Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management (APFNet)
The Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) was officially launched on 25th September 2008 in Beijing. The establishment of the APFNet, proposed by China and co-sponsored by Australia and the United States, was agreed by the 15th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in September 2007 in Sydney, Australia. This outcome is incorporated in the Sydney APEC Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development to “enhance capacity building and strengthen information sharing on sustainable forest management in the forestry sector” in the region.
The APFNet aims to promote and improve sustainable forest management and rehabilitation in the Asia-Pacific region through capacity building, information-sharing, regional policy dialogues and pilot projects. It has three main objectives, which are in accordance with the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Global Objectives on Forests:
- to promote forest rehabilitation, reforestation and afforestation in the region to contribute to the achievement of the aspirational goal of increasing forest cover in the APEC region by at least 20 million hectares across all types of forests by 2020
- to strengthen sustainable forest management and improve forest quality in the region, including through climate change mitigation and adaptation responses, and to increase carbon sequestration
- to improve the productive capacity and socio-economic benefits of forest ecosystems and enhance biodiversity conservation in the region.
The first training workshop of the Network was held in October 2008 in Beijing.
The training courses covered issues in sustainable forest management such as forestry policies in a changing environment, illegal logging, laws and regulations relevant to forests, forest landscape restoration, forest certification and forest products trade.
APFNet co-hosted an international symposium which discussed policies on trade in timber and timber products in Beijing in December 2008. Of particular interest to participants were policies and legal frameworks for combating illegal logging and associated trade.
Recent activities of the AFPNet include:
- hosting a symposium of the future development, activities and membership of APFNet (28-29 August 2009)
- hosting a training workshop of methods, tools and skills for promoting legal and sustainable forest management and trade in the Asia-Pacific region (31 August–6 September).