The SPC, FAO, and CBD Secretariat organized a training workshop in Nadi, Fiji, from 19-21 January 2011 to support the preparation of the Pacific contribution to the State of the World's Forest Genetic Resources Report.
20 January 2011: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) organized a regional training workshop in Nadi, Fiji, from 19-21 January 2011, to support the preparation of the Pacific contribution to the State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources Report.
The training session was attended by 20 participants from 13 countries. Inoke Wainiqolo, Fiji’s Conservator of Forests and Head of the Department of Forestry, opened the meeting highlighting the rapidly evolving role of trees and forests and their social, environmental, economic and cultural dimensions.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, sent a statement underscoring the key findings from the Global Forest Resources Assessment (2010) on continuing high rates of deforestation. Djoghlaf also pointed to the explicit recognition by the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the CBD, held in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010, of the importance of forest genetic diversity for the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity in the context of addressing climate change and maintaining the resilience of forest ecosystems. [SPC Press Release]