The group work 3 focussed on development of national o their national work plans providing information to FRA 2005 in synergy with their regional work plan. The participants for “Group Work 3” were organised (Annex 4) according to coverage of countries by the six “FAO Regional Forestry Commissions” (Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, Near East, and North America). The task was to develop the national and regional work plan for providing information to FRA 2005. The countries belonging to Africa region were further divided in two sub-working groups based on their language (French and English). Similarly, Latin America and Caribbean region was divided in two sub-groups (Latin America” and “Caribbean”) leading to a total of eight working groups. Each working group elected a chairperson and a FRA resource person served as the secretary for the working group. Annex 7 presents the complete TOR for Group Work 3 and the following is brief description of tasks and outputs.
Mr. Peter Holmgren gave guidance on Group Work 3 and its terms of reference (Annex 7) to the participants (Annex 14.1). Based on the earlier deliberation in plenary and group works, each of the six working groups was planned to develop its work plan for generation and submission of information to FRA2005. The working groups were tasked to examine how regional offices can coordinate and facilitate the process of country reporting including organization of regional workshop. Further, they were requested to asses their resource, capacities and mechanisms and identify gaps or weakness so that proposal to build their national capacities for providing data to FRA 2005 can be developed and implemented.
The working groups were expected to list of main activities for their work plans of action (including capacity building) needed for providing country information to FRA 2005 during 2004 at national and regional level. In addition, they were expected to express their expectations from regional offices in coordination and facilitation of submission of country information to FRA 2005 including organization of regional workshops.
The national work plan basically had two main components: (a) List of main activities and (b) Time plan. Most of the working groups provided list of main activities but only few working groups presented detail time plan.
Each working group developed the list of main national activities during 2004 to provide information to FRA 2005.
Main National Activities
Main National Activities |
Common to the region (as indicated in working groups) |
Examination of Data Request from FAO |
AP, NA, EU, LAC, AF |
Organization of a National Meeting of all stakeholders to take stock and share responsibilities. |
AP, NA, NE, EU, AF |
Participation in first Regional workshop with partial data and partial data processing to fine tune reporting to match FAO needs |
AP, NA, EU (Virtual workshop for country present in this meeting and real workshop for absent countries), LAC, AF (English speaking countries request only for National workshops rather than Regional workshops) |
Collection of remaining data and or Updating data |
AP, NA, NE, EU, LAC, AF |
Data Compilation and Analysis (including, review, calibration, estimating, forecasting, and reclassification) |
AP, NA, NE, EU, LAC, AF |
National review and validation of complied and analyzed information |
AP, NA, NE, EU, AF |
Participation in second Regional Workshop for final cleaning of data and informal submission of information |
AP, NA, LAC, AF (English speaking countries in these FAO regions requested only for National workshops rather than Regional workshops) |
Country clearance |
AP, NA, AF |
Final Formal Submission |
AP, NA, NE, EU, LAC, AF |
There was great variation among working groups in terms of development of a time plan. Some working groups provided detailed time plan, some gave rough time plan and some did not provide any time plan stating that it can done after consulting their colleagues in the country. Following indicative time plan emerges out after the inputs provided by member countries.
Indicative time plan
Main National Activities |
Indicative Time Band |
Examination of Data Request from FAO |
January – February 2004 |
Organization of a National Meeting of all stakeholders to take stock and share responsibilities. |
January – March 2004 |
Participation in first Regional workshop with partial data for clarification and assistance to match FAO needs |
March 2004 – June 2004 |
Collection of remaining data and or Updating data |
February 2004 – June 2004 |
Data Compilation and Analysis (including, review, calibration, estimating, forecasting, and reclassification) |
April 2004 – July 2004 |
National review and validation of complied information |
August – September 2004 |
Participation in second Regional Workshop for final guidance and informal submission of national report |
September – October 2004 |
Country clearance |
October - November 2004 |
Final Formal Submission |
October - November 2004 |
Similar to national work plan the regional work plan had two components i.e. activities and time plan related to them. The perceptions and presentations of working groups regarding regional work plan to implement FRA 2005 had lot of variation (indicative to detailed plan). Following table provides an overview of such regional proposals or work plans.
Main Activities |
Region |
Indicative Time Plan |
Electronic Networking among NCs and Hot-line Assistance |
AP, EU |
January – November |
Training and Assistance for Development of in C&I |
AF, AP. LAC |
March 2004 |
Organization of Regional Training Workshops |
AP, EU, LAC, NA (NAFC) |
First: March - April Second: Sept. - November |
Eco-regional Map |
NA (NAFC) |
January – September |
Facilitation in information processing and submission to FRA |
AF, AP, EU, LAC, NA (NAFC), NE |
March – November 2004 |
Validation of data |
EU |
|
Establishment of “Regional Group of Experts” |
AP |
(Note 1 AP First workshop is proposed in Bangkok and second in Beijing with help of INBAR
2. NA regional there is no FAO regional Office, the NAFC provides some support)
All working groups stressed need to enhance the role of regional forest offices in facilitating country reporting to FRA. They suggested to use electronic media to enhance such facilitation specifically they suggested development and maintenance of a regional electronic network of National Correspondents to (a) provide necessary documentation and information, (b) serve as Hot –line or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) type of help line, and (c) provide them direct electronic links to regional focal points at FRA secretariat in Rome.
Role of Regional Offices
Role in Providing information to FRA 2005 |
Region |
Development and maintenance of Electronic Networking for FRA 2005 |
AP, EU. LAC, AF |
Organization of Regional Training Workshops |
AP, EU, LAC, NA (NAFC) |
Facilitation in information processing and submission to FRA |
AF, AP, EU, NA (NAFC), NE, |
Establishment of “Regional Group of Experts” |
AP |
Eco-regional Map |
NA (NAFC) |
Visitor Exchange Program |
AF |
Information Management System |
LAC |
The country participation in each of the working group for this GW3 was quite high and productive. Following table indicates the countries that participated in each working group.
Working group |
Country participation in the working groups |
Africa (French) – AF |
Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Repub. Of Djibouti, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo (16) |
Africa (English)- AF |
Algeria, Botswana, Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe (18) |
Asia Pacific region – AP |
Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic Of Korea, Sri-Lanka, Thailand (17). In addition, Mr. M. Kashio from RAP office Bangkok and Mr. M. Lobovikov, INBAR also participated. |
Caribbean - CA |
Guyana Montserrat, West Indies, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago (7). |
Europe – EU |
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (26) |
Latin America – LA |
Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Republic Dominica, El Salvador, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay (15) |
Near East - NE |
Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan (4) |
North America – NA |
Canada, Mexico and United States (3). There is no regional office and “NA Forestry Commission” attempts to provide some support to the countries in this respect. |
(Note: For this group work, the countries in each working group were grouped according to FAO Region/ Sub Region)
