Building on the collaboration on the Workshop on the Role of Forest Resource Management in the Great Mekong Sub-region (2012) and Advanced Workshop on Sustainable Forest Management in GMS (2013), APFNet and Mekong Institute met in Kunming, China on 12 July, 2014 to explore possible ways to sustain cooperation on forestry for the GMS economies.
Covered by 90.4 million ha of forests (excluding China), GMS region still faces severe deforestation and forest degradation, which leads to low supply of forest products and services for regional economic-social development and environmental integrity. Appropriate interventions must be taken, such as
helping to build technical capacity at the field level, especially in economies with inadequate expertise
sharing knowhow and experience, especially through workshops and training programs
implementation of studies including policy analysis on issues of common interest
strengthening the networking among the research institutions to address common problems through collaborative research and exchange of information
Sharing the idea of contributing to GMS forest resource management, Mekong Institute is happy to provide in-kind support to APFNet activities, and both organizations agree to
cooperate to design the APFNet regular training workshops under the theme of Forestry and Rural Development”, and
Jointly develop a project proposal that combines forest management with trade and investment, effectively demonstrating how forest resources can be better and sustainably managed through appropriate marketing mechanism.
