 Myself, Asmita Naughtial, your host for today's panel discussion on the role of forestry in implementing international agreements in Commonwealth members and beyond moving from agreed text to action on ground. On this platform today, we all have an opportunity to listen and enlighten ourselves through discourses by luminaries of forestry. May I now request Dr. Hosni al-Lakhani to be the moderator for today's session. Dr. Hosni al-Lakhani, Sir, please be on dais with us. Dr. Hosni al-Lakhani is a junct professor and director of international programs University of British Columbia. In 1995, Dr. Lakhani joined FAO as assistant director de cabinet and in 1998 was appointed as assistant director general of FAO in charge of the forestry department until his retirement 2005. Dr. Lakhani was member of several scientific and professional bodies including Board of Trustees of CIFOR and ICRAF. Thank you, sir, for being with us. May I now invite upon our esteemed panelists to grace the dais. I call upon Dr. John Innis, professor and dean, faculty of forestry UBC to honour the chair. Thank you, sir. Dr. S. C. Gorella, director general Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and Chancellor for FRI Dean University. Sir, I request you to grace the dais. Thank you, sir. I also call upon Dr. Peter Holmgren, director general CIFOR Indonesia to be here with us on dais. Dr. Ben Chikamai, director chief executive officer Kenya Forestry Research Institute. Sir, kindly grace the dais. Thank you, sir. Dr. Rob D. Feigli, director and national president of the Institute of Forestry of Australia is here with us. Sir kindly be here with us on dais. Now I request Dr. Savita, director FRI and vice chancellor FRI deemed university to join us on dais. I also request Dr. Merlyn V. Headley, CEO and conservator of forest Jamaica to be here with us on dais. Thank you, ma'am. I also request Dr. Harry Studhorn, chairman, Forestry Commission England to grace the chair on dais. Thank you so much, sir. Now I hand over the stage to Dr. Lakhani. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Good morning, everybody. This is really a great honour to moderate this very high level panel. You heard the subject of this panel, which is the role of forestry in implementing international agreements in the Commonwealth member countries and beyond, moving from text to action on the ground. As you probably know, the forests and forestry have been raised to unprecedented heights on the international development and climate agendas. There are three major agreements affecting forestry. The first one is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015 and subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly. There are 17 SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals. Number 15 reads, protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage the forest, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. In addition, it says, halt deforestation, restore degraded forest and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally. The second agreement, international agreement, is the Paris Agreement. It's one of the outcomes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2015. Forests are really a particularly feature on the Paris Agreement, especially red, which reduced deforestation and degradation. It's a key climate mitigation tool. Article five reads, parties should take action to conserve and enhance things and reservoirs of greenhouse gas, including forest. And request countries to implement and support, including, and this is very important, through result-based payments. The existing framework incentives for activities related to Red Plus for the integral and sustainable management of forests, while reaffirming the importance of reinvestifying non-forest benefits. The third one is the International Regiment on Forest and the UN Strategic Plan for Forest 2017 to 2030. And this was established by the UN and they will be endorsed in next May by the United Nations General Assembly. So this panel, our intention is to shed some light on the implementation. These are texts approved and by the representatives in the UN, in New York or wherever, and it comes to the country as an agreement, endorsed by the respective Parliament. So this is a binding agreement, which means that two things. This agreement is negotiated by the diplomats, approved by the Parliament, but it comes to foresters to implement. And most of the cases I've seen around that the foresters who are responsible for implementation are not involved in the negotiation. It just comes at the text, do this. That's one thing. Second issue is that there is a lot of money associated with this. You can apply for money for implementing and there is a lot of mechanism around the world with a lot of money for implementation. So we want to know what to do with the implementation. So we're honored to have the panel with us and I will call on the panel to please speak. We will go from left, right and then left and we keep alternating. But please confine your presentation to maximum of seven minutes because we were asked to try to finish by 15 minutes to 11 because there is another event. We have a young lady here with a sign of two minutes and if not there will be a red sign to please stop. We'll try to run this as a very active panel and after that there will be few minutes for questions and answers. And then I will ask each panelist to give me two messages based on his or her presentation to be part of the final recommendations or the communique from this conference. So please while you're discussing this just write down two points, not more than one line each. It's much more difficult to write one line than a whole page. So think about it this while we are sitting here and give it to me. Okay. Now we will start with Ms. Marilyn Hadley. She is the conservator of forest in Jamaica. Marilyn please. And you have the chair either you talk from the podium or while for us please. Thank you very much Mr. Chair. Good morning everybody. So we are bright and early. I'm Marilyn Hadley and as point I see you on the conservator of forest and forest apartment in Jamaica. And we'll walk you through this morning very quickly the process we went through for our national plan. We had a national plan before which we got approved in 2001 and we decided that this was time now to have a new one because so many things have changed since then. We've kind of wrapped three different plans with three different agreements in one. So it was our national action plan for UNFF. It's also the forest sector plan as our legislation requires. And it is also the climate resilient plan for the forest sector in Jamaica under the UNCC. The process for the plan we started like very late 2014 with a preliminary investigation. We did the gap analysis of the plan that we had before and then we moved on to the fact that we started to get additional consultants. We got funding from USAID on our climate change project and that brought in the United States Forest Service team members who worked along with us. The plan is supported by the Forest Act. It is also aligned to the forest policy which was just recently approved in 2016. And we're also aligned to the climate change framework in Jamaica. It is attached also on aligned to our national plan in Jamaica which we call Vision 2030 and the protected era systems master plan. International obligations include we looked at the SDGs, the related ones, UNFF, the forest instrument, the UNFFCC, the UNCBD, the Ramsar Convention and UNESCO World Heritage sites. All of these were brought in together as we developed our plan. The four global objectives under the FI were the key areas that we centered our plan around because it looked at the whole thing about reversing forest loss and that was critical to us. Our plan looking at building climate resilience also addressed the fact that globally countries agree that forests are the key climate solution and we're committed to providing strong collective and urgent action to promote equitable rural economic development, reversing deforestation and massively increasing forest restoration. So that was our aim in our plan. In Jamaica we had just completed our forest resource assessment. So we did our land use assessment, completed that in 2015. So that fed into our plan giving us information on what types of forest cover we have, how much forest cover, which one we're losing and which one is increasing. So that was critical into how we're going to develop the plan. We identified that we gained a lot of secondary forests but we lost our natural forest or closed broadleaf and our swamp forest. Our swamp forest is almost down to zero. But we decided those are the areas that we're going to focus on. We identified our goal and we also had six strategic objectives. We looked at protection, adaptation, mitigation, sustainable forest management, sustained forest sector and mitigation for utilization and also to look at building capacity for the forest to protect, conserve and manage our forest estate. Our process was very interactive. We had a number of government entities working very closely with us in a committee and then we had stakeholders who we took our plan to in initial stages to get an idea of what one wants to include in the plan. So that was our preliminary. Having looked at all of that, the process now was to decide what it is we're going to be keeping in the plan. So we ended up with four pillars. We looked at protection, adaptation, mitigation, sustainable forest management as one and then sustained in the forest sector. On the protection, the idea was now to enhance our legal and enforcement activities. With our forest policy just being approved and now we're looking to amend the forest act. So with the forest act, at the same time, the plan says this is what we are going to be doing. So our legal and enforcement activities are going to be improved and there's a key one with the protection. Collaboration with the other entities because you make it a small place. So we have a number of entities working together under the same on the different umbrellas. So the persons working with protected areas, with wildlife and heritage were all working together to protect the forest estate. On the adaptation, the key one was our swamp forest and mangrove forest. We felt that we had to really ensure that we protected the swamp and mangrove forest. Under