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International Conference on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CICI)

  3-7 February 2003, Guatemala City, Guatemala

 

IISD's SUMMARY REPORT  is available online in HTML TEXT PDF

Daily Web Coverage |Mon 3| |Tue 4| |Wed 5| |Thu 6| |Fri 7| Highlights from Thursday, 6 February 2003 On Thursday, 6 February, CICI-2003 delegates had the opportunity to participate in one of three trips to view forest management practices in the field. On one field trip, participants learned about chain custody at San Isidro Farm and at EXPROCAOBA Wood Certification. Other participants travelled to Los Ramones Farm to learn about plantation management. The third group of participants learned about forest management at the forest farm Santa Victoria. Left photo: Delegates being welcomed at the Santa Victoria Forest Farm.   SANTA VICTORIA FOREST FARM At the Santa Victoria office, farm management welcomed participants to the 400 hectare farm, which produces construction wood. Staff explained that the farm's management objectives include: the sustainable production of wood; the maintenance of forest resources; the provision of employment to local communities; and the development of basic wood processing infrastructure. Farm Administrator, Oscar de Leon, explained that, in order to fulfill its objectives, the farm has created alliances with the local communities, by involving them in the management of the plantation as sub-contractors for logging operations and in the handling of wood. The participants then visited Santa Victoria's forest plantation, where they had opportunity to ask questions and observe the farm's approaches to plantation management. Marco Aurelio Juarez Calderón, INAB, briefed participants on Guatemala's forest policies and legislation.

Later the participants and Santa Victoria's management engaged in an informal discussion and exchange of experiences. de Leon asked participants whether they were aware of examples of cooperation between the forestry sector and local communities, and the participants shared their experiences, citing examples of such alliances in Indonesia, Nepal, Zimbabwe, and Colombia. Eduardo Olivero, asked participants whether they have noticed examples of sustainability at Santa Victoria, and the participants praised the farm's management efforts to fulfill social responsibilities by providing employment opportunities and explaining the value of forests to the communities. CICI-2003 participants also recommended that the farm management: put monitoring mechanisms in place; consider using wood for high-value handicrafts; and give more attention to the values of natural forests. The informal discussions continued during the lunch at beautiful Lake Atitlan.

SD CICI Snapshots: 

Related Links

International Tropical Timber Organization |Document Download                           Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations United Nations Forum on Forests inab

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