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In the early 1980s, a group of Southeast Asian researchers identified a common need to decentralize the management of public lands to the community level to stabilize forest use. They recognized that planners formulating policy reforms would require accurate field information reflecting emerging community concerns and resource systems to guide management transitions.
This recognition led to the decision to form a small coalition of committed professionals who would systematically explore community forestry as a forest management option for Asia.
The first meeting of this coalition was in January 1992 at the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC) in Bangkok. It brought together participants from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Approximately twenty-five people attended the meeting.
These included the country team members and resource persons from the Center for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, the Harvard Institute for International Development, and the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of California.
The country teams agreed to undertake comparative studies of natural forest regeneration patterns under community protection. They discussed their study plans and exchanged ideas regarding appropriate research methodologies for assessing institutional, ecological, and economic constraints and opportunities for establishing sustainable forest management systems in production forest areas. Resource persons and support members then assisted research teams to assess their methodological needs and write up their revised research plans during the course of the meeting.
As a result of this first and well-received meeting, it was agreed that there was basis to form a network that would facilitate exchange between organizations involved in community forestry in Asia, and thus the Asia Forest Network was born. The first official regional meeting was held in May of 1992, also at RECOFTC. Network Secretariat were established at the University of California, Berkeley and at the East-West Center in Honolulu. The Secretariat staff was able to visit field research sites in all participating countries during the following year.
During 1993 and 1994, AFN regional meetings were held in Java and Hawaii. In 1995,
to further strengthen the AFN's presence in Asia, the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) was designated the Southeast Asia secretariat for AFN during the 4th annual meeting
in the Philippines. In 1996, the 5th regional meeting was held in New Delhi at which time the Indian Institute of Forest Management was designated as the South Asian regional secretariat.
In 1999, AFN was formally registered in the Philippines and established its central administrative office for the region in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines.
The Community Forest Management Support Project for Southeast Asia began operations
in 2001 (see above).
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The Evolution of the
Asia Forest Network
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