Asia-Pacific Foresty Commission
Six Regional Forestry Commissions were established by the FAO Conference between 1947 and 1959. Every two years, the Commissions bring together the Heads of Forestry to address the most important forestry issues within their regions. The Commissions consider both policy and technical issues. The Commissions play a key role in the international arrangements on forests, serving as a link between global dialogue at the Committee on Forestry (COFO) and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), and national implementation of the policy framework for achieving sustainable forest management described by the FAO and the United Nations.
The Regional Forestry Commissions are also active between formal sessions. Most of the Commissions have technical working groups or sub-regional chapters to implement projects that benefit from collaboration among countries in their respective regions.
Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) members include countries in south and north Asia (ranging from India in the west, through central Asia and up to China and South Korea) and all South Pacific countries. APFC does not formally employ staff, but rather works through study groups, working groups, networks and committees established to address specific issues. This informal method of working enables member countries to participate in activities that are of interest and/or relevant to their particular country. The Secretariat of APFC is hosted and staffed by the Forestry Department of the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok. In 1998 the Regional Office put together a series of studies on the outlook for forestry, forest industries and forests in the region to 2010. Work is underway to prepare a second forest sector outlook (to 2020) for the region.
APFC focuses on three main areas of work:
- promoting improvement in forest management for multiple benefits
- forest policy, economics and institutions
- fostering greater involvement of people in forestry.
Current activities include:
- training to assist countries implement national codes of practice for forest harvesting
- field activities to support practical, low-cost forest rehabilitation techniques
- preparation of guidelines for the responsible management of planted forests
- preparation of a second regional forest sector outlook – towards 2020
- study of constraints to private sector forest investment in the region.
The last APFC meeting was in Hanoi, Vietnam, in April 2008 as the centre piece for the first Asia-Pacific Forestry Week. The session provided input to both the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) meeting in March 2009 and the United Nations Forum on Forestry (UNFF) meeting in April 2009. Issues brought to the attention of COFO and UNFF included:
- how regional forestry commissions can best contribute to UNFF
- the importance of capacity building for forest resource monitoring and assessment, and achieving institutional change
- the need to strengthen the capacity of countries to deal with climate change issues
- the importance of forest law compliance and the detrimental impacts of illegal logging.
The next session of the APFC will be in Beijing in June 2010.