In her first formal appearance as CIFOR’s new DirectorGeneral, Frances Seymour met with the IndonesianMinister of Forestry, M.S. Kaban on 14 November 2006. Ms.Seymour, who had worked in Indonesia's forestry sector inthe late 1980s and early 1990s, expressed her happiness inreturning and seeing so many familiar faces.

She said it was appropriate her first public event was atthe Ministry of Forestry, given its “special relationship” withCIFOR. In addition to formally welcoming Ms. Seymour toIndonesia in her capacity as CIFOR's new Director General,the event also included a panel discussion on “Making WellInformed choices about Forests” and was well attended bykey Jakarta based partners and stakeholders.

Opening the event, the Minister described it as “animportant meeting, where we can discuss and promoteawareness of CIFOR’s forestry research, as well as consolidateour relationship with CIFOR’s new Director General,Frances Seymour”. He went on to raise the importanceof “enhancing working relations and information sharing(between CIFOR and the Ministry of Forestry) as well asgood coordination, in order to successfully develop theforestry sector”.

Following the Minister’s welcome, Ms. Seymourdelivered the keynote address focusing on the challengesCIFOR faces in helping stakeholders “make well informedchoices about forests”. One difficult issue CIFOR constantlydeals with in its relationship with stakeholders is balancingthe role of CIFOR researchers as advisors to decisionmakerswith CIFOR's need to maintain its independenceas source of analysis about forests.

In other words, she asked, shouldn't CIFOR's jobinclude both "responding to questions from governmentand business" as well as telling "them, and the broaderpublic, what questions they should be asking? Even if ourresearch findings are inconvenient?" An example of thedifficulty of finding the right balance, she said, was herunderstanding "that CIFOR has done a very good job ofequally irritating our various partners and stakeholderswith our research findings. Sometimes governments areunhappy with our results. Sometimes forest industry isunhappy. And sometimes NGOs."

Ms. Seymour also reflected on the achievements ofCIFOR and noted that an independent reveiw in 2006described CIFOR as “the leading international forestresearch center within its mandate”. She also noted that thesame review said CIFOR needed a new strategy to guideits future direction. Accordingly, CIFOR “will be assessingwhat the world needs in terms of forestry research andwhat CIFOR can deliver”, Ms. Seymour said, adding thatconsulting with partners and stakeholders will be animportant part of the strategy development process.

The key note addresses were followed by a paneldiscussion “Making Well Informed choices about Forests”and an open discussion on CIFOR's current forest researchstrategy and suggestions for where it could move forward.Around 100 key forestry stakeholders participatedin the discussion, including representatives from theMinistry, national parliament, private sector, NGOs,donors, embassies and universities. The event marked thebeginning of what will no doubt be a productive workingrelationship between CIFOR’s new DG, the Indonesiangovernment and Indonesia’s forestry stakeholders.

*For full transcripts of the speeches by Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban and CIFOR Director General, Frances Seymour, visit:http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/highlights/new_dg.htm