The Asia Forest Partnership (AFP), which was initiated in 2002 to promote sustainable forest management through a regional forum for forest stakeholders, has renewed its commitment for a second phase of eight years (2008-2015), at the 7th Annual Meeting in Yokohama, Japan, November 2007.
The partnership has aligned its agenda for sustainable forest management in line with current international trends and opportunities.
The Government of Japan, the Government of Indonesia, CIFOR and the Institute for Global Environmental Services (IGES) co-hosted the meeting and CIFOR has agreed to continue hosting the AFP Secretariat, optimistic about the new mandate and its capacity to effect positive change.
The goal of the new mandate is "to promote cooperation and catalyze action" among government and other forces, while enhancing the provision of forest products and ecosystem services. Reducing forest loss and degradation and combating illegal logging will be key themes in pursuit of this goal.
CIFOR's AFP Coordinator Teguh Rahardja believes that AFP's revised goal for its second phase is a much broader vision with the promise of more action than the first phase.
"In the past, information sharing through AFP has been very beneficial to CIFOR and other partners, but by strengthening our commitment and broadening our horizons this new mandate can take AFP to a new level of success," Pak Rahardja said.
Over 130 participants from 32 countries gathered in Yokohama to discuss key themes and functions for AFP, including Illegal Logging and Forest Governance; Forests and Climate Change; Networking and Partnerships; Country Initiatives and Reporting.
Among the participants was a broad range of relevant stakeholders including representatives from governments, civil society, NGOs, academic institutions and the private sector. Ideas and opinions were exchanged through 27 unique presentations on a variety of forest-related issues.
Yemi Katerere, CIFOR's Deputy Director General, shared Pak Rahardja's optimism. "Having Australia, New Zealand and some of the Pacific Islands get on board the partnership shows how wide reaching and powerful AFP can be, while also empowering smaller stakeholders to achieve greater success" Katerere said.
"Information sharing can benefit stakeholders in many ways," he added. "The majority of research conducted by CIFOR in Asia is focused on Indonesian forests, so CIFOR can really benefit from sharing research about other Asian forests to help us maintain a good balance."
AFP will aim to pay greater attention to the protection of forest-dependant people and to improving forest governance, with increased synergy among projects, multistakeholder dialogue and information sharing.
Story by Clare Rawlinson, CIFOR and Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS)
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Asia Pacific Forestry Week - Hanoi, Vietnam, 21-26 April 2008
The first-ever Asia-Pacific Forestry Week (APFW) will be staged from 21-26 April in Hanoi, Vietnam.
APFW will bring together upwards of 500 individuals from governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutions, regional and international networks, UN agencies, the private sector and the media.
CIFOR will have a major presence at APFW, through a range of events and activities including co-hosting two key plenary sessions:
- Forests and Climate Change (Wednesday, 23 April), in collaboration with FAO
- Dialogue on Timber Trade, Forest Law Compliance and Governance (Thursday, 24 April), in collaboration with AFP, DFiD, IGES, TNC and the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia.
CIFOR will also launch several publications, while Frances Seymour, Director General, will make a presentation at the Tuesday plenary session, People, Forests, and Human Well-being: Managing Forests for People in a Period of Rapid Change.
For more information about APFW, go to http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/44755/en/ |