Interlaken 2015
Workshop series on Forest Governance and Decentralisation
Between 2004 and 2015 six international workshops have been organized mostly as so-called country-led initiatives in support of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). The overall purpose of this series of workshops was to bring together countries undergoing governance reform processes, including decentralisation and forest land use reforms, from around the globe and within all UN regions, in a spirit of mutual experience exchange, to share best practices and learn from each other. This workshop series started and concluded in the small alpine town of Interlaken in Switzerland.
The workshops brought together participants from Governments, civil society, multilateral and bilateral development agencies, research institutions, community organizations, representatives from the private sector and international. Participants attended and contributed to the workshops in their personal capacity. All events were organized around key aspects of decentralisation, law enforcement and governance in the context of the forestry sector. The events also considered cross-cutting issues of livelihoods, equity and pathways towards sustainable development. All events were designed to draw lessons and recommendations for action by the United Nations Forum on Forests and its member countries, as well as other key institutional actors and decision makers. Recommendations were presented and discussed in the agenda of the subsequent sessions of UNFF (5 to 11).
The workshops have visibly demonstrated that governance issues are of fundamental importance to achieving sustainable forest management (SFM) and to the effective contribution of forests and forestry to sustainable development.
United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF)
The UNFF is a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC), acting as a high-level intergovernmental policy forum with the main objective to promote “… the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to this end…”. The Forum has universal membership, and is composed of all Member States of the United Nations and specialized agencies. It has developed the United Nations strategic plan for forests 2017-2030, approved by the UN General Assembly in April 2017.
Country Led Initatives (CLIs) in support of the UNFF
CLIs take place between the regular sessions of the UNFF. Their aim is to facilitate the work of the forum and to help the consensus building process. Many of the complex and politically sensitive issues concerning forests were extensively discussed and analysed in these CLI meetings and subsequently taken up in the agenda of UNFF sessions.
Aim of this website
The workshop series lasted over a period of ten years. The outputs which encompass official reports to the United Nations, presentations, articles and books are dispersed accordingly. The aim of this website is to present the main outcomes of the events in one place and in a concise form, to document the workshops, to highlight the impact of this particular series of workshops and to link the workshops to other approaches and processes on forest governance that have evolved since Interlaken 2004. Additionally, the website is a tribute to all countries hosting these workshops or having contributed financially to their implementation. It is also an esteem to all persons and institutions that committed themselves to support the development of one of the key issues of sustainable forest management.
Overview over the workshops
In 2004, a first globally-oriented workshop focusing on decentralisation, federal systems in forestry and national forest programmes was held in Interlaken. Four regionally-oriented workshops followed: 2006 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on governance and sustainable forest management; in Durban, South Africa in 2008 on governance and protected areas; in 2010 in Oaxaca, Mexico on governance and REDD+; and in the Ukraine in 2012 on governance and green economy. In early 2015, the series concluded, again in Interlaken, with a workshop dedicated to the theme of forest governance in changing landscapes. All workshops, except for the one in Yogyakarta, were conducted as CLIs in support of UNFF.
Switzerland, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico and Ukraine hosted and conducted the respective workshops with contributions by the UNFF Secretariat, several CPF members including CIFOR, FAO, World Bank/PROFOR, IUCN and ITTO; UNECE, and major groups of the UNFF. A range of donors generously supported the workshops. The hosts, organisers, sponsors and partner organisations of every meeting are acknowledged on the individual meeting pages of this website.
Workshop reports
Reports to the UN Secretary General on the CLIs:
Interlaken 2004 English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese
Durban 2008 English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese
Oaxaca 2010 English
Lviv 2012 English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese
Interlaken 2015 English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese
The findings of the four workshops Interlaken 2004, Yogyakarta 2006, Durban 2008 and Oaxaca 2010 are documented in a ‘four countries report’ by the Governments of Switzerland, Indonesia, South Africa and Mexico to the UN Secreatry General:
English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese