CICI 2003 considered the matter and recommended that “The FAO Committee on Forestry should reaffirm implementation of criteria and indicators as a FAO programme priority, including technical assistance and capacity building, and through the National Forest Programme Facility based on requests by developing countries with specific needs and requirements. It also recommended a strengthened FAO role in facilitating collaboration among criteria and indicator processes”.
International organizations have played a critical role in the development and promotion of C&I over the past decade. It was ITTO that pioneered the use of C&I in sustainable forest management in 1992. Over the next ten years it revised the early set, promoted and assisted countries to implement them, trained users and organized reporting on progress of implementation. FAO, along with UNEP, also played an important role in the establishment of most of the C&I processes in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In much of Africa forest management efforts by countries is facilitated largely by NGOs. In fact the credit for the existence of a number of processes should go to FAO, which has also provided technical support. At a policy level FAO and ITTO have convened a number of international and experts meetings in addressing outstanding issues, and maintaining high-level interest in the subject.
In response to our enquiry all C&I processes surveyed agreed that there is an important role for FAO and ITTO to continue to be involved in C&I. Many were concerned that they were in the stage of development but lacked capacity to progress. Ram Prasad (2004 personal communication) expressing the position of DFA countries in response to the questionnaire summed up the position of many developing countries: “Most nations (in this region) appear unconcerned, ignorant, resourceless and unable to break out of the morass without someone’s help”. This shows the problem is deeper than the need for resources. The main areas for action identified by processes were capacity building, cooperation and collaboration, promoting awareness and commitment, themselves using C&I, and efforts to involve countries outside any process to join in. Details of the suggestions on future roles of FAO and ITTO are given below.
a) Capacity building
• Mobilize/leverage funding
• Promote availability of information through implementing C&I
• Promote institutionalizing the gains
• Facilitate training/research
• Undertake secretariat facilities
• Organize meetings
• Establish domestic forestry department contacts within each country for C&I and make him or her the recipient of travel assistance to meetings
• Expand the rapid assessment idea on which FRA is working
• Work with NGOs to coordinate their in-country data gathering work
b) Cooperation
• Promote N-S/S-S co-operation
• Facilitate within country partnerships with other sectors. Begin with inter-sector coordination as a lead to building country coordination infrastructures.
• Promote regional project activities including demonstration projects
• Provide links with other processes
c) Awareness and commitment
• Promote awareness
• Promote political commitment
• Convene a high level meeting on C&I (if necessary in conjunction with other meetings) every four to five years
d) FAO, ITTO and other international organizations use C&I in appropriate analyses and reports
e) Promote the Involvement of countries outside any process.
C&I are recognized as the principal tool in the march towards SFM. But they are still at an early stage of development in most countries. The effectiveness of some processes and the survival of others continue to depend on the support and input of these organizations. That effort needs to continue until general viability is achieved.
