The FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources was established in accordance with the directives of the Fourteenth Session of the FAO Conference (November 1967), which read as follows:
"244. Forest Tree Genetic Resources. The Conference requested the Director-General to take into account Recommendation Nº 62 of document C67/AG/FO/1 in formulating the Programme of Work and Budget 1970-71. It recognized that, as development proceeds in the less as well as in the more advanced areas of the world, the reserves of genetic variation stored in the natural forests have been or are being displaced on an increasing scale. Moreover, efforts to explore and collect forest genetic resources were, on a world scale, inadequate and inadequately concerted.
245. The Conference requested the Director-General to establish a Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources to help plan and coordinate FAO's efforts to explore, utilize and conserve the gene resources of forest trees and, in particular, help prepare a detailed short-term programme and draft long-term programme for FAO's action in this field and to provide information to Member Governments."
The Director-General established the Panel in 1968. A list of current members of the Panel is shown in Appendix 1.
The Panel held Sessions as follows:
Session N° |
Date |
Place |
Year of Report |
1 |
October 1968 |
Rome, Italy |
1969 |
2 |
March 1971 |
Macon, Georgia, USA |
1972 |
3 |
May 1974 |
Rome, Italy |
1974 |
4 |
March 1977 |
Canberra, Australia |
1977 |
5 |
December 1981 |
Rome, Italy |
1984 |
6 |
December 1985 |
Rome, Italy |
1988 |
7 |
December 1989 |
Rome, Italy |
1990 |
8 |
June 1993 |
Rome, Italy |
1994 |
9 |
October 1995 |
Rome, Italy |
1996 |
10 |
September 1997 |
Rome, Italy |
1998 |
11 |
September 1999 |
Rome, Italy |
2000 |
The Twelfth Session of the Panel was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy from 21 November to 23 November 2001.
Members attending the Twelfth Session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources were:
1. Panel members
Mr. S.J. Midgley
Australia
Dr. P.Y. Kageyama Brazil
M. A. Nikiema Burkina Faso
M. M.
Zeh-Nlo Cameroon
Mr. Y. El-Kassaby Canada
Sr. J.A. Prado Chile
Mr. Wang
Houran China
Sr. F. Mesén Costa Rica
Mr. L. Graudal Denmark
M. M.
Bariteau France
Mr. M.K. Sharma India
Mr. B. Kigomo Kenya
Dr. D.
Baskaran K. Malaysia
Sr. F. Patiño V. Mexico
Mr. P.H. Ståhl Sweden
2. Resource person
Prof. R. Morandini Italy
3. Observers from International
Agencies
Mr. T. Simons ICRAF
Mr. J. Turok IPGRI
Mr. A. Weber IPGRI
4. Secretariat
Ms. C. Palmberg-Lerche
FAO, Forest Resources Development Service
Mr. P. Sigaud FAO, Forest Resources
Development Service
Mr. P. Iversen FAO, Forest Resources
Development Service
Mr. M. Hosny El-Lakany, Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, and Mr. El Hadji Sene, Director, Forest Resources Division, attended parts of the Session, further joined occasionally by colleagues from the Agriculture and Sustainable Development Departments.
The Panel unanimously re-elected Fernando Patiño Valera of Mexico Chairman, and Stephen Midgley of Australia Vice-Chairman. The Agenda adopted is shown in Appendix 2.
A list of Information Notes discussed by the Panel is given in Appendix 3. In addition, each Panel member made a brief presentation and submitted information on the region or sub-region covered by him or her. Observers also made brief statements. Such information usefully supplemented the information provided in the Information Notes on the present state of forest genetic resources in the world, programmes, priorities and desirable action. A presentation on the Draft Strategic Framework for FAO, presented by the DDG, helped place the discussion into the overall context of FAO's work in support of priorities of Member Nations.
