The organizing committee wishes to express its warmest thanks to the Government of Finland for its generous contribution to the FAO-supported project “Forestry Programme for Early Rehabilitation in Asian Tsunami Affected Countries,” the framework of which supported the organization of this workshop.
Sincere thanks to all the authors of the thematic papers who enriched workshop preparation and discussions with their knowledge on coastal hazard mitigation measures. In particular to Mr P. Berg, who kindly agreed to provide information on the important role of trees in combating coastal erosion, wind and salt spray in New Zealand.
FAO is also grateful to the representatives from the governments of the eight tsunami-affected countries and to all the experts who attended the workshop and contributed significantly to its success.
The organizing committee would also like to thank the FAO forestry officers who provided important support for the preparation of the workshop and for reviewing technical papers: Mr J. Ball, Ms S. Braatz, Mr J. Broadhead, Mr C. Brown, Mr J. Carle, Mr F. Castañeda, Mr P. Durst, Ms S. Fortuna, Mr D. Renault and Ms M.L. Wilkie.
Grateful acknowledgements are also extended to all the national and international experts who contributed comments and suggestions to help with the organization of the workshop: Mr F. Danielsen, Prof L. Dengler, Mr R. Dubey, Ms K. Ewel, Dr E. Gilman, Mr C. Guard, Prof P. Grundy, Mr L.P. Jayatissa, Prof K. Kathiresan, Dr N.M. Tamin, Dr J.E. Ong, Dr M. Vannucci and Dr A. White, as well as all the other experts who helped with the preparation of the workshop.
FAO gratefully acknowledges Ms S. Fortuna for the organization and smooth functioning of the workshop, as well as for the preparation of this report.