sustainable forest management, utilization, the communities, the groups who are dependent on our forest, how we're going to be working with them. And then in addition to that, the conservation of the forest that we want to ensure that we cannot lose anymore. Red plus is another key factor and forest research because with our red plus, we are just starting that process and we're not going to be looking at our red strategies and how we're going to get into being red ready. With our research, we're looking at mangroves and swamp forest, the impact of climate change on forest types and non timber forest products. We had a number of cross cutting entities like public education and awareness and training and capacity building those cut across all the activities that we had all the pillars. So they are cross cutting. And then there's a whole discussion about financing. We looked at and are still looking at sources such as the GCF out of the Paris agreement. We're now starting a project with UN environment to really look at how we can start our red program. So with that we're looking to the GCF. We've always been working with the GEF and that will continue. And then after we finished the draft, we then went back to the stakeholders across the island. We had a number of meetings. We got inputs from them. And then we are now putting together those input in collaboration and then hand it over to the minister and the minister for approval from the parliament. And then that will be our 10 year plan for the forestry sector. So everybody's involved with it and everybody will be involved in the implementation. Thank you very much. Thank you also for keeping the time. Now the our next speaker is Dr. John Anis. He's a professor and dean of faculty of forestry UBC canon. John, you have the floor please. So thank you for this opportunity to talk about the role that I believe that education and research has in promoting the role of forests in international agreements and the implementation of those agreements. From my perspective, I had to think about what is my perspective a little bit. Is it as the dean of forestry at a university forestry school or is it related to my role in the Commonwealth Forestry Association? I'm sort of going to mix those a little bit. In terms of research and education, essentially scientists go where the money is and that money with the exception of the EU is generally at a national level. We've heard that there is a lot of money available through the global environment facility and green climate funds. But very little if any of that money is actually reaching the educational establishments such as universities. We hear a lot about capacity building and we believe that universities have a role to play in that. But as I said, that money is not flowing down to the university level. We know that national governments are interested in research and they will promote research generally within their national interests. There are a few exceptions. USA, Australia, Germany, Sweden, France, Finland. I don't include Canada in that list. Very few other countries seemingly are willing to put a lot of money into research internationally. On the education side, the Commonwealth really has no system of coordination of forestry education. Now if you have a sense of deja vu with that statement, it was because it was made by someone called RS Troop back in 1920 at the very first of these conferences. Now we're saying it again. What happened then was that they recommended that Oxford take on that role. But as I'm sure you all know, the Oxford Forestry Institute is no longer with us. And there is actually no forestry education now at Oxford and no one else has been able to step into that gap. The FAO has talked about education, but it is largely ineffective. And it was actually taken out of their mandate at one stage, although it is now crept back in in a very minor way. APEC has a strong role in this area and that role is actually growing primarily through the Chinese funded Asia Pacific Forestry Network. They have established a database of education programs. There are regular coordination mechanisms, and they are developing online courses in forest management, which potentially offer a way forward. But that is a mixture of Commonwealth countries and other countries. And within IUFRO, there has been some activity, although it has mainly research focused. In terms of policy development, where could education and research help? I believe that the universities and other educational institutions could and should have a role, but they are largely excluded in many countries. It's quite interesting when I was in Switzerland before I moved to Canada, I was actually a lead author of the IPCC, which you could say is a policy oriented organization using science as the basis. When I moved to Canada, I was no longer part of that. The Canadians didn't feel that that expertise was warranted, although IUFRO subsequently brought me in. So IUFRO is doing quite a lot in this area and is helping push research forward, but it is not working in the education area. In terms of how research and education could contribute to forest management, we have a huge potential role through research forests and the bilateral work that goes on between researchers across different universities. There are potential links to professionalism and professional development, but we need to work out how we reward university employees who do that. At the governance and institutional issues, in many countries, we see researchers, university workers in the education sector being actively excluded, which is actually a fairly serious problem. I do believe, however, that we have a mechanism within the Commonwealth that could contribute enormously within this area, and that is the Standing Committee on Commonwealth Forestry, which you heard about a little bit yesterday. Unfortunately, we find that Commonwealth countries generally are showing rather well, very little enthusiasm for this mechanism. In fact, the attendance at the meetings is generally very, very poor, ranging from only three or four countries to a maximum, actually, at the most recent meeting of about 12 countries. So I believe we need to urge countries to make use of this mechanism to move forward within this area of governance and institutional contributions. Finally, along into sectoral collaboration, the lines really are blurred in the academic realm. They are much more blurred than inside government. We find that researchers and educators often work together to try and solve particular problems and are increasingly doing so, and I'm sure we'll hear more from Peter Holmgren about his research as a C4, the way they achieve that. The danger, however, is that we lose some very specialized forestry knowledge, and I'm thinking in particular of silvicultural knowledge. If we all become environmental scientists, how will we know how to grow trees? I will stop on that point. Thank you very much, John. Now, our third speaker this morning is Mr. Rob Defingley, who is the chairman of the Forestry Tasmanian Director of Margulis Grum Consulting firm in Melbourne, Australia. Rob, you have the floor, please. Thank you very much, Hosni, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I just want to talk a little bit to you this morning about getting action on the ground and how we actually make a difference to the forest that we love dearly and enjoy working with and seeing the results of our efforts. I was reflecting a little bit about what to say this morning, and I thought back on my career last month I celebrated 37 years in the Australian forest industry. The very first conference I went to was in 1983, run by the Institute of Forests, of which I'm now proud to be their national president, but it was a conference in Melbourne themed around facing forestry's future. This is 34 years ago, and the guest speaker, the keynote speaker, was a person who was mentioned yesterday, was the late great Jack Westerby. I was enthralled listening to this guy with this broad North Yorkshire accent. He had a great sense of humour and a very, very keen insight and understanding of how the world worked and what happened. And he made this comment about he loved coming to Australia and he loved talking to people and he thought he was very well hosted and everybody looked after him, he had a wonderful time and dinners were good. And he said, you've all been very polite and listened to all the things I've had to say, and then you've studiously ignored everything I said. I think, unfortunately, the Indian expert that came to Australia in the early 1900s suggests Australia how we might manage our forests got the same treatment. We're not particularly good at taking advice from people overseas and that's a fault in the way in which we operate, but it's a culture that we have and something in some cases we're very proud of. But Jack made a comment at that conference and he said, will forestry survive? He said, forestry will survive, there's no problem about that, but I have a concern about whether foresters will survive. He said, the problem is that the rise of the anti-timber industry groups, the conservationists, and we're talking about the early 1980s, was a real concern to foresters. Foresters were saying to Jack that they were the real conservationists. We are the professionals, we're trained, we know what we're doing, how can these people come up, turn it up off the street with just an idea and a bit of emotion and a powerful lot of presence, take the arguments away from us. And Jack's argument was to suggest, I think you're suffering from Daddy Knows Best. You've spent far too much time thinking that you are the only experts in the forest and you're not actually talking to people enough about what's going on and telling them why you're doing certain things. And we spent a little bit too much time working for our masters rather than working for our communities and again Jack was very critical of this. He said that you cannot serve two masters. There is only one master and that is your community and foresters he said are about people and then you're working for people and obviously the community and the forest in turn. I think it's really interesting that the whole thrust of what he was doing is that we were paying way too much attention to our political masters in that case not attention to the community. You know in sort of understanding things and sort of thinking a little about where I've come from since then we still suffer from that problem and we still suffer in many ways from not really understanding how to come together and work together. You know we all like to be individuals we got different issues but a lot of them are the same. I went to a COP meeting in Bali a number of years ago and I was astounded and amazed at this whole movement of people everyone running around with worried looks on their faces the world was about to end. It didn't but you know it could have but it was just an interesting experience but I went away from there thinking what did I learn and it wasn't very much. As a practicing forest there was nothing there for me to advise my clients about what we should do in managing forests. John just talked a little bit about education education in Australia is declining there were two very strong forestry institutions running in Australia when I was a young graduate now we're really struggling we've got one and we've got a masters program and we're still struggling to get students. We are not working well foresters were trained well to be professionals but not communicators and we weren't good at communicating particularly the people that were important which is the public. If you communicate well with the public and the community and you get the community on side then politicians fall in behind you because they're too frightened to do anything else. You become untouchable but unfortunately we work the other way and we have to go back to that community. We need to develop some connections though and my final point is this how do we get connected? To me that's really about as a national president I was became president in 2012 and I do not know whether there is a professional forestry association here in India and I've looked and I've tried to find them. We have a very close relationship with the New Zealand Institute of Forestry. We've developed one with the Chinese Society of Forestry. I work well with John and with Geraint Richards and his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to develop an award for our young foresters through the through the UK system but we can there are more foresters out there that should be connected and should be talking and we should be looking at ways in which we can help one another. So I think in summary Hosniad we need to listen better we haven't been good at doing that with lots the important thing though is knowing what to listen to there's lots of things to listen to out there and there's lots of things to read but what is the real importance the things that are going to make a difference to us and how do we connect and exchange ideas how do we as professional foresters come together and learn from one another and take away things that are going to be useful for us we don't have that forum and finally communication we have to learn to be great communicators and we have to be able to do that so that we communicate to our communities. So in my view Hosniad we need a professional forum for foresters working on the ground to exchange ideas and experiences and that I believe will make a difference. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Rob especially for those set of recommendations. Now I move to Dr Savita the director of forest research institute of India Dr Savita please. Thank you Dr Lakani our fellow panelists sitting on the diaries learned participants attending this conclave good morning namaskar it is my honor to participate in the commonwealth forestry conclave today as one of the panelists I take this opportunity to thank the conference organizers for inviting me on the panel and share my views I would like to begin my talk with one verse that is Shloka from one of the Vedic apex of Indian history that is called Yajur Veda and the para number is 36.17 it says unto heaven be peace unto the sky and earth be peace peace be unto the water unto the herbs and trees be peace this very Sanskrit Shloka or verse for that matter emphasizes our rich heritage and traditions India has a long history and tradition of harmonious coexistence between man and nature human beings have been regarded fauna and flora as part of their family this is part of our heritage and manifest in our lifestyle and our traditional practices as well Indian culture and traditional practices aimed at balancing contentment and worldly desires that helps pursue a path of sustainable lifestyle it is our moral responsibility to ensure that we leave the future generation a healthy and beautiful planet we all are aware that world countries took bold actions and launched new initiatives in compliance of priority recommendations and decisions taken by different global forums and international agreements with regard to three conventions emerged from Rio summit Paris agreement and most recent UN initiative on 2030 agenda India is no exception the government of India the ministry of environment forest and climate change various state governments international donor and conservation agencies non-government organizations civil societies and local communities have launched several countrywide programs and have made a remarkable progress towards protection and management of forest conservation planning establishment and management of protected areas biodiversity conservation environmental management coastal and marine resources etc certainly India is moving fast in the globally accepted direction so as to fulfill its local regional and national expectations realizing countries vision for sustainable development and to contribute meaningfully towards global commitments for two interrelated arenas that is conservation and development thus India has made a market beginning nevertheless country has to go still a very very long way the father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi he had once said one must care about the world one will not see tomorrow so we strongly believe in this wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi that trying to move in this direction where we aim for development without destruction and leaving the planet as beautiful for the coming generations just as our vision behind the Asia agenda 2030 is lofty countries development goals are nevertheless very comprehensive it gives priority to the problems that have endured through the past decades and it reflects our evolving understanding of the social economic and environmental linkages that define our lives India welcomes the prominence given by various global initiatives to the environmental goals especially sustainable management of forest climate change and sustainable consumption therefore today much of India's development agenda is mirrored in the sustainable development goals therefore government of India decided to abolish the well-known planning commission in 2015 instead established a new organization named as Niti Ayog NITI Ayog the abbreviation NITI stands for the national institute for transforming India while Ayog which is a hindi word means a commission so it is it is a new commission which has come into the force focusing on transformation and primarily created organization to focus on the sustainable development in the country in accordance with UN 2030 agenda while speaking on biodiversity conservation India has made sustained efforts in fulfilling commitments towards conservation of biodiversity its sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of biodiversity and natural resources as a party to the CBD India honors and strives to meet the international obligations and commitments under the convention India's fifth national report that is in our five to the convention on biological diversity focused on the status of and trends in biodiversity threats to biodiversity and implication for human being it described the process of updating the national biodiversity action plan that is nbap and its implementation reports on progress achieved towards meeting the IT biodiversity targets and on the linkages with fulfillment of India's commitment to the millennium development goals in pursuance of the call made by UNFCCC in the COP India's intended nationally determined contribution that is INDC is balanced and comprehensive India seek to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level India has committed to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 in accordance with global agreements the government of India initiated red plus capacity building programs on the national level as well as at the state level also initially forest officials are being trained for red plus implementation through various refresher courses by specialized organizations meant for this it is amply clear that practicing foresters and forestry scientists are required to keep their knowledge also abreast to know where forestry is heading and how the new field of research can contribute to better management of the forest it is also equally important for the scientists working on these disciplines to know the way the forest are being managed with all socio-economic modifications and ecological impacts moreover there is a need for and constant dialogue and exchange of information among scientists and managers as we all know forest research institute that is FRI has been there for the last more than hundred years and has always accepted new challenges in the field of forestry research education and extension and during its long journey right since the time of its inception in 1906 moreover the network of multiple forestry institutions under the appeal of Indian council for forest research and education and other sister research organizations in the field of wildlife conservation forest management environmental education etc working under ministry of environment forest and climate change are also gearing themselves to contribute for the pressing needs of forestry and natural resource management biodiversity conservation climate change adaptation and mitigation and sustainable development obviously there are issues of declining productivity challenges in maintaining viable populations sustaining ecosystem services and meeting people's needs at the same time in recent years the forest survey of India had started giving us valuable insight on forest quality besides vital information on forest extent in different states as well as the entire country. Forest emissions are making optimal use of remote sensing and GIS technologies to provide spatio temporal information on land use and land cover forests and changes in the other natural resource like glaciers snow grasslands wetlands rivers coastal and marine resources and widespread agriculture innovative approaches are being adopted for community engagement awareness management and monitoring however we feel that there is an urgent need to support primary and field researchers for establishing a national forestry inventory system focusing on the assessment on distribution status and availability of non timber products activity data on areas under different land category we have well-laid mechanism research as I mentioned research we need to really sort of focus on various aspects of research along with research training is another aspect where we have to really focus we have well-laid mechanism and institutions for forestry and elite allied trainings at all levels including regular training programs short courses specialized courses refresher courses and even mid career training courses for the forest officers however our current efforts require augmentation and strengthening of such institutions facilities and program for training and upgrading of scales across wide-ranging sectors in view of the broadened scope of forestry it is expected that the international mechanism will support such initiatives including formation of thematic knowledge networks further expand activities under global technology watch group establishing more intensive state-centric knowledge and awareness creating activities and training of professionals in different aspects of forestry and climate change and supporting research and development in short management of forest in future requires a holistic integrated cross-sectoral approach with a focus on people planet prosperity and posterity to realize the vision of UN 2030 agenda thank you thank you very much Dr. Savita now we move to the next speaker on the panel Dr. Surish Garola is the director general of the Indian council forestry research and education Dr. Garola please Dr. Alakani distinguished panelists learner delegates distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen good morning it's a matter of pleasure for me to be present here and discuss my views on the subject today from the perspective of my country India India recognizes that global commitments and concerted efforts are necessary towards global emissions reduction and reduction of vulnerability arising out of climate change India is ready to offer its support to achieve consensus on this global issue such an agreement should address necessary elements including adaptation mitigation finance technology transfer capacity building and transparency in action and support thus India is committed to engage actively in multilateral negotiations under UNFCCC in a positive creative and forward-looking manner our objective is to establish an effective cooperative and equitable global architecture based on climate justice and the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities under the UNFCCC India is committed towards sustainable management forest resources to combat climate change and for developing adaptation keeping in view its development agenda particularly the eradication of poverty coupled with its commitment to follow the low carbon path to progress and being optimistic about the unencumbered availability of clean technology and financial resource from around the world India has communicated its intended nationally determined contributions INDC in response to recent global decisions for the period 2021 to 2030 India's INDCs center out around the country's policies and programs for sustainable lifestyles cleaner economic development reducing emission intensity of GDP increasing the share of non-fossil fuel-based electricity enhancing carbon sink adaptation mobilizing finance technology transfer and capacity building INDCs also capture citizens and private sectors contributions in combating climate change India's INDCs include 1. Reducing carbon intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 2. Increasing the share of non-fossil fuel-based electricity to 40 percent by 2030 3. Accelerating afforestation efforts to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent 4. Making concerted efforts toward adopting a climate change by enhancing investments in development programs in various vulnerable sectors including agriculture water resources forestry health and disaster management 5. Capacity building 6. Resource mobilization and 7. Adopt and promote low-carbon intensive lifestyles Government of India has established the national adaptation fund on climate change that is NAFCCC to fund these commitments India has also agreed on a voluntary basis on a series of majors at the international national levels to strengthen forest sector governance technical and institutional capacity policy and legal frameworks forest sector investment and stakeholder participation within the framework of national forest programs methodological guidelines for the implementation of red plus action are now finalized under UNFCC and India is preparing to implement red plus actions Government of India has prepared a red plus reference document that gives broad guidelines for implementing red plus in India Government of India is also in the process of developing a national strategy for red plus in India as a mandatory compliance to initiate red plus The national working plan code 2014 integrates the requirements of a red plus as committed by India and it has now found a place in the management of the forest in the country Government of India is also working towards integrating forest related policies and programs into national development framework with an aim to reducing poverty and food security India has comprehensive policy legislative framework for guiding forest conservation and management in spite of severe pressures on forests and forest products India has been able to nearly stabilize and maintain forest and tree cover in the last two decades Under UN convention on desertification after its ratification in 1996 India prepared its national action plan to combat desertification India is also preparing its new national action plan to combat desertification keeping in view the 10-year strategy of UNCCD to make India land degradation neutral by 2030 Till date India has submitted six national reports to UNCCD secretariat The issue of desertification, land degradation and drought are addressed by 22 major programs that are being implemented in the country under various ministries including Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Rural Development Ministry of Water Resources Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Department of Science and Technology The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets Part of 230 Agenda Find prominence in the policy framework being prepared by the Niti Ayog that is Government of India think tank Niti Ayog has undertaken a mapping of schemes as they relate to SDGs and their targets and has identified lead and supporting ministries for each target With this I end my presentation Thank you very much Thank you very much Dr Gayrol Now the next speaker in the panel is Mr Ben Chikamai He is the Director of the Kenya Forest Recession Institute in Nairobi, Kenya Ben, please Yeah, thank you very much Hosni As the FOCO person of CFA in Africa I have examined the role of forestry in implementing international agreements at national level by reviewing information from about 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa I've gone to the extent of trying to look at the key international agreements where the member countries have had significant level of implementation And I know that we are having actually four We are having the UNF triple C We are having the international arrangement of forest UNFI But we also are having the convention on biological diversity as well as the United Nations Convention on combating trout and desertification I have been able to try and look at the levels of implementation in the member countries but also challenges which are affecting the implementation And if we begin with the UNF triple C I can say that most countries have actually ratified and have taken steps to incorporate the key issues and provisions from the convention into forest sector activities And this includes the red plus which is actually a key approach for mitigating climate change developing national climate change response programs forest resource assessment methods and inventories to take into account both the above and below ground carbon as well as capacity development for managing carbon and other products and services If I go by example Kenya for example developed the national climate change response strategy in 2010 and to actualize the implementation it put in place the low carbon climate resilience development strategy in 2012 It has been able to put in place the climate change policy and acts that became operational in 2016 The national climate adaptation plan in 2016 and is currently working on the green growth strategy and climate finance policy which are currently under development I'd like to say that the country has also ratified the Paris Accrement on climate change and is currently updating the nationally determined contribution to the Paris Accrement with regard to mitigation and adaptation efforts I looked at other countries and I found that Tanzania and Rwanda have also updated and revised their policies and acts to take into account the red plus as well as climate change related issues and Pozuana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have also taken and included climate change in their long term development plans If you move to the international arrangements on forests I'd like to say that the UNFI is an instrument that is intended to strengthen political commitment and action for sustainable forest management of all types of forests and provide framework for national actions in member countries However, unlike the others this is an instrument that is little known beyond the focal points in the member countries In fact, I found out that the only countries that have made some progress towards implementing the instrument are those that participated in the FAO pilot initiative projects of 2010-2013 And through that particular initiative they were able to conduct awareness racing workshops for the instrument and assessment of their forest programs in relationship to the instrument The main caps and priority areas were identified and action plan for implementing and coordinating activities were clearly developed Of course, the new things that have come into effect are about six of them And I'd like to say that the main experience of implementing the forest instrument is that it provides a framework for comprehensive forest program that covers key elements for sustainable forest management And an additional advantage is that it's both mild sectoral as well as cross sectoral which has helped to raise the profile of forestry in the member countries I would like to also add that most of the countries participated in drafting the first UN strategy strategy plan for forests 2017-2013 which was adopted by in a special session of the UNFF in January I think this provides the ownership that member countries are actually owning it and are moving in the right direction And I know that when it will be ratified in May it will actually be taken up by the member countries positively Of course, when you look at the CBD and UNCCD we have the main strategy has development of what we call the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan and PSAP And we are having the National Action Plan for UNCCD And most of the member countries have actually gone to the extent of not only trying to ratify and develop the plans but some of the countries have even developed what you are calling the instruments statutory instruments like joint forest management in Zambia and Zimbabwe which has helped the countries to access quite a number of the funding particularly the GEF I would like to be able to just closely look at the challenges And one of the major challenges facing most of the countries in implementing the international instruments relates to coordination Especially for the CBD you find out that the Focupand is outside the main forest agency and we know that coordination is stronger and more systematic where forest agencies are actually the lead ones With regard to the forest instrument which is supposed to be the main one actually there is no direct financial and technical support unlike the other environmental agencies which are having GCF and having climate adaptation fund as well as the GEF then of course lack of skills and requisite actually understaffing in member countries which inhibits effective implementation in terms of monitoring and evaluation and ensuring that there is actually adequate coordination We are having mild sexual approach but most of these are on ad hoc basis which again influences negative implementation of this particular instruments in the member countries Thank you very much Thank you very much Ben for summarizing the work in Africa on this Now the next speaker is Sir Harry Stotham he's the chairman and the executive of the first commission in England in Scotland Sir Harry please Good morning It's wonderful to be here and it's wonderful to be here as we've been reminded endlessly that this is a kind of almost a temple to to forestry in its role and I would first of all like really like to thank Dr Savita and Dr Garola for the chance to be talking about this because these international agreements are a huge opportunity for forestry and I have a bit of paper for I asked my government what I was allowed to say and so I have a bit of paper here which say which is absolutely true which is we welcome we welcome the the UN's Sustainable Goals Red Plus all of those issues we welcome them and they're great they're a terrific opportunity for forestry and as Dr Hosney reminded us I mean the sums of money are staggering I mean absolutely staggering I mean the UK alone has said it would provide 5.8 billion between 2016 and 2021 I mean that is many many many times the few millions that we spend on our own forestry and our own planting that is huge the other aspect that is absolutely immense from us foresters and I think there are countries here where maybe they feel more empowered that I feel quite a small cog in a very very large government machine but the existence of these agreements allows you to wave them at rather grumpy treasury officials who don't want to hear your voice and I'm sure nobody else has that experience that forestry is quite difficult to get into the minds of politicians and so that is enormous and we talked yesterday I mean Rob had produced a wonderful paper yesterday talking about communities and how you get things done and actually the world is fractal you know by the time you get to senior government figures it's exactly the same as the village you know the problem of social capital the problem of being able to talk to people the problem of being able to get things done the problem of sort of cast and where you sit in the network and as a forester you're quite unimportant in that and so there is this opportunity but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that there is a huge number of delusions here delusions in government which produce these things which are top down they don't as Dr Hosie said they don't listen to what foresters say about how things should be done or you know what is possible they don't listen to the fact that there is conflict when you try and change land use that you have people on the ground who really do know what they're doing who really care about their livelihoods and what they want to they want to live their lives and the top down delusion is very very strong and we've got something to say in this but we should also not be deluded and as Rob really reminded us you know that we don't communicate very well as foresters we know we know what can be done we know how to do it we care about it we really are concerned about trees and communities but we're not very good at getting that influence in government to make things happen and the real tragedy and the tragedy of government over and over again is that there is a curious paradox there's a carrot paradox about people's psychology that ignorance leads tremendous self-confidence you know the organizations the NGO speak with passion they speak with passion because very largely they are ignorant of the difficulties of doing things but that ignorance gets them influence it gets them through doors because they're self-confident they they go through the door they persuade the government and then they do it so there is a potential tragedy in all of these big international agreements that the people who will be implementing them will be the self-confident rather than the expert and so in this I would like to say and the question is how we get from A to B how we take these texts and make them work the question the one major answer to that is research and standing here I'm very aware of that research provides us with the credibility of BL say things to government that government will listen to because it's well well scientifically based and it speaks with a kind of authority that passion does not always speak with it gives us the ability to fight ignorance and ignorance in public debates and we've seen so much of that in so many areas and of course they're different in different countries but you know there are issues around planted forests or issues around biomass and energy and great speeches which kind of ignore the complexity of all these issues they are complex and research allows us to empower extension services extension services allow us to get to people and make change and so having a good research base is absolutely fundamental and cooperation international cooperation is fundamental in that so to carry on with the extension services they must lie at the heart of all of this the ability to reach out to people the ability to talk to people and to listen and listening is important and I speak as a farmer and a forester as well as doing my sort of part-time job for the government and farmers and foresters are not fools you know some of them are of course there was fools everywhere but a lot of people know what they're doing with that land they care about that land they want to take things into the future they probably are as interested in sustainability or more interested than anybody because they have children and grandchildren so if we're going to make change we need to be able to talk to them and we need to listen to their concerns and we need to reach out to them and underneath all of that we need to understand what works for them the commercial drivers the economics of forestry and I was really excited there's a number of people I've talked to yesterday talking about the commercial drivers the viability of agroforestry in Africa and some of the projects in India making use of commercial drivers showing people how they can make money how they can have better livelihoods and a better future and empowering people through that must be fundamental so really at the end of the day I come back to and in India it's a wonderful thing to hear about the passion the connection that people have with trees based on religious thought that dates back thousands of years and we should build on that we should build on connection and people to take what is the most enormous opportunity which could easily be lost thank you sorry for these very passionate words and now the final speaker on this panel is Dr Peter Holmgren who's the Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research in Bogor, Indonesia Peter you have the floor please thank you so much Excellencies and ladies and gentlemen colleagues great honor to stand here again and now I made some scribbles I hope I can read them so if this is indeed the global forestry conclave and this is the 16th Chapel and on the outside we have on the Peter Place a million people waiting for the white smoke or the black smoke about our decisions if this is indeed the case then I would be sure that the cardinals in the room would think about the same things that we're thinking how do we stay credible how do we stay how do we keep our initiative in the light of the social media driven beliefs out there would be the same kind of discussions I don't think that this discussion is happening in many professional societies if you like so we get a lot of answers these days and as we just hear many of them are top down we're getting told what to do with our forests and our trees from many angles they're often driven by completely different agendas would be the climate change fear of biodiversity laws rights issues human rights issues etc but at the end of the day I think we need to stop and ask ourselves and I think this is my phone making a noise I think we should stop and really ask what is the question that should produce that smoke and who is actually asking if I get to ask the question it would be something like can we achieve a more equitable world where forests and landscapes enhance environment and prosperity for all happens to be the sea for a vision and I would send up a big puff of white smoke because I think we can the question is how do we go about it we have all these international arrangements some of them relate to forests and these have been fragmented ever since the Rio meeting in 1992 lots of documentation about that but at the end of the day what significance do they actually have the lives of people in communities on the ground to what extent are they influencing national policies for real we heard some connections from the panel by real I mean in the bigger picture beyond the forest departments as such or are they more these days as a backdrop to actions that are taken more or less connected to those agreements actually signed this notion of a backdrop is something we're picking up when we work on the global landscapes forum going forward that yes we have an incredible backdrop of internationally agreed matters ranging from human rights all the way over to to the Paris agreement and the SDGs that's a backdrop for the actions we need to design and take it's not what's telling us what to do so from there a comment on how are the perceptions of forests that drive these politics actually being shaped are they being shaped I'm talking now about the broader communities and people at large are they driven by the international arrangements on forests no I don't think so are they driven through research to some extent but research has its own communication issues and I wouldn't say really that's how it's driven no and as we just heard I think it's driven very much by advocacy more or less founded in research more or less founded in real world politics but advocacy that tells us that plantations are bad bioenergy is bad certain ways of doing forestry is bad and sometimes I refer to this as a monoculture of opinions for example in my country in Sweden there was a gallop done and about what is the most the question of what is the most important role of forests and 80% responded store carbon and I thought that's funny this is a forest country a long tradition of forest management community forestry forest industry and the answer today is that the forest of that restore carbon how was that how did that happen so of course advocacy reinforced by media reinforced very much by social media and of course the international arrangements themselves are influenced by all this so we have a kind of a circular politics here going on one example I have of that is a speech that was held by a very very senior youth and official in the reopening of the combo base in forest fund the other year and speech was long and talked about all the benefits and good things about forests and how they contributed to the wealth of people and everything and there was all those benefits except actually falling trees it's also interesting this these things have been shaped and they're being circulated so from there how does see for go about all this and I mentioned that a little bit yesterday like to mention that as it happens I'm the first forester to head up see for interesting fact too but it's true and the question we're facing is that we are a research organization we've been doing forestry research through all of our existence fairly broadly ranging from livelihoods to environment to forest management but still it's research and what we've come to is that research alone will not be very get a lot of traction we need to combine that research with capacity development and without reach and with engagement I think we heard similar words from from the panel is this mix that is necessary and possibly successful I come back again to the global landscapes forum we are setting out in our next phase to engage one billion people and in doing that also redefining forestry to connect to the bigger picture of landscapes and the sustainable development goals so finally as an expert society as we are as foresters or cardinals or whatever what do we need to do what do we how do we need to behave vis-a-vis the rest of the world and I think there are some parameters the first one is to be credible I think we can all agree on that the next one is that we need to be relevant to the bigger picture we can't just be relevant to ourselves we have to be relevant to the bigger development picture to the bigger political picture and eventually through a lot of hard work influence those politics that shape the way we do forestry and the way people benefit from forests and trees so relevance is important engaging we can't sit in our chambers and think that we know best and that will happen eventually and I would say finally we may need to be also a little bit provoking thank you very much thank you very much Peter well ladies and gentlemen you have it here is the I think we heard from representatives from the six corners of the world six continent which is a very unique opportunity we're also from representatives of different disciplines ranging from government agencies to education institutions and research institutions and education research institutions so I think we have the full spectrum of responding to the international agreements I will not try to summarize some of these presentations because to me they are too rich to be summarized but at the end as we were asking everybody to give us one or two maximum two messages to the conference now we will open the floor for discussion under very strict rules because we have to leave very early and there will be some questions but please please just have a question because sometimes I know I'm one of the people who like to make a very good statement a very long statement before I ask the question I'm known for that so we'll try to refrain from this just ask the question directly and you can direct the question to one of the panelists or more or just a general question and we'll ask the panelists to be ready to answer so can we start somewhere in the back this time because as Tony said yesterday because the people sitting in the back they don't get the chance we have the young people mostly a student I don't see so we'll go to the first question a question please okay there is one two three four thank you Chai sir my name is A.K. Varba and I'm from India this is an appeal this is an appeal to the panelists and to the working foresters I'm a retired forester please could we have a relook at the strategy of buying off the conservation through red red plus PES or JFM by going through the impact of these projects worldwide this is a something which I always wanted to share with those who are in the position to do something on these issues thank you very much thank you very much sir anybody from the panel volunteer to answer this sir Harry please I hope I understood the question but I think it goes back to what I said is that the importance of listening to what is happening and then to communicate and the one of the problems that as I was touching on about foresters and experts and people is that struggle that very struggle to communicate lies at all levels not just the people who are doing the red plus projects on the ground and the difficulties or not doing the red plus projects on the ground and what they may or may not be achieving and it also speaks to the problem of getting politicians to hear and their problem is that their rhetoric is what is what they are you know they need to do the rhetoric it is sometimes uncomfortable for them to listen but I think it is important for us to listen thank you thank you sir Harry I think you know the politicians all too well very good second question here there is yeah second question second and then the third you're the third Andrew no problem thank you Mr Chairman I don't have any specific question directed to any panelists but based on the presentations made by the panelists from six regions I want to make a generic statement in one or two sentences there is need for strengthening partnerships between government between private sector corporations NGOs scientific and academic institutions because I I come from India and I personally feel that here everything is by government alone and certainly government must engage all stakeholders number one then there is a requirement for strategic thinking in the forestry and biodiversity sectors as it is relevant for any sector and I must recommend that most of the professional foresters must also be management experts those who have not undergone management management trainings MBA courses must undergo such courses so that they are they are able to think beyond forestry then a third point I would like to highlight that increasing use of social media in engaging with the stakeholders that will help thank you thank you very much for these suggestions third the question Andrew please thanks very much Hosni a panel a question for the whole panel I mean anyone who is willing drawing on the history of experiences with international conventions and specifically the Vienna Convention on the use of lead in white paint that was adopted in 1921 it took 76 years before the UN General Assembly despite the scientific evidence being available throughout that 76 year period before there was an agreement globally to remove the use of lead in petroleum products so my question is to the panel do they think that 2030 is a realistic time frame to achieve some of the goals which have been set up under some of the international agreements the panel talked about thank you very much Andrew with any member of the panel ventures to answer this question that by 2030 we will have something done who wants to Rob please thanks Andrew I think you can achieve anything if you really want to try part of when I was thinking about this this panel I've seen a number of these high level discussions that operate sort of in a world that I just don't understand which is the sort of NGO world which is a lot different to where I'm operating with industrial forestry and actions and things on the ground and I think you can implement change part of this is getting to the community the points that Sir Harry was making about listening and