ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION:

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ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION
FORESTRY CO-OPERATION
UNECE/FAO Integrated Work Program

• by
• Alexander V. Korotkov
• UNECE Timber Branch

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Contents of presentation

• Introduction background
• Brief history of the process
• Mandate of ToS on CITs
• Direction of ToS activities
• MCPFE Resolution H3
• Further needs and challenges
• Questions / Issues, Discussion

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Geographical area / political map
Magnitude of the process Twenty-seven (27)
countries from central and eastern Europe and the
former USSR have been considered as countries
with economies in transition since beginning of
unprecedented political changes and economic
transformation Only 9 countries constituted this
region in 1989
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Forests of Countris in Transition
The forest cover of CEEC in transition 1993 -
about 980 million hectares, i.e. about 25.3
percent of the world forests 2004 - some 915
million hectares, i.e. about 23.6 percent of the
world forests The forestry importance is high !!!
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• Team of Specialiststo monitor and develop
  assistance to countries of central and eastern
  Europe in transition in the forest and forest
  products sector
• Established October 1993,
• Joint TC/ EFC session, Geneva

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ToS Mandate and ToR

• To review periodically programme on CIT
• To make recommendations to UNECE/FAO
• To review countries needs for assistance
• To develop ways of co-operation
• To contribute to effective efficient way of
  assistance
• To monitor and coordinate H3 implementation
• ToS Duration 2004 (ECE/TIM/2003/2 /6)

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ToS meetings/ sessions

• 1st inaugural meeting 6-8 June 1994, Geneva
• 2nd meeting 29-30 May 1996, Geneva
• 3rd meeting 1-5 Nov. 1997, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• 4th meeting 29 June-04 July 1999, Gmunden
• 5th meeting 14 Sept. 2001, Debe/ Warsaw
• 6th ToS meeting 3-6 March 2004, Warsaw

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Strategic direction of co-operation

• Institution and capacity building
• Legal and policy infrastructure for SFM
• Extension services, education and training
• Market oriented ecologically sound
  enterprises
• Cross-sectoral private ownership issues
• Issues of general importance protection of
  forests, forest conservation, specific issues,
  etc

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MCPFE Resolution H3

• Forestry Co-operation with Countries
• with Economies in Transition
• The Signatory States and the European
• Community commit themselves to promote
• and support cooperation for mutual benefits
• in order to provide relevant expertise and
  advice,
• and to invite appropriate organizations and
• Institutions to do likewise.

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MCPFE Resolution H3 (1)

• UNECE/FAO is the international coordinator for
  the implementation of the Resolution H3
• Reporting
• - Antalya (Turkey), January 1995
• - Lisbon (Portugal), June 1998
• - Vienna (Austria), April 2003
• / Special thanks to reporting countries and
• to Dr. Peter Csoka (Hungary) !!!

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H3 and CITs reporting
1995 Antalya, Turkey 1988 Lisbon,
Portugal 2003 Vienna, Austria
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MCPFE Resolution H3 (2)
Monitoring of H3 Implementation   Some 730
projects/activities reported by donor and
recipient countries and organisations in the H3
electronic database (Users Guide) Seminars
/ workshops Education / training Scientific
/ research / know-how transfer Capacity
building / technical developments Policy /
strategy / study tours, etc
 
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H3 DB UsersGuide

• Forest Resources Data (FRA 2000)
• Elements of the international and national legal
  framwork (list of documents)
• H3 relating projects (queries by type, country,
  search text)
• 4) Supplementary information (contact points,
  etc)
• http//www.unece.org/trade/timber/h3/h3.htm

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MCPFE Resolution H3 (3)
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MCPFE Resolution H3 (4)
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MCPFE Resolution H3 (5)
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Workshops/ Seminars / Meetings

• UNECE Workshops Dynamics
• Forming forestry legislation
• Pravitization aspects and issues
• Development of marketing
• Institution building and forest policies
• Certification in forestry (forest products)
• Sustainable forest management
• Practical forestry and forest operations
• etc
• http//www.unece.org/trade/timber/h3/h3.htm

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ToS - MCPFE workshop 2001

• Recommendations
• to MCPFE
• Policy formulation
• Economic aspects
• Socvial aspects
• Ecological aspects
• WGs findings to
• Ministers (FS)
• ToS on CITs

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MCPFE-2003 and CEEC

• MCPFE-2003 Vienna Conference did not
• provide any direct, specific and explicit
• Guidance on the future co-operation
• Matter in this area...
• Still,
• There is a number of reference in
• MCPFE-2003 documents .

