an Ad-Hoc Expert Group (AHEG) to propose strategies for channelling investments into forestry and achieve wider development objectives such as poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.
During a recent meeting in Rome of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) – a 15 member partnership of forest related organizations – agreed to form an advisory group on forest finance to support the AHEG and the “facilitative process”.
The GM has committed to be involved as an active member of this group, given its long-standing experience with assisting countries to increase investments in sustainable land management – exactly the same challenge facing UNFF albeit with forestry.
Furthermore, the GM has been active for some time in examining both agriculture and forest finance flows in Low Forest Cover Countries (LFCC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), two of the major areas to be explored by UNFF. The GM’s knowledge exchange workshops, “Designing Integrated Financing Strategies”, have targeted LFCC and SIDS with interesting results leading to active inter-ministerial cooperation and CSO involvement for increased finance for natural resource management, certainly including forests.
The GM and its multi-lateral and bilateral partners, in particular UNDP offer their instruments and experiences to the UNFF process in what promises to be a new era for forest finance, with renewed momentum to revitalize forest landscapes and transform rural community livelihoods.
For more information:
Ms Elisabeth Barsk-Rundquist, Director, Strategic Programmes
Tel. +39 06 5459 2471
e.barsk (at) global-mechanism.org
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