communicating they're really really powerful tools once they happen and politics and governments can move very quickly if they think they're not going to get elected and but they need that to get that picture that the community is unhappy with them over something in particular but if it floats around we have exactly the same problem in Australia with carbon and monitoring and in relation to you know greenhouse gas strategy is all over the place at the moment bioenergy is not right we've managed to muddle up things that weren't overly difficult to do and a lot of it's to do with our own political system but I think again if politicians can see that there's a strength at a community level and an actionable level then you will see action quite quickly thank you very much Rob we have a question here and then yes next and then the fellow okay good morning let me introduce I am Mohammed from Bangladesh so actually I don't have an question I have in comments especially for the SDCs all the countries have taken an initiative to implement the SDCs but the ecosystem and the wildlife habitat it doesn't have any of the political boundary so there are some challenges is we have to face to implement these of the how we can overcome the challenges for the transboundary issues so I think that points should be taken into consideration thank you thank you very much it's a very important point this transboundary issues because forestry as we all know by nature it is transboundary so the gentleman here please Mike here please thank you sir I have many many observations and comments but in difference to the chair I'll ask this one single question sir don't you think and I ask the panel also don't we think that taking into account such a large part of the forestry having come under the UN international processes we should be able now to bring out a new synopsis of what is this part because in the agricultural university faculty of forests it is taught in a different way in the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore it would have a different flow a different kind of a narrative in our Dehradun based institutions the same subject would be taught a little different way or not at all probably and also taking into account that the entire system from the legislative process in the UN the New York and right down to a forest block it has to be explained in a certain way so we bring it all together and put it in different kind of encapsulations so that people are the negotiators are a little more educated about the difficulties in the implementation and the other way so this is one question but of course it's been such a rich panel discussion I would like to ask more yes thank you very much if I can rephrase the question as I understood it to the panel can we educate the negotiators who are talking on our behalf if this is the point what's your opinion about this anybody volunteers on opinion about talking to the negotiators John please I think it is certainly possible to educate the negotiators I have to say that as an educator the question is whether the negotiators want to be educated and we also heard about the NGOs who are very effective in negotiation they don't feel they need to be educated either so the challenge is ensuring that those who are negotiating on our behalf and on the behalf of the world actually understand the limitations in their understanding and the limitations in their knowledge yes thank you as an example in Jamaica what we find is you really have to meet with and speak with and educate the persons who are in our ministry of foreign affairs because they are the ones who are really doing mostly negotiation and what we have done is identified with the negotiator for different subject matters and they tend to keep you informed and so like preliminary meetings before sessions are usually held and discussions afterwards and once you bring them it's similarly to how we try and work with the ministry of finance to get some funding we do that same thing with the people in foreign affairs so if we tend to leave them out they will go on their own agenda but involve them take them out to the forest get them a feel for what we are doing and you will find that they will be more amenable and keep you informed on decisions they're making maybe Peter has an opinion about it of course I think it's rather unambitious to say that we should educate the negotiators it's an unambitious in two ways it's unambitious because what we need to educate if we use that word is those that actually make the decisions in the first place it's the parliamentarians it's the politicians it's the bigger picture people it's not the negotiators that's just the mechanics of the processes they need to be educated as well but that's the first way the other way is that of course we need to educate everyone not just the negotiators Good morning I'm called Ojo Maxela Yoke Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Cameroon My question is addressed to Mrs. Savita and Mrs. Marilyn Headley I was not very clear with the explanation on the process of direct strategy I want to know the advancement if they face any challenges and finally are they optimistic on the way the process is going on? Thank you Dr. Savita please and then Marilyn please Thank you In fact, see I explained that there are many challenges before us and majority of those challenges are concerning the burning issues before forestry like climate change and conservation biodiversity conservation and all since I'm working in a research organization my focus would be that we need to look into these challenges through research, education and training people we need to educate ourselves first our scientists, our forest officers as to how to deal with such issues and there has to be a coordinator coordinated research which is to be taken up we need to educate everybody of us first and then take this to the people at large so that there is a clear understanding as to why we need to conserve and why we need to adopt certain measures which are going to go in for long-term conservation as such We're just starting our Red Plus program so within our national plan there are a whole set of actions that we look at step by step to go through the different phases to institute, get ourselves involved in the Red Plus program so we're looking to analyze the drivers the drive deforestation and degradation and we're also looking now to see how we can straighten our forest monitoring system and we're also looking at working closely with the climate change division to ensure that the NDCs involve the forest activity the project we're looking at with the GCF that we're proposing to GCF is really to start this process in conjunction with an integrated landscape management program so the red readiness and the integrated landscape program are pulling them together and then we figure after we have all those steps in place we can start looking at how we actually implement the Red Plus and we know we're just at the beginning and a long road down the way Thank you very much The lady there please Thank you Mr. Moderator After listening to Marilyn, Rob, Sir Harry and John one commonality to the international community of foresters can be drawn that we need very strongly to build our capacity forestry community on negotiations conflict resolution and general management ability so as to really get our pathway lighted and this is an appeal to the moderator that please include it in the recommendations of the panel Thank you Thank you very much for the suggestion gentlemen there now behind you as yet your next Sir, one single point in democratic governance politician is the most important instrument to change destiny a lot depends upon the people who elect their leaders once we elect a leader who has a vision which is green greener and cleaner society I'm sure purpose for the forestry is served I have seen in my own estate when we have a leader who has a vision for forestry budgetary allocation for the forestry within two years has increased by more than 200 percent therefore if we have to educate somebody we have to educate the society once people are educated in democratic governance once they elect a leader I think rest is automatically taken care of because these politicians they represent the country they are the negotiators if they are educated welfare for the forestry is taken care of thank you so much thank you very much if I may just take the liberty to comment on this indeed we always elect leaders with vision and I have never seen any leader without a vision so this is it depends what vision it is and recently we have heard some very special visions for the future so next question please thanks Hosni, Tim, Ryan, Canada I really like the comments on credibility and relevance of foresters the part that's missing for me though is the credibility and relevance of a forester versus a professional forester we will not have credibility or relevance if we don't have some standard of performance to govern and to direct our credibility and relevance I'd like to hear the panel's thoughts on professional forestry I think professionalism is very very important I think the ability that when you train as a professional you learn a far wider range of things than you learn to say for instance learning on the job you have an organisation that defines what is a good code of practice and how you how you should operate and it provides a way for people to be respected and actually create influence at community level not just necessarily at a higher level so I believe passionately in professionalism and I would go on further and just mention standards because across in the one experience of the UK is that the certification processes do not get the bite that they should do I mean there are some that are better than others but that FSC has had huge problems because it does not engage with the small landowner the small forester trying to make a living it's very very difficult to fill out the forms and to deal with all the issues and to pay the costs of it so standards have provided a backdrop to have a UK based forestry standard which provides a document which tells everybody how they should manage their forests is very powerful so I believe in professionalism I believe in professional standards and I believe in standards and I think that was a totally proper comment thank you Thank you very much Sir Harry Dr Savita is a comment I would also like