Manuel Paveri, Chief FONP, welcomed and thanked the participants for attending the meeting. He briefly presented the medium term output (2002-07) "Strengthened cross-sectoral linkages between forestry policies and other national policies" with a view to:
improving understanding among government institutions/staff and public of the relationships and impacts of different sectoral policies,
improving formulation/implementation of forestry policies and plans,
improving institutional linkages/partnerships among related sectors,
developing mechanisms to evaluate externalities/internalities of sectoral policies.
Major expected outputs of this effort are:
production of a preliminary background paper in early 2001,
preparation of country case studies in 2001,
organization in 2002 of a seminar/workshop to discuss main findings and conclusions of background paper and country case studies,
production of a FAO Forestry Paper on the subject in 2003.
He recalled that this effort was being undertaken in the context of Agenda 21 and the works of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests and more recently, the United Nations Forum on Forests, and the increasing interest and requests from a wide range of stakeholders, including the FAO Committee on Forestry, for more information on how to address cross-sectoral linkages in forestry.
The need to work in close collaboration with other interested groups within (and outside) FAO and take stock of available experience and knowledge was stressed, in order to secure the successful implementation of this medium term output and therefore, the proposal to establish the informal interdepartmental task force. Regional Forestry Officers and, through them, other interested colleagues in their respective office, are also being consulted and invited to participate in this effort.
FONP commissioned in the Fall 2000 the preparation of a preliminary background paper on Cross-sectoral Linkages in Forestry: Review of Available Information and Considerations of Further Research, by the Chair of Forest Policy and Economics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The preliminary paper and draft terms of reference for the preparation of country case studies were distributed to participants for their comments.
All participants expressed a clear interest to work on cross-sectoral linkages through the informal interdepartmental task force, and gave examples of potential synergies with their current activities. They agreed to provide written comments before the next meeting on the preliminary background paper, the draft terms of reference for the country case studies, as well as provide information on their knowledge and experience on cross-sectoral linkages (e.g. ICAM, SARD).
The preliminary background paper is also being distributed to potential FAO partners for their comments or suggestions, before the second meeting of the ITFL, and their eventual participation in this effort.
Concerning the proposed mandate and membership of the task force, it was suggested to replace "mandate" by "terms of reference", and to invite the participation of other interested people in FAO (e.g. Investment Center; SARD, etc.). It was also proposed to nominate a secretary.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled during the first half of May 2001. Participants were asked to communicate their availability during that period of time in order to determine the exact time of the second meeting.
The tentative agenda is to critically review with the main author, Prof. Franz Schmithüsen, the preliminary background paper and the preparation of country case studies.
