FAO organized an expert consultation from 6 to 10 March 2000 to help evaluate a range of technical options for estimating forest change for FRA 2000. Mr. El Hadji Sène, Director of the Forest Resources Division (FOR), initiated the workshop.
Mr. El Hadji Sène welcomed the participants to the expert consultation and expressed his gratitude for the contribution of the time and expertise of all the participants. He invited the experts to interact and candidly share their views with FRA staff members.
Mr. Sène highlighted FAO’s mandate to provide worldwide information on forest resources and stressed the importance of this information in light of the need of member countries to manage and wisely use their forest resources. He stressed the need to report accurately and to fine-tune the methodologies related to data collection, processing and dissemination of this information.
Robert Davis, FRA Programme coordinator, invited the visiting experts and Programme staff members to introduce themselves. He noted that the experts were selected on the basis of their specialised knowledge and serve in their personal capacities and not as representatives of their governments. In this respect, FAO serves as a neutral forum to facilitate critical discussion on various aspects of food and agriculture, including forestry.
Risto Päivinen, Deputy Director, European Forest Institute, from Finland, was elected Chair of the expert consultation. Robert Davis was elected vice-Chair and Andrew Gillespie from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, from the United States was elected rapporteur to the meeting.
The immediate objectives for FRA 2000 are to:
1) Carry out an assessment of forest resources (including information on products and services provided by forests) on a global basis.
2) Estimate the changes in forests that have taken place since the last assessment in 1990.
3) Compare these changes with the results of all past assessments to establish trends.
4) Provide information that helps understand the reasons for and the effects of change, including the social, economic, and environmental implications.
5) Disseminate results, databases, and methodologies to interested national and international institutions, world-wide.
FRA will provide the basic source of information and knowledge on the world’s forest resources. It is expected that FRA 2000 will facilitate discussion at all levels and stimulate decision-making on how to manage and protect forests at the global scale.
In collaboration with co-operating institutions and member countries, FAO is also working to compile required information and develop a comprehensive understanding of the situation regarding changes in forests at the national level during the 1990 – 2000 timeframe. The present expert meeting reflects FAO’s commitment to carry out FRA 2000 through a collaborative process that engages experts from around the world to contribute their expertise and assistance. The results of the of this expert meeting will form an integral part of the FRA 2000 publication series as well as set the stage for conducting the final FRA 2000 report on forest change.
The FRA 2000 work is carried out by FAO, in the field and at its headquarters in Rome, with the assistance of donors, partners and member countries alike. One component, the compilation of country data for developed countries, is based in Geneva and is carried out jointly by FAO and UN/ECE.
FRA 2000 is implemented by FAO and UN-ECE in cooperation with many partners. The FRA programme in Rome is responsible for the overall management and coordination of the assessment. The FRA programme maintains the Forest Resource Information System (FORIS) database where basic forestry data from developing countries is archived. Other units within the Forestry Department also contribute to FRA 2000 by carrying out special studies related to non wood forest products, trees outside forests, fellings and removals, plantation surveys, etc. The FAO Regional Offices support data gathering activities in their respective regions.
All UN and FAO member countries have been formally requested to provide new data for the assessment and assist in the validation of the results. Country involvement is of particular importance for estimating forest area and change in area over time.
Several initiatives have addressed the forest change issue over the past decade. These efforts have used a range of approaches, from assessments using remote sensing, sampling or modelling, to in-depth case studies. This has increased the knowledge about and awareness of forest changes, and FRA 2000 intends to capitalize on these findings and build on the available expertise and experiences to collect and analyse national information on forest change.
Ten outside experts1 were invited to attend an expert consultation at FAO Headquarters, Rome. They reviewed preliminary information submitted by countries within the framework of FRA 2000 and the range of options for adjusting the existing information to a standard reference year in order to estimate the changes in forests over the past decade. Participants provided their input on the latest findings concerning forest change and reviewed the
state–of –the art in measuring and estimating such changes.
Special attention was given to:
a) identifying the parameters and variables available and necessary for predicting and adjusting national forest statistics to the common reference year 2000;
b) outlining and defining procedure(s) for predicting forest cover state and change using the identified variables ;
c) implementing a test-case scenario using the recommended procedures and variables.
AVHRR |
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer |
BEF |
Biomass Expansion Factor |
BV |
Biomass of inventoried volume |
CATIE CIFOR |
Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza Centre for International Forestry Research |
Cirad |
Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement |
EDC EZ |
Eros Data Centre Ecological Zone |
FAO |
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations |
FORIS |
Forest Resources Information System |
FRA |
Forest Resources Assessment |
GIS LET NFI NGO |
Geographic Information System Laboratoire d’Ecologie Terrestre National Forest Inventory Non-governmental organization |
SNU |
Sub National Unit(s) |
UN-ECE |
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe |
VOB |
Volume Over Bark |
WD |
Wood Density |
WCMC WFS |
World Conservation Monitoring Centre World Forest Survey |
1 See list of Participants Appendix # 6
