UNFF Secretariat and UNCCD Secretariat sign a new MoU

The UN Forum on Forests Secretariat, DESA and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification entered into a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today, on the margins of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. The MoU was signed by Ms. Juliette Biao, Director of the UNFF Secretariat, and Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD. The key objectives of the MoU are to identify, develop and implement targeted joint activities on sustainable land management and sustainable forest management, including through the development of transformative projects to achieve land degradation neutrality and sustainable forest management and through greater information exchange.

Through this MoU, the two Secretariats aim to strengthen cooperation in the mobilization of financial resources for sustainable land and forest management and build strategic partnerships for implementation. This will include working together to raise awareness on the links between forests and sustainable land management, their contributions to climate change adaptation and mitigation and biodiversity conservation and on enhancing synergies between the Rio conventions and the UN Forum on Forests. The duration of the current MoU is for three years.

The UN Forum on Forests Secretariat and UN Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat have a long history of working together as partners in the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), and the current MoU will serve to strengthen this existing collaboration in areas of mutual interest. Activities undertaken in implementing the MoU will support the achievement Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 15, the Global Forest Goals of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets, targets of the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework and Paris Agreement of the UNFCCC amongst others.