WULF KILLMANN
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations
For its forty-first session and plan of action for the period 1999-2000, the Committee recommended FAO at its fortieth session to strengthen its work in the following fields:
– Mitigation of global climate change;
– Promotion of sustainable forest management;
– Follow-up to the Global Fibre Supply Model;
– Continuation of the recovered paper statistics;
– Assistance to small farmers growing trees.
At its fortieth session, the Committee recommended that FAO give high priority to the work on global climate change, including the issues of definitions and methods for accounting carbon sinks. It was stressed that FAO has a very important role to play in the promotion of the use of common definitions and accounting methods.
FAO considers the following aspects to be its comparative advantages in contributing towards the implementation process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol:
– Interdisciplinary technical capacity;
– Experience in gathering of information and management of reliable databases;
– Mandate of, and access to, member countries.
Consequently, FAO has been increasingly involved in climate change issues. In the past, FAO had been co-sponsoring the World Climate Conferences of 1970 and 1990. It has also, together with six other Agencies, co-funded the Co-ordination Committee of the World Climate Programme (WCP), which led to the Interagency Committee of the Climate Agenda (IACCA). As early as 1975, FAO has established the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture. In the past, FAO has hosted a number of expert consultations on climate change issues.
Realizing the cross-sectoral nature of the issue, already in 1988 FAO established an Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate in Relation to Agriculture and Food Security. It has 14 standing members from the different Divisions within the Agricultural, Sustainable Development, Forestry, and Economic and Social Departments. The Working Group has the function to co-ordinate all climate-related work within FAO.
FAO commissioned a study1 to review the current status of the Climate Change Convention process, the role currently played by other international institutions, and possible roles that FAO could play in this field. The report proposed various strategies for the development of a programme. At the moment, a long-term strategy is being developed and, in the year 2001, the Forest Products Division is planning to establish a post for a `Climate Change Officer'.
The FAO Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate is receiving increasing attention. It receives inputs from the different Departments and Divisions, and also from the Task Force on Carbon Sequestration and Substitution in Forestry. Within the presently ongoing process of FAO's medium-term planning, discussions are also taking place for the allotment of special funds for the working group.
FAO has always participated in meetings of the Conference of Parties (CoP to FCCC) and will also participate in the next meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies, which will take place in Bonn on 5-16 June 2000. FAO has also participated in many other international meetings dealing with the issue and has held discussions with the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC in order to strengthen the existing co-operation.
FAO organized and funded, in close co-operation with the Government of Honduras and the Central American Council for Environment and Development (CCAD), a regional meeting on the "Contribution of Forests to the Mitigation of Climate Change", which was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, from 4 to 6 October 1999. The meeting was attended by more than 100 participants from the region as well as by donor and private sector representatives. The main objectives of the meeting were to: i) identify the current studies and experiences on land-use change and forestry (LUCF) activities for the mitigation of climate change in Central American countries in order to assess the potential contribution of forests and forestry activities to carbon sequestration and substitution; and ii) identify possible donors and follow-up activities to make the Estrategia forestal Centro Americana para combatir el cambio clim�tico (EFCA) operational.
During 2000, FAO is also holding its Regional Forestry Commission conferences in Africa, Near East, Latin America, North America, and Asia Pacific. In all these conferences a paper will be presented on: Forestry and the Kyoto Protocol: Key issues to inform the participants on the present state of discussion.
During 1999/2000, FAO has been publishing a number of reports and technical documents on the subject. Some examples are:
– A report presenting the information available in Latin America and the Caribbean region on climate change.2 The report reviews the sources of emissions and possible reduction methods, the impact of FCCC and the Kyoto Protocol on the forestry sector.
– Options for carbon sequestration in contribution to the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD).3
– A study on the enhancement of carbon sequestration in Latin America.4
FAO reviewed twice the Special Report on Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (SR-LUCF) commissioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It prepared an input regarding bioenergy, forest products and forest definitions on afforestation, reforestation and deforestation (ARD) activities, and commented on a number of other issues raised within the report, in particular on the definitions. FAO also participated in the Fourth Lead Authors Meeting of this Special Report held in Geneva, in January 2000.
