COFO-2001/12
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Item 12 of the Provisional
Agenda
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Rome, Italy, 12-16 March
2001
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RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
REGIONAL FORESTRY COMMISSIONS AND OTHER FAO STATUTORY BODIES IN FORESTRY OF INTEREST TO
THE COMMITTEE
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SUMMARY
At its second session in 1974, the Committee requested that the
agenda of Regional Forestry Commission sessions include as a standing item "Matters
to be referred to the attention of the Committee on Forestry (COFO)", and that the
corresponding section of the report of each session be submitted to the subsequent session
of the Committee. This note summarizes the main points of interest to COFO made by the
Regional Forestry Commissions (RFCs), as well as other FAO statutory bodies in forestry,
at meetings held since the previous session of COFO in 1999.
Forestry Statutory Bodies are convened by FAO to provide regular
fora for exchanging views and identifying priorities as well as for taking joint action in
specific areas of forestry development and management. This background paper summarizes
the recommendations made to COFO in their sessions during the past biennium and describes
proposals for strengthening the role of the RFCs as technical and policy fora.
The FAO Forestry Statutory Bodies in forestry include:
- the Regional Forestry Commissions for Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America, the Near
East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe;
- the Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products (ACPWP);
- the Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources;
- the International Poplar Commission (IPC).
MATTERS FROM REGIONAL FORESTRY COMMISSIONS FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE
COMMITTEE
1. Some matters raised by two or more of the RFCs included:
- the need to move to implementation of national forest programmes;
- the need for capacity building and institutional development;
- the potential importance to forestry sector development of certain of the provisions of
the Kyoto Protocol and the need for information in order to understand its significance.
2. The following sections summarize matters to the attention of COFO.
AFRICAN FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION (AFWC)
(12th session, Lusaka, Zambia, 27 to 30 March 2000)
- The Working Party on Wildlife Management and National Parks should be renamed the
"Working Party on the Management of Wildlife and Protected Areas", and its Terms
of Reference modified, in order to better reflect the current needs and priorities in this
field;
- FAO should assist member countries in Africa to identify and implement innovative
mechanisms for mobilizing domestic financial resources at different levels in order to
secure implementation of their nfps and sustainably manage their forests;
- In addition to pursuing its assistance to African countries to develop their forest
information systems, FAO was called upon to increase its role in training, awareness
raising and information as regard issues related to criteria and indicators for
sustainable forest management and certification of forest products in Africa;
- The Commission recommended that FAO assist African countries to improve their
understanding of the technical forestry aspects and opportunities for financing
sustainable forest management associated with the Kyoto Protocol.
ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY COMMISSION (APFC)
(18th session, Noosaville, Queensland, Australia, 15 to 19 May 2000)
- A request was made to FAO to increase support for the implementation of national forest
programmes and the transfer of technology;
- Informed COFO of the importance of securing firm political and administrative support
for implementation of the Code of Practice for Forest Harvesting in Asia-Pacific, and the
Commission's recommendation that efforts be made to link implementation to existing
initiatives for which political commitment already exists;
- Informed COFO of the "Study of the Efficacy of Removing Natural Forests from Timber
Production as a Strategy for Conserving Forests" and its request to FAO to widely
disseminate the results of the study;
- Requested COFO to consider the difficulty that many countries with limited financial
resources have in participating fully in global fora such as the proposed United Nations
Forum on Forests. It therefore wished to suggest to COFO that FAO's regional forestry
commissions and COFO could play important roles in supporting practical implementation of
IPF/IFF proposals and facilitating dialogue and cooperation;
- Drew the attention of COFO to the need for increased efforts to address concerns related
to the many issues related to forest certification and the forestry aspects of the Kyoto
Protocol which remain to be resolved and the need to facilitate information sharing and
dialogue on them;
- Concluded that convening in-session seminars, or seminars prior to the Commission's main
session, was an effective mechanism to enhance participation and improve the exchange of
views and information. It suggested that COFO take note of this strategy and recommend it
for possible adoption by other Regional Forestry Commissions. The Commission also urged
COFO to consider ways of enhancing the participation of the private sector and
non-governmental organizations in Regional Forestry Commission sessions and activities.
NORTH AMERICAN FOREST COMMISSION (NAFC)
(20th session, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, 12 to 16 June 2000)
- The FAO Forestry Department be given the resources it needs to fully participate in the
implementation of any future program of work of the proposed United Nations Forum on
Forests;
- FAO expand its urban forestry program;
- FAO pay greater attention to management at the watershed level, focusing on the
restoration of degraded watersheds and the maintenance and protection of existing
watersheds;
- FAO address issues related to watershed management in an integrated fashion across all
sectors of the Organization;
- FAO establish a program of work to address issues related to recreation, eco-tourism and
the use of forests as outdoor classrooms for public education.
