The Regional Workshop on Implementing IPF/IFF Proposals for Action through National Forest Programmes: Strategies, Initiatives and Tools was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and hosted by the Government of Fiji from 16 to 17 April in Nadi, Fiji. It was held in conjunction with the twentieth session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, which endorsed the report of the workshop. Sixty-seven experts from the region and beyond attended. The workshop was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State/USDA Forest Service, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the National Forest Programme Facility.
The workshop served as a forum to exchange country experiences and to catalyze efforts to implement the proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF), especially through the national forest programmes. It also provided an opportunity to inform experts about recent support initiatives, such as the National Forest Programme Facility, and the developments in international forest dialogue, especially the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF).
Many participants described increasing efforts to categorize, assess, prioritize and implement the relevant IPF/IFF proposals for action, despite the limited capacity to implement and to report on progress, partially due to overwhelming reporting requests by international processes. They made recommendations, directed mostly at countries, on boosting the implementation; effective stakeholder participation; cross-sectoral cooperation; and contribution of forests to poverty reduction.
Participants recommended that countries should, for instance, develop procedures and modalities for effective stakeholder participation in the national forest programme process, including clearly identifying the roles of stakeholders and means to account for their inputs; establish high-level, cross-ministerial collaboration mechanisms; extend devolution of forest management from degraded forest areas to production forest areas; review methods of valuing forest goods and services; and promote organizational strength of the poor.
They also recommended that FAO and other CPF members should continue to facilitate the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action and assist countries in sharing experiences and building capacity for effective participation in international forest-related deliberations. Furthermore, the participants stressed the importance of forestry expertise in the national delegations that attend the negotiations.