The 7th Meeting of the Asia Forest Partnership
(12 – 15 November 2007, Yokohama, Japan)
Concept Note
The Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) was launched in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg as one of over 200 partnerships for sustainable development registered with the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development, with the duration of its 1st phase for five years.
The aim of AFP is to promote sustainable forest management (SFM) in Asia through addressing three urgent issues: i) Control of illegal logging; ii) Control of forest fires; and iii) Rehabilitation and reforestation of degraded land, and two cross-cutting issues: i) Good governance and forest law enforcement; and ii) Developing capacity for effective forest management. Partners of the AFP include governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society organizations.
The partnership, which is voluntary, multi-stakeholder and 'self organizing' based on the mutual respect and shared responsibility of its partners, acts as a catalyst for existing initiatives by increasing synergies and reducing duplication between their programs and activities.
Since its launch, AFP has provided both formal and informal frameworks for the exchange of information and experiences relevant to SFM in Asia among partners through annual meetings, workshops and web-based communications. Partners have also jointly implemented activities in the form of ‘work plans’.
During this period, the potential of regional mechanisms/processes/approaches including AFP to contribute to SFM has been acknowledged by international fora, such as UNFF and G8. AFP has responded to some of these expectations, but it has not yet realized its full potential to contribute to SFM.
The five-year AFP 1st phase comes to an end in 2007 with a lot of lessons learnt from both its achievements and its shortcomings. An evaluation of the AFP 1st phase is currently being undertaken to assess the performance of the Partnership and to suggest options for AFP after the completion of its 1st phase.
The 7th Meeting of the Asia Forest Partnership is an opportunity for Partners to formally conclude the 1st phase and to identify the most appropriate way forward for AFP through open-ended discussion taking into consideration the results of the evaluation work as well as the changing contextual environment within and surrounding forests in Asia.
AFP partners and other interested parties from both public and private sectors are invited to join this important meeting to work together to promote SFM in Asia.