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Workshop Record| Recommendation | Announcement Regional Workshop on Strengthening Record of the Workshop Pursuant to the decision made during the third meeting of AFP in Kisarazu, Japan, 21 November 2003, and the ITTC Decision 3(XXXIV), Indonesia host the regional workshop on strengthening the Asia Forest Partnership. As stipulated in the ITTC Decision, the objective of the workshop is:
A total of 160 participants and observers representing governments of 12 countries, 7 inter-governmental organizations, 49 Civil Societies (14 private sectors, 24 NGOs, 11 universities and research institutions), and 5 projects/donors participated at the Workshop. Dr. Ir. Sanyoto, representing of the Governor of Yogyakarta Special Region Province, welcomed delegate to the city. Representative of Executive Director of ITTO, Mr. Amha bin Buang, Assistant Director of Economic Information and Market Intelligence, reiterated that after the three previous meeting, this meeting has come for AFP to take off from its initial stage of consultation, conceptualization, and implementation. ITTO hoped that workshop also contributed towards strengthening the foundation of the AFP in the run-up to its Fourth Meeting. Mr. Ichiro Ichikawa, Senior Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, emphasized that the workshop was to discuss the organizational structure and decision-making mechanism, procedure for the consideration and implementation of possible activities, as well as the current activities and measures for promotion on three issues of AFP, namely “control illegal logging and its associated trade, prevention of forest fires, and rehabilitation and reforestation of degraded forest and lands”. He also informed that the fourth meeting of AFP will be held in Japan, 8-10 December 2004. Mr. Koes Saparjadi, Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia representing Dr. Mohammad Prakoso, opened the meeting. Mr. Saparjadi emphasized in his opening remarks that there is a need to develop structure and mechanism of the AFP. Therefore, the workshop could come up with applicable and concrete recommendations regarding the structure and mechanism of partnership. Mr. Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Member of the House of Representatives of Japan, emphasized the importance of issues of illegal logging and its associated trade to be managed and controlled by related stakeholders in all over the world. The issue has been studied and considered as important issue in Japan, bilateral, and international including establishment of AFP. Plenary Session Plenary Session Presentations were made by: Mr. Yuji Imaizumi (Assistant Director, International Forestry Cooperation Office, Forestry Agency of Japan); Mr. Francois Ossama (President of RIDDAC – International Network on Sustainable Development in Central Africa); Ambassador David H. Kaeuper (Facilitator CBFP); and Ms. Adelina Kamal (Senior Officer, Bureau for Resources Development of ASEAN Secretariat). Mr. Yuji Imaizumi informed that 2 years ago, AFP was started as a “type 2” initiative, at the WSSD meeting in Johannesburg. At the second meeting in July 2003 in Yogyakarta the AFP was defined as a flexible partnership with diverse stakeholders and three focus areas (illegal logging, Fire protection, Rehabilitation). The third meeting in Nov 2003 in Japan discussed workplans e.g. minimum standard of legality, framework of customs, database of training facilities, review of past rehabilitation efforts. There are around 10 workplans on the website in different stages of planning and/or implementation. AFP includes now then 16 government, 8 international organizations and 4 NGO’s and has a website. AFP was supported and/or mentioned by ITTC in May 2003, UNFF3 in June 2003, ASEAN+3 in Aug 2003, Japan-ASEAN Plan of Action in Dec. 2003 and at the G8 Summit in June 2004 in the USA. AFP approach as a regional initiative is well received. More partners should join especially from the private sector. Further, AFP should focus more on action and cost effective collaboration among partners and initiatives. Mr. Francois Ossama presented that the central-African region has similar characteristics as the Asian region. Awareness raising for conservation issues increased pressures of NGO’s and World Bank on governments that brought them to a higher level of institutional commitment that resulted in establishing COMIFAC. There are many partnerships in the central African region one of them is the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). CBFP supports the mandate of COMIFAC. Goal of CBFP is to stimulate SFM and support economic growth. The main challenge is to balance development and environment. In the CBFP and COMIIFAC the great challenge is to translate commitment into action into changes on the ground to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable forestry. Ambassador David H. Kaeuper presented that although the entire CBFP structure was not established yet project under the umbrella started soon. This is to credit the CBFP as to be not bureaucratic and action oriented. Four main lessons were learned as follows:
