The 4^th online meeting of the Team of Specialists of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Boreal Forests was held on October 13, 2021. Interpretation services were provided in English and Russian. The event was attended by about 20 representatives of boreal countries (Russia, USA, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and international organizations. Senior researcher of the Northern Research Institute of Forestry (SevNIIILH), Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, A.S. Ilintsev took part in this event, as part of the delegation of the Federal Forestry Agency,

Welcoming remarks were made by Paola Deda, Director of the UNECE Office for Forests, Land Use and Housing, who emphasized the contribution of the activities of this team in promoting the importance of boreal forests in the international arena.

During the meeting, Darren Sleep, Chairman of the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Boreal Forests, and the meeting participants discussed the Workplan of the team. The meeting focused on the results of the conference of the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) entitled "Changing the Boreal biome. Assessing the vulnerability and resilience of boreal ecosystems to climate change, and their socio-economic implications". The online conference was held from August 16 to 20, 2021 in Fairbanks, University of Alaska, USA. Florian Kraxner, President IBFRA, noted that more than 200 participants took part in the conference, 13 scientific sessions and one parallel event were organized. The next conference will be held in 2023, organized by Finland (LUKE) and Russia (CEPL RAS, Forest Institute KarNC, Pushchinsky FITZ et al.). The IBFRA Secretary also noted about the final stage of the first IBFRA insight process "Sustainable management of Boreal Forests - Challenges and opportunities for climate change mitigation".

One of the important issues of the meeting was the discussion of the preparation of documents (declaration) for the planned Ministerial Meeting of the Boreal belt countries. This meeting is necessary to promote the importance of boreal forests for climate action, biodiversity conservation and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This meeting was proposed to be held in the autumn of 2022 at the Palais des Nations (Switzerland, Geneva).

The meeting participants also considered draft information notes on the definition of boreal forests (3.1. of Workplan) and on the relationship between the development of boreal forests and climate change (paragraph 3.2. of Workplan).

In addition, the participants of the meeting discussed the possibility of holding various joint seminars on boreal forests.

At the end of the meeting, it was proposed to hold the next 5^th meeting of the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Boreal Forests in February 2022 in an online format, due to the limitations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agenda - 4th meeting of the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Boreal Forests : https://unece.org/forests/events/fourth-meeting-ecefao-team-specialists-boreal-forests

Information on the work of the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Boreal Forests can be found here: www.unece.org/forests/boreal-tos