Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products meets in Brazil
The 40th session of the FAO Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products (ACPWP) was held in São Paulo, Brazil, on 27 and 28 April 1999. The meeting, which was organized in collaboration with the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (BRACELPA), was attended by 85 participants from 20 countries and one international organization.
ACPWP is composed of between 15 and 25 leading experts, reflecting broadly the interests of producer and consumer countries and representative of the several regions. Members are designated by the FAO Director-General but serve in their personal capacity and at their own expense. ACPWP addresses all issues related to forest industries, including forest and other resources, processing, training, environmental, economic, social and other aspects of private sector forest management and utilization relating to pulp and paper, panel products and sawnwood. Its main functions are to advise the FAO Director-General on activities that could be undertaken in these fields by the Organization, and to enhance sustainable forestry development and the valorization of forests in developed and developing countries. Another important activity of the Committee is to verify relevant statistical and other information prepared by FAO and to ensure its usefulness.
Issues discussed at the 40th session included sustainable forestry, trade liberalization, forests and forest products in the Kyoto Protocol, forest certification and the role of a forest convention in achieving sustainable forest management.
The main observations and recommendations made by members of the committee can be summarized as follows:
· The committee commended the work done on the finalization of the Global Fibre Supply Model and recommended the planning of follow-up activities.· The committee recommended that FAO give higher priority to work related to global climate change and the Kyoto Protocol, especially on the issues of carbon sinks, carbon sequestration and accounting as well as on terms and definitions.
· The committee recommended stronger involvement in the promotion of sustainable forest management, especially with regard to the development of certification.
· It was recommended that work on recovered paper be continued. The committee recommended the establishment of a working group to address issues related to recovered paper statistics, such as definitions, classification and organization of collection of data.
· The committee recommended further discussion of a proposal to work with small farming communities in Africa.
· The committee accepted the invitation of New Zealand to hold its 41st session in 2000 in Rotorua.
The full report of the 40th session of ACPWP may be obtained by writing to the Chief, Wood and Non-wood Products Utilization Branch (FOPW), FAO Forestry Department, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100, Rome, Italy.
FAO and World Bank meet to discuss opportunities for increased collaboration in forestry
Forestry experts from FAO and the World Bank met at FAO headquarters on 28 and 29 April 1999 to discuss issues and opportunities for international action by the two institutions in the area of forest management.
The participants reviewed the potential for improving forest management in light of the many global and regional trends in forest products markets, harvesting and processing technologies and the impact of competitive land uses. They identified many of the key underlying (economic, environmental and social) trends that shape forestry and described how these trends affect the condition of the forest resource and how these impacts might change over time. They noted the factors constraining the adoption of better forest management practices and/or limiting the economic, environmental or social contributions of the sector. Finally, they discussed and debated possible strategic and operational responses that would be economically compelling for international organizations like FAO or the World Bank.
The participants shared a view that there is not a global wood supply crisis on the foreseeable horizon: technologies working with new and emerging supply sources will meet expected demand with little or no real price increases. They observed a trend towards increasing reliance on supply sources outside of the natural forest (trees outside of forests, plantations, recovered fibres) for industrial wood products. While natural forests will clearly continue to provide the bulk of the world's wood products, the participants also recognized that many forest areas will remain largely uneconomic for wood products production for the foreseeable future. This finding is significant because it means that there is perhaps wider scope for a range of forest management objectives than is sometimes portrayed in the popular press or by advocates adopting forceful positions.
In discussing the factors related to implementation of improved forest management, the group noted that there is no single strategy, policy or operational response that fits all situations. Therefore, to be effective, actions by the World Bank and FAO (as well as other international organizations) should have a solid technical base and be grounded in the environmental, social and economic realities which vary by country and forest conditions:
In its final session, the group presented the following conclusions.
· There are many constraints to improved forest management, but lack of funding for projects from the World Bank or other lending agencies was not identified as a key constraint.· Most of the problems in the forestry sector are related to the lack of political will and resources to implement and enforce laws and regulations as well as the need to overcome vested interests against change.
· The main impact that the World Bank could have in overcoming these problems would be to use its influence and resources to provide enabling conditions for improved forest management. Thus, financing and connection to the forestry sector would have to be sufficient to secure that required changes would be made. This suggests a need for effective connections between the lending and institutional arrangements, including public expenditures, which could be accomplished through non-lending activities and through any or a combination of the following means: an entire lending programme to a country; general structural adjustment lending; and sector structural adjustment lending.
· In any specific country where substantial reforms are contemplated or required, a joint donor approach is highly desirable, and substantial domestic and international technical knowledge and analytical skill are needed to formulate reform proposals. This approach calls for partnership and coordination among donors for each concerned country and knowledge management, including strong and dynamic information systems. FAO could have a prominent role in the latter part.
