The first training workshop of Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) was held from October 22 to 30, 2008 in Beijing, bringing together 15 participants from 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region for discussions and exchanging the experiences on sustainable forest management. Ms Jiang Ning, officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Qu Guilin, Director General of State Forestry Administration and APFNet Secretariat attended the opening ceremony and delivered welcome address.
The training courses were lectured by officials from Chinese government and experts from forestry research institutes in China and international organizations, covering hot issues of SFM, such as forestry policies in a changing environment, international environmental conventions and the process of forest issues, the Chinese forestry development strategies and programmes, illegal logging as well as the cooperation from Chinese government in this regard, laws and regulations relevant to forest, forest landscape restoration, forest certification and forest products trade.
Participants are senior technical officials and managers of forestry authorities in each country, with experience on international cooperation and interested in the policies and measurements of forestry resource management, forest laws and enforcement and the institutional arrangement in China. Experience and ideas were fully shared among participants during the training workshop.
Afterwards, a field trip to Zhejiang province on forestry development was organized. Participants visited Changhua forest farm, the first FSC certified forest in China, timber processing enterprises, Tianmushan Nature Reserves and ecotourism in Baisha village which showcase the remarkable economic development based on forestry and ecological protection in China.
During the training, the participants had very active discussion and suggestions on the activities of APFNet in the future. The case study of best practices and information sharing were interested by all participants. More similar training activities are expected in the future.
