Capacity development
One of the key functions of FAO Forest Products Statistics programme is to support member countries to develop and enhance their capacity in forest products statistical systems. Ongoing training and technical assistance projects are provided to national statistical organizations and agencies responsible for forest products data collection. Besides assistance upon request, we regularly conduct national and regional workshops on forest products statistics around the world. Some of the workshop proceedings are listed below by region.
Workshop for West and Central African countries
An online workshop co-hosted by FAO and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) was held on 25–29 October 2021 and involved 41 participants from 16 countries.
The workshop was part of FAO’s and ITTO’s ongoing efforts to boost capacity for generating reliable statistics on forest products. The production of realistic and consistent forest-related data is one of the primary missions of both organizations.
The workshop was successful at improving understanding of data collection and reporting practices in West and Central Africa and in identifying needs for technical training in areas such as the use of statistical software, survey design, and data communication.
Forest product statistics are important for implementing sustainable forestry, avoiding resource depletion, understanding trends in the forest industry, making investment decisions, and designing data-driven policies. Data submitted by countries via the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ) are the foundation of information contained in FAO and ITTO databases and are used globally to analyze developments in forest product production and trade. The data also comprise the backbone of two major statistical publications—the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products and the ITTO Biennial Review and Assessment of the World Timber Situation. Read more
Wood fuel data and production trends in Africa
As part of the International Energy Association’s Africa University Program, FAO presented a webinar "Wood fuel production in Africa – The information and data we have now and opportunities for collecting more" on 1 July 2021.
We begin with a description of the data currently available on wood fuel for Africa and trends in production of both wood fuel and wood charcoal. We focus on building an understanding of the possible sources of data on wood fuel production and on guiding questions for the design of new surveys to improve the availability of wood fuel production data as well as provide a description of progress in on-going work to estimate wood fuel production where official data are unavailable. Finally, we introduce FAO’s new online database and platform for information sharing on wood energy projects.
All Africa University sessions are available here.
On-line Forest Product Statistics Capacity Building Workshop: Western Balkan and CIS-Region
©FAO Maintaining and improving the quality of forest product statistics is more important than ever for enabling data-based policy decisions. Data submitted by countries via the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ) form the basis for the information at UNECE and FAO and are used globally to analyze developments in forest products production and trade. To support continuous improvement in data quality and quantity and to encourage the exchange of information within and between countries, FAO and UNECE hosted the first-ever on-line forest product statistics capacity building workshop on 9-11 February 2021. The workshop was attended by 22 participants representing 14 countries from the western Balkans and former Soviet Union and included guest presentations from Germany, Poland, and the USA. The agenda and copies of all presentations, as well as useful links, are available here.
The agenda was designed in response to an early survey of invited countries which asked participants about topics that should be prioritized to most efficiently improve their own national level statistics for production and trade of forest products. Because an on-line workshop provided a rare opportunity to bring in guest speakers on almost any topic, the survey also asked countries what additional topics would be valuable. New topics most frequently requested by respondents included statistical principles for survey design, trends in forest product statistics, and innovations in data management. These topics were reflected in the final agenda. Read more here.