The 10th Session of the the United Nations Forum on Forests was held in Istanbul, Turkey from the 8th to the 19th of April 2013. The gathering, held at the Lutfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center (LKCC), presented an opportunity to share findings and lessons from ongoing forest initiatives, with forest policymakers and experts from around the world. Staff from the PROFOR Secretariat participated in the following side events.

• Thursday April 11 PROFOR Manager Peter Dewees spoke at a side event on the Bonn Challenge to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020 (with IUCN and CIFOR).
• Friday April 12 PROFOR's Diji Chandrasekharan-Behr participated in a side event on investing in locally controlled forests (organized by The Forest Dialogue). She shared the following blog: "Think Globally, Act Locally Controlled."
• Monday April 15 PROFOR's Tuuka Castren partipated in a side event co-organized with Tropenbos International and GIZ on forest financing. The side event summary is available on this page, as are Tuukka's and Herman Savenije's presentations.
• Tuesday April 16 - 13:15 - 14:45 - Tuukka Castren participated in a side event on sustainable forest management and the multiple benefits of forests, organized by the Global Environment Facility.

In addition, Peter Dewees blogged about UNFF 10 and Tuukka Castren was interviewed by the UN News service:

• An emotional start to the 10th UN Forum on Forests (World Bank blog, April 9, 2013)
• Private sector emerges as key potential funder of sustainable forest management (UN News Centre, April 17, 2013)
• The landscape for forests after the Forum (World Bank blog, May 6, 2013)

About UNFF
The United Nations Forum on Forests was established by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) in 2002 mainly to promote "the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to this end" based on the Rio Declaration. The Forum has the mandate, through the UN system, to work with member states to support measures to:

• Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management (SFM), including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation;
• Enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people;
• Increase significantly the area of sustainably managed forests, including protected forests, and increase the proportion of forest products derived from sustainably managed forests; and
• Reverse the decline in official development assistance for sustainable forest management and mobilize significantly-increased new and additional financial resources from all sources for the implementation of SFM.

The Forum is one of the few international bodies not supported by a Convention, but instead is backed by the so-called "Forest Instrument," signed by member states but not legally binding.