Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) was established as a United Nations body aimed at fostering international dialogue and consensus on forest management and conservation. Its creation followed the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where significant divisions emerged between developed and developing countries regarding forest conservation and climate change. The IPF sought to provide a factual basis for a potential world forest convention, emphasizing the critical role forests play in controlling climate change and mitigating global warming. Despite its efforts, the panel struggled to achieve consensus due to conflicting interests, leading to its eventual replacement by the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) in 1997.
The discussions held by the IPF and IFF highlighted the impacts of deforestation, particularly in tropical regions, where forests contribute substantially to global carbon emissions. Although neither body succeeded in establishing a legally binding convention, they raised awareness about forest conservation's importance and set the stage for ongoing efforts, ultimately leading to the formation of the UN Forum on Forests. This successor organization continues to promote the significance of healthy forests in combating climate change and supporting global well-being, reaffirming commitments to protect and restore forest ecosystems.
Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF)
Mission
As a UN-sponsored body on which all United Nations members were entitled to representation, the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) strove to reach a consensus among all its members that could have provided the basis for a world forest convention. Discussions of the role played by forests in controlling climate change, specifically global warming, began in earnest at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. This meeting highlighted the existence of two opposing groups in discussions of the role of forests in global warming: developed nations and developing nations. The object of UN climate discussions had already been defined as “sustainable development” by the Brundtland Commission of 1987, but the meeting in Rio brought the two opposing camps face to face, as developed nations advocated for a convention that would constrain deforestation while developing countries, notably Brazil and Malaysia, opposed the idea of a world forest convention. Their opposition rested on the fact that much of the then taking place was occurring in the developing world.
Following the meeting in Rio de Janeiro, a United Nations body was formed called the Commission on (CSD), which authorized the establishment of the IPF to conduct research that could be used to provide a factual basis for a convention on forests. Such a convention could devise rules that would constrain further deforestation and thereby slow the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The CSD began with fifty-three member states, but other UN members were free to join.
Meetings of the IPF, which continued to function as a subsidiary of the CSD, received input from a variety of other bodies, especially the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which hoped to take the lead in defining the framework issues of a forest convention. Other bodies, including Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) representing various indigenous tribes, also sought to take part in the discussions. The result was a divisive set of meetings that was dominated by the fundamental division between the developed countries and the developing countries. Since the rules governing the CSD called for a consensus to be reached before a convention could be created, little if any progress was made.
In 1997, the CSD replaced the IPF with another body, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). Like its predecessor, the IFF was an “open-ended” body, which meant that any UN member could take part in its discussions. It met four times: in October 1997, in New York, from August to September 1998, in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 1999 in Geneva, and from January to February 2000 in New York. Discussions by the participants ranged over many issues, including the causes of deforestation, economic issues related to forests, and particularly how to value the services that forests provide. These services include not just possible climate stabilization but also (especially in tropical forests) and preservation of indigenous cultures.
A consensus that could lead to a forest convention with terms that might be legally enforceable proved as elusive to the IFF as it had to the IPF. Meanwhile, deforestation of tropical forests continued, while at the same time the United States joined the in opposing any convention or binding agreement on the grounds that participation had to be “voluntary.” Canada led the developed nations, including the European Union, in advocating for a binding convention. In 2001, the IFF was effectively replaced by the UN Forum on Forests, a subsidiary of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where discussion of forest issues continued. The work to protect forests continued into the twenty-first century with a UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030 and yearly Global Forest Goals Reports. The seventeenth session of the forum was held in a hybrid format in May 2022. The forum continued to stress the need for a global recommitment to healthy forests as a path to a better climate and a greener future.
Significance for Climate Change
The IPF and the IFF served to publicize the environmental impact of deforestation of tropical forests, and even though they did not develop a consensus that could lead to a convention on forests, they did bring to light a great deal of factual information about forests and their role in climate change. Forests cover about 30 percent of the world’s land mass, but the percentage is declining. Between 15 and 30 percent of the carbon contributed to the atmosphere globally results from the reduction of the world’s forests. Tropical forests contain almost as much carbon as do the temperate and boreal forests combined. Stopping deforestation could do much to stabilize Earth’s climate. Although the IPF and IFF no longer exist, their successor organization, the UN Forum on Forests, remained committed to promoting healthy forests as essential for people and the planet. On the International Day of Forests on March 21, 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a message promoting the many ways healthy forests positively contribute to the Earth's climate and people. He called for renewed action to halt deforestation and a recommitment to protect forests.
Bibliography
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Ramakrishna, Kiloparti, and George M. Woodwell, eds. World Forests for the Future: Their Use and Conservation. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993.
Ruddell, Steven, et al. “The Role for Sustainably Managed Forests in Climate Change Mitigation.” Journal of Forestry 105, no. 6 (September, 2007).
"Secretary-General Stresses Need for Recommitment to Healthy Forests for Healthier Livelihoods, in International Day Message. UN Press, 14 Mar. 2022, press.un.org/en/2022/sgsm21177.doc.htm. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
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