As a U.N.-sponsored body on which all United Nations members were entitled to representation, the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) strove to reach a consensus among all its members that could have provided the basis for a world forest convention. Discussions of the role played by forests in controlling climate change, specifically global warming, began in earnest at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1992. This meeting highlighted the existence of two opposing groups in discussions of the role of forests in global warming. The object of U.N. climate discussions had already been defined as "sustainable development" by the Brundtland Commission of 1987, but the meeting in Rio brought the two opposing camps face to face, as developed nations advocated for a convention that would constrain deforestation while developing countries, notably Brazil and Malaysia, opposed the idea of a world forest convention (Ramakrishna, 1993). Their opposition rested on the fact that much of the deforestation then taking place was occurring in the developing world.

Following the meeting in Rio de Janeiro, a United Nations body was formed called the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which authorized the establishment of the IPF to conduct research that could be used to provide a factual basis for a convention on forests. Such a convention could devise rules that would constrain further deforestation and thereby slow the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The CSD began with fifty-three member states, but other U.N. members were free to join.

Meetings of the IPF, which continued to function as a subsidiary of the CSD, received input from a variety of other bodies, especially the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which hoped to take the lead in defining the framework issues of a forest convention. Other bodies, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) representing various indigenous tribes, also sought to take part in the discussions. The result was a divisive set of meetings that was dominated by the fundamental division between the developed countries and the developing countries. Since the rules governing the CSD called for a consensus to be reached before a convention could be created, little if any progress was made.

In 1997, the CSD replaced the IPF with another body, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). Like its predecessor, the IFF was an "open-ended" body, which meant that any U.N. member could take part in its discussions. It met four times, in October, 1997, in New York; from August to September, 1998, in Geneva, Switzerland; in May of 1999 in Geneva; and from January to February of 2000 in New York. Discussions by the participants ranged over many issues, including the causes of deforestation, economic issues related to forests, and particularly how to value the services that forests provide. These services include not just possible climate stabilization but also biodiversity (especially in tropical forests) and preservation of indigenous cultures.

A consensus that could lead to a forest convention with terms that might be legally enforceable proved as elusive to the IFF as it had to the IPF. Meanwhile, deforestation of tropical forests continued, while at the same time the United States joined the developing nations in opposing any convention or binding agreement on the grounds that participation had to be "voluntary. (Humphreys, 2006)" Canada led the developed nations, including the European Union, in advocating for a binding convention. In 2001, the IFF was effectively replaced by the U.N. Forum on Forests, a subsidiary of the Economic and Social Council, where discussion of forest issues continued.

The IPF and the IFF served to publicize the environmental impact of deforestation of tropical forests, and even though they did not develop a consensus that could lead to a convention on forests, they did bring to light a great deal of factual information about forests and their role in climate change. Forests cover about 30 percent of the world's land mass, but the percentage is declining. Between 15 and 30 percent of the carbon contributed to the atmosphere globally results from the reduction of the world's forests. Tropical forests contain almost as much carbon as do the temperate and boreal forests combined. Stopping deforestation could do much to stabilize Earth's climate.

References

1. Humphreys, David. Logjam: Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance. London: Earthscan, 2006.

2. Ramakrishna, Kiloparti, and George M. Woodwell, eds. World Forests for the Future: Their Use and Conservation. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993.

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