THIRD FOREST MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING
Venue: ‘SIRIUS’ HOTEL, Prishtina
Date: October 17, 2012
Time: 10:30
MEETING AGENDA
10:30 – 10:45 Welcome speech and adoption of meeting agenda
Mr. Kushtrim Cukaj Chairman of Forest Management Board
10:45 – 11:15 Adoption of Minutes of the Second Forest Management Board meeting and brief overview of major developments in forestry sector between two Board meetings
- Finland Study tour highlights
Mr. Kushtrim Cukaj Chairman of Forest Management Board
11:15 – 11:45 Presentation of Draft Annual Work Plan for Forest Management Board
Mr. Tapani Ruotsalainen, FAO International consultant for Institutional and Policy Development
11:45 – 12:15 Presentation of instruments for governance and monitoring of the forest resources in Kosovo
- Kosovo Forest Information System , concept and structure
- System for Monitoring and Evaluation of Forestry Policy and Strategy Implementation, Programe and Performance Indicators
Coordination Unit of the Board – FAO project
12:15 – 12:30 Overview of two Public Investment Projects
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development / Kosovo Forest Agency representatives
12:30 – 12:50 Challenges at the institutions for implementing PSP activities
12:50 – 13:00 AOB
13:00 – 13:15 Conclusions and further steps
13:15 Lunch
Participants on the meeting:
Forest Management Board
- Mr. Kushtrim Cukaj, Chairman of the Forest Management Board
- Mr. Kapllan Halimi, Member, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
- Mr. Xhavit Dakaj, Member, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- Mr. Arben Çitaku, Member, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning
- Mr. Naim Baftiu, Member, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance
- Mr. Bashkim Gashi, Member, President of the Association of the Private Forest Owners in Kosovo
- Mr. Matti Maatta, Member, EU Representative
- Mr. Brian Fahey, Member, USAID Representative
Absent:
- Mr. Naim Ismajli, Member, President of the Association of the Municipalities in Kosovo
Coordination Unit, project staff and consultants, observers:
- Mr. Ahmet Zejnullahu, Director of Kosovo Forest Agency, member of the Coordination Unit
- Mr. Bashkim Thaçi, Adviser for forestry at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, member of the Coordination Unit
- Mr. Hysen Abazi, Director of the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
- Mr. Tahir Ahmeti, Officer at the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
- Ms. Emine Telaku, Budget Analyst for MAFRD, Ministry of Finance
- Mr. Vesa Kotilainen, Representative of the Finnish Embassy in Pristina
- Mrs. Irina Buttoud, Forest Policy Officer, FAO Rome
- Mr. Aleksandar Nikolovski, FAO Chief Technical Advisor, “Support to the Implementation of the Forestry Policy and Strategy in Kosovo”, member of the Coordination Unit
- Mr. Naser Krasniqi, FAO National Team Leader, “Support to the Implementation of the Forestry Policy and Strategy in Kosovo”, member of the Coordination Unit
- Tapani Ruotsalaninen, International Consultant for Institutional and Policy Development, ‘Support to the Implementation of the Forestry Policy and Strategy in Kosovo”
- Mrs. Nysrete Doda - Gashi, National Consultant for Monitoring and Evaluation, “Support to the Implementation of the Forestry Strategy and Policy in Kosovo”
- Mr. Merkur Beqiri, National Consultant for Information Technology, “Support to the Implementation of the Forestry Strategy and Policy in Kosovo”
MINUTES
1. Mr. Kushtrim Cukaj, Chairman of the Forest Management Board (further in the text - FMB) opened the third meeting of FMB wishing a warm welcome to the members of Board and to other participants of the meeting.
Initially, Mr. Cukaj presented the agenda of the third FMB meeting asking the members of the Board to give comments or add new topics on the proposed meeting agenda.
Mr. Çitaku requested change of the agenda order; proposing presentations on new instruments for governing and monitoring of the forest resources to be discussed earlier than is proposed because he has extra obligations and he could not stay during the whole FMB meeting.
Mr. Maatta proposed a topic on new forest legislation to be discussed in today meeting.
The Chairman accepted the both proposal concluded with the new order. Topic four will be as third one while the parts of topic two (brief overview…) will be as a topic four, the forest legislation will be under the topic of AOB.
