Decentralisation reforms are currently reshaping the distribution of authority and responsibility between government, industry and civil society across the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) and Indonesian Ministry of Forestry will co-host a workshop in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in September 2006 to look at how this trend is affecting forestry.

AFP members will use the workshop to share their experiences of decentralisation and discuss ways to address the challenges it presents.

In the Asia-Pacific region, finding appropriate forms of decentralised forest management and forest governance is an ongoing challenge. Stakeholders first discussed these issues at the 1998 International Seminar on Decentralisation and Devolution of Forest Management in Asia and the Pacific, in Davao, the Philippines. High-level decision makers and other key stakeholders then met in 2004 to share information and ideas at the the Interlaken Workshop on Forest Governance in Federal Systems.

The Yogyakarta Workshop will bring together representatives of local, provincial, state and national governments, community and civil society organisations, and international agencies. They will examine the lessons learned from a forestry decentralisation congress held in 2004, in Interlaken, to develop policies and practices applicable to the Asia-Pacific region. Local perspecitives are of special importance and this workshop aims to strengthen community based involvement in the regional and global dialogue on forests.

Partners supporting the workshop include: CIFOR, the Ministry of Forestry (Indonesia), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC), the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Intercooperation, the Federal Office for the Environment (Switzerland), and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). AF, GD

Further information atwww.cifor.cgiar.org/docs/_ref/events/workshop-yogya.htm