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inFO news
FAO’s recent staff survey results emphasized the need to
strengthen communication channels in the Department.
In my view, a periodic bulletin covering personnel
comings and goings, recent news and upcoming events
may be a start to improving communication within
the Department. I would invite your feedback on this
approach and your contributions to future editions of
the bulletin. You can submit relevant information to
As you know, the International Year of Forests is drawing
to a close after much intensive but fruitful work thanks
to your contributions. We in the Forestry Department
are considering how to continue the momentum we
have achieved in raising awareness of forests this year.
Our current projects include working to gain country
support for an International Day of Forests in 2012 and
recognition by decision-makers at Rio+20 in June 2012
of the importance of forests to sustainable development
and the green economy. But today, 20 December 2011,
we are holding FAO’s International Year of Forests closing
event at FAO headquarters in Rome. I would like to thank
you all for your commitment during the past 12 months
and wish you and your families a restful holiday and all
the best for 2012.
Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director General, Forestry
Foreword
Follow-up on change management in FO
As a follow-up to the FAO staff survey, David Conte held a team-building
session moderated by an FAO facilitator to address the departmental results
of the survey. As an outcome of the meeting, two actions were selected to
be addressed by FO in the near term. They are: building trust relationships
among FO employees, and managing performance and enabling
employees (coaching and feedback; training and development plans).
David will continue to keep the department informed of progress in this
regard and hopes the new members of the Local Change Team will begin to
address the actions identified at the departmental meeting.
New/recent appointments
FOM recently welcomed Loreto Sanz Herrera (Spain); Nathalie Paratte
(Switzerland); Sugi Yoo (Italy); Marc Dumas-Johansen (Denmark); and Petteri
Vuorinen (Finland); FODP welcomed David Conte (USA) to their team. The
Director-General has appointed Eduardo Mansur (Brazil) as Director of FOM.
Staff retirements
The last quarter of this year has seen the retirement of three members of the
Forestry Department: José Antonio Prado retired at the end of September,
and Udeni Padmaperuma and Felice Padovani at the end of October. Each
of these colleagues made unique contributions to FO and forest issues. We
will miss our three colleagues and wish them all great success in their new
endeavours.
How we work – Staff news
José Antonio Prado
Eduardo Mansur
Photo competition – Forests through your lens
As we head into the final quarter of the International Year of Forests 2011,
we would like to invite you to submit a photo of the forests that you know
and love. www.fao.org/forestry/iyf2011/73628/en/
Castel Fusano tree-planting, Rome, October
Staff get hands dirty for the International
Year of Forests. In late October, more
than 50 FAO staff took part in a tree-
planting event near Rome, organized by
the Forestry Department together with
Corpo Forestale dello Stato to celebrate
the International Year of Forests. www.fao.org/forestry/iyf2011/events/en/
Art and Joy of Wood
Three hundred and fifty participants from across the globe and over three
thousand members of the public gathered in Bangalore to discuss the key
role of wood use as part of the path to sustainability. www.artjoywood.org/
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carl Lewis and
Anggun support the International
Year of Forests!
Watch the latest video featuring FAO
Goodwill Ambassadors expressing their
support for the IYF: www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_HF5klYV_Y
Wood is art An unusual sculpture exhibition in the Atrium is one of the activities marking the end of International Year of Forests. Some 28 large-scale works by the Finnish wood sculptors group Puunkuokkijat are on show. www.fao.org/forestry/iyf2011/events/en/
Forest news: recent and ongoing IYF events
iFOn application We have recently launched the first FAO departmental mobile application for iPhone and iPad. It contains general facts on forests, a quiz, videos and photos and a section that enables users to donate to recently selected forestry Telefood projects. It’s free and available through the Apple App store
New videos on FAO Forestry project work
Two new videos have been produced to showcase FAO Forestry’s work in
Mongolia and Rwanda. Mongolia: http://youtu.be/DGuXQgYv6tA
Wildlife in a Changing Climate (Rwanda): http://youtu.be/PAR7Mwv3848
ADG meets Head of UN-Habitat
The ADG met Joan Clos, Head of UN-Habitat, in Nairobi to discuss how
to intensify work on areas of mutual interest such as urban forestry and
sustainable building.
