Proposed Steps to Enhance the Asia Forest Partnership
Prepared by the four leading partners for consideration by all of the partners

Part 2: Options for Structure and Modality of the AFP

Principles of the AFP as a partnership
AFP is a regional forum for cooperation involving various governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and private businesses. It was launched as Partnerships for Sustainable Development (Type 2 projects) during the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Such partnerships meet the following nature:

• Linked with globally agreed outcomes of Agenda 21 and the Millennium Development Goals.
• Integrated approach to sustainable development involving economic, social, and environmental dimensions.
• Multi-stakeholder approach involving a range of significant actors, with partners involved in the development of initiative from an early stage, and opportunity for additional partners to join on an equal basis.
• Transparency and accountability so that ownership is shared and all partners are equally accountable.
• Tangible results with defined outcomes and benefits, clear objectives, and measurable targets and timeframes.
• Funding arrangements with all kinds of available or expected sources of funds.
• New and value added partnership.
• Local involvement and international impact.
• Promoting ownership through local involvement, especially at the household and community level.
• Precautionary approach taking into account the international impact of the issue.

More information about Partnerships for Sustainable Development (Type 2 projects)

Also see Type 2 Links

Composition of the AFP
AFP currently has 14 governments, 8 Intergovernmental Organizations, and 2 NGOs as its partners. New partners are encouraged to join, especially from civil society including NGOs and business sectors, which are currently under-represented in the partnership. From among these, four partners (i.e. Governments of Japan and Indonesia, CIFOR and TNC) serve as the leading partners, taking on an additional responsibility to help facilitate and coordinate the AFP. The leading partners do not have any additional authority in the partnership.

Recognition of multi-level decision making
The concrete activities of AFP are conducted, developed and designed by experts or technical staff from the various partner organizations working in sub-groupings. These may include some or all of the partners, on a voluntary basis, and with regular meetings of all of the partners.

Geographic scope
The scope of AFP activities can also be classified into three geographically based groupings:

ｷ National initiatives, primarily activities based on the priority in one country in the region.
ｷ Bilateral or multilateral initiatives involving more than one country in the region.
ｷ Regional initiatives involving partners and activities in more than one country in the region with the shared / common goals and scopes.

Administration and coordination
The four leading partners facilitate the overall process, and meet regularly to monitor progress and promote the AFP.

In addition, CIFOR serves as Secretariat and Information Clearinghouse for the AFP, assisting with the organizing meetings, tracking progress, and administrating technical and financial resources. The secretariat should be supported by the partners, technically and financially in this process.

Funding
All of the partners are encouraged to cover their traveling costs for their participation in the meeting of AFP. For those partners that cannot cover the above costs, additional funds should be made available, administered by the Secretariat for this purpose, to help ensure broad participation and transparency.