UN Forum with a mission to sustainably manage the world’s forests

Every year, forest policymakers, experts, and stakeholders gather at the UN Forum on Forests. The Forum is the only intergovernmental body with universal membership that deals with all issues related to forests within the UN system. The annual sessions of the Forum provide an opportunity for the forest community to review progress towards the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030 and its six Global Forest Goals. This year, the seventeenth session of the Forum (UNFF17) will be held from 9 to 13 May 2022.

Forest ecosystems are critical for the health of our planet and the sustainable future of people everywhere. Billions of people depend on forests for subsistence, livelihood, employment, and income generation. Given their contributions to global sustainable development, forests have been high on the agenda of many key multilateral conferences and events.

The UNFF17 session will feature a High-Level Round Table where senior officials from governments, UN entities and other international organizations, representatives from the private sector, and civil society, including youth and women, will discuss the Forum’s response to major forest-related multilateral developments.

Since its establishment in 2000, the Forum has worked to support and promote sustainable forest management worldwide, especially on capacity development, forest financing, monitoring, assessment and reporting, enhanced cooperation and coordination, regional collaboration, communication and outreach, stakeholder engagement, including with the private sector.

The Forum also works to highlight the interlinkages between the Global Forest Goals of the Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals under review by the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.  This year, SDG15, which contains several forest-related targets, will be reviewed at the HLPF in July 2022. UNFF17 will also take stock of the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on forests and the forest sector.

All meetings of UNFF17 with in-person and virtual participation will be held in Conference Room 4 at UN Headquarters, and the meetings will also be streamed live on UN WebTV.

For more information: UN Forum on Forests