BM Orman Formunda (UNFF) neler yapıyoruz?

Birleşmiş Milletler Orman Forumunun (United Nations Forum on Forests-UNFF) 9-13 Mayıs 2022 tarihlerinde New York’ta yapılan 17. Oturumunda WEOG Ülkelerini temsilen “UNFF Başkan Yardımcısı” olarak seçildim.

UNFF Web Sayfası: https://www.un.org/esa/forests/

UNFF Bürosu: https://www.un.org/esa/forests/forum/bureau/index.html

UNFF Web sayfasında yer alan bilgiye göre UNFF Bürosu, adil coğrafi dağılım ilkesine uygun olarak bir Başkan ve dört Başkan Yardımcısından oluşur. Büro üyeleri, her UNFF oturumunun sonunda UNFF üyeleri arasından seçilir. Büronun, UNFF oturumlarında alınan kararların takibi, sonraki oturuma hazırlık ve oturumların yönetimi ve organizasyonu dahil olmak üzere çeşitli sorumlulukları vardır. Ayrıca, Büro başkanı çeşitli forumlarda UNFF’yi temsil eder.

Sürecin geçmişine bakıldığında, Dışişleri Bakanlığımızın önerisi üzerine “Batı Avrupa ve Diğer Devletler Grubu) WEOG (Western European and Other States Group, WEOG (28 Member States + USA) adına, 26 Nisan 2022 tarihinde aday gösterildim. 13 Mayıs 2022 tarihinde seçim yapıldı.

16 Mayıs 2022 tarihinde UNFF, 26 Mayıs 2022 tarihinde ise Dışişleri Bakanlığınca tebligat yapıldı.

Bu süreci takiben 14 Haziran 2022 tarihinde ECOSOC’tan sorumlu BM Genel Sekreter Yardımcısı Mr. Liu Zhenmin ile tanışma toplantısı yapıldı. Ardından 29 Haziran 2022 tarihinde ilk büro toplantısı yapıldı.

Bu toplantıya katılım sağlayanlar:

Participation

Bureau Members: Ambassador Zéphyrin Maniratanga (Burundi), Mr. Javad Momeni (Iran),
Mr. Ismail Belen (Türkiye)

UNFF Secretariat: Ms. Juliette Biao, Mr. Hossein Moeini Meybodi, Ms. Afsa Kemitale-Rothschild

UNFF Secretary: Mr. Ziad Mahmassani

Bu toplantıda genel hatları ile 8-12 Mayıs 2023 tarihlerinde yapılacak UNFF 18. Oturumunun gündemi onaylandı. https://www.un.org/esa/forests/forum/index.html

Bu genel gidişata ek olarak ben de WEOG irtibat noktalarını güncellemeye, ilgili arkadaşlarla tanışmaya gayret gösterdim. Bunun için bir çok yazışma ve ikili görüşmelere ilaveten 5 Temmuz 2022 tarihinde kapsamlı bir toplantı yaptık.

Bu yazıyı kaleme aldığım 17 Ekim 2022 tarihi itibariyle WEOG İrtibat Kişileri tablodaki gibi oluştu. Buna göre Avrupa Birliği ve 31 Devlet var benim listemde.

Gelinen nokta itibariyle 5 Aralık 2022 tarihinde New York’ta İkinci Büro Toplantısı yapılmaya karar verildi. 11-13 Ocak 2023 tarihlerinde Tayland’ ın Bankok şehrinde 2023 yılı Mayıs ayında yapılacak UNFF 18 için hazırlık toplantısı planlanıyor.

Diğer taraftan UNFF 18 için ülkelerden rapor istendi.

2023 yılında düzenlenecek UNFF 18. oturumuna ilaveten 2023 yılı Eylül ayında düzenlenmesi planlanan “SDGs Summit” de ormancılığın daha belirgin şekilde yer alması için çalışmalar başlatıldı.

