| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
ETFRN-News is a quarterly publication of the European Tropical
Forest Research Network: Editor: Willemine Brinkman
Editorial assistance:Evelyn Whyte
Jelle Maas
ETFRN Coordination Unit
c/o The Tropenbos Foundation
P.O. Box 232
6700 AE Wageningen/ The Netherlands
Tel.:+31-317-41 30 33
Fax:+31-317-41 20 99
E-mail: etfrn@etfrn.org
ETFRN at the World Forestry Congress
ETFRN organised a side meeting at the World Forestry Congress which was attended
by approximately 40 - 50 people from all over the world. After a short general
introduction to ETFRN, Professor Frederick Owino of the African Academy of Science
held a very interesting presentation entitled "African Forest Research Priorities:
Research for Development." The text of his presentation may be found on p.23
of this issue of the ETFRN News.
Subsequently, the Chairman of the ETFRN Steering Committee, François
Grison, briefly discussed a case of forest research priority setting at the
national level. He elaborated on how research priorities were set in the past
in the Forest Research Institute in Cameroon, by inviting the users of research
results to annual meetings at the institute to comment on the research programme
and present their requirements. The presentations were followed by questions
and discussion.
ETFRN was also presented at a side meeting on networking, which was organised
by IUFRO-SPDC, the Special Programme for Developing Countries of the International
Union of Forestry Research Organisations. Many thanks to Bob Szaro, IUFRO-SPDC
Coordinator, for providing this opportunity.
These side meetings were excellent venues to meet the representatives of other
networks. The Coordinator is happy to report she met the Chairman and Secretary
of the APAFRI network in Southeast Asia, as well as other forest researchers
from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Anjali Verma, a young researcher from India,
who also presented a paper in the research session of the World Forestry Congress,
has provided an article on research priority setting methods for this issue
of the ETFRN News.
The Congress also provided the opportunity to renew or maintain contacts, and
to reach cooperation agreements. The coordinator met with Michael Ibach of CIFOR
and Oudara Souvannavong of FAO to discuss the possibility of developing a search
option on Internet which will enable people to search the ETFRN, FAO and CIFOR/APAFRI
databases of forest research organisations. We agreed that this should be done,
and Michael Ibach offered to develop a prototype which will hopefully be ready
for demonstration at the next ETFRN Steering Committee meeting.
ETFRN at the Accra Expert Consultation on forestry
research in Sub-Saharan Africa
ETFRN was invited to attend the Expert Consultation on Forestry Research at
the FAO regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana, organised by FAO and IUFRO/SPDC
(also see p.16).
The meeting was convened to discuss the strengthening of national capacities
and regional cooperation in forest research in Sub-Saharan Africa. A draft project
document prepared by FAO in collaboration with IUFRO/SPDC was the subject of
discussion on the second and third days of the meeting.
The meeting was attended by experts from 12 Sub-Saharan African countries and
representatives from international organizations and networks. The ETFRN Coordination
Unit was represented by Jelle Maas.
ETFRN participation was appreciated by the organizers of the meeting (i.e. FAO
and IUFRO). Other participants were very interested in the activities of ETFRN,
particularly the newsletter, the directory of European Institutes and the links
ETFRN could provide between African institutions and European institutions,
including the European Union.
Some participants regarded ETFRN as a way to access the EU funds. After some
further explanations, they tended to see ETFRN as a useful channel to contact
potential (financial) partners, especially through the Question and Answer Service,
Newsletter and Internet.
For ETFRN it was useful to meet with potential partners and to elaborate on
its activities and potential services for African organisations.
Next ETFRN Steering Committee
The next ETFRN Steering Committee will be held in Amsterdam on January 30-31,
1998.
Topics to be discussed include: