Appendix 3: Working group discussion notes

Working Group 1: On problems encountered in completing and using the JFSQ

The participants discussed the possible problems (listed) and requested clarifications or answered as follows:

Q1) Receiving the questionnaire on paper/via e-mail/floppy disk

A1) Countries prefer to receive the questionnaire in all three forms.

Q2) Downloading via the Internet

A2). Accessing the Internet is not a problem as all member countries in the group use it for communication and information purposes.

Q3) Understanding the data structure: JQ1, JQ2, DOT1, DOT2, SP1, ITTO1, ITTO2, and ITTO3

R3) There are no problems in understanding the data structure. But some confusion exists with the item titled "Industrial Roundwood (wood in the rough)” in trade, which simply means “unprocessed”. It was recognized that the term, created by trade organizations responsible for traded product classification, is misleading. Two suggestions were made: to delete “wood in the rough” in the title or leave the title unchanged but define “wood in the rough”.

In most countries, there is difficulty in identifying “of which tropical”, notably in terms of imports since common names are usually used in the trade documents. The suggestion is to provide a list of tropical species existing in all countries.

Q4) Using classifications: SITC Rev. 3; HS96

A4) Using classifications SITC Rev. 3 and HS96 is not a problem since all the countries conform

with either one of these classifications.

Q5) Definitions

A5) Definitions – countries follow the FAO definitions so there is no problem here.

Q6) Using EXCEL

A6) All countries are familiar with EXCEL.

Q7) Communication with FAO/ITTO

A7) Communication with both FAO and ITTO should be maintained.

Q8) Collecting/integrating different data sources in the JQ Production/Trade

A8) Collecting/integrating different data sources for production and trade. Coordination among offices is non-existent or very limited. In some countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal, there are different agencies collecting the same data resulting in conflicting or inconsistent data sets.

Working Group 2: Suggested improvements of JFSQ 2002 data

The group discussion concentrated on estimation of the consumption of other industrial wood, fuelwood, including wood for charcoal, and charcoal; this took into consideration that almost all of the participating countries do not report systematically and FAO is forced to estimate in order to have a comprehensive picture of roundwood produced.

 

Background

As part of the Yearbook of forest products 2000, production estimation of fuelwood, including wood for charcoal, and charcoal has changed. On the other hand “Other Industrial Roundwood” has not changed, production continues to be based on a per capita basis.

Countries do not report fuelwood statistics very often. So, for many countries, FAO must estimate fuelwood production. Recently, FAO revised the complete series of fuelwood production figures dating back to 1960, based on a new model for fuelwood consumption that is believed to produce more reliable estimates. In some countries, these new estimates vary greatly from those that were produced earlier.

Fuelwood, including wood for charcoal, and charcoal

For many countries, fuelwood and charcoal production is not reported every year. Production of these products is believed to be significant in many of these countries and these statistics are required to calculate total roundwood production. Consequently, FAO estimates fuelwood and charcoal production. These estimates are now based on a statistical model relating fuelwood and charcoal consumption to a number of other variables. These variables include: population; income; the distribution of population between urban and rural locations; forest cover; oil production; temperature; and land area. Full details of the model used to produce these estimates can be found in the Global Forest Products Outlook Study on the FAO website. In some countries, these new estimates vary greatly from those that were produced earlier. However, the model used to produce these new estimates is believed to produce more reliable estimates than were presented in the past. As identified in the past, production statistics that are estimated from this model rather than supplied by countries are identified with an “F” in FAO’s statistical database (FAOSTAT).

Other industrial roundwood production estimates are based on Table 1.

Table 1. Estimating industrial roundwood

The participants observed that:

1.         Per capita consumption estimation of fuelwood and other industrial wood as given in the sheet provided during the workshop seems to be on the high side.

2.         Estimation on the basis of the study conducted is possible for fuelwood and other industrial wood only. 

3.         Charcoal, as a regular source of energy in member countries is not very common. 

4.         The estimation of consumption of other industrial wood and fuelwood on the basis of the recent study is possible but analysis of such a study with periodic field verification or ground-truthing is essential.

5.         Population estimation projections of the affected group have to be viewed with relevant parameters. 

6.         Estimation of the consumption of fuelwood and other industrial wood may be affected by the increasing supply of other energy sources for the affected group over time.

7.         A considerable number of member countries might not have been included in the target study for energy consumption owing to local disturbance or other unforeseen reasons. In such cases, estimation for such countries could be unrealistic. 

As part of the discussion, country studies on estimations of other industrial roundwood for selected countries in the region were envisaged.

Working group 3: Discussions

The participants were divided into two subgroups to discuss issues related to the main problems (and their solutions) of forestry information systems (FIS) in assessing, disseminating and using wood product statistics for increasingly sophisticated users. The first subgroup composed of Cambodia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka identified the following problems and provided solutions.

Problems

Solutions

Potential users of data

 

Problems

Lack of well-established mechanisms for information flow within the country

Data quality

Solutions