2. The Chairman of the Board requested the board members to comment and approve the minutes from the second FMB meeting. Since no one had a comment, the chairman requests voting. Unanimously FMB members present in this meeting adopted the minutes from the second FMB meeting held on May 9, 2012.
3. The Chairman of the Board informed the members that the Coordination Unit (FAO project for support the implementation of the forest policy and strategy in Kosovo) has prepared a draft of the Annual Work Plan for FMB. Consequently he invited Mr. Tapani Ruotsalainen, FAO International Consultant for Institutional and Policy Development, to present the draft plan.
Mr. Tapani presented the draft Annual Work Plan for FMB for year 2013[1], stressing that this plan envisages: dynamic of works (board meetings), establishment of permanent coordination unit, capacity building and study tours for FMB members, supervision monitoring and evaluation and reporting, and publicity and transparency of the FMB work.
The Chairman thanked Mr. Tapani for the presentation and asked FMB members to comment the FMB Annual Work Plan.
Mr. Halimi, member of the board, raised the issue why board should deal with publicity activities. In his opinion the mandate of the board is to supervise the implementation of the forest policy and strategy, while institutions and mechanisms which are implementing the activities from forest policy and strategy should do media publicity and campaigns.
Mr. Tapani responded that the results of forest policy and strategy implementation should be visible to the public.
Mr. Maatta supported the idea of organizing publicity activities whereby status of forest sector and implementation of PSP will be promoted.
Mr. Çitaku requested a clarification, if coordination unit is an inter-ministerial body or it will be located only at MAFRD, because its creation will have a budgetary implication.
Mr. Halimi responded that MAFRD plans to continue activities which are initiated jointly with the project aiming to further follow the outcomes and PSP implementation.
Mr. Çitaku asked for the plans which will lead publicity and information activities of the Board.
Mr. Tapani answered that FAO project acting as Coordination Unit of the board will draft a strategy for communication and publicity for forest sector and implementation of PSP in Kosovo.
The Chairman requested members to vote and approve this work plan, all members have voted pro and chairman has concluded this topic stressing that board approves the FMB Annual Work Plan with changes on point 2.5. The changes will be made by Mr. Tapani.
4. Mr. Kushtrim Cukaj, Chairman of FMB, informed the board members that FAO project prepared concepts for two instruments which will enable supervision and facilitation of implementation of the forest policy and strategy in Kosovo. These instruments are: Kosovo Forest Information System and Monitoring and Evaluation System. Then he invited Mr. Merkur Beqiri to present the concept for establishment the Kosovo Forest Information System.
Mr. Merkur Beqiri, FAO National Consultant for Information Technology, has presented to the board members the background, concept, design, implementation and use of the Kosovo Forest Information System[2]
The chairman thanked Mr. Beqiri for the presentation and he asked the board members for questions and comments on the concept of Kosovo Forest Information System.
Mr. Halimi asked if Forest Information System is developed or is planned to be developed. He gave a comment saying that MAFRD already has a database called LPIS (Land Parcel Information System) which could be used for GIS component. He also stressed that use of ortho-photos for GIS should be free of charge and MAFRD doesn’t pay the services to cadastral agency since MAFRD co-financed the project for land registry.
Mr. Çitaku asked about the ToR for KFIS development. He suggested consulting other agencies when the project drafts the ToR for development of KFIS. He informed the members that the current project for aero photographing will be completed by the end of 2012.
Mr. Beqiri answered on these questions saying that the Kosovo Forest Information System is in the planning phase. The ToR is not yet prepared and he informed that when consultant visited the cadastre office he was informed that the project has to pay the services for obtaining orthophotos.
Mr. Nikolovski ensured the board members that ToR for KFIS development will be done trough consultations in a participatory manner.
Mr. Halimi suggested a better coordination and to more consultation with MAFRD.
Mr. Maatta supported the development of KFIS suggesting more transparency in the process of its building.
Mr. Halimi says that completely agrees but he suggested to have synergized approach and not to start and build something from the zero.
The Chairman concluded this point saying that the FAO project and MAFRD should finalize the details and jointly agree on the structure of Kosovo Forest Information System.
Than the Chairman invite Ms. Nysrete Doda – Gashi to present the concept and structure of the System for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Forest Policy and Strategy implementation.
