UNFF and its predecessor bodies have highlighted the need for closer cooperation among the C&I processes to promote consistent development and implementation of C&I by learning from each other’s knowledge and experience. CICI 2003 was unequivocal on this issue. It recommended that “Criteria and indicator processes and their member countries strengthen cooperation, including South-South and North-South cooperation, by sharing of experiences and know-how, for example, through joint meetings, workshops, ministerial conferences, e-mail networks and other appropriate mechanisms”. It went further to recommend that for this purpose they should as far as possible “use existing mechanisms and fora, such as Regional Forestry Commissions, the CPF Task Force and existing expert groups (CICI 2003)”.
Currently there is no formal mechanism for coordination among processes. But fortunately there is already a degree of co-ordination on an informal basis. In fact the very existence of some of the current initiatives is the result of international collaboration. This is seen in the fact that all the C&I processes have adopted the same seven themes as criteria although some have more than this number. Many of the key terms used also have gained global acceptance. In more recent times contacts and interactions between processes have increased due to a number of high-level meetings, such as the international expert consultation in 2001 (FAO 2001), the international expert meeting on monitoring, assessment and reporting, 2001 (MAR Yokohama 2001) and the CICI conference in 2003 (CICI 2003). The level of inter-process interactions has also been enhanced through a number of international initiatives promoting the monitoring, assessment and reporting function under the umbrella of UNFF17. In addition experts of different C&I processes sometimes participate in each other’s meetings. Furthermore, FAO and ITTO as focal points for C&I within the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) have worked towards the cohesive development of information on the development and use of C&I.
However, apart from these somewhat ad hoc, and largely informal, exchanges the level of cooperation and collaboration among many of the processes has been low. This could be due to the different stages of development of processes, lack of opportunities, cost involved or the perceived lack of mutual advantage. The result has been duplication of effort, inability to benefit from synergies and implementation below potential.
Inter-process cooperation can cover many areas including exchange of concepts, information and experience; further development of C&I and developing common sets of C&I. With regard to information gathering cooperation can help develop data collection protocols, tools and assessment methods, as well as compilation and reporting18. In other words it needs to be recognized that cooperation and collaboration are ways to offset, to a large extent, the inadequate capacity in many processes, avoid time-consuming research on matters others may have already studied as well as progressing implementation of C&I in a more consistent way. It could result in reduced developmental costs, better focus and more effective implementation.
There are many different ways that closer coordination and collaboration among processes can be achieved. Some of them are shown below.
17 See for instance UNFF 2003 and Viterbo, Italy, 2003
18 See Rameststeiner and Wijewardana (2003) for more information.
