Follow-up to the recommendations of the fifteenth session of the Committee
1. The Committee noted document FO:SCM/94/2 summarizing the actions taken by FAO in response to the recommendations addressed to it by the fifteenth session. Regarding the recommendation that the Committee's Rules of Procedure be amended so as to allow the election of officers to take place at the beginning instead of at the end of sessions, the Committee was informed of the conformity of the proposed amendment with the Organization's basic texts and the practical implications of its adoption. After recalling the reasons for its request, it confirmed its intention and recommended that FAO proceed with the amendment of its Rules of Procedure so that the election of officers may take place at the beginning of the session (para. 10).
Mediterranean Forest Action Programme
2. The Committee confirmed its full support for the Programme. It recommended that States and inter-governmental and community organizations, including funding agencies, express their commitment to the Programme within the allotted time in view of the urgent situation facing all Mediterranean forests (para. 12).
Activities of the research networks
3. Forest fire management
The Committee recommended that the network continue its efforts in line with the scheduled programmes (para. 24).
4. Selection of multi-purpose species
In view of the coordinator's wish to be relieved of his duties, the Committee recommended that the Secretariat propose a new coordinator, without delay, to be appointed in consultation with Tunisia's national coordinator, the officers of the Committee, and the institutions and other countries concerned (para. 28).
5. Silviculture of species: Cedrus sp.
The Committee recommended that the network's programme be pursued as it had been described, including the preparation, then publication, of the monograph on cedar. It expressed the wish that the possibility be looked into of orienting the programme towards a review of ways and means of conducting comparative trials on natural and artificial cedar stand management methods (para. 33).
6. Selection of stands of Mediterranean conifers for the production of seed to be used in reforestation programmes
The Committee confirmed its interest in this theme and stressed the need for the rapid establishment of a genuine programme. It recommended that network members who had not already done so complete the questionnaire drawn up by the coordinator, so that the final list of seed stands may be completed (para. 39).
7. Silviculture of species: Quercus suber
The Committee recommended that preparations for the research activities be continued and strengthened and felt that priority should be given to the establishment of a programme of work (para. 41).
8. The Committee recommended that the Secretariat look into the feasibility of establishing a research network on the development of Mediterranean forest products and services, a theme to which a complete chapter (D3) was devoted in the MED-FAP document (para. 43).
Forest resources assessment 1990, non-tropical developing countries - Mediterranean region
9. The Committee noted that it had been given a preview of the document on this subject and recommended that the model be refined, the concepts standardized by the ad hoc group that FAO was to establish, and the findings submitted to the countries concerned for review prior to final publication. It stressed the need for each country to know the status of and changes taking place in its forests and hoped that this type of study and appropriate projects would enable national capacities to be strengthened (para. 47).
