A Training Workshop on Methods, Tools and Skills for Promoting Legal and Sustainable Forest Management and Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region was held during 31 August -6 September, 2009 in Lijiang, China.
The workshop was sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) and organized by The State Academy of Forestry Administration of China (STAFA), with technical support from the USAID-funded Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) Program. It brought together 21 participants from key governments, organizations and industry stakeholders from 11 countries in the Asia and Pacific region, including China, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia and so forth, to identify the key challenges they face in SFM and discuss and identify possible solutions in seeking to fulfill the requirements of SFM in their respective countries.
The workshop drew primarily on professional expertise from FAO, REFOCTC and other organizations within the Asia-Pacific region, and used a mix of methods including thematic reports, case studies, in-class discussions and field trips to cover topic issues regarding SFM and legal trade on forest products, including social corporate responsibility (CSR), high conservation value forests, community forestry development and conflict management, FLEG and so forth. It provided a platform to share information and experience to promote SFM and legal trade on forest products in the region.
Participants all agreed this training workshop was successful in integrating sessions design and regional needs on SFM and associated trade, facilitating to formulate practical suggestions and possible solutions based on country perspective. Meanwhile, the feedback from participants and resource people on training supports future APFNet activities on enhancing regional capacity building to promote SFM.
APFNet is now collaborating with RAFT on a 3-year program, which sees capacity building as a focus field, and this training workshop is the start of the series of this cooperative initiative.
