The 8th Session of Open Working Group (OWG-8) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) was held from 3-7 February 2014, at UN Headquarters in New York.

 
Photo credits: IISD

One of the three topics OWG-8 focused on was "Oceans and seas, forests, biodiversity". For a short summing up of the two days of discussion, please see summary bullet points and concluding remarks below. OWG-8 side events also addressed forest issues.

Following OWG-8, five decision-making sessions of the OWG will take place, from March-July 2014.

Co-Chairs’ Summary bullet points for OWG-8

OWG8 Concluding Remarks of Co-Chairs (draft)

ISSD press release

More information:
IISD daily coverage
IISD global report
UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

The European Commission presented the 2030 policy framework for climate and energy on 22 January 2014. It aims to make the European Union's economy and energy system more competitive, secure and sustainable and proposes to:

- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%
- Increase the share of renewable energy to at least 27%
- Make continued improvements in energy efficiency
- Reform the EU emissions trading system
- Establish a set of key indicators to assess progress and obtain a competitive, affordable and secure energy
- Establish a new governance system

"GraphAgriBois 2013" is a detailed portrait  of the French forest and wood industries. The report includes 150 pages of tables, graphs and maps. It provides a comprehensive overview of the forest and wood industries in 2013. The book is the result of a collaboration of twenty experts from different ministries and professional organisations.

GraphAgriBois is available at “Agreste, the agricultural statistics website” of the Department of Statistics and Foresight of the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrofood and Forestry. The chapters and two synthesis can be downloaded here (in French only): http://agreste.agriculture.gouv.fr/publications/graphagri/article/graph-agri-bois

The Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2012-2013 offers a comprehensive analysis of markets across the UNECE region, including North America, Europe, the Russian Federation and the Central Asian republics, as well as market influences from outside the UNECE region.

It covers the range of products from the forest to the final end-user: from roundwood and primary processed products to value-added and innovative wood products.

The publication is available for download here .

UNECE news items here and here.

Resumed Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for a Legally-Binding Agreement (LBA) on Forests in Europe was unable to produce breakthroughs on the bracketed articles of the draft convention text, the draft decision to be sent to the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference, which will review the results of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, and arrangements on institutional matters.

The unfinished convention text and draft decision were forwarded to the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference to be held at a date to be determined, for consideration and appropriate action.

The Resumed Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests4) convened from 7-8 November 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland.

IISD resumed INC-Forests4 summary report
IISD resumed INC-Forests4 news

INC website

EFI’s Deputy Director Marc Palahí personal view on resumed INC-Forests4

Following the annual Market Discussions of the Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry (COFFI - former Timber Committee) about the current and next year's forest products markets, the Committee issues a statement which includes: overview of the forest products sector, developments in specific forest product market sectors, sawn softwood and sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, wood raw materials including wood energy, pulp and paper, certified forest products and tables summarizing forecasts in Europe, North America and Russia. The Committee also collects data on over 30 individual products for most countries in the UNECE region.

The statement can be read here .

The market forecast tables can be downloaded here .

A press release from a broad coalition of European NGOs has strongly criticised the text for a Pan-European Forest Convention discussed last week by European Government Representatives. Members of the 30-strong coalition, such as FERN, Friends of the Earth Europe, Bird Life Europe, Greenpeace, ClientEarth and the German Nature Conservation League, believe the draft text is biased towards wood production without improving the overall state of forest ecosystems in Europe. They claim the text is too general to be meaningful, and too restrictive with regard to public participation.

FERN press release

The Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Legally-Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (INC-Forests4) made substantial progress in revising the draft negotiating text of a forest convention, but decided to suspend work until autumn because it had run out of time to conclude a few key issues in the text, reach consensus on institutional issues and prepare the interim arrangements for the convention. INC-Forests4 was held 10-14 June 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. The five-day session was attended by 140 participants, including delegates from 33 governments and the European Union (EU), and observers from the government of Japan and 19 regional and international organizations, producer associations and non-governmental organizations.

INC-Forests4 will be reconvened on a date and at a place to be announced, in order to complete key tasks before sending the results of INC-Forests to the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference.

IISD INC-4 summary report

IISD INC-4 news

INC-Forests4 website