Report by Ms. Maria Sokolenko
Chair of the Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry (COFFI)
to the Executive Committee (EXCOM)
26 January 2022
Joint ECE/FAO Programme of Work
• data, monitoring and assessment
WA1
• policy dialogue and advice
WA2
• communication and outreach
WA3
• capacity building
WA4
Our work in 2021 in numbers
More than 36 meetings including
• 2 Intergovernmental meetings (Joint session of ECE’s COFFI and FAO’s European Forestry Commission; Joint ECE/FAO Working Party)
• 7 ECE Teams of Specialists meetings
• 25 thematic events and webinars
• 1 Roundtable at Regional Forum on Sustainable Development
• 1 Ministerial meeting
• Contribution to the 2021 Food Systems Summit
More than 2.6 million people on social media on
Forests4Fashion, urban forestry, wood construction, boreal forests,
wildfires, green jobs and more
Achievements 2021 – Work Area 1: data, monitoring and assessment
• Interactive data and knowledge platform on forests and sustainable forest
management in the ECE region “INForest” and online Database on Pan-European Forests launched
• Study: “Forest Products Annual Market Review 2020-2021” published
• 40 countries from the ECE region responded to the comprehensive survey on national forest disturbance and damage reporting systems
• Improved information and understanding of key forest product commodities;
• Improved knowledge and capacity of countries to: (1) assess the development of their domestic forest products markets in the global context; (2) assess the status of forests and their dynamics as well as trends in their use and management; (3)
understand forest damage and disturbance in the ECE region; (4) monitor forest disturbance/damage to develop and implement related tools;
• Improved formats and methods for sharing forest-related information beyond traditional users in the forest sector.
Output Imp ac t
Achievements 2021 – Work Area 2: policy dialogue and advice
• ECE/FAO Forest Sector Outlook Study in the ECE region published
• Two science-policy events on boreal forests organized: “The Science and Policy of Wildfires in the Boreal Biome” and “Snapshot on Boreal forests' contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals”
• Study on circular bio-economy concepts and how they relate to forest-based industries published
• Improved awareness of the importance of boreal forests for climate action and sustainable development (over 10,000 people engaged on social media)
• Improved collaboration with boreal-related research organizations and
strengthened science-policy cooperation – more than 30 science and policy experts gathered to discuss boreal-related challenges and opportunities for collaboration
• Improved knowledge of member States of circularity related concepts in forest- based industries
Output Imp ac t
Achievements 2021 – Work Area 3:
communication and outreach
• International Day of Forests 2021: video “Forests in a Nutshell” launched
• Forests4Fashion Sports challenge launched
• Trees and Cities Challenge grown to 34 participating cities in 24 countries
• 6th European Forest Week celebrated the “Future of Forests”, with 7 virtual side events on a wide range of topics
• Launch of the video “Food Forests” on the occasion of the UN Food Systems Summit
• Dedicated Social Media accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn established
• Quarterly ECE/FAO Forest Information Billboard published
• Under the ECE Trees in Cities Challenge, cities reported planting over 11 million trees to date.
• The INForest data and knowledge platform has become the go-to website for up-to- date information on forests and changes in forest area, structure, products and services, thereby ensuring timely, reliable, and high-quality data availability for all.
Output Imp ac t
Achievements 2021 – Work Area 4:
capacity-building
• Ministerial Meeting on Forest Landscape Restoration and the ECCA30/Bonn Challenge in Eastern and South-East Europe adopted the ECCA30 declaration
• Side event “Achievements – challenges – aspirations for forest landscape
restoration in the Caucasus and Central Asia”: 35 experts from Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan discussed their progress on forest landscape restoration since the 2018 Ministerial Roundtable on Forest Landscape Restoration
• 6 capacity building workshops on forest landscape restoration and financing
opportunities, forest policy development opportunities and urban trees and forests
• Eastern and South-East Europe countries committed to restore more than 4 million hectares of land by 2030, bringing total pledges in ECE region under the ECCA30 initiative to more than 7 million ha.
• Eastern and South-East Europe affirmed their committment to forest landscape restoration through the ECCA30 Ministerial Declaration.