UN-REDD
A Strategic Direction Group has been established at the senior management
level to discuss UN-REDD. The Group has met three times since September,
strengthening the institutional commitment of the three agencies to the
UN-REDD programme.
International Mountain Day
A ceremony was held at
FAO headquarters on 12
December to commemorate
International Mountain Day
2011. This year, the focus
of the Day was “Mountain
forests – roots to our future”. Three new publications were launched at the
event. See the FAO (www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/116593/icode/) and
CPF (www.fao.org/forestry/30256-0b2d6df976ec6877802024dc5d5d76f06.pdf)
press releases for more information.
Forest news: recent and ongoing IYF events
Joan Clos
Olman Serrano
Collaborative partnership on forests news
Recent CPF press releases
CPF news items and press releases, on themes including fire, trade, food
security, bioenergy, urban forestry, mountains and Rio+20, can be found at
www.fao.org/forestry/cpf/41395/en/
CPF submission for Rio+20
In its recent submission to the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs for the Rio+20 preparatory process, the CPF note that forests are
an important component of future actions on sustainable development
and explain how the three pillars of sustainable development should be
viewed as a single approach in the transition to a green economy. View the
submission here: www.fao.org/forestry/cpf/en/
Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEPs) new Panel on “Biodiversity, Forest
Management, and REDD+”
A scoping meeting was held at FAO
in Rome, to look at how a proposed
GFEP could carry out a comprehensive
assessment of scientific knowledge
regarding the relationship between
biodiversity and REDD+, including
trade-offs between biodiversity, ecosystem services and carbon storage.
The assessment, coordinated by the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations (IUFRO) would provide policy-makers, investors and donors
with a stronger scientific basis for their decisions about REDD+ policies and
projects. IUFRO have now drafted the Terms of Reference for a GFEP Expert
Panel, which was submitted to the GFEP Steering Committee at a meeting
in Durban, South Africa, on 3 December, for discussion and approval.
Forest Day 5
Forest Day 5, which took
place on the fringes of the
UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) Conference of
the Parties (COP) in Durban, South Africa, attracted over 1200 registered
participants and the high-level attendance of Ministers from South Africa
and the UK as well as Cristiana Figueres, Head of the UNFCCC.
www.forestsclimatechange.org/events/forest-day/forest-day-5.html
CPF Informal Meeting CPF held a meeting on 5 December 2011, on the periphery of the UNFCCC COP. The agenda covered CPF activities for Rio+20, the implementation of the requests by the Ninth Session of the UN Forum on Forests with regard to forest finance and agreed to establish a Wangari Maathai Award.
Regional news
Asia–Pacific Forestry Week in China
A very successful Asia–Pacific Forestry Commission and Forest Week was
held from 7–11 November in Beijing. The meeting was attended by the
Forest Minister of China, Mr. Jia Zhibang. To read all about it see:
www.fao.org/forestry/ap-forestry-week/en/
European Forestry Commission in Turkey
A joint session of the Timber Committee of the UN Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE) and UNECE-FAO Forestry was held from 10–14 October
in Antalya, Turkey focusing on forests and green economy. To read more
about it see: www.fao.org/forestry/efc/en/
International Year of Forests Closing in Geneva
A distinguished group of experts from governments, international
organizations, NGOs and industry debated the topic “Forests 2030: The
future of forests in Europe and North America”. Participants attending the
event were then invited to join a closing ceremony for the International
Year of Forests organized by the Republic of Poland and the United States
of America in cooperation with the UNECE-FAO Forestry and UNECE Timber
Section. For more information, please see the UNECE website at:
www.unece.org/iyf-closing.html
Global Environment Facility projects
Three new Global Environment Facility (GEF) projects in Mongolia,
Cameroon and Trinidad and Tobago have been recently approved.
