Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet)

In 2018, APFNet celebrated its 10th anniversary by organizing a Conference on Forest Rehabilitation in the Asia-Pacific Region and associated meetings on 26-28 March 2018 in Beijing, China. The said conference and the Forestry Planning Network Meeting were held to enable the sharing of best practices on forest rehabilitation and their contribution to the achievement of the Sydney Aspirational Forestry Goal and goals related to forests in the 2030 UN SDGs.
The APFNet 5th Council Meeting was held from 20-22 March 2019 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Thailand as the Chair, announced that two seats in the Board will be open for nomination before the 2020 Council Meeting and member economies were invited to send in their nominations. The meeting reviewed the 2018 workplan. Highlights of 2018 activities were the creation of more platforms for experience sharing and networking such as the Transboundary Wildlife Conservation Initiative (@Wild) and the Southeast Asian Network of Forestry Research Institutes (SANFRI) to establish networks for wildlife conservation practitioners and forestry researchers. SANFRI supported the academic visits of ASEAN forestry researchers in the Yunnan Academy of Forestry. The results of the Mid-Term Review of the APFNet Strategic Plan 2016-2020 were also presented. The 2019 budget for APFNet is approximately USD 10 million, which was donated by the Chinese Government.
Other key discussions during the 5th meeting were (1) forest rehabilitation needs, monitoring and future directions; (2) project planning, management, communication, sustainability and impacts. On forest rehabilitation/restoration, the participants agreed on the need to build appropriate economic incentives to encourage ownership, participation and ensure the sustainability of outcomes. New policies are needed to (1) address land ownership issues; (2) attract and promote private investment; and (3) support community livelihood improvement. Advances needed in practice are (1) better implementation of forest land restoration; (2) mass production of seedlings; and (3) greater capacity related to natural regeneration. Technological advances are needed in
(1) baseline data, e.g., on soil and tenure, of the area to be rehabilitated and
(2) strong seedlings to withstand harsh conditions of open areas and/or poor soil.