Output Imp ac t
Achievements of 2021 –
Intergovernmental work and UNECE nexus
• 6 formal and informal online meetings of the Joint Bureaux held
• Joint ECE/FAO Working Party on Forest Statistics, Economics and
Management with over 100 delegates from ECE region, with dedicated event on its Team of Specialists
• Joint session of ECE’s COFFI and FAO’s EFC – “Foresta 2021” organized as a hybrid meeting online and with in-person participation in Rome, Italy, with over 200 participants in a 4-day session (22-25 November 2021), with 7 side events as part of the European Forest Week.
• Contribution to the UNECE nexus publication on natural resources
• Strengthened coordination and collaboration amongst countries in the ECE region; between ECE nexus areas, and with other organizations
• New Integrated ECE/FAO Programme of Work adopted for the next four years
Output Imp ac t
Major activities planned for 2022 – WA1: data, monitoring and assessment
Starting of of the 2025 cycle of the global and regional data collection on forests and
sustainable forest management
Implementation of a project to improve national capacity to apply Forest Policy and Management Support Information Systems (FPMSIS) in forest governance and
management
Scientific-technical workshop on monitoring and assessment of biotic and abiotic forest disturbances to be held in September 2022 in Vienna, Austria
IMPACT/ OUTPUT
o Open-source, transparent, reliable forest sector data for the ECE region;
o Improvement of national Forest Policy and
Management Support
Information Systems
Major activities planned for 2022 – WA2:
policy dialogue and advice
Ministerial Meeting on Boreal Forests back-to- back with the 80thsession of COFFI.
Dissemination of the ECE/FAO Forest Sector Outlook Study and its scientific annexes
Studies on the application of circular models in specific forest-based industries, and how they apply to the goals of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs
IMPACT/ OUTPUT
o Open-source forest sector outlook
models and study readily available o Science-policy
cooperation and communication on boreal forests
strengthened o Understanding
about application of circular models in forestry
improved
Major activities planned for 2022 – WA3:
communication and outreach
DEPARTMENT NAME | DATE: ROBOTO, 12 PT
International Day of Forests celebrated under the theme “Forests and Sustainable Production and Consumption” on 21 March 2022
Trees in Cities Challenge showing cities’ progress on tree-planting pledges (international fora and
https://treesincities.unece.org/)
Forests4Fashion Sports Challenge engaging with sports events organizers and sportswear brands to influence their production and consumption patterns.
ECE/FAO Forest Information Billboard
IMPACT/ OUTPUT o Accelerated
commitments by mayors to more tree planting in cities
o Positive
communication on forest sector reaches people o Improved public
image of forest products and forest
management
Major activities planned for 2022 – WA4:
capacity-building
Launch of a knowledge exchange platform on forest landscape restoration in the Caucasus and Central Asia region
Development of policy-guiding principles and national strategies to advance forest landscape restoration in the Caucasus and Central Asia region
Publication of a feasibility study on production of regeneration material in Moldova and its
development in the context of national plans for afforestation and forest landscape restoration
IMPACT/ OUTPUT
o Follow-up and
implementation of Bonn Challenge commitments o Countries
supported in their forest landscape restoration efforts o More sustainably
managed urban green spaces and forests
Workshops on urban greening and urban forests (Uzbekistan, 18-19 March 2022 and several
webinars in 2022)
Major activities planned for 2022 – Intergovernmental work
Joint UNECE/FAO Working Party on Forest Statistics, Economics and Management will be held in June 2022 Regular meetings of the COFFI and the Joint Bureaux of
COFFI and EFC will be organized to guide the joint work 80
thSession of COFFI will take place in autumn 2022 in
Geneva
Several technical meetings and events of the 5 Teams of
Specialists will be organized throughout 2022
Continued cooperation
14
Decisions for EXCOM
The Executive Committee is invited to approve:
a) The Programme of Work of the Forests and Forest Industry Subprogramme for 2022, as contained in document ECE/TIM/2021/9-FO:EFC/2021/9;
b) The revised Terms of Reference of the Team of Specialists on Forest Products and Wood Energy Statistics as contained in Annex II of ECE/TIM/2021/2- FO:EFC/2021/2;
c) The extension of mandate for the period 2022-2023 of the following Teams of Specialists, as contained in document ECE/TIM/2021/2-FO:EFC/2021/2:
i. Team of Specialists on Boreal Forests
ii. Team of Specialists on Monitoring Sustainable Forest Management iii. Team of Specialists on Sustainable Forest Products;
iv. Team of Specialists on Forest Communication (Forest Communicators’
Network)
