The
UN National Forum on Forests (UNFF) convenes every year at the UN Headquarters in New York City. This is a technical-political UN forum aimed at garnering support among the world’s nations towards the global effort of meeting the UN’s 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs), with special emphasis on the role of forests worldwide. In September 2015 the UN’s General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes 17 goals connected across the economic, social and environmental spheres. It is projected that implementation of these goals by the world’s nations by year 2030 will achieve global economic growth, while preserving nature and the environment and ensuring quality of life for all of the world’s inhabitants.
This year the forum focused on consultation,
sharing expertise, exchanging knowledge and technical discussions, regarding the implementation of the 2030 goals and the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF). One of the overriding goals was the need to set down recommendations at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which will take place in New York in July 2019 with the participation of all the world’s nations.
At the opening session of the UNFF, Asaf Karavani, director of the Forest Management, Research and Foreign Relations Department of KKL-JNF’s Afforestation Division, read out KKL-JNF’s statement on the matter. Following this, the KKL-JNF delegation held meetings with delegations from various countries. At a work meeting with the deputy chief of Kenya’s Forest Service, they discussed the continued development of the capacity-building work program for afforestation in Kenya’s arid regions, as part of the
memorandum of understanding signed between KKL-JNF and the Kenya Forest Service in June 2017. In addition, the delegation held a meeting with the assistant director general and the director of the Forestry Department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in order to discuss the progress of their joint work plan and reestablish common understanding for collaboration. KKL-JNF representatives held additional meetings with United States Forest Service (USFS) delegates in preparation for the
USFS director’s visit to Israel at the end of May, as well as with the Israeli UN delegation and members of the Israeli Consulate in New York.
KKL-JNF’s active participation in relevant UN forums and conferences elucidated the organization’s standing as a leading forestry organization on the world stage, and enabled collaboration, knowledge exchange, and access to programs in many fields related to forestry and combating desertification.
KKL-JNF’s representation at the 2019 UNFF provided a platform for enlisting support and cooperation from around the world in its afforestation work in arid areas, since this plays an important role in
food security and
combating desertification – two crucial goals for the world’s future.