Turkey to host 11th World Forestry Congress
At its 108th session, held in June 1995, the FAO Council accepted the offer from Turkey to host the 11th World Forestry Congress. This Congress, organized by the Government of Turkey through its Ministry of Forestry in cooperation with FAO, will be held in Antalya, on the southwestern coast of Turkey, from 13 to 22 October 1997. The general theme for the Congress is "Forestry for sustainable development: towards the twenty-first century". This theme will allow the forestry community, including government institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, to take stock of the progress achieved in the sustainable management of the world's forests and to envisage enhanced contributions of the forestry sector to the stewardship of our planet and its forest resources as we enter a new century.
The first World Forestry Congress took place in Rome in 1926, followed by the second in Budapest in 1936 and the third in Helsinki in 1949. The themes of the past seven World Forestry Congresses have been:
· Role and place of forested areas in economic development (Dehra Dun, 1954);
· The multiple use of forests (Seattle, 1960);
· The role of forestry in worldwide economic change (Madrid, 1966);
· Forests and socio-economic development (Buenos Aires, 1972); Forests for people (Jakarta, 1978);
· Forest resources in the integral development of society (Mexico City, 1985);
· Forests, a heritage for the future (Paris, 1991).
The 11th World Forestry Congress will be the first opportunity after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to exchange worldwide experience among forestry professionals, together with professionals of other disciplines related to this sector, on the contribution of forestry to sustainable development. The Congress will also provide a scenario for the exchange of experience between the countries of the Near East and the Mediterranean regions, particularly in reconciling the sustainable development imperatives with the protection of nature's diversity, and the need to combat desertification and enhance environmental conservation.
A letter announcing the Congress is being issued by the Minister of Forestry of Turkey to invite countries and individuals to contribute their ideas and their presence at the Congress. The Turkish Ministry of Forestry and the FAO Forestry Department, which is providing support to the Organizing Committee in the preparation of the Congress, are together collecting ideas from governments and international non-governmental and governmental organizations in order prepare a detailed programme, including the structure, working methods and modalities for the
Congress.
Some 2500 participants attended the tenth World Forestry Congress in France in 1991. Very broad participation, both in the preparatory work and in the Congress itself, will be promoted for the 11th Congress. Internet and E-mail networking offer, in particular, excellent avenues for making a difference in the outreach and the quality of the documentation to be prepared for this Congress by individuals from as many backgrounds as possible. A home page has been established in Internet's worldwide web to provide general information on the organization of the Congress. National coordinators are also being designated as focal points to interact with the Organizing Committee. The next announcement, giving the structure of the Congress by programme areas, themes and subthemes and a call for papers, will be issued in the next issue of Unasylva.
The contact points for any inquiries or suggestions are: Mr E. Dönmez, Secretary-General, XI World Forestry Congress, Department of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Forestry, Ataturk Bulvari 153, Ankara, Turkey. Telephone: (+90 312) 4177724; Fax: (+90 312) 4179160; or Mr L.S. Botero, Associate Secretary-General, XI World Forestry Congress, FAO, Forestry Department, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Telephone: (+39 6) 52255088; Fax: (+39 6) 52255137; E-mail:[email protected].
FAO Forestry Branch Library
The Forestry Branch Library (FOBL) is one of the branch libraries of FAO's David Lubin Memorial Library. The section specializing in forestry information was opened in mid-1982 as a Forestry Library Service Point and was upgraded to Forestry Branch Library in 1995. The FOBL offers information on forestry and related subjects such as watershed management and wildlife.
The FOBL is open to all FAO staff members and other United Nations staff and project personnel. External users may obtain permission to use the services of the Forestry Branch Library by applying to the Library Assistant. FAO staff in the regional and subregional offices and field projects as well as outsiders can access the Forestry Branch Library by using any of the means of communication at their disposal.
The FOBL collection comprises the most current and most frequently used subset of the FAO Library forestry collection. At any given time, approximately 3 500 books, some 600 periodicals, yearbooks and other serial titles as well as documentation on FAO forestry projects and papers and reports of various forestry-related FAO statutory bodies are on hand in the FOBL. However, the FOBL also facilitates access to the complete FAO Library collection on forestry and other related disciplines - more than 1.5 million volumes.
