Terms of Reference for the FAO Advisory Group on FRA

On request from its member countries, FAO has been monitoring the world’s forest resources through periodic assessments since 1946 in collaboration with countries and other partners. To implement this mandate, FAO regularly seeks broad guidance from a number of national and international experts and agencies. The “Global Forest Resources Assessments –linking national and international efforts” meeting held in Kotka, Finland in July 2002, reviewed FRA’s progress in assessing the status and trends of the world's forests and discussed future global forest resources assessments. Among its many important recommendations was the suggestion that FAO establish an advisory group to the FRA process to provide technical guidance and to finalize specifications for future global forest resources assessments. The sixteenth session of the COFO, held in March 2003, endorsed the major recommendations of this meeting, including the establishment of an advisory group on global forest resources assessments. The Advisory Group (AG) is informal in nature. It is a long-term arrangement with meetings anticipated to take place annually. Specifically, the Advisory Group is asked to review and make recommendations aimed at strengthening existing institutional networks and making future forest resources assessments increasingly user-oriented, demand-driven and more closely linked to other international processes.

More specifically, the AG carries out the following tasks:

1. Advise FAO and its partners on the implementation impacts of recommendations from expert consultations on forest resource assessments.
   
   
2. Advise on how FRA can support countries to implement Sustainable Forest Management.
   
   
3. Advise on the strategic planning, organization, process and time frame of FRAs.
   
   
4. Advise on technical matters related with forest resources assessment including variables and their definitions for FRA.
   
   
5. Advise on the scope, content and reporting format for the FRA country reporting process as well as on complementary global and regional remote sensing assessments.
   
   
6. Advise on capacity building activities as part of the FRA process.
   
   
7. Advise on communication strategy and consultations among different stakeholders in the FRA process, including regional arrangements, expert consultations, links with other international forest-related processes, Criteria and Indicators for SFM and the Sustainable Development Goals.
   
   
8. Advise on the role and terms of reference of the FRA National Correspondents.
   
   
9. Any other FRA related task approved by the AG.
   
   

Operational Mechanism for the FAO Advisory Group on Global Forest Resources Assessments

a. The FAO Advisory Group on Global Forest Resources Assessments (hereafter termed AG) is an informal body constituted of not more than 20 members.

b. The AG members are selected by the FRA secretariat from the main international processes, key partners, national correspondents (NC) and academia, aiming at including NCs from the major geographical regions.

c. The AG members are participating in their personal capacity, and not as official representatives of their governments or organizations.

d. The term for AG members will be two years, renewable upon agreement of AG member and the AG Secretary.

e. The AG can establish ad-hoc task-forces and invite experts to participate them and to provide technical advice during its meetings. It can also invite professionals to attend its meeting as observers.

f. The AG will normally meet once a year. However, it can be called, as and when required.

g. The AG can also function through teleconferences and email group discussions, if and when required.

h. In the event an AG member retires or changes job the member should notify FAO so that arrangements for continuation or replacement can be made.

i. To provide timely information and maintain transparency in its activities FAO will publish the composition of the AG on the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment website.

j. The AG will have a Secretary to manage, document and process its operations with FAO providing necessary secretariat support. The FAO Senior Forestry Officer and Team Leader, Global Forest Resources Assessment, will function as the Secretary to the FRA AG. S/he will be responsible for preparing the minutes for each of its meetings.   

k. The AG will have a Chairperson and a Co-chair that will serve for a five-year period to coincide with the preparation of FRA and delivery of the main outputs. The Chair and Co-Chair will be selected from nominations submitted by AG members and FAO to the AG Secretary.  The Chair and Co-Chair will be selected from the list of nominations provided in advance of the first AG meeting in each FRA cycle.  The selected Chair and Co-Chair will serve terms that end with the last AG meeting prior to the release of the FRA Main Report.   

l. The Chair and Co-chair, in coordination with the Secretary, will jointly manage AG meetings.

m. The draft minutes of the meeting will be prepared by the Secretary and distributed to the members of the AG for comments. Based on comments received, the Secretary will finalise the minutes and submit these to the Chairperson/Co-Chairperson for approval.

n. The Secretary to the Advisory Group will submit the minutes of the meetings to the Forest Management Team of the FAO Forestry Department for its consideration. Other members of the AG may also submit the minutes to the respective reviewing bodies in their organization through their normal channels of communication.

o. The AG may make changes to its OM as and when required.