Ms. Nysrete Doda – Gashi, FAO National Consultant for Monitoring and Evaluation, presented the background, concept, design, implementation and use of the System for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Forest Policy and Strategy Implementation[3]
After this presentation, the board members started to comment and give suggestions on the system for Monitoring and Evaluation of PSP implementation.
Mr. Halimi, asked for clarification of the concept for establishment of M&E system, specifically asking if this is a process of M&E institutionalization or a methodology for data collection?
Mr. Tapani answered that the purpose is not to create a new institution but to agree for the structure of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of PSP.
Mr. Halimi has thanked for this clarification and suggested that board should have a better picture about the process for a monitoring and evaluation including its institutional incorporation.
The Chairman asked the board members to support the establishment of these two new instruments which will enable a better management of forest resources in Kosovo.
Mr. Halimi, said that the board cannot approve today these concepts (KFIS and M&E), they need more time to discuss and analyze it and then we can decide their establishment and operation.
Mr. Dakaj, suggested that MAFRD and FAO project have to harmonize and coordinate activities in order to have a clear picture about these two systems (KFIS and M&E).
The Chairman proposed to postpone the voting on these two systems for the next FMB meeting. The members agreed unanimously.
5. The chairman briefed the members of the board on his activities in the period between the second and third meeting of the Board. As a Chairman of the Board, he has participated on the working group meetings for drafting new law on forests, participated on regular meetings with donor community involved in forestry sector and had regular meetings with FAO staff and the forestry experts from other donor projects, etc.
As a most important event during this period, the chairman underlined the study tour in Finland that members of Forest Management Board have attended in May 2012. The Board considers this study tour as very beneficial. The experiences gathered from the visits of the institutions that run the forestry sector in Finland will be very useful for developing the forestry sector in Kosovo. The details and evaluation of the Study Tour in Finland are presented in the report[4].
The Chairman invited the representatives from the main forestry institutions to brief the board members on current developments in Kosovo forestry sector.
Mr. Hysen Abazi, Head of Forestry Department MAFRD, informed that MAFRD has finished Drafting of the new Law on Forests. The draft law is send to the governmental procedure and for time being it is in the parliament for the final reading. The MAFRD has completed a Strategy for Developing of Eco-tourism in Kosovo; they are waiting for its final approval.
Mr. Ahmet Zejnullahu, KFA Chief Executive, informed that the field work for Forest Inventory is almost completed. They expect to have the results of inventory in beginning of 2013. This year, 26000 ha of forests are covered with new long term management plans, plus 8000 ha will be covered by FAO project, this is in accordance with PSP where it stays that annually 30 000 ha should be covered with new management plans, says Mr Zejnullahu.
Regarding the forest fires, this year in Kosovo 3400 ha of forests burned because of wild fire, the assessment is still ongoing and by end of this month they will know exactly the amount of the damages.
The KFA Chief Executive informed that this year, KFA have planted trees in 534 ha in public and 145 in private forest lands and they produced 1,600, 000 seedlings.
The chairman thanked to Mr. Abazi and Mr. Zejnullahu for the updates and wished their institutions a success in further activities.
6. The Chairman has invited Forestry Department and Kosovo Forest Agency to present two project proposals which are identified as a priority projects for implementation of PSP.
Mr. Tahir Ahmeti, Forestry Officer at the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, presented the two project proposals which are prepared as priority interventions for implementation of PSP, and these proposals are developed jointly with Sida - SIPU.
The first proposal is about Silvicultural Treatment of the Young Forests in Kosovo[5] and second proposal is for Vocational Training Centre for Forestry in Kosovo[6]
After this presentation, the board members commented and asked for clarifications regarding these two project proposals.
Mr. Bashkim Gashi, board member, asked the following question; Have you studied the market and who are the buyers of the wood after thinning operations and are there any plans to use this project for bio energy purposes?
Mr. Ahmeti answered that the market is very wide, considering the needs for heating they plan that harvested wood to be used as firewood for population. Regarding the bio energy, for sure that project will have an influence to produce the bio energy.
Mr. Bashkim Thaçi asked about the number of people that could be employed through the project proposal. Mr. Ahmeti, answered that in the proposal the number of people involved to develop project activities and this numbers are calculated on yearly basis.