The 7th Meeting of Asia Forest Partnership

12-15 November 2007, Yokohama, Japan

At a pivotal time for the future of forests worldwide, Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) has renewed its commitment to sustainable forest management and updated its key themes and functions in line with current international trends and opportunities.

The 7th Annual Meeting of the AFP was convened in Yokohama, Japan, from 12-15 November 2007, and attracted over 130 participants from 32 countries. The meeting was co-hosted by the Governments of Japan and Indonesia, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Institute for Global Environmental Services (IGES).

The meeting brought together a broad cross-section of relevant stakeholders, including representatives from governments, civil society, NGOs, academic institutions and the private sector. Discussions revolved around a range of pressing issues including: Illegal Logging and Forest Governance; Forests and Climate Change; Networking and Partnerships; Country Initiatives and Reporting.

The Meeting consisted of a Partners’ Forum, which focused on an evaluation of AFP’s first phase (2002-2007) and the future of the Partnership, and a Public Forum, which invited participation from the broader community

The Partners’ Forum was opened by the Director General of Forest Production Management of MoF Indonesia (Dr. Hadi Pasaribu), the Director of International Cooperation of the Forestry Agency of Japan (Mr. Kunio Shimizu), and the Chair of AFP Steering Committee (Mr. Yuyu Rahayu). 

The Forum broke out into two Working Groups to discuss the Report of AFP Evaluation Working Group and the Independent Assessment. Both Working Groups reported back to the plenary on the second day, and the conclusions were formulated into the Announcement on Renewal and Revision of the Mandate, Focus and Operational Modalities of the Asia Forest Partnership for 2008-2015. 

AFP Partners decided to renew AFP’s mandate for a second phase of eight years (2008-2015), and in doing so have revised the Partnership’s goal, key themes, important considerations, core functions, and modalities.

The Goal of the Asia Forest Partnership for this second phase is “to promote cooperation and catalyze action among governments, civil society and business to achieve sustainable forest management in Asia and the Pacific and thereby maintain and enhance the provision of forest products and ecosystem services, and their contribution to human well-being.”

The Key Themes that AFP will adopt in pursuit of this goal include.

1. Reducing forest loss and degradation and enhancing forest cover to maintain the provision of forest products and ecosystem   services,including mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, watershed and land resource protection, and conserving biological diversity

2. Combating illegal logging and associated trade.

In place of the “Cross-Cutting Issues” of the first phase, AFP will now recognise “Important Considerations” in addressing its Key Themes.
These include:

1. Protecting and enhancing the livelihoods, rights, security and well-being of forest-dependent people;

2. Improving forest-related governance;

3. Strengthening institutions and capacities for sustainable forest management;

4. Securing and diversifying finance for conservation and sustainable use of forest resources.

 The Forum also saw the AFP’s Core Functions adopted in order of priority, as follows:

1. Multistakeholder dialogue to support progress on key themes and emerging issues;

2. Enhanced Partners’ engagement with and input to relevant national, regional and global institutions and processes;

3. Increased synergy among existing projects, programs and initiatives;

4. Opportunities for Partners to develop collaborative initiatives;

5. Information sharing among Partners concerning relevant ongoing and planned projects, programs and policies.

The Public Forum was officially opened on Wednesday, 14 November 2007, by the Director General of the Forestry Agency of Japan (Mr. Kenji Tsuji), the Ambassador for Global Environment of Japan (Mr. Kyoji Komachi), the Director of International Cooperation of MoF Indonesia (Mr.Yuyu Rahayu), and the Executive Director of ITTO (Mr. Emmanuel Ze Meka)

Partners and participants exchanged ideas and opinions through 27 unique presentations on a broad range of forest-related issues.

Two Steering Committee (SC) meetings were also held over the three days. In line with AFP Guidelines, it was agreed that the Vice-Chair, Henry Scheyvens from IGES, take over the role of Chair from Mr. Yuyu Rahayu from Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia.  As for the Vice Chair, the SC has agreed to approach the Government of China to take up the position.

It was proposed that CIFOR continue hosting the Secretariat, and it is expected that this matter will be raised at CIFOR’s Board of Trustees meet in December 2007.  The SC also endorsed AFP’s participation at the Asia Pacific Forestry Week, to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from April 21-26, 2008.  AFP will co-host a session on “Trade, Forest Law Compliance and Governance”.