The Forestry Branch Library has developed and maintains three traditional paper-based databases: country files, subject files and species files. It also provides access to the following computer-based databases (CDROM and direct access): FAO Databases (FAODOC, FAOLIB, FAOSERIALS) comprising all the information available in the FAO libraries; AGRIS covering the worldwide literature on all aspects of agriculture; CARIS covering current agricultural research projects; TREECD, produced by CAB International, containing more than 200 000 citations with abstracts. The Library also provides access through Internet to numerous other databases of relevance to the forestry sector.
The Library offers a number of valuable services: Reference and information services: assistance in identifying and locating pertinent sources of information and the information itself. Bibliographic searches: preparation of bibliographies on specified subjects using various databases. Circulation of periodicals and tables of contents: current awareness service including provision of information on new books and periodicals, collection and circulation of technical magazines and other information material comprising grey literature, and dispatch of duplicates to other forestry libraries. Acquisitions and loans: ordering of books and subscribing to periodicals of relevance to the forestry sector; providing loan service directly to local users and through the Main Library to users in the field; provision of interlibrary loan services through the Main Library to all qualified users.
Moving towards the future
The rapid development of information and communication technologies will offer challenges and opportunities for increasing the scope and efficiency in meeting the needs of information users. FAO has recently started a project gradually to convert the David Lubin Memorial Library to a Virtual Library system in which all material in the collection will be available in electronic format. The Forestry Branch Library will be part of this development.
For more information on the FAO Forestry Branch Library, contact Mrs Maria Franca Monti, Library Assistant, or Ms Annalisa Casponi, Library Clerk, at Forestry Branch Library, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Telephone: (+39 6) 52256495/52252697; Fax: (+39 6) 52255137; E-mail: [email protected].
FAO to host World Food Summit
World leaders will assemble in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996, making a public commitment to action to eliminate hunger. The World Food Summit will provide a historic opportunity for govemments, international organizations and all sectors of civil society to join forces in a concerted campaign to ensure food security - access at all times to the food required for a healthy, active life - for all the world's people. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has called the World Food Summit to address both the present crisis and the challenge of the future.
The idea of a world summit on food security was first raised in 1994 by FAO's Director-General, Dr Jacques Diouf. His proposal was unanimously accepted by the FAO Conference in October 1995 and supported by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1995.
Heads of State and Government from nearly 200 countries are expected to gather at FAO headquarters to agree on the blueprint for a coordinated campaign, in partnership with civil society and international organizations, to eradicate hunger.
The personal participation of national leaders is instrumental in mobilizing all government ministries and agencies concerned with food security from agriculture, fisheries, forestry and the environment to foreign affairs, trade, economy and development cooperation. This wide involvement, together with the active participation of NGOs, the private sector and other groups, is essential for developing a sound and realistic draft plan of action for the Summit and, subsequently, for ensuring the achievement of the Summit's goals.
The high visibility of the Summit and its preparatory process also serves to draw public attention to the food security question and to stimulate debate in all sectors of society and in the media. As a world forum, the Summit will take a global perspective in dealing with all aspects of food security. At the same time, it will address the specific challenges faced by different regions of the world. The agreements reached at the Summit will place food - the first and fundamental requirement for life - at the top of the global agenda together with peace and stability.
The success of the Summit will be measured initially by the level of shared commitment it generates and, ultimately, by the degree to which the absolute numbers of hungry around the world decline in the coming years. It is aimed at action, not the creation of new funding mechanisms, institutions or bureaucracy.
In the period following the Summit, actions undertaken by governments, international organizations and civil society are expected to fall into the following principal areas:
· political, macroeconomic and trade conditions needed to foster food security;
· policies and institutions that contribute to improving access to food for all;
· meeting transitory and emergency food needs in ways that encourage development;
· approaches to agricultural and rural development that encourage adequate, stable food supplies;
· equitable involvement of all people in decisions and actions that affect their food security;
· investment in research, extension, infrastructure and institutions for sustainable agriculture;
· international cooperation and assistance for food and agriculture.
For more information, contact the World Food Summit
Secretariat, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Fax: (+39 6) 5225 5249; E-mail: [email protected]; WWW: htip://www.fao.org.
