27-29 october, 2004 Budapest, Hungary
The Forest Resources Assessment Programme
Forests are crucial for the well-being of humanity. They provide foundations for life on earth through ecological functions, by regulating the climate and water resources and by serving as habitats for plants and animals. Forests also furnish a wide range of essential goods such as wood, food, fodder and medicines, in addition to opportunities for recreation, spiritual renewal and other services.
Today, forests are under pressure from increasing demands of land-based products and services, which frequently lead to the conversion or degradation of forests into unsustainable forms of land use. When forests are lost or severely degraded, their capacity to function as regulators of the environment is also lost, increasing flood and erosion hazards, reducing soil fertility and contributing to the loss of plant and animal life. As a result, the sustainable provision of goods and services from forests is jeopardized.
FAO, at the request of the member nations and the world community, regularly monitors the world’s forests through the Forest Resources Assessment Programme. The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000) reviewed the forest situation by the end of the millennium. FRA 2000 included country-level information based on existing forest inventory data, regional investigations of land-cover change processes and a number of global studies focusing on the interaction between people and forests. The FRA 2000 Main Report has been published and is available on the World Wide Web (www.fao.org/forestry/fra).
The next global FRA is scheduled for 2005 and is an update of FRA 2000. It will utilise the thematic elements of sustainable forest management derived from the nine (eco-) regional criteria and indicator processes for sustainable forest management as the reporting framework and will be published in 2005. A more comprehensive global assessment report will be published around 2010.
The Forest Resources Assessment Programme is organized under the Forest Resources Division (FOR) at FAO headquarters in Rome. Contact persons are:
Peter Holmgren , Chief FORM [email protected]
Mette Løyche Wilkie , Senior Forestry Officer (FRA) [email protected]
Readers can also use the following e-mail address: [email protected]
The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Working Paper Series is designed to reflect the activities and progress of the FRA Programme of FAO. Working Papers are not authoritative information sources – they do not reflect the official position of FAO and should not be used for official purposes. Please refer to the FAO forestry website (www.fao.org/forestry) for access to official information.
The views of participants reported in these proceedings should be considered as their personal views, which may or may not reflect the official views of the countries.
The FRA Working Paper Series provides an important forum for the rapid release of preliminary findings needed for validation and to facilitate the final development of official quality-controlled publications. Should users find any errors in the documents or have comments for improving their quality they should contact [email protected].
3
Results
3.1 General comments and questions on scope, coverage and methodology of FRA 2005
3.2 Summary of specific comments / issues on the National Reporting Tables
3.3 Status of country reporting and timetable for completing the country reports
3.4 Thematic studies
3.5 National Forest Resources Assessments
Appendix 1 – List of Participants
Appendix 2 – Agenda for the workshop
