Minutes of the Meeting

Transcription

1 SECOND EXPERT LEVEL MEETING ON THE FOLLOW-UP OF THE LISBON CONFERENCE October 1999, Vienna, Austria Minutes of the Meeting The Second Expert Level Meeting on the Follow-up of the Lisbon Conference (2 nd ELM) took place in Vienna, Austria, on October The meeting was attended by 72 delegates representing 31 Signatory States and the European Commission, 12 Observer Countries and Organisations and the Liaison Unit Vienna. It was chaired jointly by Ms. Conceição Ferreira, chief co-ordinator of Portugal, and by Mr. Peter Mayer, head of the Liaison Unit Vienna. 1. Opening of the meeting Mr. Peter Mayer welcomed the delegates and opened the meeting. In his opening statement Mr. Mayer put special emphasis on the main task of the meeting, the discussion of the work programme for the implementation of the decisions taken at the Lisbon Conference and the re-enforced implementation of previous commitments made at the Strasbourg and Helsinki Conferences. 2. Adoption of the agenda The proposed agenda was adopted. 3. Report on relevant international meetings Information was given on relevant international meetings: Mr. Thomas Gottlob (Germany) reported on the third session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (Geneva/Switzerland, 3 14 May 1999). Additionally, on behalf of the European Union, Ms. Conceição Ferreira informed on the preparations for the fourth session of IFF, to take place in New York on 31 January 11 February 2000; Mr. João de Sousa Teixeira (Portugal) reported on the International Experts Meeting on Low Forest Cover Countries (Teheran/Islamic Republic of Iran, 4 8 October 1999); Mr. José María Solano Lopez (Spain) reported on the European Meeting of the Costa Rica Canada Initiative in support of IFF Category III (Madrid/Spain, September 1999); LIAISON UNIT VIENNA Marxergasse 2, A-1030 Vienna Austria, Tel: , Fax: liaison.unit@lu-vienna.at

2 Mr. Mevlut Düzgün (Turkey) reported on the Regional Meeting in support of the Costa Rica Canada Initiative hosted by the government of Turkey (Istanbul/Turkey, October 1999); Mr. Peter Schütz (Netherlands) informed on the Meeting of Heads of Forest Services in the EU Countries (Hämeenlinna/Finland, 6 7 October 1999); Ms. Astrid Bergquist (Sweden) and Mr. Christopher Prins (UN/ECE) reported on the Fifty-seventh session of the UN/ECE Timber Committee Meeting (Geneva/Switzerland, September 1999); Mr. Pier Carlo Zingari (EOMF) reported on the Operational Meeting on Mountain Forests (El Escorial /Spain, 4 6 October 1999). In addition, Mr. Ingwald Gschwandtl (Austria) informed on objectives of the international workshop Sustainable Future of Mountain Forests, to take place in Tyorl/Austria 2 5 May 2000; Ms. Christel Palmberg-Lerche reported on the Fourth EUFORGEN Noble Hardwoods Network Meeting (Gmunden/Austria, 3 7 September 1999). 4. Outcomes of recent meetings organised by the Liaison Unit Vienna Mr. Christoph Wildburger (Liaison Unit Vienna) presented outcomes of the meeting of the preparatory group on Objective 2 of the WP-CEBLDF (Vienna/Austria, 20 May 1999) and the second session of the ad hoc Working Group on Biodiversity, Protected Areas and Related Issues (Semmering/Austria, June 1999). Mr. Alexander Buck (Liaison Unit Vienna) informed on objectives, procedure and conclusions of the Workshop on the Role of National Forest Programmes (NFPs) in the Pan-European Context (Tulln,/Austria, September 1999). The conclusions and suggestions for further procedures of these meetings were approved by the delegates of the 2 nd ELM. 5. Work Programme on the Follow-up of the Third Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe Mr. Mayer presented structure and contents of the proposal for a Work Programme on the Follow-up of the Third Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (in the following referred to as Work Programme ) which had been elaborated by the Liaison Unit in co-operation with the General Co-ordinating Committee (GCC). It is based on the discussion of the Pan-European Round Table Meeting (Brussels/Belgium, November 1998) and the decisions taken at the First Expert Level Meeting (Vienna/Austria, 31 March 1 April 1999). The proposal had been sent to the contact persons of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) in advance. In a series of general comments, the participants of the meeting, inter alia, pointed out that the proposed Work Programme was well structured, holistic and action oriented, effectively translating the political decisions into a clear document in operational terms. Several participants emphasised the ambitious character of the Work Programme and underlined the principle to make best use of technical and scientific knowledge and experience of existing organisations and institutions. In this regard, initiatives, developed by organisations and institutions and launched with the specific objective of implementing existing Resolutions, 2

3 should also be included into the Work Programme. The responsibility of the Signatory States to implement the commitments made by the Ministers through action at national levels was highlighted. Several participants of the meeting pointed out that the activities undertaken in the course of implementing the decisions taken at the Strasbourg and Helsinki Conferences should be included into the Work Programme in a more prominent way. Therefore, it was decided to attach a table providing a clear and concise overview of the present and future Follow-up of the Strasbourg and Helsinki Resolutions as an Annex to the Work Programme. Following these general comments, the individual elements of the Work Programme were discussed in detail. The discussion followed the structure presented in the Work Programme: Concerning Public Relations Mr. Mayer informed of the state of preparations for a report on 10 years MCPFE. This report aims to communicate the MCPFE and its achievements to a broader, interested public in an easy-to-read format. The final draft of the report will be sent to the contact persons of the MCPFE for comments. Mr. Mayer also reported on the meeting of the Liaison Offices of the Montréal Process and the MCPFE (Quebéc/Canada, October 1999). The outcomes of the meeting were approved by the delegates of the 2 nd ELM, i.e. to continue communication between the two processes, to publish a common leaflet on work, objectives and commonalities of the two processes, to develop a joint bulletin board on criteria and indicators in the internet and to consider convening a joint meeting on data collection and reporting and how to best utilise available data from TBFRA. Additionally, Mr. Ingwald Gschwandtl (Leader of Team of Public Relations Specialists) outlined upcoming activities of the FAO/ECE Team of Public Relations Specialists in the Forest and Forest Industries Sector. These include, inter alia, the organisation of an International Forestry Communicators Forum (Canada, Year 2000) as well as a European Forum on Forest and Society (Finland, June 2000). In general, the meeting acknowledged the usefulness and need to further communicate and promote the work of the MCPFE. Therefore, it was decided that the Liaison Unit should take up professional consultancy in order to determine possible action in this field. Regarding Public Participation, the Swiss delegation recalled the mandate given to the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training and informed that a Team of Specialists (ToS) on Participation and Partnerships in Forestry was established within the Committee in order to clarify the concept of public participation and to develop a conceptual framework. The first meeting of the ToS will take place in Switzerland on November The delegates of the meeting welcomed the proposal made in the Work Programme to initiate work on the issue of Rural Development with a seminar on the role of forests and forestry in rural development, jointly organised by the Universität für Bodenkultur Vienna and the Liaison Unit and to be convened in Vienna/Austria in the year Making use of available scientific knowledge, the seminar aims to discuss and clarify the concept of rural development and the role of forests and forestry in rural development. 3

4 In the discussion of Work Programme element Valuation of Goods and Services the participants of the meeting identified the need to further explore the state of knowledge and underlined the usefulness of convening an international seminar on valuation of forest goods and services. The Czech Republic offered to look for possibilities to host the seminar in the year With regard to Certification and Labelling, the delegates agreed to publish the results of the assessment of potential impacts of forest certification programmes on SFM, as demanded in Resolution L1, in a joint publication of the MCPFE and the European Commission. This assessment had been conducted in the recently concluded EU-FAIR Research Project Policy Analysis of Certification of Forests Management as a Policy Instrument to Promote Multifunctional Sustainable Forest Management. The Liaison Unit will send the document to the delegates of the 2 nd ELM, so that they are informed about its content in advance. It was also agreed to indicate in the Work Programme that the Pan-European Criteria, Indicators and Operational Level Guidelines are used as a basis for the work of independently developed private forest certification initiatives. In an initial discussion, the delegates also debated the role of governments in certification and the possible contributions of the MCPFE. Wood and substitutes and relation to other sectors as well as Training, education and gender aspects were identified as tasks mainly to be taken up by responsible bodies at national and/or sub-national levels. In order to stress the valuable contributions of existing technical and scientific bodies to future work on these issues, the delegates decided to more prominently indicate the related activities of UN-ECE, FAO, ILO and IUFRO in the Work Programme. The participants of the meeting re-emphasised the importance of Work Programme element Countries in Transition (CITs) and underlined the significance the efforts and activities undertaken by UN-ECE/FAO and other initiatives aiming at the promotion and support of co-operation with CITs. Prof. Kazimierz Rykowski (Poland) informed that, following consultation with the Minister responsible for forestry in Poland, the workshop mentioned in the Work Programme will presumably be convened at the beginning of 2001 (instead of 2000). Regarding Biological and Landscape Diversity the delegates re-emphasised the importance of the joint Work-Programme on the Conservation and Enhancement of Biological and Landscape Diversity in Forest Ecosystems and welcomed the actions listed in the Work Programme. In addition, information was given on ongoing and forthcoming research activities. The meeting acknowledged the need for continuous exchange of information on Climate Change, as proposed in the Work Programme. The expert review comments submitted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the draft IFCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry were made available to the participants of the meeting. The comments on the revised version of the report will be circulated to the signatories and observers of the MCPFE. Concerning National Forest Programmes, the delegates acknowledged the outcomes of the Workshop on the Role of NFPs in the Pan-European Context and welcomed the actions indicated in the Work Programme. The Liaison Unit was asked to elaborate a 4

5 concept paper together with relevant technical and scientific bodies, notably COST Action E19, for the next Expert Level Meeting. In the discussion on Criteria and Indicators (C&I), the commitment of the ministers laid down in Resolution L2 to continuously review and further improve the indicators was reemphasised and the procedures for further work laid down in the Work Programme were welcomed. The participants of the 2 nd ELM underlined the significance of the contribution of existing bodies to the work of the MCPFE on C&I and asked UN- ECE/FAO to analyse experiences made in the TBFRA-2000 with regard to the feasibility of existing quantitative indicators. In addition to the Enquiry on the Applicability of the Criteria and the Quantitative Indicators conducted in 1994/95 and the questionnaire on the Improvement of Pan-European Indicators for SFM, Data Collection and Reporting sent to signatories and observers of the MCPFE in July 1999, this analysis will provide valuable input for further work of the MCPFE on C&I. As a result of the discussion, the Work Programme was adopted by the delegates of the 2 nd Expert Level Meeting. It was agreed that the Work Programme will be supplemented and modified according to the outcomes of the discussion on individual elements and that the revised version of the Work Programme will be sent to the signatories and observers for comments by the end of Other matters For reasons of clarity and continuity of terms, the delegates decided to use the abbreviation MCPFE for Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe in future. The discussion and work between the conferences should be referred to as the "Pan-European Forest Process". Finally, the delegates of the 2 nd ELM agreed that the next Expert Level Meeting will be convened in autumn Depending on the outcomes of the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (New York/USA, 31 January 11 February 2000), a Pan-European Round Table Meeting could be convened in Brussels following a decision of the GCC in due time before the 8th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (New York/USA, April/May 2000). A request made by the International Wolf Federation (IWFEA) to be registered as an observer of the MCPFE was postponed due to insufficient information on the organisation. The Liaison Unit was encouraged to draw up rules of procedure for registration as an observer to the MCPFE. 7. Closure of the meeting Mr. Mayer and Ms. Ferreira closed the meeting thanking the participants for their active participation and comments made in the discussions and for the adoption of the Work Programme on the Follow-up of the Third Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe. 5