The Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is the prime mover of the International Poplar Commission (IPC). It has 12 members elected in a personal capacity for a four-year term (six years prior to the 1977 amendments), and a maximum of five members co-opted for the same duration from among candidates presented by member countries for their special competence. The committee meets during each session of the IPC and at least once between sessions; the Director-General of FAO summons it, in consultation with the Chairperson.
A major job of the Executive Committee is to facilitate the collection, synthesis and dissemination of information and knowledge on poplars and willows. One of the first tasks of the first Executive Committee was to prepare a monograph, Poplars in forestry and land use, which was published in 1956 in the FAO Forestry and Forest Products Studies series (No. 12). The publication of the monograph in English, French and Spanish met with considerable demand, and the edition was quickly exhausted. Some 12 years later, therefore, the Executive Committee decided to rewrite the monograph in order to cover the evolution of knowledge and techniques, rather than re-issuing the old text with amendments. This project was carried out in 1979 with the publication of Volume No. 10 in the FAO Forestry Series entitled Poplars and willows in wood production and land use, in French (original text), English and Spanish, and for which Marcel Viart served as the chief editor. This edition is now also out of print although it is available in libraries. In the meantime, knowledge of the Salicaceae, their characteristics and cultivation, has increased dramatically, and their use for a variety of applications meeting the needs of society and the environment has expanded globally. In September 2002, the Executive Committee of the IPC, meeting in Rome approved the production of a completely new edition of the poplar and willow publication. The objective is to produce a major update of the previous (1980) edition of the FAO publication on poplars and willows in an accessible format, providing a practical worldwide overview and guide to their basic characteristics, cultivation and use as well as issues, problems and trends relating to poplars and willows. The project will synthesize the latest knowledge and technology in current research on poplars and willows, linking these to implementation achievements to meet the needs of sustainable livelihoods, land-use and development. It will provide a sourcebook of general information and a guide to further specialized and regional sources of scientific and technical information on cultivation of poplars and willows.
Associated with the task of disseminating information is the function of selecting a thematic topic for each of the sessions. The theme is announced to member countries about two years before the session, in order to mobilize efforts for drawing up a special report by each member country. Supplemented by a synthesis of national reports on the cultivation and utilization of poplars and willows, the set of special reports has represented a rich source of information that has been at the root of the strides made in the past five decades.
The Executive Committee also gives its opinion on the candidacy of countries offering to organize the regular sessions while the Director-General of FAO consults the Executive Committee on all matters concerning poplar and willow cultivation and timber use.
The Executive Committee, viewing the cultivation and use of the Salicaceae and relating them to developments in the forestry sector in the world, has brought specific issues to the attention of the working parties and the member countries. Two recent trends which were identified in this way were the need for the conservation of poplars and willows growing in arid, semi-arid and sub-tropical zones, and the spread of poplar rust diseases (Melampsora spp.). These issues were brought to the attention of the working parties on Genetics and Diseases respectively.
To mark the 50th anniversary and celebrate the achievements of the IPC, the Executive Committee organized a satellite meeting at the XI World Forestry Congress (Antalya, Turkey, October 1997) on "The contribution of poplars and willows to sustainable forestry development in the 21st century". This was linked to the general theme of the Congress, "Forestry for sustainable development through the 21st century".
The members of the Executive Committee have not, however, been content to rest on past successes but have, in recent years, been examining ways in which the work of the IPC may be strengthened. It was agreed at the twentieth session in 1996 that a small group be set up to develop ideas for future directions of IPC, and that a small organizing committee, drawn from member countries, should also be established to help prepare for future sessions, in particular to relate the papers of the working parties to the general theme of the sessions.