He also thanked the AFP for the invitation and opportunity to participate in the workshop. The CBFP facilitator the importance of moving forward together on sustainable forest management issues, and particularly on the struggle against illegal logging and its associated trade where success and failure in one partnership impacts together. Ms. Hj. Adeline Kamal highlighted the principles and mechanisms of ASEAN’s cooperation, and ways and means to move forward the implementation towards ASEAN’s regional integration. She highlighted salient features from ASEAN’s regional cooperation as suggestions to move forward the AFP’s implementation. These include among others the needs to set common vision and goals among partners and re-visit them on a periodical basis; determine the principles and strategies that underline partnership among AFP members; establish some sorts of mechanisms for implementation and monitoring; set clear priority and criteria to guide partners in submitting proposals and implementing them; develop long-term, medium-term and detailed operational action plans and follow them up; determine appropriate development interventions for each stage of cooperation; promote leadership among partners to spearhead implementation of action plans; have strong coordination support in the form of a lean and efficient Secretariat; and ensure that action plans of AFP correspond to the interests of the partners. She also highlighted the need for the AFP to determine ways to complement the existing initiatives in the Asian region and not to duplicate them. In this regard, She stressed the benefits for the AFP to take into account and utilise the existing established mechanisms and cooperation within the Asian region, such as ASEAN and the ASEAN+3 framework, that already have specific mandates to address issues in three AFP’s priority areas; and complement and support their existing initiatives in addressing these issues. Discussions from the floor following the presentations emphasized that partnership is voluntary based, and equal position. Partnership has increased the pressure on wood producers and improved forest management, needs commitment from all partners as well as funding resources. The importance of AFP collaborating closely with other regional organizations with similar objectives, such as ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Commission (APFC) was emphasized, in order to avoid duplication, reduce costs, and maximize impacts. Plenary Session Presentations were made by: Dr. Takeshi Toma (CIFOR) and Ms. Nina Haase (AFP Information-Sharing Secretariat); Dr. Agus Setyarso (Program facilitator for Indonesia – UK MoU on Combating Illegal Logging) and Mr. Nandang Prihadi (Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia); Mr. Bambang Murdiono (Director, Bureau of International Cooperation and Investment, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia). Dr. Takeshi Toma and Ms. Nina Haase presented current structure of AFP including decision making mechanism, information-sharing activities, work-plan mechanism, and financial implications for the partnership. They stated that the AFP should act as a catalyst to implement relevant activities and provide forum for sharing information. For that reason, the AFP should put great attention on its decision-making mechanism in their meetings, information-sharing activities as their core business, work plan mechanism as their action, and financial implications for the partnership. In addition, the AFP should define itself more clearly as a partnership and its uniqueness to other similar organizations. Dr. Agus Setyarso and Mr. Nandang Prihadi presented that partnership is a relationship between individuals or/and organizations in which the parties have close cooperation and share specified rights and responsibilities. Trust, knowledge sharing, and collaboration are central elements of effective inter-organizational partnership. Following lesson learned from Indonesia – UK Partnership on Combating Illegal Logging, they proposals for AFP are:
Mr. Bambang Murdiono presented that some partners has criticized that AFP is too loose, no standardized procedure to become an active partner, unclear mechanism for implementation and decision making process, and lack of financial commitment. He proposed a formalized structure and mechanism for the AFP. This proposal is formulated in a draft Announcement on Strengthening the AFP. The draft consists of, among others, the chapters on organizational matters, membership, and partners contribution. Plenary Session on Working Group Presentations WG 1: Partners and Membership The working group identified a common understanding on partner requirements, actions, and secretariat operations. Partner requirements to be considered:
Actions of the Asia Forest Partnership should be harmonised with other initiatives, so that activities are complemented and do not compete with each other. Sub-regional action to fill specific needs (e.g. common border issues) would be a useful area for collaboration. The working group agreed that a Secretariat, was needed and that the “secretariat-lite”, approach adopted for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership was appropriate. This should support partners by acting as an information clearing house and facilitator but should not make decisions on AFP affairs. WG 2: Work Plan The working group reviewed the current arrangements on AFP work plans and identified a number of possible improvements, although for some of them participants expressed somewhat different views. The points raised by the group, together with those raised at the plenary session which followed the working group discussions, were summarized as follows:
WG 3: Other AFP issues Currently, AFP web page as a repository/memory of the partnership with periodic ‘online update’ informing of new postings on the web, progress on the work plans and other AFP-relevant news. Web-based information-sharing through web page and email alerts most cost effective and efficient. In the future, web page needs reorganizing some minutes from previous meetings difficult to find and focal point to actively contribute information to the AFP Information-sharing secretariat. Some problems with this approach were identified:
Two different type of funding sources to think about: more permanent funding for the secretariat and specific funding for activities. Generally a lot of money is flowing into Asia. FAO report states that there is much money around for forestry activities. While all partners are responsible for fund raising some have more experience in it than others. NGOs have experience in fund raising. Partners from the NGO communities could share their knowledge and experience in raising funds. Other funding strategies:
Issues Related to Forest Fire and Forest Rehabilitation Presentations were made by: Mr. Liu Jin Long & Mr. Ma. Shuangbiao (China); Mr. Hoang Chuong & Mr. Do Thap (Vietnam); Mr. Martinus Nanang (IGES); Mr. Junsei Nagai (Institue for Century Systems, Japan); Mr. Harjanto Wahyu Sukotjo (Directorate of Forest Fires Control, Indonesia); and Dr. Takeshi Toma (CIFOR). Mr. Liu Jin Long & Mr. Ma. Shuangbiao (China) presented Chinese experience which gave a very clear picture of the serious and alarming global problems associated with forest degradation of 2 billion hectare and then, China having the largest land mass in the region said that 30% of the land mass is subjected to forest degradation and they have identified the following key issues as:
In order to improve on the above problems they have actively undertaken measures and developed them into actions plan by way of 6 programmes to address them. Mr. Hoang Chuong & Mr. Do Thap (Vietnam) presented country level issues. The problems were identified which affected a-1 million hectares of forest and the people whose lives depended on the forest. A detailed socio-economic study was undertaken to establish the real issues. Using the results of the socio-economic study, they developed measures to address the problems identified by way of undertaking collaborative intervention by involving with Private sector, Government, Civil society organizations and more particularly the rural people who live in the areas where the forest were located. The action plans developed were implemented through actions plans. It was slow and long, but after continued work, the results are clear. The social, environmental and economic benefits were realized after that lengthy process and time. The presentation from West Kutai is an example of a localized community based one where, where the local community with the assistance and support of IGES developed VAG (Village Action Guidelines). The VAG are very practical as it is based on reality and works on the ground where:
The presentation from the Dr. Nagai from Japan’s Institute of Century Systems, presented statistics and data of green house gas emission and forest fires, again it was alarming trend of things in the region and as well on the global scene. It was very clear the, it emphasized that members of the AFP, partners and Government should not make the same mistakes again and we must take stock of the data and statistic from the past and develop initiatives and action that will improve the issues confront the region and the global community in the future. Also, the environmental support services that are available in forest fire fight and forest fire surveillance can be taken on board by the AFP in the fight against forest future other issues that we are confronts with Mr. Harjanto Wahyu Sukotjo that on the experience from the past, the Government of Indonesia has taken on board the issues and develop action and taken measure to address the issues. They are addressing the issues in Indonesia from 3 fronts:
Dr. Takeshi Toma presented the result (for forest fires and rehabilitation of degraded forest lands) of the 2nd AFP meeting (July, 2003) in order to remind the participants that the discussions in this workshop should build upon what have been discussed last year and should not repeat same discussions. Discussion from the floor emphasized that combining all the experiences and action taken at different levels (bigger land mass level, to country level and to localized community level) and the different actions taken, it is time now time that AFP partners and members take on board all the experiences and the actions and to develop mechanisms for the region. As the issues are very much common and will remain at the same scale or get worse in the region and globally, unless we all take a proactive and practical measures in a collaborative manner to act now, rather then later before there will be no more forests left. Plenary Session on Working Group Presentations WG1: Forest Fires The Working group was discussed the issues relating to forest fires to improve common understanding with regards to issues relating to forest fire. Discussion from the working group resulting that
WG2: Rehabilitation and Reforestation of Degraded Forest The Working Group was agreed to formulate action oriented activities based on several points provided by AFP Second Meeting (July, 2003), and taking into consideration some issues raised in plenary session by presenters. Participants’ concerns with issues included:
Issues Related to Illegal logging and its Associated Trade Presentations were made by: Dr. Nigel Sizer (Director for Asia-Pacific Forests Program, TNC; Mr. Hugh Speechly (Coordinator FLEG Program, DFID, UK); Mr. Banjar Yulianto Laban (Director of Forest Products Processing and Marketing); Mr. Bill Maynard (GFS) & Dr. Takeshi Toma (CIFOR); and Ms. Indra Setia Dewi (LEI). Mr. Nigel Sizer presented that illegal logging is a priority issue for AFP because of lost government revenues, market access and competitiveness, social conflicts, environmental damage, and shared of responsibilities of partners. He also mentioned that cooperation among customs agencies and others in the Asia Pacific region is necessitate to reduce trade of illegal wood products. He indicated that bilateral and regional cooperation between customs agencies encouraged by exporting countries could be strategic, relatively low cost, and effective. Furthermore, identification of illegal products needs to be strengthened, and led by exporting countries, and, of course, legal framework needs to be strengthened in some countries to take action based on better identification of illegal products. Mr. Hugh Speechly noted that it is now well recognized that illegal logging and its associated trade in illegally harvested forest products have reached serious levels and that joint actions are needed to tackle these problems. For the Asia region, two initiatives, which specifically seek to address illegal logging and its associated trade, are the East Asia FLEG process and the Asia Forest Partnership. He compared the initiatives and proposed alternatives for their harmonization, which ranged from the status quo of no formal arrangement to a merger of the two. Ultimately, such a decision needs to be made by the participants in both initiatives, with those from within the region for whom resolution of the problem is most urgent playing a lead role. In reaching such a decision there must be a clear view of the respective goals of each process, combined with practical ideas on how to implement actions aimed at reaching them. Details concerning their respective governance arrangements, their administrative needs, availability of resources and operational efficiency also need to be taken into account. There are also apparent synergies between AFP and other initiatives that address illegal logging in the region, including the Pan-ASEAN Forest Certification initiative and ITTO. Representation of both ASEAN and ITTO and their regional member states at AFP meetings should ensure that these synergies are maximised. Mr. Banjar Yulianto Laban informed a policy of Indonesia for achieving sustainable forest management and initiatives and applications of multilateral and bilateral commitments on combating illegal logging and international trade of illegally logged timber and wood products. He mentioned that illegal logging is when the method of logging in the forests and the transportation of the wood are in contravention of laws and regulation of the country where the logging is done. In Indonesia, he further deliberated that wood legality to be proved by forest legality letters issued by the forestry department. Verification and endorsement by BRIK based on wood mutation report and forest legality letters for forest products to be exported. He recommends that any agreement on mechanism or practice for legality verification should be applicable for every country in the world with no discrimination, the problems facing the Indonesian forestry industries need solving through constructive engagement rather than trade boycotts, the cost of verification and legality are high therefore buyers are encouraged to pay the extra premium to make business competitive and fair. Mr. Bill Maynard and Dr. Takeshi Toma presented that a need for evaluating legality of timbers come from the lack of governance in developing countries, especially in tropical regions. The concept of legality needs to be clear in respect to key elements that are acceptable to major stakeholders. Other issue is traceability of the material from a forest that can demonstrate compliance to legal requirements through processing and trading to the retail market. The only current method being practiced is 3rd party verified Chain of Custody and Inspection based systems. As there are a number of approaches to evaluate and trace material from legal sources it will most likely require the use of the different existing systems depending on market demand. There is no perfect system in operation to verify legality of timber harvesting and trace the material to the market. The key elements required in a system will be a practical means to evaluate legal origin or compliance depending on the market demands as well as a clear chain of custody to trace the material through processing and trading to the retail market. The market will be the key player to drive the demand for legal verification thus it will be dependent on credible independent assessors. This should also drive demand for additional people to act as assessors and consultants to aid companies to develop forest management and chain of custody systems to participate in the programme. Ms. Indra Setia Dewi presented that LEI is currently developed Legal Origin Verification System (LOV) which is a timber tracking system for tracing the origin of timber sources. LOV is to identify the legality of the timber sources, done by independent 3rd party, involve assessors and experts panel, and adopt the similar verification tools of CoC. LOV is based on multistakeholder participation. The role of NGO network and communities are to monitor and give inputs to the assessors. The role of Government is to police their policies and provide incentives, and promote certification initiatives. The role of private sectors is to implement good practices and the legality of their sources. The role of 3rd party (independent certifiers) is to verify the legality of the timber source as the first step towards certification. The role of international communities is to buy timber from legal sources and give market incentives for producers moving towards certification. Support form AFP and others related stakeholders is really essential in order to curb illegal logging. Discussion from the presentation resulting following:
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