Background
Under the umbrella of the International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO), substantial progress has been made to develop and operate a global forest information service (GFIS) to enhance access to forest information and ensure that it is accessible to a wide range of stakeholders.

During the 10th GFIS taskforce meeting, held on 20-21 September 2003, in Quebec City Canada, it was proposed to organize a specific Asia consultation with major players in the field of forest information management in order to discuss the possibilities for the development of GFIS in Asia.

The first GFIS Asia meeting was held December 12-13 2003, at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. During this meeting it was agreed that the second GFIS Asia Consultation meeting would be held at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, Malaysia.

In the mean time, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) agreed that “GFIS would become a joint CPF Initiative”. The goal of embracing GFIS as a CPF initiative is to support UNFF and its member countries by further increasing the competence of CPF with regard to access to and management of forest-related information. Based on this CPF decision, IUFRO, CIFOR and FAO are preparing a proposal for further development of GFIS as a CPF Initiative. This proposal will be presented at the next CPF meeting which will take place in New York in September 2004.

Goal
The goal of this second Asian consultation is to elaborate further the GFIS concept with potential partners from key forestry institutes in Asia by defining a common goal in order to continue to develop opportunities for joint action and to stimulate a collaborative development of the GIFS Asia project.

Objectives
The specific objectives of this consultation were:

1. Introduction and demonstration of the GFIS to new participants;
2. Provide an overview of global & regional initiatives on information management, metadata and information services;
3. A metadata hands-on experience;
4. Develop key components for a GFIS Asia project;

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Topics
The following topics were discussed, under the three main themes: GFIS & recent activities, capacity building and training and developing the GFIS Asia project:

• Policies and procedures
• Past and present experiences (GFIS Africa)
• Regional GFIS needs & expectations
• Global & regional ICT/KM initiatives
• Metadata and content
• Language issues
• Intellectual property rights
• Roles and responsibilities
• Potential partners
• Potential donors

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Highlights of the consultation
• Presentations:
o GFIS current and recent activities; GFIS concept, CPF initiative, GFIS prototype
o country presentations from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and China
o A presentation on best practices in Information Management and data sharing
o Global and regional data management/training initiatives (iMark & ASEAN/IKM)
o Metadata Dublin core
• Extensive discussions on language issues, IPR, metadata vs. data, Dublin core, information services, information systems, training, capacity building, coordination & communication.
• A GFIS metadata creation and submission hands-on exercise.
• Smaller group discussions (appendix I)
• Proposed a GFIS Asia organization structure with roles and responsibilities
• Identified initial steps to move forward

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Conclusions
• There is a strong consensus on the usefulness of GFIS, particularly in Asia;
• The needs of participating countries vary widely in terms of capacity building, coordination and IT/ data management assistance.
• National institutes can communicate directly with the GFIS coordination unit to submit metadata or to get technical support.
• A regional/national coordinator is needed to play an active role in capacity building, networking and training.

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Key outputs
• Defined a common goal and objectives for a GFIS Asia project (appendix I)
• Defined key roles and responsibilities for players in the Asian region (appendix II)
• User feedback; list of 1) advantages of joining GFIS, 2) expectations from GFIS and 3) what activities are needed to join GFIS (appendix I)
• IUFRO/APAFRI will send a letter to the national institutes to get the consensus and commitment from the various national institutions to participate in and contribute to the GFIS Asia project.
• Within 1 month, the national institutes will submit an initial plan and budget to support their GFIS-related work ('seed money') to IUFRO/APAFRI;
• All presentations and minutes will be made available online by CIFOR

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