Project/activity information

1998
Pursuant to Decision 8(XXI) of the International Tropical Timber Council, ITTO convened on 7-10 September a meeting of experts to discuss issues relating to the development of a Joint Forest Statistics Questionnaire in collaboration with other organizations active in this field. Representatives from the main organizations making up the Inter-secretariat Working Group on Forest Statistics (ECE, FAO, EUROSTAT and ITTO) as well as representatives of the trade and NGOs from developed and developing countries were invited to participate.

The purpose of this expert meeting was to consider issues relating to the development of the joint questionnaire with the view to offering concrete recommendations to the Council at its Twenty-fifth Session in November 1998. It was also intended to facilitate an exchange of views on how cooperation could be forged in the field of forest statistics between ITTO and other relevant organizations, taking into account the views and inputs of stakeholders including from the trade and non-governmental organizations.

1999
This activity is implemented pursuant to Decision 8(XXI) of the International Tropical Timber Council. As reported to the last Session of the Committee, the meeting of experts convened by ITTO last year recommended that a proposed joint questionnaire (JQ) be prepared in time for distribution in 1999. Under the Phase II extension of the activity approved and funded at the Twenty-fifth Council Session, the Secretariat attended a meeting in Geneva on 19-22 January 1999 at which the joint questionnaire was finalized. The collaborating organizations (ITTO, FAO, UNECE, and EUROSTAT) have continued to liaise and issued the JQ globally in May 1999. Responses had been received from over two-thirds of ITTO's members by mid-September. Almost all members covered by collaborating agencies have responded. Progress will be reviewed at a meeting of the Inter-secretariat Working Group on Forest Statistics (IWGFS) scheduled for January 2000.

The second component of Phase II of this activity was the upgrading of ITTO's data handling capacity. A consultant was retained in June 1999 to develop a user-friendly data entry filtering and output system to assist in handling the large volumes of data processed for the 1999 Annual Review. The Secretariat will report to the Committee on the new data handling system and the need for any further improvements.

The report of the activity included a proposed joint questionnaire that had been well received by all interested parties. The Committee decided to extend this activity in order to complete the joint questionnaire in time for distribution in 1999 and to review results. The budget for this extension (included in the overall budget at left) was $49,750. The extension of the activity will also include the upgrading of the ITTO's data-handling capacity.

2000
The Secretariat attended a meeting of the IWGFS in February 2000 at which results of the 1999 JQ process were reviewed and amendments agreed for the 2000 JQ. Major amendments included simplification of sawnwood and roundwood categories and inclusion of a questionnaire on secondary products. The 2000 JQ was distributed by the IWGFS partners in April-May 2000. A meeting of the IWGFS was convened in October 2000, in conjunction with ECE Timber Committee/European Forestry Commission meetings, to review results. The Secretariat requested the Committee to approve futher financing of US$20,000 for this activity to allow on-going participation in the IWGFS and to fund training/hardware to allow full implementation of the new data handling system. This was approved and the activity extended through 2001 at the Committee's Twenty-seventh Session.