The ninth session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources was held at FAO Headquarters (Rome) from 3 to 5 October 1995. 14 members of the Panel participated in the meeting, and resource persons were present from CIFOR, ICRAF, IPGRI and the World Bank. The Panel reviewed work carried out by FAO in the field of forest genetic resources since the Eighth Session of the Panel (June 1993) and made recommendations for future action. Following is a summary of the meeting; the complete report on the Session will be available in English, French and Spanish before the end of 1996.

The Panel recognized that a rapid expansion had taken place over the past years in forest genetic resources activities world-wide, and noted a number of new developments both at the technical/scientific and the institutional levels. The Panel stressed the need for FAO to continue to provide a point of reference for the world community in this field, in which the competence of the Organization was generally recognized, and to further strengthen efforts to catalyze and help co-ordinate action at national, regional and international levels.

Recent developments in related fields, notably the on-going international efforts to promote common criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management to monitor effects of human intervention on forests and forest ecosystems were discussed. The conservation of biological diversity and genetic resources had, systematically, been identified among the core criteria in such efforts. The Panel stressed the need for the forest genetic resources community to ensure that technically and scientifically solid information was available to fora in which corresponding decisions were made, and thus help promote sound action towards the conservation and development of forest genetic resources within the overall framework of the sustainable use of forest resources.

The Panel welcomed the efforts underway to broaden the mandate of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to cover also animal and fish genetic resources, and noted with appreciation that it was planned that such a broadened Commission would be served by sectoral, technical bodies, including one on forest genetic resources. In regard to the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources (June 1996), the Panel acknowledged the efforts of FAO, through collaboration with national institutes concerned, to ensure that the special strategies and methodologies used in the conservation and management of forest genetic resources received attention in the preparations and background documentation for the Conference.

The Panel recognized the compliance of the Secretariat with its earlier recommendations regarding general focus of forest genetic resources activities. It recommended that future action continue to give balanced attention to various eco-regional zones; and stressed the need for continued links between FAO's Regular and Field Programmes, and for increased co-operation with programmes and projects of bilateral or other international technical agencies aimed at promoting the conservation, management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources.

A number of specific, technical and scientific recommendations were passed, stressing in particular the need for continued and increased attention to the following activities: (i) support and technical assistance to national institutes in the development and execution of forest genetic resources programmes as an integral part of overall development, support to networking and twinning; (ii) further development of methodologies and pilot activities in the in situ conservation of forest genetic resources coupled with forest management and the sustainable use of the resources; (iii) facilitation of exchange of information, know-how, and forest reproductive materials for evaluation and conservation; (iv) provision of up-to-date information on the state of forest genetic resources, notably through continued development of the FAO data base on forest genetic resources; and (v) international co-ordination and raising of awareness. Special mention was made of the FAO annual news bulletin, "Forest Genetic Resources", which was considered an especially useful vehicle for information exchange, contacts and training.

The Panel up-dated the lists of priority species by region and by operational activity. These lists contain species and relate to activities which the Panel, through contacts and research in the sub-region covered by each member, considered of priority for action, (i) by FAO; and (ii) by other international and/or national organizations and agencies. The lists contain species of socio-economic value, and focus on those species which are of importance to more than one country thus implying the need for collaboration at international level for their conservation and development. The lists complement, and build upon, national and local lists of priority species; they also complement, and do not aim to replace, sub-sectoral lists and lists of e.g. endangered forest tree species, elaborated by other agencies and organizations.

A limited number of specific species and genera were identified in which FAO's catalytic assistance was requested to help consolidate and link on-going or planned national level activities of importance to a range of countries, and to ensure complementarity of work between countries to reach common goals. The catalytic and leadership role of FAO at international level in the co-ordination of activities being carried out within the framework of the "International Neem Network", which included national institutes in 24 countries in four geographical regions and a number of international agencies, was considered an excellent example of such work and was commended.

The Panel recognized FAO's leadership role, at international level, in the forest genetic resources field, and its important role in technically advising and collaborating with national institutes in the conservation, management and enhancement of genetic resources underpinning sustainable agricultural and forestry development.

Attention was drawn to the increased demands for global action in the forest genetic resources field, and to the expansion of the scope of such activities which were closely linked to new dimensions of sustainable development and to the new opportunities afforded by recent scientific developments in genetics and breeding. It recommended that this substantial expansion, and the specific nature of forest genetic resources work, be adequately acknowledged and reflected in the future work programme of the Organization. The Panel, further, requested the Secretariat to forcefully continue to seek collaboration and to join forces with national, bilateral and other international organizations to increase the impact of the catalytic resources available in FAO's Regular Programme, and to vigorously pursue global level priority setting based on national needs and priorities. The Panel recommended that the Organization continue to develop the incipient FAO data base on forest genetic resources as a tool in a process aimed at a better understanding of priorities, state and trends in the field.

The Panel stressed the need to further raise the awareness, at all levels, of the compatibility of resource conservation and utilization; and of the strategies and methodologies available in the forestry field to achieve this goal. In this regard, the importance of helping to ensure a forestry presence, at both national and international levels, in the forthcoming, Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, was underlined.

The full Report is available from:

Director

Forest Resources Division

FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla

I-00100, Rome, ITALY