(Agenda Item 1)
5. The meeting was opened by Mr. Jaime Hurtubia, Biodiversity Programme Manager at UNEP. In his Opening Statement, Mr. Hurtubia welcomed the participants on behalf of Ms. E. Dowdeswell, Executive Director of UNEP.
6. Mr. Hurtubia stressed that the meeting was timely planned, as it underscored the importance the international community attached to sustainable forest management in the region. He also emphasized that the meeting was designed to facilitate an open dialogue among experts, and that it would make a direct contribution to the technical discussions in moving towards the development and utilization of shared criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in sub-Saharan dry-zone Africa.
7. Mr. Hurtubia reiterated the call made in both the Forest Principles and in Chapter 11 of Agenda 21, to identify measurable criteria and indicators for the evaluation of how countries are progressing in their efforts to follow the principles of sustainable forest management. The meeting was informed that the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests of the Commission on Sustainable Development placed this activity as a top priority during its first session (11-15 September 1995). The speaker also briefly recalled the many activities and initiatives on this subject before and after the Earth Summit in Rio, such as the Montreal and Helsinki processes and the ITTO Guidelines.
8. Mr. Hurtubia underlined the importance of the FAO/ITTO Expert Meeting on the Harmonization of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management, which was held in Rome in February 1995, and of the Rome Ministerial Meeting on Forestry (16-17 March 1995) to involve those countries which had not to date been part of any of the ongoing international initiatives on this subject, in a process for developing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management. In particular, the speaker emphasized on dry-zone sub-Saharan Africa.
9. Mr. Lanly, Director of FAO's Forest Resources Division, welcomed in his opening statement the participants in the name of Mr. D. Harcharik, Assistant Director-General of the Forestry Department of FAO, and informed them of Mr. Harcharik's participation at the closing session, underlining hereby the importance given by FAO to this meeting. Mr. Lanly further expressed his appreciation for UNEP's continuing and constructive collaboration with FAO in the furtherance of sustainable forest management, in the spirit of agreements reached at the Earth Summit, and the follow-up recommendations from the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF).
10. Mr. Lanly noted that, since the Earth Summit, the issue of sustainable forest management was a much debated topic within the international community. The forestry concept of sustained yield, considered in a broad sense, covering wood and other goods and services, was germane to that of sustainable forest management. He noted that society had the right to challenge foresters on their performance in managing forest resources. Such performance had to be assessed on the basis of well-identified criteria and indicators, which were acceptable to all parties involved with the conservation and utilization of forest resources. Hence the importance of defining and developing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management at both the national and the forest management unit level.
11. Mr. Lanly mentioned further that dry-zone Africa was the most important eco-region presently not yet involved in current ongoing international initiatives in this field. He emphasized the ecological and socio-economic specificity of this region and underlined the importance of the meeting as the initial step of a process of development and utilization of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management by the countries of the region. He informed the participants that the deliberations of the meeting would be made available to forthcoming high level inter-governmental meetings, including the 10th Session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission (27 November - 1 December 1995).