RELAFOR
The third workshop on Forest Education in Latin America was held in Lima
during the Fifth Latin American Forestry Congress in October 2011. The
objective of the workshop was to elaborate documents to improve teaching
on forests and to project the image of forestry better in the Latin American
region. For more on the workshop see:
www.cnf.org.pe/vconflat/evento_RELAFOR.pdf
REDPARQUES
New work on coastal marine protected areas will soon be introduced as
part of the technical mechanism REDPARQUES, which consists of public and
private institutions and specialists from member countries of the region
working in the field of protected areas, flora and fauna. A Latin American
meeting of Directors of national parks was held in Mexico from 19-24
September and another was held on marine zones from 21-26 September in
São Paulo, Brazil. For more information, watch this space: www.rlc.fao.org/
es/areas-tecnicas/bosques/redparques/
Regional Functional Technical Networks
As part of a broader FAO corporate initiative, FAO Forestry is the first
Department to establish a Functional Technical Network. The Network
will formalize existing cooperative arrangements between the Forestry
Department and Decentralized Offices.
Publications
Remote sensing survey: The remote sensing survey carried out as part of
the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 presents new estimates of the
area in forest land-use and change rates (deforestation and afforestation)
at global, continental and ecological zone scales for the time period 1990,
2000 and to 2005. Recent findings were presented at a side event held
during the UNFCCC COP-17 in Durban, South Africa. The study will also
result in an updated forest-cover map:
www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/95180/icode/
Wildlife in a changing climate: FAO Forestry Paper No. 167 looks at the
effects of a changing climate on wildlife. It was launched at the Conference
in Durban. The publication examines the likely consequences of climate
change for wildlife, including altered ecosystems and species composition
and increased incidence of human–wildlife conflict, wildland fires and
spread of invasive species and infectious diseases. See a video here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAR7Mwv3848&feature=youtu.be
Amazon NWFP: Fruit trees and useful plants in Amazonian life will be
launched at the closing event of the International Year of Forests in Rome on
20 December. This publication synthesizes the findings of over 70 Brazilian
and international researchers regarding wide-ranging uses, fascinating
ecology and rapidly disappearing lore of 35 native forest species.
Unasylva: A new issue of the journal focuses on measuring forest
degradation. Articles are based on works originally commissioned for a
Global Forest Resources Assessment special study on forest degradation.
See: www.fao.org/publications/unasylva for more information.
Partners
International Forest Students Association (IFSA)
An Agreement of Cooperation has recently been signed between the FAO
Forestry and IFSA. The purpose of the Agreement is to enable members of
IFSA easier access to information on FAO’s work and to allow them to attend
relevant FAO events.
Jane Goodall event
Eduardo Rojas-Briales made a presentation on FAO’s work in forestry to
reverse deforestation at an event with the Jane Goodall Institute Italia
held at the British Embassy in Rome. The Jane Goodall Institute (www.
janegoodall.org) is a global nonprofit organization. The vision of the
Jane Goodall Institute aligns closely with the work here of the Forestry
Department, and it is important that we continue to work closely together
with institutions to enhance our common goals, in order to strengthen the
voice for sustainable forest management.
Upcoming events
AFWC
The 18th Session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission will be
held in Cotonou, Benin, from 16–20 January 2012. For more information, see
www.fao.org/forestry/afwc/en/
NEFC
The 20th Near East Forestry and Range Commission will be held in Turkey
from 29 January until 2 February 2012. For more information, see
www.fao.org/forestry/31112/en/
COFLAC
The agenda for the 27th Latin American and Caribbean Forestry
Commission has just been set. The meeting will be convened in Asunción,
Paraguay from 5–9 March 2012. See the agenda here:
www.rlc.fao.org/en/agenda/27-session-of-the-lacfc/