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

Background and Progress to Date
The people in Asia enjoy the blessing of the nature, particularly forests. Forests provide our lives with multiple benefits, such as conserving land and water resources, providing forest products, and preserving bio-diversity. Considerable work for sustainable forest management is already being undertaken in Asia. Governments, international organizations, NGO's and other stakeholders are now making contributions to this end. Yet serious obstacles continue to hamper good intentions among governments, business and civil society in Asia to achieve sustainable management and conservation of their forests. As a result the extent and quality of forests continue to decline, opportunities for poverty alleviation are foregone, and economic growth is perturbed. Many stakeholders are particularly concerned about the spread of fire in previously fire resistant areas, invasion of exotic pests that impede natural regeneration, illegal or harmful logging, trade in illegally cut timber and other forest products, and the need to restore degraded lands to productivity and conservation value.

Recognizing the growing seriousness of these issues, the Government of Japan hosted a preparatory meeting in Tokyo, 31 July 2002, which led to agreement among an initial group of governments and others to create and launch the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The Partnership, from the start, not only included governments but also intergovernmental organizations, business and civil society. Discussion and debate among the participants has been open and transparent to all those interested in taking part. The partners of AFP started work with a list of significant issues and the stated commitment to find new and improved ways of working together to address them.

The first meeting for the promotion of AFP on 11 November 2002, also in Tokyo, brought an expanded group of partners together following the formal AFP launch in Johannesburg. At this meeting, concrete measures and contributions from each partner to the objectives of AFP, focusing on countering illegal logging, preventing and fighting forest fire, and rehabilitating and reforesting degraded lands, were discussed. Participants agreed that Indonesia should host the next meeting. The Government of Indonesia has now determined that 9-10 July 2003, would be an appropriate time for the next gathering.

This discussion paper has been prepared by the four leading partners to help ensure that the next meeting of AFP is productive and worthwhile, and to enhance the prospects for the partnership adding significant value to ongoing efforts in the region. The objectives of this paper are the following:

1. Provide a foundation for productive discussion at the July 2003, meeting of AFP members in Indonesia.
2. Open the discussion of a range of options for AFP action and contribution to addressing forest issues in Asia.
3. Create the opportunity for wide and transparent participation in debate about the role and future of AFP among interested governments and other stakeholders.

The present paper is divided into three parts:

• Part 1: Describes some options for the various types of activities that the AFP could undertake.
• Part 2: Presents some options for the structure and modality of the AFP.
• Part 3: Suggests next steps in the process.