Since 1946, FAO has conducted various regional and global assessments of forest resources every five to ten years, on request from its member countries.
As knowledge on the forest resources has improved at national levels and as technology has advanced, the Global Forest Resources Assessments have increased in breadth and quality. FRA 2000 was the first assessment to use a homogeneous set of definitions globally and it is to date the most comprehensive assessment of the global forest resources. FRA 2000 was based on information provided and validated by the countries, supplemented by state of the art technology to verify and analyse the information.
Global variables for FRA 2005: The Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) does not have a fixed reporting format, but the Global Tables provided for the Global FRA 2000 - Main Report represent the format used in the last assessment. Work is underway for the preparation of a new and updated version of FRA Questionnaire for the year 2005.The planned set of Global variables for FRA 2005 describes the data items to be reported in the FRA main report, and for which data are requested from, and standardized for, all countries. Variables related to criteria of sustainable forest management are used as an overall framework for FRA reporting.
Criteria and indicators: In the next Global Assessment, FRA will use criteria for sustainable forest management (SFM) as a framework for the global reporting. The recent international meeting on C&I held in Guatemala (3-7 February 2003) acknowledged the following thematic areas of sustainable forest management common to all regional and international criteria and indicators processes, and COFO recommended that FAO use these in the overall framework for FRA 2005:
1 Extent of forest resources
2 Biological diversity
3 Forest health and vitality
4 Productive functions of forest resources
5 Protective functions of forest resources
6 Socio-economic functions
7 Legal, policy and institutional frameworks (this theme will not be covered by FRA 2005)
Thematic areas 1-6 are similar to those identified by the Kotka IV Expert meeting1.
FRA on the web: www.fao.org/forestry/fra
Dialogue at the international (global) and regional level is an essential complement to the efforts of individual countries to develop appropriate forest policies, institutions and practices. FAO supports a number of statutory bodies specifically designed to provide neutral fora for discussion in the field of forestry.
Foremost among the FAO Forestry statutory bodies is the Committee on Forestry (COFO). Heads of forest services and other senior government officials meet at FAO headquarters every two years to identify emerging policy and technical issues, to seek solutions and to advise FAO and others on appropriate action. The work of the FAO Forestry statutory bodies is a combination of problem identification and policy and technical advice, to FAO, its members and others as appropriate.
FAO, through its decentralized forestry structure, supports six regional forestry commissions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Near East, and North America. These Commissions, composed of countries, generally meet every second year, and provide a forum for FAO member countries to discuss both technical and policy issues at the regional level. Drawing on regional experiences, the Commissions advice FAO on policy formulation and on priorities for its forestry programme. The regional Commissions also facilitate the participation of NGOs, particularly local organizations, and the private sector. The topics of reporting are always variable, according to the needs and the concerns of the reporting region at that moment.
Regional Forestry Commissions on the web. http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/forestry2/index.jsp?siteId=1400
International Poplar Commission: Notwithstanding its name, the mandate of the International Poplar Commission (IPC) covers willows as well as poplars. The functions of the IPC are to study the scientific, technical, social and economic aspects of poplar and willow cultivation, to promote the exchange of ideas and material among research workers, producers and users, to arrange joint research programmes, to stimulate the organization of congresses and study tours, to report and make recommendations to the FAO Conference, and to make recommendations to National Poplar Commissions, through appropriate channels.
The IPC meets in session every four years. Between Sessions its affairs are run by an Executive Committee, which meets every two years. Working Parties fulfil the functions of the IPC to study and exchange ideas on all aspects of the cultivation of the Salicaceae, and make recommendations to the Executive Committee and Sessions in their fields of expertise.
Gene Panel: The FAO Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources, which regularly gathers 15 members representing a given region of the world, in their own capacity, reports to FAO on developments in the field of forest tree genetic diversity at regional level. Panel members collect information and data through their own network of personal contacts in individual countries. There is no direct request to the member countries and no questionnaire is despatched to countries for this purpose.
The Panel provides updated information on the sate of the genetic diversity of the most important forest trees in the world's eco-regions, and help guide FAO's programmes in the methodology of global information collection and analysis. Reports of the Panel meetings are published and posted on the Internet.
FAO Forestry Statutory Bodies on the web:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/forestry2/index.jsp?siteId=1400
International Poplar Commission on the web: http://www.fao.org/forestry/ipc
Gene Panel on the web: http://www.fao.org/forestry/gene-panel
The publication of the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products and the FAOSTAT database are the main output in this field of products and trade. The publication of the FAO yearbook is made possible by the cooperation of the governments which supply most of the information in the form of replies to questionnaire. Beginning in 1999, information on production and trade was gathered using a Joint Forest Products Questionnaire supported by the Forestry Department of FAO, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). This joint questionnaire is in response to requests from member countries to rationalise the approach to the forest sector data collection and dissemination.
Forest products and trade on the web: http://www.fao.org/forestry/trade
FAOLEX is a comprehensive and up-to-date computerized legislative database, the world's largest electronic collection of national laws and regulations, as well as treaties, on food, agriculture and renewable natural resources. The information on national laws on agriculture, forestry and fishery (mainly extracted from government gazettes) is request by FAO to the member countries annually by means of an official request.
FAOLEX is updated every day by the information coming from member countries. It is weekly updated on the web.
FAOLEX on the web: http://faolex.fao.org/faolex/index.htm
Through its standard normative work FAO Forestry Department is in contact with its 184 member country representatives on a regular basis. These representatives are collectively referred to as focal points. Some are very official as the top official responsible for forest issues in a country, while others are more technical. Through the FAO membership, member countries are obliged to furnish details on various official focal points, the most official being the COFO country representative. This list is updated every second year, prior to COFO.
COFO national correspondent's page on the web is going to be published soon.
FRA national correspondents on the web: http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra-nc
1 FAO expert consultation on "Global Resources Assessment - linking national and international efforts" referred to as `Kotka IV' was held from 1 to 5 July 2002 in Kotka, Finland. It highlighted the alarming gaps in forest information in many countries and made proposals on suitable strategies for FAO to address this issue. The focus of the expert consultation was to identify strategies, methods and mechanisms for future global forest resources assessment.
