The DPI/NGO Section invites you to an

NGO Briefing

on

The 7th Session of the United Nations
Forum on Forests

on
12 April2007
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

at the
Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium

Background Information:
The briefing will look at issues before the 7th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests, to be held 16 – 27 April at United Nations Headquarters. In recent years, forests have disappeared at an inexorable rate as a result of climate change, deforestation, armed conflict, and other disastrous circumstances. From 1990 to 2005, the world lost 3 percent of its total 4 billion hectares of forest area at an average decline of 0.2 percent per year. These causes as well as ongoing efforts by national governments, NGOs, and international institutions to adopt sustainable forest management practices will be discussed.

Speakers:
Mr. Pekka Patosaari, Director, Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests, Mr. Tri Tharyat, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations, Ms. Lene Ostergaard, Executive Director, Rainforest Foundation International

A compilation of UN in Action videos reporting on forestry initiatives around the world will be screened at 10:00 a.m. sharp.

Representatives of NGOs are encouraged to participate during the Q&A segment.

The event may be webcast. If so, it will be available at www.un.org/dpi/ngosection.

Preview of Next Week’s Briefing:
Next week’s DPI/NGO Briefing will be on Indigenous Peoples’ Lands, Territories, Natural Resources: Livelihoods and Emerging Issues. Invited speakers include: H. E. Mr. Javier Loayza, Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the United Nations; Ms. Sonia Smallacombe, Social Affairs Officer, Secretariat for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; and Mr. Roberto Mucaro Borrero, Chairperson of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People.