Taking into consideration:
· The importance of forest resources - from the social, economic and environmental standpoints - in the overall development of nations;
· The problems - technical, economic et institutional - facing the forestry sector and the direct and indirect consequences that degradation of the forest resources have on the daily lives of the population of the countries of North Africa;
· The decision of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission (11th session, April 1998), related to the preparation of the Forestry Outlook Study for Africa;
· The interest to carry out the outlook study to orient the sustainable development of the sector to the year 2020 and to provide the countries with a useful tool that can help them in sector planning and in the implementation of their respective forestry policies;
The participants recommend:
At the level of the countries concerned:
· The nomination of a permanent focal point responsible for the preparation of the country outlook paper and overall support to FOSA from now until the end of the study in 2002.
· The necessary financial, logistic and technical support to the FOSA National Focal Points in order to facilitate the tasks as outlined in the terms of reference which have been discussed in the meeting. This support concerns, in particular, the furnishing of information and data necessary for the study and coordination with other departments and with sub-regional organizations working in the country.
· Taking into consideration the:
¬ Workplan of the country outlook paper proposed during the planning meeting and for which the detailed proposal ought to be submitted to FAO towards the beginning of January 2000;
¬ The timetable for the entire outlook study;
¬ Preparation of the country outlook paper by September 2000;
¬ Participation in FOSA meetings and other activities until the release of the final reports (2002);
· The constitution of an interdisciplinary and intersectoral working group whose activities would be co-ordinated by the FOSA National Focal Point;
_ The integration of FOSA with efforts in national forestry planning, and in particular with the national forest programmes and the establishment of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management.
By FAO:
· To ensure technical support to the FOSA National Focal Points relative to the provision of information, useful documentation and regular contact;
· To take any measures necessary to facilitate the progress of the study by making direct contact with the country, governments and sub-regional organizations (governmental and non-governmental).
· To identify potential partners which could provide technical and/or financial support to FOSA.
· To consider the possibility of providing (supplementary) technical support at the sub-regional level for North Africa to facilitate the preparation of the country outlook papers and the sub-regional report.
The intensification and promotion of sub-regional and regional cooperation, in particular with organizations working in related fields, such as the Plan Bleu, OADA, Silva Mediterranea, ICARDA, etc.
ANNEXES
1. Agenda of the meeting
2. Participants list