Review of the development and implementation of codes of practice for forest harvesting in ASEAN Member Countries
1. Introduction
The Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting in the Asia-Pacific was published by FAO in 1999. Since that time ASEAN Member Countries have developed national codes and undertaken development programmes to implementtheir national codes and encourage low-impact logging.
As an outcome of the ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry meeting in May 2004, the ASEAN Secretariat, in collaboration with FAO, will be undertaking a review of the development and implementation of Codes of Practice for Forest Harvesting in ASEAN Member Countries.
This review will allow ASEAN to review progress and then use the information acquired to:
The intention is to visit relevant Member Countries and work with forestry organisations and personnel to develop a clear picture of the status, issues and needs for Code implementation. This will be achieved by review of pre-mission information, discussions with forestry organisations, review of documents or reports, and inspection of relevant projects or trial sites. Each country will be supplied with a draft country report at the end of each country visit.
A review team will undertake the mission. Each country visit will typically involve:
The review will take the form of an open and co-operative fact finding mission. It is not the intention to compare national progress or performance but rather gain a clear idea of:
At the completion of the mission, a synthesis report will be prepared and presented as a paper at the International Seminar on Current Events in Forestry. This report will outline:
The report and paper should provide information that will allow all Member Countries to contribute to and learn from the experiences in each country.
2. Pre-Mission Material
To permit the review team to arrive with best possible understanding of the forestry situation in each country, Member Countries are requested to supply the review team, via ASEAN, with relevant and available pre-mission material.
This may include:
3. Itinerary
To allow the review team to make best use of available time and gain as clear as possible a picture of the current status and needs of Code implementation, Member Countries are requested to plan an itinerary that will provide for:
- national forest services
- training organisations
- harvesting research or development groups
- industry groups
- aid or other agencies involved in forestry activities
- non-government or community groups involved in forestry activities
- inspection of demonstration forests, training areas or project sites relevant to the objectives of the review
- provision of relevant brochures, promotional or training materials, project reports
- time to permit perusal of documents and preparation of a draft country report
- a concluding meeting where the review team will supply a draft country report, brief forestry personnel and clarify any outstanding issues.
The time that will be spent in any one country will depend on the scale and organisation of that country. The review team has limited time and the itinerary should be arranged so that all key persons or situations are visited.
It would be desirable if Member Countries can assign a liaison person to the team to facilitate their achievement of the itinerary.
Member Countries are requested to plan the timetable for each visit including arrangements for accommodation and travel.
4. Review Information
To allow the review team to gain a clear understanding of progress, issues and needs, the following information will be sought. In all cases the review team will utilise benchmarks such as a Regional Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting in Asia-Pacific, the APFC Regional Strategy for Implementing the Code of Practice and the APFC Regional Training Strategy as benchmarks to assess the status of implementation. Detail should include the effectiveness, problems, issues and future needs for each aspect raised.
Aspect |
Information required |
National forest management and harvesting systems |
Outline of type, scale, organisation and forest management policy and forest harvesting approach. The sources could be brochures, reports and annual reports. |
Current status and history of national code development |
Detail of the National Code, the basis for its development (and updating) and the identification and involvement of stakeholders. |
Code and supporting documents |
Content of Code and supporting documents and their appropriateness under national and local conditions. Relevant documents may include national code, guidelines and procedural manuals. |
Regulatory frameworks or incentive systems for implementation |
Detail of the approach taken to support implementation either by regulation or encouragement and the current effectiveness of these approaches. |
Awareness strategies |
Detail of approaches taken to raise awareness of the Code and dissemination to stakeholders involved in logging. These may include monitoring or law enforcement activities as well as promotional brochures and information materials. |
Political and public support |
Detail of efforts to garner political and public support for the Code and its implementation. Includes effectiveness and issues in involvement of key stakeholders. |
Training |
Detail of the training strategy and listing of activities or projects to facilitate code implementation, including the establishment of demonstration forests. This may include training systems, requirements and materials. |
Monitoring and auditing |
Detail of monitoring or auditing systems/procedures to assess implementation of the Code. This may include reporting procedures and follow-up action. |
Research and development |
Detail of research or development activities including the collation and analysis of research results to assist in code implementation. |
Code impacts |
Detail of the impact and role of the national code in improving forest harvesting. This may include positive and negative outcomes. |
Forest management impacts |
Detail of the impact on forest management where code implementation has been achieved. |
Schedule of Missions: Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao PDR and Myanmar
31 March 2005 |
Travel to Jakarta |
1 April 2005 |
Inception Meeting at the ASEAN
Secretariat, Jakarta |
2-5 April2005 |
Indonesia visit |
5 April 2005 |
Debriefing Indonesia |
6 April 2005 |
Departure to Malaysia |
7-8 April 2005 |
Visit to Malaysia |
9-13 April2005 |
Travel to Sarawak and return |
14-15 April 2005 |
Debriefing Malaysia |
16April 2005 |
Departure to Lao PDR |
17-20April 2005 |
Lao PDR visit |
20 April 2005 |
Debriefing Lao PDR |
21 April2005 |
Departure to Myanmar |
22-26 April2005 |
Myanmar visit |
26 April 2005 |
Debriefing Myanmar |
27 April 2005 |
Departure to Bangkok |
27April2005 |
Review with FAO |
28 April 2005 |
Departure to Jakarta |
29 April 2005 |
Review with ASEAN |
30 April 2005 |
Return Home |
May 2005 |
Preparation of final country reports and synthesis report |
June 2005 |
Submission of reports |