The Workshop on National-level Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management of Dry Forests in Asia was held 30 November - 3 December 1999 in Bhopal, India. The workshop was organized jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA/FS) and the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM). The workshop agenda is attached as Annex 1.
Workshop participants included representatives of forestry agencies from nine countries with dry forests in Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The workshop was also attended by representatives from FAO, ITTO, WWF/India, RECOFTC and IIFM. The lists of participants and papers presented are attached as Annex 2 and Annex 3, respectively.
The workshop was organized in response to a recommendation of the seventeenth session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (held 23 - 27 February 1998 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia). Delegates at that session recognized the advances made by some countries in the development and application of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, but at the same time noted that many countries remained outside the established international processes. The Commission therefore requested FAO, in collaboration with partner organizations, to facilitate and enhance the involvement of such countries in understanding the potential of criteria and indicators for monitoring progress toward sustainable forest management.
The ongoing international initiatives involving Asian countries largely focus on temperate, boreal and tropical moist forests. There was a perceived need, therefore, to more actively involve countries in Asia with substantial areas of dry forests in the development and implementation of criteria and indicators specifically oriented toward the unique demands and features of dry forest management.
