Third Meeting of the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP)

Kisarazu Civic Center
Chiba, Japan, 21 November 2003

Intervention Note of ITTO

On behalf of our Executive Director, Dr. Manoel Sobral Filho, we wish to thank the Government of Japan as well as the other leading partners of the AFP for inviting ITTO to participate in the Third Meeting of the AFP here in Kisarazu, Chiba today.

As requested, we are pleased to brief the meeting on the highlights of the Thirty-fifth Session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) held recently at the ITTO Headquarters in Yokohama, Japan from 3 to 8 November 2003 as well as the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, also referred to in short as PREPCOM II which took place in Yokohama from 10 to 12 November 2003, immediately after the Thirty-fifth ITTC Session.

Among the substantive items on the agenda considered by the ITTC at its Thirty-fifth Session were the annual review and assessment of the international timber situation, CITES listing proposals by members, the negotiation of a successor agreement to ITTA, 1994, ITTO Guidelines for the Restoration, Management and Rehabilitation of Degraded and Secondary Tropical Forests, promotion of sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin, forest law enforcement in the context of sustainable timber production and trade, the ITTO Biennial Work Programme 2004-2005, the ITTO Objective 2000 and the reports of the associated Sessions of the Committees. The ITTC approved sixteen new projects, four new pre-projects and the ITTO Biennial Work Programme 2004-2005 incorporating a range of administrative activities, project activities and strategic policy activities to be carried out by the ITTC, its Committees and the ITTO Secretariat during the two year period. A total sum of US$9.69 million was authorized to fund some of the approved projects, pre-projects and activities.

With regard to those items on the ITTC agenda which are also featured as core issues under the AFP, the ITTC noted the progress in the implementation of the on-going ITTO case study on export and import data on tropical timber products in the context of international trade. At the same time, the ITTC authorized additional funding of US$40,000 for its continuing work on forest law enforcement in the context of sustainable timber production and trade as well as new funding of US$100,000 for ITTO-FAO cooperation in the development and dissemination of guidelines for improving law compliance in the forest sector. In the field of restoration and rehabilitation of degraded and secondary tropical forests, the ITTC considered a report on progress in the implementation of the ITTO Guidelines for the Restoration, Management and Rehabilitation of Degraded and Secondary Tropical Forests. The ITTC subsequently authorized additional funding of US$500,000 for the conduct of ten more national workshops to further promote the implementation of the ITTO Guidelines as well as the development of technical manuals on forest landscape restoration. The ITTC also authorized additional funding of US$70,000 for the conduct of the Regional Workshop on Restoration Guidelines at CIFOR and new funding of US$100,000 to enable ITTO to support the Global Workshop of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration. On the issue of forest fire, the ITTC was informed of ITTO's co-sponsorship of the Third Wildland Fire Conference and Exhibition in Sydney, Australia in October 2003 as well as enquiries received from ITTO member countries regarding assistance in forest fire prevention and management pursuant to ITTC Decision 6 (XXXIII).

Further progress in the preparations for the negotiation of a successor agreement to the ITTA, 1994 was achieved during the Second Session of the PREPCOM. This includes the preparation of a single working document containing a draft text for the Successor Agreement as the basis for its negotiation and the provision for further inter-sessional work prior to the commencement of the United Nations Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the ITTA, 1994 at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland from 26 to 30 July 2004.

One final point we wish to make is on the progress in the implementation of ITTC Decision 3(XXXIV) which authorizes ITTO to support the Governments of Indonesia and Japan in convening a regional workshop to strengthen the AFP and to support the development of a network for the sharing of information among AFP participants. Following the information which was presented at the Second Meeting of the AFP held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in July 2003, we are pleased to inform the AFP at its Third Meeting today that further consultations have taken place between ITTO and the Governments of Japan and Indonesia on how best to channel the ITTO support and funding as provided for under the decision to both Governments for the strengthening of the AFP. We trust that the Governments of Japan and Indonesia as well as the other leading partners of AFP would provide further information regarding their plans in this regard during the course of the meeting today.

We thank you all for your kind attention.