In April 1999, FAO held an expert consultation on land degradation and enhancement of carbon sequestration through sustainable land management.5
FAO intends to organize an expert consultation on the issue of verification of carbon stocks and changes, to be communicated by the countries within the context of the Clean Development Mechanism. It is proposed to review the existing methodological approaches, the available tools and standards and experiences, and to prepare recommendations for the verification of carbon stocks and changes at national levels in Non-Annex 1 countries. This consultation is expected to take place in late 2000 in Rome where 15 international experts would be invited to participate. The output would consist in a review of options and in the preparation of recommendations of standards, criteria, guidelines and procedures.
FAO holds the secretariat and promotes the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) to detect, predict and assess the impacts of climate change.
FAO has nominated technical officers to participate in working groups under the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM). The working groups are technical ones, and require technical inputs from the participants. The five working groups in which FAO will participate are:
– Impact of management strategies in agriculture and forestry to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate variability and climate change;
– Impact of desertification, drought and other extreme meteorological events on agricultural systems;
– Agrometeorological data management;
– Evaluation of training, education, capacity building in agrometeorology, including textbooks, web pages and other published materials; and
– Interactions between climate and biological diversity.
FAO is an active member of the Inter-Centre Working Group on Climate Change of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Inter-Centre will hold a workshop in July 2000 to introduce climate change issues into the Agenda of CGIAR.
The Committee recommended that FAO assume a stronger involvement in the promotion of sustainable forest management, especially with regards to development of certification. It should ensure that there is no imposition of only one single initiative.
FAO has participated in a number of workshops and conferences where it has promoted the importance of moving towards sustainable forest management, and also addressed trade issues. It presented numerous position papers in workshops, seminars and regional meetings6. The position presented in these various papers is: i) the primary aim is to move towards the sustainable management of all forests; ii) a number of different actions may assist this, but the most appropriate are those that have the most direct effect; iii) certification is an indirect action that can be of supplementary assistance if carefully planned and implemented; and iv) a number of different approaches can be taken to verifying the standard of forest management, one of which is certification. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
FAO has been closely involved with the various criteria and indicator processes, and in particular has been assisting and supporting ongoing initiatives in this field, including the: ITTO; Pan-European (previously known as the Helsinki Process); Montreal; Tarapoto Proposal; Dry-Zone Africa; Near East; and Lepaterique Central America Processes; and in initiating a process for Dry Forests in Asia.
The FAO Forestry Department has been closely involved with a series of FAO regional training workshops for developing countries ("Training Course on the Uruguay Round and Future Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Agriculture").
The Committee recommended that work on the Global Fibre Supply Model be followed up. It was proposed to establish a follow-up group so as to address comments received so far and that data collected are maintained up-to-date.
FAO is preparing a project document to attract financial support from the international donor community. The World Bank, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and other institutions are interested to collaborate in this project. Some of the topics proposed to be covered are:
– Re-assessment of commercial forest volumes in the area of forest currently undisturbed by man using the latest data collected for the Forest Resources Assessment, 2000 (FRA2000).
– Compare the economic wood supply forecasts using four methodologies for selected countries: 1) FAO remote sensing; 2) Country inventory reports and GFSM data; 3) Other economic studies by consultants and institutions such as World Bank and CIFOR; and 4) Legally gazetted forest in each country and internal country analysis. From the comparative review establish a best estimate.
– Review of the plantation data to assess the sawlog/pulpwood forecasts for selected countries by species.
– Review of the economics of silviculture in both plantations and semi-natural forests and how industry is likely to get the greatest returns both in quantity and value.
– Document the area of forest in community-based management, woodlot or non-industrial land ownership and First Nations management. Review trends in individual countries and analysed what proportion of the total wood supply would come from these non-industrial sources.
Presently, FAO is prioritizing the subjects with the intention to focus on two or three of the items.
Members of the Advisory Committee are encouraged to participate in the review process of the project document. It is planned to have the first draft in early May 2000.
The Committee recommended that work on recovered paper statistics be continued. Assistance was offered in providing statistics on recovered paper and in establishing a small working group to address issues related to definitions, classification and organization of collection of data.
FAO is conducting the recovered paper data survey on an annual basis since 1999. Co-operation with the Confederation of European Paper Industry (CEPI) in the collection of recovered paper data initiated in 1999 and will continue. Steps were taken and repeated contacts were made with members of the Advisory Committee to establish a working group to review classification, etc., without any success (only two experts were nominated by members of the Advisory Committee). Consequently, work on recovered paper statistics will continue as in the previous year.
The Committee recommended that FAO look into the possibility to assist small farm holdings growing trees in Africa.
To define the most effective way to assist small farm holdings growing trees in Africa, FAO undertook two main studies as described below:
– FAO has initiated a study in Zimbabwe to develop a system to identify constraints and evaluate the potential for small-scale plantations for industrial wood. It also aimed at developing a methodology to review and analyse plantation out-grower schemes. It identified the major constraints to the successful implantation of out-grower schemes as: i) shortage of suitable land to grow the trees; ii) lack of sufficient financial resources to sustain the schemes over long periods; iii) uncertainty regarding future prices; and iv) lack of technical and business skills on the part of the growers. It concluded that out-grower schemes offer a real opportunity for extending plantation areas to meet increased wood fibre demand. Some of the issues to be addressed by both growers and processors include: land tenure, land suitability to grow trees on commercial basis, environmental considerations (including future certification requirement, and arbitration procedures. It recommended that a pilot project be implemented to test some of the suggested framework outlined in the document.
– FAO commissioned a Global Survey and Analytical Framework for forestry out-grower arrangements to assess the extent and location of out-grower schemes worldwide and to identify key parameters for successful out-growers schemes to provide guidance to forestry developers, decision-makers and participants in such schemes. A major difficulty in the study has been, and continues to be, the low response rate to questionnaires sent out. FAO is currently attempting to identify specific out-grower schemes that might be surveyed and provide better answers. The final document is scheduled for completion in mid-2000.
Based on the conclusions of the studies FAO will review the various assistance alternatives and attempt to raise funding for the most appropriate approach.
1 The Climate Change Convention and Forestry: A review and opportunities for the involvement of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Pedro Moura-Costa, EcoSecurities, December 1999.
2 El Protocolo de Kyoto y el mecanismo para un desarrollo limpio: Nuevas posibilidades para el sector forestal de Am�rica Latina y el Caribe, FAO, April 1999.
3 Options for carbon sequestration. Allen Keiser, March 2000, unpublished.
4 Prevention of land degradation, enhancement of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation through land use change and sustainable land management in Latin America and the Caribbean. A Methodology. November 1999, unpublished.
5 Prevention of land degradation, enhancement of carbon sequestration and conservation of biodiversity through land use change and sustainable land management with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. World Soils Reports, 86, Rome, 1999.
6 "Trade Instruments and their Impacts on Sustainable Forestry Development"PRIVATE. Paper presented to the Regional Seminar on Market-based Instruments for Sustainable Forestry Development, Hanoi, Viet Nam, 21-25 June1999;
"Certification of Timber and Timber Products". Paper presented to a World Bank workshop on Sustainable Forest Management: Forest Concession and Certification, Yaound�, Cameroon, 1-2 September 1999;
"The relationship between national-level forest programmes and certification processes". Paper for the World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use Forest Certification/Verification System Workshop, Washington DC, USA, 9-10 November 1999;
"World Market Trends, Trade of Forest Products and Environment Considerations". Paper presented to the FAO Project GCP/RAS/158/JPN China Forestry Policy Forum, Beijing, P.R. China, 7-9 December 1999;
"Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management and Implications for Certification and Trade in Africa". African Forestry and Wildlife Commission, Lusaka, Zambia, 27-30 March 2000;
A special chapter on "Trade Restrictions and their Future" was included in the ECE/FAO Timber Bulletin Forest products annual market review, 1998-1999, June 1999.