FO:LACFC/2002/15

INTRODUCTION

1. The concepts that provide the grounds for national forest programmes as broadly defined by the IPF/IFF, are widely known both by the focal points of those programmes, by the representatives of the countries involved and by the organizations of international cooperation that will take part in this event. A similar event was held in September 2000 during the previous meeting of the Commission. Many of the guests have analyzed the situation of the national forest programmes in the Region at recent events including the II Latin American Forestry Congress, Guatemala, August 2002 and the meeting at Puembo, Ecuador in February 2002. This paper assumes that the reader has a basic knowledge of the situation based on participation in or reading the reports of these earlier meetings.

HOW NATIONAL FOREST PROGRAMMES HAVE PERFORMED

2. International interest in the development of national forest programmes dates back to the launching of the Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP) in 1985, followed by National Forest Action Programmes (NFAP) starting in 1992. Subsequently the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) emphasized the central role of national forest programmes in achieving sustainable forest management. Recent developments at the international level include the creation of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) in October 2000, aimed at facilitating the execution of the recommendations of the IPF/IFF with a five-year action plan. The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) was founded in 2001, a partnership of 13 international organizations that supports the UNFF process and the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals for action. In 2002 the National Forest Programme Facility was launched by FAO and a number of partner countries to provide additional support to implementing national forest programmes.

3. Several studies have been conducted on the progress and status of national forest programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last two years, including those conducted by the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the one already mentioned held at Puembo and the "Analysis of the Impact of national forest programmes" conducted in 2001 by the FAO/Netherlands Partnership Programme (FNPP) in 17 countries of Latin America. These studies indicate positive changes in many countries compared to the situation prior to putting into practice the TFAP/NFAP as regards an improvement to the consciousness of the government and civilian society of the importance of forest resources, knowledge of those resources, the production and dissemination of information on them, the institutional structure and regulations concerning the forestry sector, the practice of consensus among the different actors on policies and their instruments, the training of those actors, the execution of a greater number of projects and the existence of new financing funds.

4. However, there is a consensus that the implementation of national forest programmes is very heterogeneous and, in many countries, needs improvements, as it continues to be managed in those countries by a predominantly intrasectorial view and where the lack of national investments in harmony with the importance of the forestry resource still prevails. Some countries are still lacking a coherent plan to guide their forestry development and many of those who did prepare one in past decades have not been able to up-date it, for different reasons, in a really participatory manner in line with changing national realities.

5. On the other hand, recent global mechanisms for international cooperation have still not been able to demonstrate the expected improvements in the management of forest resources. Generally speaking, the expectations created during the TFAP/NFAP processes have not been fulfilled, either at the international or national levels.

6. As a result of the sum of these constraints, the deterioration of renewable natural resources and the conditions of the population that depends on the good management of forests, continues to spread at an accelerated rate in the Region, whilst the contribution of forestry management to national development is, in almost all countries, an unattained goal despite its enormous potential.

STRENGTHENING NATIONAL FOREST PROGRAMMES

7. The situation in most of the Region indicates to the focal points of the national forest programmes the need to formulate or strengthen action strategies to be undertaken inside the countries themselves; and to strengthen an interactive network among countries, in order to overcome obstacles still hindering effective programme implementation. The opportunities provided by this event could be taken advantage of for agreeing on such a strategy, proposing the Commission's support for its execution. A prudent deadline for reaching immediate objectives could be fixed at two years, when the Commission meets again.

8. To contribute with the profile of an initiative in this sense, it is suggested to elaborate further some of the topics that have been identified in the analysis of the problem.

9. The laborious work of permanent promotion of each national forest programme, that means furthering national and international interest in participating and supporting in its up-dating, execution and appraisal, exceeds the normal capacity of most national focal points. One approach would be to organize national inter-institutional committees for coordination and consensus, of a reduced size, but highly efficient, composed of stakeholders from the public and private sectors who are able to influence immediate and strategic decisions on the different socio-economic and environmental areas, aimed at maintaining the national forest programme at a high level of national consideration and compliance. Moreover, bearing in mind some supra-national needs of the national process, it would be recommendable that the focal point and the members of that committee meet regularly with their peers in other countries, something that would lead to a regional articulated and functional structure.

10. National forest programmes as political and technical processes that guide sustainable forestry development, must remain valid and pertinent so far as their conceptualizations are concerned and when designing strategies, instruments and action in accordance with the national contexts and long term perspectives, following the operational principles agreed during the international forestry dialogue. Achieving that level of up-dating and credibility could be based on an agile but profound analysis of the restrictions that limit the programme's objectives being achieved, from where a transectorial strategy is traced to remove them. The speed and profoundness of this stage of the work can be ensured due to the abundance of diagnoses there are on these matters.

11. The analysis would also include compliance with commitments from the IPF/IFF/UNFF process and the difficulties that delay the effect of international mechanisms of support for national forest programmes, in order to suggest corrective measures.

12. Conducting a joint examination would be very useful, at a regional level, of the strategies and proposals for certain measures and action for each national forest programme, aimed at enriching it with similar experiences in other countries. This examination would have greater effect if it were to be conducted within an event which was able to count on the presence of experts from outside the Region and it would be necessary to fix a deadline for completing the analyses and definitions in each country.

13. The results obtained from this analysis could motivate adjustments on the inside of national proposals, for example in adapting them to the future global forestry scenario and inducing regional or several sub-regional strategies which were in harmony with and in addition to national approaches. Therefore, the result of such an examination should be made available so that when the deadline of two years is reached for complying with the rapid action plan, the action determined for each country and for the Region has already begun.

14. Financial support for undertaking this rapid action plan should be sought in the co-financing of its costs with resources from each country and international funds, for example those that could be obtained from the National Forest Programme Facility. This search could be the objective of a proposal to be submitted to the Facility, as well as those suggested by the countries themselves aimed at increasing their capacity for modernizing and promoting the implementation of the programmes and to have a regional mechanism together with political, technical and informative action in the execution and following up of them.

15. The FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, as the Commission's Secretariat, executor of the FNPP and a part of the functional structure of the National Forest Programme Facility in the Region, will act as an aid for coordinating and carrying out the strategic and action plan.