2. Structure and Function

ETFRN-II shall have four bodies to guide and execute the work: the Steering Committee, the ETFRN members, the National Nodes and the Coordination Unit.

The Steering Committee

The Steering Committee (SC) is the decision making body of ETFRN. It consists of one representative per country with vote, paid for by ETFRN. In addition, a maximum of two observers per country, on ad-hoc basis, without vote and not paid by ETFRN, are acceptable. The country representative will be nominated in a for each country relevant consultative process. The major tasks of trhe Steering Committee are:

Decide on the annual work plan of the Coordination Unit (CU);
Evaluate the network's progress during the preceding year;
Identify and advise on additional activities;
Identify emerging trends in tropical forest research and formulate relevant recommendations for ETFRN;

The SC chairman and vice-chairman will be elected by the Steering Committee members. Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be elected for one year. After one year the Chairman is succeeded by the Vice-Chairman.

Within the SC an Executive Committee (EC) will be established for direct and interim contact between SC and Coordination Unit. There is the presumption that the composition of the Executive Committee should reflect the complemenray views of larger and smaller research capabilities, including number of researchers, in ETFRN member countries. The Executive Committee will be composed of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Steering Committee and one elected member of the Steering Committee.This may be, but not necessarily, the previous Chairman of the Steering Committee. One observer each from the European Parliament and the European Commission will also be invited to the Executive Committee meetings.
The Executive Committee will assist the Coordination Unit in official procedures (approval of agenda for meetings, minor budget adaptions).

The ETFRN Members

The 7th General Assembly decided to introduce a formal membership, as such it will be established. This shall help to involve a greater number of researchers, to improve collaboration, and to extend the scientific spectrum. ETFRN membership will be open to: European institutes, organizations, or distinct units within institutes and organizations, dealing with (sub) tropical forest and related land-use system research comprising a wide range of disciplines (i.e. forestry, ecology, wood technology, timber, ethnobotany, sociology, law etc.).
ETFRN membership will be located at the highest level within the institute or organization where tropical forestry or related research is identified as activity and recognized as responsibility. There is no objection to include more than one e-mail address of contact persons participating in discussions or the Question and Answer Service

Members are committed to fulfill the following obligations in order to support the objectives of the network and contribute to its activities:

	Furnish the relevant information for the up-date of ETFRN's directories and other information material on European tropical forest research for wider distribution (Newsletter, Internet);
	Linking the institute, national node and CU Internet-www-home pages accompanied with E-mail (as E-mail will be an important medium for communication and information within ETFRN);
	To be willing to cooperate with other ETFRN members in order to better pursue the objectives of the network.

ETFRN membership has the following advantages:

	early information on tenders and calls for proposals or other funding schemes provided through the e-mail listserver or fax;
	easy access to aggregated information from the databases, meetings, electronic discussions or other network information sources;
	links will be provided from the ETFRN Internet site to the Internet homepages of ETFRN members
	opportunity to participate in meetings and other bodies within ETFRN or in which the network is represented;
	opportunity to actively participate in the activities of the network (discussions);
	possibility to influence the structure and activities of ETFRN through the national representative to the ETFRN Steering Committee;
	opportunities for cooperation through contacts established through the network.

Access to the ETFRN Internet site, use of the Question and Answer service, and inclusion in the ETFRN News mailing list is open to everyone. This means that organizations which are not ETFRN members will receive information on tenders and reports on meetings and electronic discussions later than the ETFRN members.

The National Nodes

The National Nodes will remain the national working units of ETFRN. They ensure a large part of the information flow between the Coordination Unit to the ETFRN members in their countries. They support the implementation of ETFRN objectives and seek the support of the CU whenever there is a demand for research cooperation. They contribute to the establishment of the annual work plan and its execution. The national nodes will represent the ETFRN members in their country in the Steering Committee, unless decided otherwise by the members in the country concerned.

Other major tasks of National Nodes are:

	To encourage members to contribute to ETFRN activities;
	To participate in the Steering Committee and decision making process, unless this task is fulfilled by another institute;
	To identify potential members taking into account the multi-disciplinarity of the network;
	To inform the ETFRN community about relevant changes and new initiatives concerning tropical forest research in their country via the CU;
	To present ETFRN (its objectives, initiatives and activities) at national and international events and to other scientific groups with relation to tropical forest research;
	To consult with other members to prepare inputs in the Steering Committee meeting;
	Distribution of the ETFRN newsletter and other information within their country.

In addition, National Nodes will also meet the general commitments for network members. National nodes will be selected among the ETFRN members within a country in the most appropriate way (i.e. election or approval by the members, appointment by the NAtional Authorities etc.).

The Coordination Unit (CU)

The purpose of the Coordination Unit is to facilitate the initiation and execution of activities of the work plan by serving the network as the focal communication and coordination point.

The Coordination Unit has the following specific tasks:

Information Service
	Maintenance of databases: regular updating based on information received from national nodes;
	Question and Answer Service: screening of questions for mailing through listserver; directly answering database-related questions;
	Presentation of information through Internet, Newsletter, publications;
	Improvement of access to international information sources
	Contact partner to other (regional) networks
Forum for Dialogue
	organize or stimulate electronic discussions, as appropriate
	organize workshops
	act as interface between members and the EU Commission
	act as interface between members and the EU Parliament
Identification of new trends relevant to Tropical Forest Research
	organize participatory discussions
	participate in international meetings
	assist in the development of methods to identify research priorities at different levels by creating different fora for discussion (newsletter, workshop)
	assist the EU Commission in the identification of priorities for funding
ETFRN Administration and Decision-Making
	Organize Steering Committee meetings
	Ensure monitoring and evaluation of ETFRN activities
	Draft annual work plan
	act as secretariat for the network
	investigate the desirability and possibility to establish a legal entity for the network

In the fulfilment of its tasks, the coordination unit will exercise the greatest economy of effort, making use of existing structures and mechanisms where efficient and appropriate.

^1. when agreed upon by the Steering Committee