The expert consultation recommended for immediate follow-up:
to FAO to:
· develop
consistent terms and definitions on rattan and its products; and
· harmonize
existing measurement concepts and methodologies for rattan resources inventories
and for accurate collection of statistics on rattan products;
to INBAR to:
· establish a list server on rattan;
· conduct, with
the assistance of CIFOR, a study on the economics of large- and small-scale
rattan plantations;
· conduct, with the assistance of FAO, a study on
improving forest policies and relevant regulations with regards to rattan;
· commission a study on potential
alternative market mechanisms to provide greater transparency and competition in
the rattan trade (e.g. auction mechanisms); and
· update and publish the existing rattan bibliography on its web site.
The expert consultation recommended that governments of countries with rattan resources be encouraged:
· At the national level to:
Develop and implement a national rattan strategy involving all stakeholders in a participatory process.
Include rattan as an integral component of national forest and conservation policies, as well as forest management plans, giving due attention, where appropriate, to rattan in the national and regional processes on Criteria & Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management.
Establish specific pilot projects focused on critical issues such as property rights and management institutions; opportunities and constraints to community-based resource management; and post-harvest treatment.
Strengthen national research programmes/activities through enhancing the network of rattan research and development activities, including the establishment of "rattan scholarships".
· In support to actions at the international level to:
Commission the development of a five-year international rattan development programme with the primary objectives of promoting and undertaking rattan development activities with partner institutions in the various regions and strengthening global networking in rattan research and development. This international programme would enhance national institutional capabilities and examine the possibilities and merits of INBAR establishing/strengthening nodal point(s) in national institutions as permanent focal point(s) to continue the long-term programmes on rattan research and development.
Revive the Rattan Information Centre (RIC) established in 1982 in Malaysia.
Support awareness-raising campaigns on conservation, management and processing of rattan (e.g. impacts of insufficient taxonomic/biological knowledge of rattan conservation issues) with senior policy and decision makers at international development, conservation, research and funding agencies, as well as senior government officials in rattan producing/consuming countries.