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Priorities
Over the last 50 years the FRA programme has evolved from having a purely reporting function into taking an active part in country capacity building process in the quest for improved information on forest resources. Technological advances have made it possible to employ remote sensing for regional and global estimates to complement the national data. The Internet allows for easy worldwide dissemination of the findings.
In spite of technological improvements, many nations still lack basic information on the forest resources. National policies are therefore often not supported by good and reliable resource information and many countries are still unable to fulfil the international information requirements. FRA 2000 identified considerable information gaps at concerning forest resources and trees outside forests (TOF.)
Meeting the worlds growing demand for increasingly complex information on forest resources is at the core of the FRA Programme and is reflected throughout the programme priorities.
Global Forest Resources Assessment
The periodical reporting of the worlds forest resources will remain a high priority task of the FRA programme. As was the case for the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000), the next major effort in global forest Resources Assessment will be guided by the recommendations of an international advisory group and will be subject to approval by relevant national and international organs. The FRA expert consultation, "Global Forest Resources Assessments - linking national and international efforts" commonly referred to asKotka IV, was held 1-5th July 2002 and provided the first guidance on the future priorities of the Global Forest Resources Assessment component of the FRA Programme as well as on the structure and timing of the next major global assessment to be undertaken by the FRA Programme.
Support to National Forest Assessments
This component aims at collaboration with developing countries with a strong technical/political dedication to improve the forest information base. At country level the key words are national capacity building where FRA promotes:
- Appropriate data collection to support decision-making and to monitor developments. Initially through assisting countries in setting up systematic forest assessments based on field sampling.
- Improved access to information and knowledge.
- Increased use of resources information and knowledge in policy processes
The main objective of the FRA Support to National Forest Assessments is to generate systematic and reliable information on forest resources at the national level within a limited timeframe (app. one year) using relatively limited resources. Besides producing information for immediate use, this approach will also provide a basis for decisions on longer term monitoring of national forest resources.
FRA Support to National Forest Assessments develops, in collaboration with national partners, a framework model for national forest assessments and reporting standards that will help countries meet their obligations to report forest information to various international fora, while at the same time addressing the need for national information. Survey parameters are based on internationally accepted standards and definitions, but can be expanded to cater for national or regional needs. Parameters include biophysical properties as well as aspects of local management and use of forests.