APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry (MMRF)

MMRF4 — DENR Asst. Sec. Caguioa (rightmost, 1st row) poses with ministers at the 4th APEC Meeting of Ministers Respon- sible for Forestry in Seoul, Korea on 31 October 2017. [Korea Forest Service]

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry (MMRF) is a high-level policy dialogue that encourages greater cooperation in addressing regional challenges and opportunities including forest cover increase, illegal logging and climate change mitigation. It promotes the exchange of experiences on good governance and transparency in the trade of legal timber, timber products and frontline services while enhancing and sustaining local forest industries.

The MMRF also explores further opportunities to assist economies in meeting the aspirational forest cover goal. It aims to scale-up commitments to promote sustainable forest management and rehabilitation and tackle forest-related issues to contribute to the green growth agenda of APEC. Since 2011, the APEC Meetings of Ministers Responsible for Forestry have held four meetings.

Focal Office:

Forest Management Bureau (FMB)

Date Launched:

First meeting 2011

Focal Persons:

HON. ROY A. CIMATU
Secretary, DENR
Tel. No. (632) 926 3011, 920 4301, 929 6626 loc 2258

Technical Focal
FOR. NONITO M. TAMAYO
Director, DENR-FMB Tel. No. (632) 927 4788

Alternate Focal
FOR. EDNA D. NUESTRO
OIC-Assistant Director, DENR-FMB
Tel. No. (632) 927 4784, Fax: (632) 928 2778

Commitments:

There are no binding commitments or treaty obligations under the APECMMRF. However, the Philippines is actively involved in helping to meet the group's aspirations such as:
- Contribute to the achievement of the goal on increasing forest cover in the Asia-Pacific Region by 20 million hectares by year 2020 and
- Cooperate to combat illegal logging and associated trade.

Sources / Relevant Links:

https://www.apec.org/Meeting-Papers/Sectoral-Ministerial-Meetings/Forestry/2017_forestry

Status:

Updates

The 4th MMRF held in 2017 recognized the important role that forests play. It focused on two major agenda: (1) efforts to increase forest cover in the APEC region in line with the APEC 2020 forest cover goal and (2) cooperation to combat illegal logging and associated trade.

Special sessions on Forest-based Job Creation and Ecotourism and Forest Welfare were convened alongside to facilitate sharing of knowledge and best practices on forest related policies.

The 4th MMRF released the "Seoul Statement of the MMRF" that contains eight aspirations on how to maximize the contribution of forests to the economic, environmental and social development of the region.

Next Steps

1. Continuous implementation of the Enhanced and Expanded National Greening Program to the increase in forest cover in the country and in the region by 2020;
2. Continued protection of the country's natural forests;
3. Continue discussions on the different mechanisms in order to combat illegal logging and associated trade at the working group level, i.e., EGILAT;
4. Promote trade of legally harvested timber and associated products; and
5. Future policy directions in four areas - strengthening forest governance through an expanded and enhanced National Greening Program; encouraging and enabling investments in forest plantations, agroforestry, ecotourism and for energy purposes; establishing forest certification system to promote sustainable forest management; and enacting priority legislation such as the Sustainable Forest Management Act and the Forest Boundary Delineation Act.

This Page was updated on 16 December 2019 and will be updated on 10 December 2020

APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry (MMRF)

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