Project News

Mr. Saysamon (right) and Ms. Makimoto (left)

The Forestry Sub-Sector Working Group (FSSWG) has not been held since April 2016 due to the government organizational reform of forestry sector agencies. Upon the agreement to integrate the FSSWG under the umbrella of the Sector Working Group of Agriculture and Rural Development (SWG-ARD), led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the 1st FSSWG meeting was held for half a day in the morning of the 24th March, 2017. Moreover, the former Deputy Director General of the Department of Forest Resource Management at MONRE acted as a provisional chairman of the meeting because the organizational structure and personnel assignments (of DoF), under the aforementioned government reforms, had yet to be completed.

The meeting discussed the revised ToR, and also agreed to align its work plan to the higher-level forums, namely the Round Table Meeting －the highest level dialogue meeting between the GoL and development partners－and the SWG-ARD.

In the meeting, the GoL representatives presented some important topics － the revision of Forestry Law; the review of boundary delineation of three forest categories; the FLEGT negotiation, establishment of domestic timber legality assurance system in compliance with the EU regulations; and the updates on Lao REDD+. The presentations were followed by lively discussions, particularly regarding the revision of the Forestry Law and the methodologies for boundary re-delineation of three forest categories.