The Conference of the Parties
Expert group meetings and other inter-sessional meetings
1. Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity established by the Conference of the Parties at its fifth meeting(41), and takes note of the assessment of status and trends of, and major threats to, forest biological diversity contained in the report;
2. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Canada and to the Government of the United Kingdom for their financial support to the work of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity, and to the other Governments and international organizations for the participation of their representatives;
3. Also expresses its gratitude to the Co-Chairs, the experts and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for their work regarding the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity;
4. Welcomes the report of the Workshop on Forests and Biological Diversity, held in Accra from 28 to 30 January 2002(42) and takes note of the recommendations of the Workshop for an effective collaboration on forests and biodiversity among the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests, and their partners contained in the report;
5. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Ghana for hosting the Workshop on Forests and Biological Diversity and the Government of the Netherlands for its financial support, and to the other Governments and international organizations for the participation of their representatives;
6. Expresses its gratitude to the Co-Chairs, the experts and the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Forum on Forests for their work regarding the Workshop;
7. Welcomes the report of the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change, held in Helsinki from 21 to 25 January 2002(43), and expresses its gratitude to the Government of Finland for hosting the workshop and the Government of Switzerland for financial support, and to the Co-Chairs and the experts;
8. Takes note of the report of the Expert Meeting on Harmonization of Forest-related Definitions(44), held in Rome from 23 to 25 January 2002, under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Center for International Forestry Research, and other partners;
9. Welcomes the establishment of the liaison group of the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and encourages the activities of the group in promoting complementarity and synergies in their activities on forests and forest ecosystems;
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National level
28. Urges Parties and other Governments to incorporate relevant objectives and related activities of the programme of work into their national biodiversity strategies and action plans and national forest programmes and promote compatibility and complementarity between these plans/programmes and other related initiatives;
29. Invites Parties to undertake national-level implementation and to coordinate their work relating to forest biological diversity at an international level, particularly in respect of work relating to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests, as well as other relevant bodies, and to achieve greater integration and collaboration between their implementing agencies at the national level through, for example, joint strategies or policies, and coordinating committees at political and/or technical levels;
30. Urges Parties and other governments to address the effectiveness of forest and forest-related laws and their enforcement and implementation of policies and related trade as a matter of urgency, recognizing the negative impacts on biodiversity in the absence of these actions;
31. Recognizes the important role that indigenous and local communities can play in the implementation of the programme of work and, in addition, encourages the development of community-based approaches for the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity, integrating traditional forest-related knowledge and benefit-sharing considerations, in accordance with Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity;
32. Urges Parties to recognize in particular the vital role that women in indigenous and local communities play in the sustainable use and conservation of forest biological diversity, especially but not limited to the sustainable use and conservation of non-timber resources, and values;
33. Encourages Parties and other Governments to develop closer collaboration for the conservation and sustainable use of transboundary forest ecosystems and populations of species;
34. Recognizes existing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management including forest biological diversity at the national and regional levels, and agrees that these should be applied where criteria and indicators are needed for the purposes of the expanded work programme, and recognizes the need for further development and selection of criteria and indicators for the assessment of the status and trends of forest biological diversity at the national and regional levels;
