Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.
APEC was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community.
APEC has 21 members - referred to as "Member Economies" - which account for approximately 40.5% of the world's population, approximately 54.2% of world GDP and about 43.7% of world trade.
Since its inception, APEC has worked to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers across the Asia-Pacific region, creating efficient domestic economies and increasing exports. Key to achieving APEC's vision are what are referred to as the 'Bogor Goals' of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies. These goals were adopted by Leaders at their 1994 meeting in Bogor, Indonesia.
In the APEC Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development in Sydney, September 2007, the APEC Economic Leaders agreed that economic growth, energy security and climate change are fundamental and interlinked challenges for the APEC region.
The Declaration noted the importance of forests and land use and agreed that sustainable forest management and land use practices play a key role in the carbon cycle and need to be addressed in the post-2012 international climate change arrangement.
The Declaration included an Action Agenda in which it was noted that forests can play a critical role in the carbon cycle and that ongoing action is required to encourage afforestation and reforestation and to reduce deforestation, forest degradation and forest fires, including by promoting sustainable forest management, combating illegal logging and addressing the underlying economic and social drivers. The APEC Leaders:
- agreed to work to achieve a regional aspirational goal of increasing forest cover in the APEC region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020
- welcomed the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate launched in Sydney in July 2007
- welcomed the development of other instruments which may include continued work on a Legally Binding Instrument on Sustainable Forest Management for those economies interested in pursuing this option
- agreed to establish the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation to enhance capacity building and strengthen information sharing in the forestry sector. Collaboration between all regional initiatives on forests, including the Asia Forest Partnership, will be important
- agreed to co-ordinate with relevant international institutions to develop forest program partnerships, including the proposed World Bank forest carbon partnership facility.