UNFF input to the 2016 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

June 15, 2016

The Bureau of the 12th session of the UN Forum on Forests was invited to provide input to the 2016 meeting of the HLPF which is scheduled to take place 11 – 20 July 2016 at UNHQ, New York. HLPF in 2016 is the first since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The session will include voluntary reviews of 22 countries and thematic reviews of progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, including cross-cutting issues, supported by reviews by the ECOSOC functional commissions and other inter-governmental bodies and forums.

In their input to the HLPF, the UNFF12 Bureau highlighted the wide range of forests contributions to the 2030 Agenda, noting that forests reflect the integrated, indivisible and universal nature of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. They further emphasized that sustainable management of all types of forests and trees outside forests substantially contributes to a significant number of the 17 SDGs. Over 1.6 billion people depend on forests for subsistence, livelihoods, employment and income generation.

ECOSOC functional commissions were invited to share relevant input and deliberations as they addresses goals and targets from the perspective of “Ensuring that no one is left behind”. Inputs were solicited based on the template from the report of the Secretary-General on Critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level (A/70/684), which identified 6 key areas:

  • an assessment of the situation regarding the principle of “ensuring that no one is left behind” at the global level;
  • the identification of gaps, areas requiring urgent attention, risks and challenges;
  • valuable lessons learned on ensuring that no one is left behind;
  • emerging issues likely to affect the realization of this principle;
  • areas where political guidance by the high-level political forum is required;
  • policy recommendations on ways to accelerate progress for those at risk of being left behind.

The full text of the UNFF input is available on the HLPF website.