to comment on this I'm a practicing forester for the last 32 years and what I feel is that the credibility of a forester is not going to come through only through preaching you just go to the communities and start talking about various things that you do this and you do that and then that is how we are going to go in for resource conservation and such what I feel is that we need to we need to show them that we are committed the foresters are committed and that commitment has to run has to be manifested in our action in our action plan so we need to really convince communities and all those stakeholders whom day and night we keep telling that we are not required to do this or we are required to do that we need to really show through our action through our activities through our total planning that our commitment is 100% for the resource conservation and this kind of commitment we are asking from them also we need to really work with them all through we need to associate with them and I mean every action of ours has to really convey that we are as committed as the kind of commitment we are looking for thank you John you want to do it? thank you as a professional forester I completely agree with what you just said in fact it is my goal to try and establish a system of professional foresters throughout the Commonwealth and I know there are several people here including one of the panelists here who shares that goal we would like to see all foresters in the Commonwealth as professional foresters answerable to standards and with required education levels and required levels of competence required levels of standards required levels of ethics thanks John the lady in the back then Tony sorry please stand up who wants to ask a question so that we can see you please go ahead no no excuse me excuse me sir the lady in the back she's going to ask first as world has become a global village these days I want to know that how do we teach the little children because children are our future so how do we teach the three are reduce recycle and reduce recycle I'm not recollecting the third are how do we teach the little children that the conservation is very important so my question is is there any effective program to teach them globally or in individual countries thank you any volunteer to answer the question about teaching any new generation Peter please thank you and that broadens the question of education quite a lot and I think it's really really important the when and as we talk about you said you call the reduce recycle and the picture that we need to provide not just for the children but for everyone is that the forest and the trees are part of a circular economy where we should use the material and then regrow it and manage it well and today the general picture that's out there is that forests are there to be protected only so there is a huge educational learning aspect to this one of the four components of the future of the global landscapes forum is exactly about this it's about learning and it's not just about learning at an academic level it's learning much more generally thank you thanks about this issue of three hours of course very very important because children are our future so far as India is concerned already a lot of initiatives have been taken for example establishment of green clubs at the level of various schools has really sensitized not only the school children but also the parents and the teachers about the need to conserve our resources we have to have a better reach to the students in terms of sensitizing them for various conservation needs recently government of India has launched a science express if you are aware to sensitize people and children in particular about the need to conserve our resources to ensure that we live in a better world tomorrow so there are various ways and means and I'm sure various countries are already at it thank you much now Tony Bartlett sorry Tony I didn't see you you're hiding there please go ahead unusual for me to hide Hosni a question for John Innes why do you think the mechanism the standing committee on forestry has lost interest amongst the leaders of forestry in the Commonwealth countries and is there anything that could be done to revitalize that mechanism or some alternative mechanism to try to help address issues like the one you spoke about declining interest in forestry education which may not be a sexy popular passionate type issue but those foresters understand that if there are no future foresters then all of these global agreements on doing this and doing that are really going to be hard to implement so I'd be interested in your thoughts on that thanks Tony it's a very difficult question to actually answer I think there has been when we meet at things like the Council of Forestry in Rome organized by the FAO we have been having side meetings of the Standing Committee on Commonwealth Forestry and one of the problems is that there is a lack of communication within individual forestry agencies and between those agencies and those who are representing the agencies at FAO at the COFO meetings so the Standing Committee on Commonwealth Forestry members are actually the heads of the forest services of each of the Commonwealth countries while Australia just to give an example I mean who is that we've had some difficulty identifying the individual we often have representation from Australia but then they say well we're not actually the right people to be dealing with this when we look elsewhere is a very similar situation and who is the right person in the United Kingdom for example today who is the right person in Canada actually we know that one quite well because there is still a Canadian Forest Service and there is a director general of it many other countries either don't send anyone to the COFO meetings or they have very little forestry within the Commonwealth so I think we're getting some of the key players but we're not getting as many as we would like to create the momentum that we could have at for example the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and that's really where I think we need to get some momentum going we need to have a voice that we can tell the politicians at that Commonwealth Heads Government Meeting that forestry would like to see a particular thing happening and getting that message over is very very difficult because of the political processes involved the gentleman excuse me the gentleman first and then you sir okay go ahead please quick question because we have only two minutes before we finish thank you sir the discussion which has held today it is very clear that the policy formulation has actually been taken over by the International Agency the individual countries need not bother about policy brought policy framework on forestry issues what they need is only to fine tune it and frame strategies and emphasize on its implementation so please go to the question because as I said we have only two minutes my point is the SDZ has actually served the SDZ mainly focuses on conservation improving the forest cover and improving the growing stock all these primarily need the plantation the plantation is at the core of all these activities and what we need is sound nursery techniques or raising quality plantations as of now we don't have any any institutional mechanism first to generate the time series data on survival percentages of the plantations and then to monitor and also we need to assess the plantation potential at the lowest administrative level for the successful implementation of all the policies thank you sir thank you very much for the comments the gentleman there please quick question please Mike please hello I was really interested to listen to some bold policies from the bold people sitting there in the pen we have problems at the ground level and the grass root level which nobody has touched you're talking about research where are the sample plots you're talking about the quality of foresters where are the compartmentalistic files written by them where is what's the role of the corporations forest corporations in this country when unemployment is so much in the villages in the areas these things are more important people have talked all about the data which the politicians talk about in their conferences I personally feel only now Madam Swetha has talked about the quality of foresters they should be committed they should they are already committed but there should be no plan but they should be seen between all of us that wish we have to be committed and we have to go to the forest areas we have to do surveys we have to do inspections and then we have to sample plots also maintain them properly and the corporations must work for the people for the unemployment people and the corporations should work as technical corporations not foresters they are they are a different role and in education we have not talked nobody's talked that we should introduce this the control or the safety of animals in the wildlife or the wild about wildlife education is an important issue in which we we have also to participate and we have to go to the governments and talk to them that these introduction of these policies is also important so far as safety of the animals is also concerned unemployment population can increase nobody's talked very sad thank you sir I think the panel cheers your views who's this this would be the last comment I'm sorry to cut the discussion short because that is we are committed to leave to finish at quarter to 11 so with this is it a very burning question or yeah because we have to okay please go ahead I'll take half a minute minute yes okay we talk about so many agreements and everything is all ultimately about investment but in this hall I don't see many bankers that is the only thing I wanted to tell I take your point very seriously the bankers are waiting for us outside have you ever heard of a banker attending a conglomerate I'm also a banker but thing is if you are taking me as representative of banker that's okay but thing is thank you if they are not coming to us then we have to go to them thank you so many so with this I would like to join you join me thanking the panel it's been a very lively discussion I could just spend two or three days in the same conglomerate and discussing these issues but please join me in thanking the panel and thank you audience for a very active participation thank you thank you very much