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Country Forestry Profiles

• Forestry Country Profiles
• Russia - 2001
• Georgia - 2002
• Ukraine 2003
• Bulgaria 2004
• Serbia Montenegro - 2004
• focus on CEEC

/ availability of resources
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Country profiles
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Practical Issues and Challenges

• political, economic and financial position of
  forestry sector in many countries is still weak
• CIS and south-east European countries frequently
  cannot attend international meetings if their
  costs are not paid, thus loosing
• benefits from the participation in activities
• leading ideas in the sector and possibilities to
  make useful contacts

http//www.unece.org/trade/timber/tc-meet.htm
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Some questions to answer

• How to promote further the economic integration
  of non-EU European countries in the context of
  post-European Union enlargement ?
• What specific activities should be undertaken
  for countries with different stages of
  developments of transition economies ?
• - newly acceding countries
• - emerging market economies
• - less advanced transition economies

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Some questions to answer (cont.)

• What are the main needs in forestry sectors of
  18 non-EU CITs (notion transition???) ?
• newly EU acceding countries
• emerging market economies (EU recognition)
• less advanced transition economies.
• Should the 18 non-accession yet CITs be
  considered as a group (in forestry sectors
  terms), as a number of different groups (see
  above?) or individually?
• What scope of the UNECE/ FAO work in this (CEEC
  and CIS) area should be in the future ?

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Some questions to answer (cont.)

• Raising interest of high level political and
  administrative circles in forestry
• How can we help to improve investment conditions
  in the forestry sector ?
• What should be done for fostering
  entrepreneurship in transition economies ?
• What should be the next UNECE/FAO action in this
  area (after the ToS meeting) ?

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Some concluding remarks

• Trends in policies and institutions for the
  sector in CIS and SEE countries (to study)
• Changing Role of State Forest Services
• Focusing on private forestry issues
• Increasing capacity in CIS and SEE countries to
  achieve SFM at the national level
• Breaking an actual isolation of some CIS and
  SEE from exchange of experience and ideas
• UNECE/FAO ToS on forest sector of CIS and
  South-East Europe (SEE) ?

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What practical actions are needed

• Workshops ??? e.g. on
• - Trends in policies and institutions for
• the sector in CIS and south east Europe , or
• Studies ??? e.g. on
• - Analysis of forest legislation in the CIS
• /SEE countries
• What other activities ?
• Resources for implementation ?

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Some more questions to answer

• Should ToS terminate its work in current format ?
• Should ToS be transformed into a different format
  ?
• Should the UNECE/FAO establish a new ToS on CIT
  (CIS ..? ) countries ?
• What ToR and Mandate of the new (or newly
  transformed) ToS should be (if any) ?
• What scope of the UNECE/ FAO work in this (CEEC
  and CIS) area should be in the future ?

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Opinions from Countries

• To reinforce the UNECE and MCPFE co-operation on
  CEEC
• To provide support to private forestry
• To contribute to improvement of forestry and
  environment legislation
• To improve assessment of forest ecological
  benefits
• To improve communication between relating
  institutions

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Opinions from Countries (cont.)

• To assist to building up of integrated forest
  information system
• To contribute to capacity building to bring
  forestry in line with the EU legislation
• To improve the cost efficiency in forest
  management practices
• To facilitate investments into the forestry
  sector

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Strategic ReviewsTC EFC Integrated WP

• co-operation with MCPFE, and contribution to
  SFM in the region, especially in CEEC
• continue providing assistance for countries in
  transition
• shift in focus of attention to eastern and SEE
  countries, to promote their European integration
• support to countries in transition, in
  particular non-EU countries

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Thank you very much for your attention !!!
Comments or/and questions ?