FO: COFO 2005/Inf.12

INTRODUCTION

1. At the invitation of the FAO Forestry Department, eight persons from civil society entities met on 13 March 2005 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

2. The meeting focused on two central issues: the views of the participants, from the standpoint of civil society, on the role and activities of the FAO Forestry Department in support of sustainable forest management and the achievement of sustainable development; and areas for mutually-beneficial collaboration between FAO and civil society entities and possible mechanisms to facilitate this collaboration.

3. The following people participated in their personal capacities: Ms. Jeannette Gurung, Ms. Natalie Hufnagl, Mr. Fred Kafeero, Mr. Peter Mayer, Ms. Elisa Peter, Mr. Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri, Mr. William Street and Mr. Boris Tabacof. Mr. Street was elected Chairperson of the Panel. Ms. Susan Braatz and Ms. Christine Holding Anyonge, FAO Forestry Department, served as rapporteurs.

4. Mr. M. Hosny El-Lakany, Assistant Director-General, FAO Forestry Department, welcomed the panel members. Mr. Eckhard Hein, Chief, FAO Resources and Strategic Partnerships Unit, provided an overview of the policies and approaches of FAO to enhance collaboration with civil society. Mr. El-Lakany provided an overview of the Forestry Department and the Division Directors made short presentations on the work of their respective divisions.

CONCLUSIONS

5. The meeting participants recognized the Department’s positive experiences of successful collaboration with civil society. However, mutual benefits would be derived by increasing collaboration with civil society, inter alia through issue oriented working groups and regular meetings with civil society groups at all levels.

6. The efforts to promote sustainable forest management (SFM), including through the Department’s capacity building programmes and Forest Sector Outlook Studies, were recognized, as well as its work on forestry in poverty reduction. This information base could provide a basis for the Department to be more active in analyzing future trends and estimating their impacts on the forest sector.

7. The Department’s efforts to provide a neutral forum for discussion of controversial issues such as planted forests or forest certification were acknowledged.

8. More work on climate change and conservation issues and thus increased collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was viewed as necessary.

RECOMMENDATIONS

9. The modalities to be continued or expanded include:

Creating and expanding partnerships

• Promote partnerships between the Department and civil society, including through existing mechanisms, such as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

• Support stakeholder groups’ efforts to create partnerships among: themselves, member countries, and the FAO

• Continue and enhance the Department’s leading role within the CPF including, consideration of providing secretariat services

• Promote partnership between member countries’ Ministries responsible for forestry and poverty reduction

Capacity building

• Facilitate the prioritization and implementation of national forest programmes (nfp)

• Strengthening the capacity of governments and civil society stakeholders to engage in participatory planning, implementation and evaluation processes at all levels regarding SFM, including by the identification of “Best Practices”

• Provide technical assistance to enable developing countries to capture the benefits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• Assist countries’ efforts to incorporate forestry into Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)

Communications

• Continue and expand the neutral forum function of the Department on both the international and national level

• Make more effective use of communication means such as modern multimedia forms and public relations methods to disseminate the Department’s work, including through civil society networks

• Identify specific focal points within the Department to liaise with civil society groups

10. The participants made special recommendations relating to forests and forestry in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Forestry Department’s work would be enhanced by:

• Documenting, analyzing and increasing the visibility of the contribution of forests and forestry to the achievement of the MDGs

• Assisting countries to address the MDGs in their nfps

• Optimizing the use of resources for capacity building, communications and partnerships that promote the attainment of the MDGs

• Collaborating more closely with civil society groups specifically addressing the social aspects of SFM that are of high relevance for poverty reduction

• Paying special attention to the needs of marginalised groups (like women, youth, indigenous peoples, small forest owners and users, forest workers) to benefit from tree and forests resources for poverty reduction

• Facilitating partnerships between marginalised groups and the private forest sector to address poverty.

ANNEX 1

CIVIL SOCIETY MEETING

Rome, 13 March 2005

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Dr. Jeannette Gurung Director Women Organising for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management 26 Becket Way Ithaca, New York 14850 USA Tel: +1 607 2579795 E-mail: [email protected]	Ms. Elisa Peter Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Swedish Institute of International Affairs Sk Eriksgatan 31 112 28 Stockholm Sweden Tel: +39 34 79 55 71 26 E-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Natalie Hufnagl Confédération Européenne des Propriétaires Forestiers (CEPF) Confederation of European Forest Owners Rue du Luxembourg 47-51 1050 Bruxelles Tel: +32 2 2190231 Fax: +32 2 2192191 E-mail: [email protected] www.cepf-eu.org	Mr. Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Tropical Forests 6/1 M.1, Suthep Rd., Suthep Sub-district Muang District Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand Tel: +66 53 904037 Fax: +66 53 277645 E-mail: [email protected] www.international-alliance.org
Mr. Fred Kafeero Executive Director Environmental Alert P.O.Box 11259 Kampala, Uganda Tel: 256-41-510 215/ 510 547 Fax: 256-41-510 547 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.envalert.org	Mr. William V. Street Jr. Director International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) Global Wood and Forestry Programme 54, route des Acacias; CH-1227 Carouge GE Switzerland Tel: +41 22 8273777 E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Peter Mayer Executive Secretary International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Hauptstraße 7 1140 Wien Austria Tel: +43-1-8770151-12 Fax: +43-1-8770151-50 e-mail: [email protected] www.iufro.org	Mr Boris Tabacof President of the Board Associação Brasileira de Celulose e Papel (Bracelpa) Rua Afonso de Freitas, 499 Sao Paulo, S.P. 04006-900 Brazil Fax: + 55 (11) 3887 7541 E-mail: [email protected]