Commonwealth Forests

bullet1 Chapter 7 The Commonwealth and the international forestry dialogue

bullet2 COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES IN REGIONAL GROUPINGS

All Commonwealth countries are members of regional groupings, which often have developed, or are developing, forestry programmes or bodies to coordinate policies or activities.  The following are some examples:

    1. Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC).  Eleven member countries, including Cameroon. It has a coordinating role in forest policy development among member countries.  It also has a Council, which meets at Ministerial level.

    2. The Southern African Development Community (SADC, formerly SADCC).  There are thirteen member countries, including Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.  It has developed a forest strategy.

    3. The Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) http://www.mcpfe. org/ has forty member countries, including Cypr us, Malta and the UK. It holds Ministerial Conferences of the ministers responsible for forests in Europe, which take decisions on common aspects of highest political relevance regarding forests and forestry.  It has a developed a Criteria and Indicators Process.

    4. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has ten member countries, of which Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore are Commonwealth members.   It has a number of agreements on environmental matters (several of which concern the issue of smoke haze) and a Working Group of Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF)

    5. The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) has 25 members, of which Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago are Commonwealth members.  The aims of the ACS are i.a. the strengthening of regional co-operation; preserving the environmental integrity of the Caribbean Sea; and promoting the sustainable development of the Greater Caribbean.  The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) established a free trade area, while the Caribbean Regional Environmental Programme (CREP) was designed to strengthen Regional cooperation and build greater awareness of environmental issues.

    6. FAO has six regional forestry commissions of which all Commonwealth countries are members of one, sometimes of two.  The regional commissions serve as regional fora and complement the global sessions of the UNFF.