NEAR EAST FORESTRY COMMISSION (NEFC)
(Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran, 1 to 4 July 2000)
- The FAO Forestry Department should further support capacity-building for data
collection, storage, analysis, dissemination and use;
- Noted the relevance to countries with low forest cover in other regions of the Teheran
Process and the Teheran Declaration, as well as the intention of the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran to establish a secretariat to promote the Teheran Process;
- Stressed the importance of non-wood forest products to the countries of the Region, and
the initiatives to sustainably manage, develop and promote NWFP which may be of relevance
to other regions;
- Noted the steps taken to further develop and implement criteria and indicators for
sustainable forest management through the Near East Process;
- Noted the steps taken to develop national forest programmes and revise forest policies,
and the need for FAO to continue this endeavour;
- Noted the potention importance to forestry sector development of certain of the
provisions of the Kyoto Protocol.
LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN FORESTRY COMMISSION (LACFC)
(Santa F� de Bogot�, Colombia, from 4 to 8 September 2000)
- Emphasised the importance of improving the quality and accessibility of forest
information as the foundation for the planning, development and formulation of forestry
policy and the importance of the FAO proposal to conduct the project of information and
analysis for sustainable forest management and the Outlook Study for Latin America and the
Caribbean;
- Noted the growing importance of national forest programmes as a comprehensive framework
for the formulation, planning and application of the forestry process in the Region,
especially for implementation of the proposals of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests
and also noted FAO's cooperative work in support of national forest programmes in the
Region;
- Drew attention to the importance of the forestry sector in the mountain areas of the
region, and the opportunity provided by the International Year of Mountains 2002 to raise
awareness of these ecosystems. Also the need to integrate forest management into the
general management of natural resources at catchment basin level;
- Given the important role that forests can play in implementation of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Commission requested that FAO help strengthen
national technical capacities by providing information and training on the Convention and
its instruments;
- Stressed the importance of the Subregional Groups established under the Commission as
mechanisms to facilitate the integration and exchange of information and experiences among
countries in support of their national forest policies and programmes;
- Recommended that the Committee on Forestry seek appropriate strategies to foster the
development of the forestry institutions of the countries of the Region;
- In view of the considerable uncertainties in the way countries are addressing the
management of native forests, the different positions adopted, the need to involve local
communities and the need to generate local benefits and achieve sustainable development,
requested that FAO promote recognition of integrated natural resource management by
communities as a valid strategy for the conservation of forests;
- The Commission considered that it was vital to reinforce the action of FAO's Committee
on Forestry to promote the forestry production chains in the projects it executed, as well
as other actions implemented through the programme of support to the national forest
programmes.
EUROPEAN FORESTRY COMMISSION (EFC)
(30th session, held jointly with the 58th session of the ECE Timber
Committee, Rome, 9 to 13 October 2000)
- Noted the importance of balancing the environmental, social and economic elements of
sustainable forest management and stressed that economic viability is a key component of
long-term management;
- Emphasised that reliable, current data and information were essential for sustainable
forest management, for the development of forest policy, for planning and for the
monitoring of progress in regional processes and stressed that transparency and
participation in data collection and in the synthesis and dissemination of information
would continue to be essential;
- Noted that many member countries had developed national forest programmes and recognized
the importance of cross-sectoral issues to the nfp process. The joint session recognized
the benefits of inter-agency co-ordination/collaboration in approaching cross-sectoral
issues and the potential of the ITFF and its successor to promote this;
- Urged that FAO play a leadership role in the proposed Collaborative Partnership on
Forests and to contribute to the work of the UNFF, building on experience learnt from its
contributions to the IPF and IFF;
- Supported the continuation and revitalization of AFWC/EFC/NEFC Committee on
Mediterranean Forestry Questions Silva Mediterranea, drew attention to the
Committee as an example of inter-regional collaboration in matters that go beyond their
own regional interests, with particular reference to the shared problem of forest fires
that could be of interest to other regions as well.
MATTERS FROM OTHER STATUTORY BODIES FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE
COMMITTEE
THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PAPER AND WOOD PRODUCTS
3. The Advisory Committee on Paper and Wood Products (ACPWP) held its 40th
session in S�o Paulo, Brazil, from 27 to 28 April 1999. The Committee:
- commended the work done on the finalisation of the Global Fibre Supply Model and
recommended the planning of follow-up activities;
- recommended that FAO gave higher priority to work related to Global Climate Change,
especially on the issue of carbon sinks and definitions;
- recommended stronger involvement in the promotion of sustainable forest management,
especially with regard to the development of certification;
- recommended the continuation of work on recovered paper and the establishment of a
Working Group on this topic.
4. The Committee held its 41st session in Rotorua, New Zealand, from 2 to 3
May 2000. The session concluded that:
- follow-up activities of the work done on global climate change should be planned;
- FAO should play a very active part in the World Bank Forestry Sector Review;
- more frequent contacts and exchange of information (particularly in the field of
certification) take place between FAO and the private forest industry sector;
- there was need to evaluate the feasibility of undertaking an outlook study on recovered
paper.
PANEL OF EXPERTS ON FOREST GENE RESOURCES
5. The Panel held its eleventh session at FAO Headquarters, Rome, from 29 September to
1 October 1999. It recognized FAO's international leadership and its role in advising
and collaborating with national institutes in the conservation in and ex situ,
enhancement and sustainable utilisation of forest genetic resources.
6. The Panel passed a number of recommendations, among others:
- Raising of awareness of the social, economic and environmental benefits of conservation
and wise utilisation of forest genetic resources through well-targeted information;
- Provision of up-to-date information on the state of the world's forest genetic
resources, notably through continued development of the FAO World-Wide Information System
on Forest Genetic Resources (REFORGEN);
- Facilitation of the exchange of information, technologies and forest reproductive
materials for evaluation and conservation purposes, on mutually agreed terms;
dissemination of information on access, benefit-sharing and biosafety; support to
networking and twinning arrangements;
- Support to national institutes in the development and implementation of forest genetic
resources programmes within the framework of regional and sub-regional strategies;
- Further development of methodologies, guidelines and pilot activities on the in situ
conservation of forest genetic resources;
- Continued collaboration with IUFRO and other international and national partners on
harmonization of forest genetic resources-related concepts and terms.
INTERNATIONAL POPLAR COMMISSION
7. The International Poplar Commission held its 21st session, the session of
its Executive Committee and meetings of its subsidiary bodies in Portland, Oregon, USA,
from 24 to 28 September 2000. The 21st session noted the increasing
interest in the broad range of goods and environmental services provided by poplars and
willows (including their growing use for bio-energy and for phyto-remediation of polluted
sites) and made the following recommendations:
- there was a continued need for the conservation of the genetic resources of natural
populations of poplars and willows;
- increased attention should be paid to the safe movement of reproductive material and
issues of plant quarantine;
- the potential of fast-growing plantations of poplars and willows to contribute to
environmental benefits - including meeting the aims of the UNFCCC, the CBD and the CCD -
should be recognized in national policies;
- research priorities for poplars included detailed studies at regional and global level
of pathogen populations and their range and on the potential application of biotechnology
to enhance wood quality.
DEVELOPING THE ROLE OF THE REGIONAL FORESTRY COMMISSIONS
8. RFCs serve as regional fora for the exchange of technical and policy information and
the promotion of FAO action and assistance for forestry development. Feedback from the
sessions of the RFCs (see below) and from individual members shows that RFCs have
substantial potential and capacity to:
- identify emerging and major regional forestry issues;
- bring these matters to global attention where appropriate;
- provide countries with greater access to know-how and information, e.g. through
networking within and between regions;
- enhance the co-ordination of technical activities; and
- promote regional integration.
9. Since 1995, FAO has taken action to strengthen the RFCs, to enhance their inputs to
COFO and their involvement in the development of the COFO agenda. Bureaux of all RFCs were
invited to contribute to the identification of items for the COFO agenda, the theme for
the next World Forestry Congress and to providing inputs for the Task Manager Report to
CSD-10 on Agenda 21, Chapter 11. FAO technical support officers at Headquarters have been
allocated to support study groups, e.g. NAFC. Wider publicity has been given to the
background papers for the Regional Forestry Commissions that have been put on the FAO
Forestry Department website since the RFC meetings of 2000.
10. FAO is ready to further develop RFCs, recognizing that environmental, social,
cultural and economic differences between and within regions call for flexibility in
defining their roles and responsibilities. In reviewing the future role of the RFCs, COFO
member countries may wish to consider the following:
- In order to promote greater interaction between senior forestry officials, informal
meetings could be held annually, between the formal biennial meetings. Technical sessions
could be organized outside plenary RFC sessions, to encourage the exchange of information,
e.g. comparable to the pre-session seminar of the APFC on the removal of forests from
timber production;
- Since there are big differences in forest cover, forest policy objectives, stage of
economic development or even geographic distance between countries in regions, the
sub-regional groups might be further developed, e.g. the four sub-regional groups of the
LACFC. Such sub-regional groups should, and frequently do, interact and collaborate with
existing sub-regional bodies, e.g. the periodic meetings of ASEAN (Association of
South-East Asian Nations) forestry officials, the annual South Pacific Heads of Forestry
meeting or the African Timber Organization, the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought
Control in the Sahel (CILSS), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), etc;
- The working (or study) groups of the Regional Forestry Commissions could play a bigger
role in policy and technical matters, for example in:
- the development of regional or sub-regional operational guidelines for nfps, e.g. along
the lines of the existing partnership between the AFWC and the African Academy of
Sciences;
- the further development and especially implementation of criteria and indicators for
sustainable forest management;
- support to the Global Forest Resources Assessment;
- provision of regional inputs to SOFO.
- The activities of the working groups of the Regional Forestry Commissions could be
developed (where they exist), or initiated (where there is need for them), e.g. by
strengthening the links between the appropriate technical officer and the working group,
as has been done in the case of the study groups of the NAFC. The NAFC made
recommendations that related to the active role they wished FAO to play in study groups;
- Joint meetings of RFCs, of sub-regional groups or working groups, could be held with
other relevant bodies;
- Increased publicity for the work and outputs of the RFCs and their working (or study)
groups.