Explore the importance of the world's forests in Rome, Italy
The world’s forests are under the spotlight in Rome, Italy this week for World Forest Week and FAO’s 22nd Committee on Forestry (COFO 22) including a Bioversity International side-event.
This year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s (FAO) 22nd Committee on Forestry (COFO 22) coincides with the World Forest Week. Both of these events are an opportunity to share state-of-the-art knowledge, major accomplishments and achievements in forestry.
Every two years, the COFO brings together more than a 100 forest services heads and other senior government officials to identify emerging policy and technical issues, to seek solutions and to advise FAO and others on appropriate action. COFO 22 will review the state of the world’s forests, focusing on their socioeconomic benefits and related questions, including income and employment. In this context, it will examine forest policy measures that promote sustainable production and consumption, access to resources, markets and financing, equitable benefit sharing, and valuation of forest products and services.
Bioversity International’s researchers will attend COFO 22 and share their latest achievements in a side-event on 26 June entitled: Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources: examples of national, regional and international activities. The side event, organized in collaboration with Norway and FAO, will present examples of ongoing activities at the national, regional and international levels that contribute to the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources (GPA-FGR).
The Global Plan of Action is based on the findings of The State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources report which was developed based on 86 country reports, covering more than 85% of the global forest area, as well as regional consultations and thematic studies. The GPA-FGR identifies a total of 27 strategic priorities for action at the national, regional and international levels. They are grouped into four priority areas: 1) improving the availability of, and access to, information on forest genetic resources, 2) conservation of forest genetic resources (in situ and ex situ), 3) sustainable use, development and management of forest genetic resources, and 4) policies, institutions and capacity-strengthening.
Side-event:Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources: examples of national, regional and international activities. Download event flyer.
Venue: FAO, Philippines Room (C277-281)
Date & time: Thursday 26 June 2014, 13:15-14:45
Programme:
13:15-13:20 Silje Trollstøl, Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Norway - Opening of the side event
13:20-13:25 Douglas McGuire, FAO - Overview of the GPA-FGR
13:25-13:40 Sibidou Sina, Centre National de Semences Forestières - Best practices for managing forest tree seed in Burkina Faso
13:40-13:55 Norwati Muhammad, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) - Integrating forest genetic resources into the national forest programme in Malaysia
13:55-14:10 Jarkko Koskela, Bioversity International - Development and implementation of regional conservation strategies: the example of the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)
14:10-14:25 Judy Loo, Bioversity International - Global cooperation and networking to reduce illegal logging using genetic markers: the Global Timber Tracking Network (GTTN)
14:25-14:45 Discussion
Follow #COFO22 on Twitter for live updates.