In response to this question, the Secretariat organized, from 31 October to 1 November 2019, the “first informal meeting to discuss possible negotiations for a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe” (link). During this first meeting, progress was made in the preparation of the possible text on an EXCOM decision and in the preparation of the draft terms of reference of the UNECE Negotiating Group on a Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe (FLBA-NG) (information point 1). This historic decision began to be forged at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (November 2007) in Warsaw, Poland, where a proposal was presented to examine the possibility of a legally binding agreement on forests. Two working groups have been established. The first, which worked from November 2008 to October 2009, examined the potential added value and options of the agreement. The second (January to December 2010) prepared several options for deciding on a possible legally binding character for forests in Europe and drew up a non-paper document for such an agreement. At the FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, held in Oslo, Norway, in June 2011, Europe`s forest ministers took a historic decision: they signed a mandate to negotiate a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe. These complex challenges cannot be addressed by forest measures alone. To address these challenges and strengthen the implementation of sustainable forest management in Europe, it is necessary to strengthen the policy framework for forests in the pan-European region. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee took office on 27 February 2012. However, the final consensus has not yet been reached. Three years later, at the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference held in Madrid on 21 October 2015, Europe`s forestry ministers paid tribute to inc`s work and took note of their report, recognised the draft negotiating text as a “basis for a possible re-examination” of the AMLA and agreed that FOREST EUROPE would explore “possible ways to find a common basis” for the AMLA “at the time of timely and at the latest in 2020”..
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