Phl to host Asia-Pacific Forestry Week

ANGELES CITY – More than a thousand government forestry and natural resources officials with representatives of international and non-government organizations and forest industries from over 30 countries are expected to gather at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga from Feb. 22 to 26 for Asia-Pacific Forestry Week 2016.

Spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Asia- Pacific Forestry Commission ( APFC) in partnership with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Forestry Week 2016 will be among the largest and most important forestry events in the region this year.

It will run in conjunction with the 26th session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission – one of six such regional assemblies supported by FAO – which convenes every two years to review progress in forestry development, discuss common issues and set new agendas for addressing natural resource management challenges in the region.

“The selection of the Philippines as host country for this year’s Asia- Pacific Forestry Week is very timely. We have much to share with our colleagues from our experience in implementing the first phase of the National Greening Program, through which we were able to reforest more than 1.3 million hectares from 2011-2015,” Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje said.

“At the same time we also look forward to learning from other countries and international experts on how to improve the roll out of the expanded NGP and hit our 2028 target of reforesting an additional seven million hectares of unproductive, denuded and degraded forestlands.”

According to FAO’s 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment, the Philippines ranked fifth among 234 countries and territories for the greatest reported annual forest area gain, with an increase of 240,000 hectares per year between 2010 and 2015.