SDG Summit 2023

https://hlpf.un.org/

Preparations for UNFF18 

1. The Secretariat has been actively following up on the preparations for UNFF18. Following the conclusion of the first meeting of the Bureau and the decision of the Bureau on the thematic priorities for UNFF18,  the Secretariat sent out a Note Verbale in July 2022 to Permanent Missions in NY, and UNFF National Focal Points. Through this Note, the Secretariat informed Members of the Forum of the key issues in the agenda of UNFF18, the thematic priorities of UNFF18 as decided by the Bureau, the areas in which the Member States should provide their inputs, and logistical and organizational information regarding UNFF18.

2. The Secretariat has also hired two consultants to prepare background analytical papers on each thematic priorities, namely, GFG2, GFG3, and the cross-cutting GFG4,5, and 6.  The outcome of the work of these consultants will feed into the relevant official documents for UNFF18 for the consideration of Members. We hope these technical papers provide a sound basis for deeper analyses of the progress towards GFG2 and GFG3 during UNFF18, and for identification of the actions which are needed to be taken by the Forum regarding these thematic priorities.

3. In response to the provisions of the UNFF17 resolution which requested the UNFFS to revise the format for national reporting, and start a pilot phase for the use of the revised format. We will soon send the revised format for national reporting to Members of the Forum, and invite interested Members to participate in the pilot phase. We hope to be able to organize the global work on national reporting, in collaboration with FAO in a timely manner, so as to provide a progress report on this matter to UNFF18 in May 2023.

4. Regarding the upcoming meetings of the governing bodies of the CPF member organizations, namely, COFO26, COP27 of UNFCCC, and COP of CBD, the Secretariat is planning to attend these meetings. We also plan to organize a number events during COPs, on issues related to forests, in collaboration with CPF member organizations.

 Preparations for MTR of the IAF 

1. The Secretariat has been actively following up on the implementation of the provisions of UNFF17 resolution regarding preparations for the IAF-MTR. As the first step, the Secretariat hired several consultants to begin the preparation of the relevant assessments and facilitated several meetings among them to ensure the timely preparation of the assessments. The consultants prepared included their questions in one consolidated questionnaire. To ensure the transparent and independent nature of the process and a higher number of responses to the questionnaire, the consultants also requested the Secretariat to consult with the Chair of UNFF18 to send out this questionnaire. Accordingly, the Chair sent this questionnaire with his letter on August 9th, 2022, setting the deadline of 30 September for countries and stakeholders to submit the completed questionnaire. This deadline has now been extended until 15 October 2022 by the Chair in response to requests received from some Members.
2. The list of consultants, the areas where they are preparing their assessment reports, and their contact information were also shared by UNFF Members and UNFF partners to ensure their direct access to the consultants. We would like to inform that we have not yet received any response to the questionnaire. Upon receipts, all responses will be shared with the consultants. To ensure transparency, these responses will be also shared with Members of the Forum, and UNFF partners.

3. In accordance with the provisions of UNFF17 resolution, the Secretariat has to convene several intersessional meetings to discuss the assessments prepared by consultants. In this respect, the Secretariat will convene the first intersessional from 11 to 13 January 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand in a hybrid format. The participants are expected to listen to the presentations by the consultants on their assessment report on Section G: Input of UNFF to 2030 Agenda), Section I: Involvement of regional and subregional partners, and Section I: Involvement of major groups and other stakeholders of annex to resolution of UNFF17. As per UNFF17 resolution, the outcome of this meeting will be presented to the open-ended intergovernmental ad hoc expert group (AHEG) on the IAF-MTR, which is going to be convened before the end of 2023. The concept note and notification for this meeting is going to be sent by the UNFFS before the end of this week.

4. We are also working closely with FAO to organize the CPF Organization-Led Initiative (OLI) to discuss the assessment report on the CPF, prepared by the consultants, for submission to AHEG. The CPF is going to meet next week in conjunction with COFO26, and this matter will be further discussed at this meeting. The dates and venue for this meeting have yet to be officially confirmed, but, we expect this meeting to happen sometime in February 2023 in Rome, Italy.