Ms. Cropper co-chairs the Assessment Panel of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and is a member of the Board of the Trinidad and Tobago Environmental Management Authority and Trustee of its Environment Fund. She was a member of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, and was the Chairperson of its Editorial Committee and Editor of the Commission's Report. She is a former Chair of the Board of Trustees of Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana. Ms. Cropper is also the co-founder and at present President of The Cropper Foundation, a not-for-profit organization contributing among other things to public policy for sustainable development.
She has worked with International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) as Project Manager for the Eastern Caribbean; with the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) as Director of Functional Cooperation and Adviser in Environment and Education; with IUCN - the World Conservation Union as Head of Governance; with UNEP as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity; with UNDP as Senior Advisor in Environment and Development.
Angela replaces Dr. Jagmohan Maini, who has stepped down after three years of unswerving commitment to CIFOR and its objectives. CIFOR News hopes to feature an interview with Jag in its December edition.
The September 21-28 World Forestry Congress in Quebec will see CIFOR stamp itself as one of the worlds leading forest research institutes through a number of prominent events and seminars. These range from "Sustainable Development of Non-Wood Forest Products" and "Tropical Secondary Forests in Latin America, Asia and Africa", through to "CIFOR: A Decade of International Forestry Research" and "Forests for the Poor - The Rainforest Challenge".
Forests have sustained life on earth since time immemorial, providing food, shelter, energy, wood and wildlife habitat and ensuring soil and water conservation. Forests are a source of income, cultural identity and spiritual well being. One of today's greatest challenges is finding ways to balance the conflicting and growing demands of all those who depend on the forest for survival and development.
The XII World Forestry Congress will explore innovative ways to address current and emerging issues, including those of a cross-sectorial and interdisciplinary nature. Discussions will be structured to help formulate recommendations and forge a vision of the future based on a balanced approach to sustainable forest management.
Details about the WFC and CIFOR's presence visit are available from the contacts listed below or by visiting www.wfc2003.org
Radisson Quebec Hotel, Quebec, 08.30 - 20.30, 20 September 2003
The culmination of a year-long global dialogue among stakeholders, this side-event will examine the conservation, development and management of non-wood forest resources and products. Participants from around the world will consolidate the state of knowledge and explore ways to strengthen institutional relations to support non-wood forest products science and development. The forum will formulate broad strategies and recommendations to advance research and action oriented programs on these products and their relationship to the sustainable development of social and ecological communities. Major themes will include "Commercialization: A reality check", "Linking NWFP Management with Livelihood Development" and "Institutional and Policy Dimensions". The key output of the event will be the "Quebec Declaration on Non-Wood Forest
Products"
Sponsors & More Information
IUFRO: Jim Chamberlain - jachambe@vt.edu
CIFOR: Brian Belcher - b.belcher@cgiar.org
FAO: Paul Vantomme - p.vantomme@fao.org
Palace Royal Hotel, 775 avenue Honoré-Mercier, Quebec, 2:30 - 14:00, 22 September, 2003
Although not appearing as such in statistics - Secondary Forests occur extensively throughout the tropics and their area is increasing rapidly. Properly managed, secondary forests can make a vital contribution to sustainable development. They provide valuable and numerous environmental and socio-economic goods and services that are important for rural development. They also play an important role in biological conservation, the restoring site productivity and relieving pressure on undisturbed forests. Interest in secondary forests has increased significantly in recent years. Various initiatives are underway to explore their status, extent and importance, to improve their management, and to define and implement appropriate policies and research strategies. Regional workshops in Latin America, Asia and Africa have brought together a wealth of information and invaluable insights, all of which will be presented and discussed at the side event.
Sponsors & More Information
CIFOR: Cesar Sabogal
c.sabogal@cgiar.org
EC LNV: Herman Savenije h.j.f.savenije@eclnv.agro.nl
FAO: Froylán Castañeda froylan.castaneda@fao.org
GTZ: Helmut Dotzauer
dotzauer@samarinda.org
ITTO: Eva Müller rfm@itto.or.jp
ICRAF/WAC: Bashir Jama b.jama@cgiar.org
Hilton Hotel, 22 September 22, 2003 Québec
The "Rainforest Challenge" is a powerful new research and development partnership recently formed by the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations. These include: World Conservation Union (IUCN), Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). The partnership unites a growing team of the top experts and institutions from the South and the North and will operate for the next seven to ten years.
The side event will introduce and seek collaborators to examine rural poverty in the tropics and the continuing loss of unique forest ecosystems. The side event will examine how the "Rainforest Challenge" can generate knowledge, develop technologies, and validate strategies that empower poor people to secure access to and use forest resources. It will also look at how the "Rainforest Challenge" can reconcile local and global needs pertaining to environmental services and how to bridge the gap between science and policy in land use programs in pursuit of Agenda 21 commitments and Millennium Development Targets.
Sponsors & More Information
CIFOR: Bruce Campbell b.campbell@cgiar.org
IUCN: Stewart Maginnis stm@iucn.org
WWF International:Jeffrey Sayer jsayer@wwfint.org
ICRAF/ASB: Thomas Tomich t.tomich@cgiar.orgl
Side Event - World Forestry Congress
Radisson Hotel 18:30 - 20:00 23 September, 2003 Québec
Just as the values, technology and politics of society constantly evolve and change in the world around us, so has the world of forest research. Especially during the past ten years, globalization, growth in information and communication technologies, the influence of international processes such as the WSSD, increased networking, and changing consumption patterns are all affecting the world's forests and hence the research priorities and approaches. The rapid changes in forest tenure, markets, civil society, community forestry and governance are creating both opportunities and threats for the worlds forests and those who depend on them. Forest research must learn from the lessons of the past if it is to succeed in the future. This side-event will look at the road just travelled in forest research and the new directions it must pursue.
Speakers & More Information
Moderator: Hosny El-Lakani, Assistant Director General of Forestry, FAO (to be confirmed); Jag Maini,
Former Head, United Nations Forum on Forests and Member, CIFOR Board of
Trustees CIFOR; David Kaimowitz, CIFOR: "Forest research that matters"
d.kaimowitz@cgiar.org; Risto Paivinen, EFI: "The evolution of European forestry research over the last ten years"
risto.paivinen@efi.fi; Yemi Katerere, CIFOR: "Capacity building in forestry research in Africa"
y.Katerere@cgiar.org; Jeff Sayer, WWF: "Responding to new challenges - issues of complexity, scale and multiple objectives"
JSayer@wwfint.org
It is commonplace for people to say that Cameroon is Africa in miniature. The meaning of the expression becomes fully evident when we take stock of the situation of the country's forests. Cameroon's forests encompass all the interests, hopes and concerns that currently weigh on the tropical forests of the Congo basin. This CD Rom strives to be a state-of-the-art compilation of the key documents on Cameroon's forests in the course of the last two decades - forests that have been subject numerous reforms concerning management, conservation and forest policy.
Funders
This compilation of material on forests and peoples in Cameroon includes 108 full-text documents in Adobe format (scientific publications, oral communications, unpublished reports, working papers, briefing notes, newsletters, etc), 22 maps, 88 photographs, 150 hyperlinks to Internet sites, and almost 700 bibliographic references. The CD-rom was funded by different programmes at CIFOR, and with the substantial contribution by the Institut Recherche pour le Développement (IRD).
For a free copy of the CD-Rom contact n.sabarniati@cgiar.org
Villejuif (France) - November 12-14, 2003 Hôpital Paul Brousse, 12-14 Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, and at the André-Georges Haudricourt Centre at CNRS, 7 rue Guy Môquet, Villejuif, France.
Throughout time and space, relations between humans and animals have given rise to extremely varied representations. Each society reserves a privileged place for one or several special animal species with a system of stories, beliefs and practices surrounding them. The study of such species allows the appreciation of an important aspect of the society's culture. During this symposium, emphasis will be placed on animals that occupy a "keystone" position in the representation of society. According to ecologists, a "keystone" species - animal or plant - is one that determines the dynamic balance of an ecosystem. If the "keystone" species is affected or disappears, the functioning of the whole ecosystem is endangered.
The symposium will bring together a hundred researchers whose backgrounds, goals, and intellectual choices highlight different and divergent views on this issue. Three lectures by personalities, 30 oral presentations, 8 permanent slideshows and a panel of 15 to 20 posters will be presented and discussed. The multidisciplinary character of the topics will allow not only a forum for sharing experiences and knowledge but also an opportunity for fruitful discussion on people, their language and environment.
For details on how to register and submit an abstract, please visit http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/actualite/AnimalSymbolism/index.htm or email e.dounias@cgiar.org