The Committee left for the next session the decision between the two main options bringing the agreement under the United Nations umbrella: a treaty adopted under UN auspices, or a non-UN treaty serviced by a UN organization of the UN system; also left to decide in the next session where should the LBA be placed in the UN system. Germany reiterated its proposal to host the agreement in the UN city of Bonn.

During the second meeting in St. Petersburg, the Legal Expert Group considered the final clauses and the draft annex on arbitration.  In addition, a number of informal contact groups met to give detailed consideration to particular issues, such as sustainable production and consumption, forest biodiversity, compliance, and terms and definitions.  

The Bureau was requested to draft an annex on conciliation, to be considered by the Committee during its Fourth Session in Warsaw, Poland, on the 10-14 June.

The Committee also discussed the issue of finance, and invited the Bureau to prepare a summary, for consideration in Warsaw, providing information about major cost elements likely to be associated with the legally binding agreement, possible sources of financial resources and options showing possible draft text proposals for any financial clauses.

The Bureau was also invited to draft of a document by which the final draft of the negotiating text will be presented to Ministers at the extraordinary FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference scheduled for early November, in Madrid, Spain.

The first meeting of the Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee for a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe (INC-3) was held in Antalya, Turkey, from 28 January to 1 February 2013.

The meeting in St. Petersburg was attended by 102 delegates from 30 countries plus the EU, and representatives of 8 observer organizations.

For more information, please visit www.forestnegotiations.org