The Regional Office for the Near East of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will organize an Experts Meeting to Finalize the Draft Voluntary Guidelines for Good Forestry Practices in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of the Near East Region in Tunisia during the period from 22-24 July, 2008.

This experts meeting will be attended by forestry experts from ten countries of the Region (Egypt - Algeria - Iraq – Mauritania - Morocco - Saudi Arabia - Sudan - Tunisia – Turkey – Yemen), in addition to regional and sub-regional Organizations, such as The League of Arab States (LAS), , The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), The Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), The Arab Organization For Agricultural Development (AOAD), The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 

The guidelines for Good Forestry Practices in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of the Near East Region were drafted in December 2007 in Alexandria, Egypt, during a first expert consultation. They were further reviewed in Khartoum, February 2008 by the Near East Forestry Commission (NEFC), which recommended convening a broader consultation involving national experts, regional and international Organizations as well as resource persons from inside and outside the Region. 

The purpose of this expanded experts consultation is to seek broader partnership and build consensus on the key elements that need to be considered for the guidelines. It further aims to improve and validate the draft guidelines and finalize it for publication by early 2009.
The guidelines will help countries of the region as well as regional and international organizations in the formulation and implementation of policy decisions on forestry in dry lands.