At its 27th meeting, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission (LACFC) discussed forest genetic resources, climate change and sustainable forest management.
It formulated recommendations on the draft Multi-Year Programme of Work for the period 2012–2015 of FAO's Committee on Forestry (COFO).
19 March 2012: The 27th meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission (LACFC) has developed recommendations to FAO about forest genetic resources, climate change, sustainable forest management (SFM) and priorities for the draft work programme of FAO’s Committee on Forestry (COFO).
The LACFC met in Asuncion, Paraguay, from 5-9 March 2012. After a briefing from the Secretariat about preparations for the State of the World Forest Genetic Resources report, LACFC stressed the importance of the subject for conservation, ecosystem restoration and climate change adaptation. It requested FAO to continue helping countries prepare their national reports to ensure that this information is incorporated into national strategies for the conservation and management of forest genetic resources and biodiversity.
LACFC, referring to climate change and its impact on forests as one of the chief concerns of LAC countries, requested FAO to continue working with countries either directly or through the UN-REDD programme to mainstream mitigation and adaptation into policies, strategies and programmes for SFM. LACFC further requested FAO to: assist in building the capacity of national forest institutions to increase their decision-making and bargaining power in international fora on climate change; and provide the necessary tools, such as voluntary guidelines, to enable countries to integrate climate change into the forest sector and to help strengthen regional cooperation on climate change.
On SFM, LACFC discussed regional socioeconomic factors affecting forest management; promotion of forest management by removing taxes and fees; community forest management; and the model forest concept. LACFC underlined the importance of the model forest concept in providing opportunities for communication and exchanges to minimize intersectoral conflict, and requested FAO to continue supporting the initiative.
Regarding COFO’s draft Multi-Year Programme of Work for the period 2012–2015, LACFC recommended, inter alia, promoting mechanisms to strengthen countries’ action in order to implement the priorities set in their national and regional forest strategies and policies related with international conventions (on climate change, biodiversity, desertification, etc.), in order to enable countries to contribute to global targets. [IISD RS Sources]