India holds Country-led Initiative on forest fires, forest certification and SFM

The UNFF Country-Led-Initiative (CLI) by the Government of India in support of the UN Forum on Forests was held successfully in Dehradun, India from 26 to 28 October. The meeting brought together over 80 experts from 40 countries and 20 international organisations.

The CLI was inaugurated by the H.E. Shri Subodh Uniyal, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Labour and Employment of India, Director Generals of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India and the Director of UNFFS.

Minister Shri Subodh Uniyal highlighted India’s initiatives in fire management and sustainable forest management. Director General Mr. Chandra Prakash Goyal shared key challenges of forest certification and urged the plenary to use the CLI as an opportunity to discussion these issues. He also informed the participants of India’s proposal to launch Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap and Gandhinagar Information Platform that emanated from the G20 deliberations, to tackle restoration of forest fire and mining degraded lands. Additional Director General Mr. Bivash Ranjan underscored the alarming scale of forest fires across the globe and the urgent need to develop a comprehensive and long-term strategy. UNFFS Director Ms. Juliette Biao focused on the global context of the two thematic issues of the CLI and encouraged participants to provide valuable inputs which would eventually be considered by the UNFF19 in May 2024.

The CLI closing address was presented by H.E. Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India. The Vice President stressed that forests are the lifeline of millions of people in India, especially the tribal communities. He also noted that conservation, though critical and crucial, cannot be isolated from the well-being of communities that rely on forest resources.

The panel discussions and interactive discussions under the thematic areas of forest fires, forest certification and sustainable forest management put forward a set of technical and policy recommendations for consideration by the upcoming UNFF19 session. These included:

• Need for planning and implementation of integrated fire management strategy that requires a concerted approach to the prevention, management, and restoration of forest fires and policy interventions, both globally or regionally.
• Importance of livelihood improvement programmes and incorporating incentive schemes while formulating policies related for forest fire management.
• The critical role of regional and international cooperation and coordination among governments to address subnational and transboundary forest fire issues.
• Promoting the use of Global Fire Management Hub with the aim of driving regional, national and global dialogue and sharing of best practices to facilitate integrated fire management.
• Need for capacity building and training in forest certification, planning and implementation, transparency.
• Recommended setting up global benchmark standards for forest certification.
• Need for providing guidance in capacity building for Sustainable Forest Management and long-term management of forests for countries and national certification programmes of various exporting countries.
• Need for guiding producing and importing countries to enhance the implementation of more cost-effective forest certification practices.
• Enhancing collaboration and partnerships to amplify forest certification and compliance.