INTRODUCTION

The FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources was established in 1968 at the request of the Fourteenth Session of the FAO Conference (1967). The 15 members of the Panel, appointed by the Director-General of FAO, in their own capacity, represent various regions of the world in a balanced manner, and cover a broad range of technical and scientific areas in the field of forest genetic resources. The work of the Panel is supported by a network of national institutions which provide the Panel with information on activities and priorities on a continuing basis. The last meeting of the Panel took place in Rome in November 2001 (12th Session).

The present Regional Updates provide updates and news on developments which have occurred in each region of the world since the 11^th Gene Panel meeting (September 1999). They are based on the expert’s (Panel member's) opinion and her/his contacts within the region covered. In order to collect up-to-date information on forest genetic diversity, Panel members have been in contact with other colleagues working in the field of forest genetic resources both in their own countries and in those countries covered by them.

To facilitate comparison between regions, information in the Regional Updates is presented according to a common outline (see Appendix 1). Each document including annexes has been kept voluntarily short. For more information, readers are invited to contact the individual authors (see Table 1 below).

The recommendations of the Panel and the updated lists of priority tree species by region or eco-region are published in a separate Report in English, French and Spanish and are also available at the FAO website on Forest Genetic Resources:

http://www.fao.org/forestry/FOR/FORM/FOGENRES/GENEPANE/general/FGRframe-e.stm

Table 1: SUB/ECO-Regions covered and author

SUB/ECO-REGION(S)	PANEL MEMBER
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands	Mr. S.J. Midgley Tree Improvement & Genetic Resources CSIRO Forestry & Forest Products P.O. Box E4008 Kingston ACT 2604, Australia
The Amazon Cooperation TreatyCountries	Mr. P.Y. Kageyama Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" Depto. de Ciencias Florestais Universidade de Sâo Paulo Caixa Postal No. 9 Piracicaba SP 13418-900, Brazil
"Southern Cone" countries (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) + Paraguay	Sr. J.A. Prado Director Ejecutivo Instituto Forestal de Chile (INFOR) Huerfanos 554, Casilla 3085 Santiago, Chile
Northeast Asia	Mr. W. Huoran Research Institute of Forestry Chinese Academy of Forestry Wan Shou Shan Beijing 100091, China
Central America	Sr. F. Mesén CATIE P.O. Box 74 Turrialba 7170, Costa Rica
South-East Asia	Mr. D. Baskaran K. Forest Research Institute of Malaysia Kepong 52109 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Western/Northern/Eastern Europe(incl. Russia)	Mr. P.H. Ståhl Research Manager, Tree Improvement Forestry Research Institute of Sweden Uppsala Science Park S-751 83 Uppsala, Sweden
Sahelian and North SudanianSub-Saharan Africa	M. A. Nikiema Inspecteur des Eaux et Forêts Centre National de Semences Forestières (CNSF) 01 BP 2682 Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso
Eastern/Southern Africa - incl. LakesRegion	Mr. B. Kigomo Deputy Director Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) P.O. Box 20412 Nairobi, Kenya
South Asia - incl. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Nepal & Sri Lanka	Mr. M.K. Sharma Additional Director-General of Forests C-II 104, Moti Bagh New Delhi-21, India
The Mediterranean (incl North Africa/Near East)	M. M. Bariteau Directeur de l'Unité de Recherches Forestières Méditerranéennes - INRA Avenue A. Vivaldi 84000 Avignon, France
Mexico	Sr. F. Patiño V. Centro de Investigación Regional del Sureste INIFAP, SAGDER C.E. Zona Henequenera Kilómetro 24 Carretera Mérida-Motúl Mocochá, Yucatán CP 97454, Mexico
North America (excl. Mexico)	Mr. Y. El-Kassaby Director, Genetics and Product Development, CellFor Inc. P.O. Box 133 Brentwood Bay, B.C.V8M 1R3, Canada