December 2012, UNREDD news - The UN-REDD Programme recently convened a group of experts from around the world to start developing a new resource to help collect and measure data related to forest governance.

This small group of 15 experts, including national representatives from Ecuador, Uganda and Vietnam, met at the European Forestry House in Brussels from 28-29 November 2012 to develop an outline of the guide tentatively entitled "Practical Guide on Assessing and Monitoring Forest Governance". By presenting existing methodologies and drawing lessons from past and current experiences on forest governance assessments, the guide will cover process planning, data collection, data analysis and use of data. A provisional table of contents was developed and the experts also started identifying case studies on which the guide would draw upon.

This initiative stemmed from the conclusions of an earlier meeting organized in June 2012 by the UN-REDD Programme, in collaboration with FAO, the World Bank, the European Forest Institute and the EU FAO Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Programme, where international and national experts identified the need for guidance to assist practitioners undertaking forest governance assessments. This June meeting concluded with a plan to produce the resource collaboratively, using a small group of experts working in close coordination with a consulting author.

The list of experts participating in the group as well as the proceedings of their first meeting can be found here. A second meeting is planned for April 2013 to review the first draft of the guide prepared by the consulting author.