The Panel urged international organizations, in cooperation with countries, to support and implement its proposals for action.
The Panel called upon the appropriate international institutions and organizations to continue their work in the informal high-level Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests, under the chairmanship of FAO as task manager for chapter 11 of Agenda 21, focusing on the proposals for action recommended by the Panel, in accordance with their respective mandates and comparative advantage, and proposed that the Task Force, in a transparent and participatory manner, undertake further coordination and explore means for collaboration and coherent action at the international, regional and country levels, in support of any continuing intergovernmental dialogue on forests.
The Panel called on countries to support the work on forest-related issues undertaken by international and regional organizations and agencies and under relevant instruments;
The Panel called on countries to clarify the mandates of the relevant international institutions and organizations related to forest issues, inter alia, through their respective governing bodies, in order to improve integration and coordination of their efforts and to guide the activities of each organization to areas in which they can be most effective;
The Panel called on countries, through the respective governing bodies, to work to eliminate waste and duplication, thereby using available resources in an efficient manner;
The Panel called on countries to guide relevant international and regional institutions and those administering instruments, through their governing bodies, to accelerate incorporation into their relevant work programmes of the forest-related results of UNCED and of further progress achieved since then, and of the proposals for action recommended by the Panel;
The Panel called on countries to support activities related to the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
The Panel examined a number of options for action at the intergovernmental level to continue the intergovernmental policy dialogue on all types of forests and to monitor progress in and promote the implementation of the Panel's proposals for action. It proposed the following options, which were not necessarily seen to be mutually exclusive:
To continue the intergovernmental policy dialogue on forests and the consideration of all aspects and programmes aimed at the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests in a holistic manner within existing forums, such as the Commission, FAO and their respective institutional structures, as well as other appropriate international organizations, institutions and instruments;
To continue the intergovernmental policy dialogue on forests through the establishment of an ad hoc open-ended intergovernmental forum on forests under the auspices of the Commission, with a focused and time-limited mandate, charged with, inter alia, reviewing, monitoring and reporting on progress in the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, promoting and monitoring the implementation of the Panel's proposals for action, and either:
(i) On that basis, considering and advising on the need for other arrangements and mechanisms, including legal arrangements covering all types of forests, and reporting on those matters to the Commission at the appropriate time in its work programme, which has yet to be defined; and/or:
(ii) Preparing the basis and building the necessary consensus for a decision to negotiate and elaborate possible
elements of a legally binding instrument, reporting to the Commission in 1999 on its work;
To carry forward intergovernmental policy action on forests through the establishment, as soon as possible, under the authority of the General Assembly, of an intergovernmental negotiating committee on a legally binding instrument on all types of forest, with a focused and time-limited mandate.
The Panel also examined numerous detailed suggestions on the mandate and programme of work under the above options; these were noted by the Secretariat for future reference and consideration, and will be included in a forthcoming compilation.
149. The Panel recommended that the options contained in paragraph 147 (b) and (c) above, if endorsed, should be serviced by a small secretariat within the secretariat of the Commission in the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations Secretariat, and should be supported by the Task Force.
