Project News

The Round Table Meeting (RTM), held once a year, is the highest forum for policy dialogue between the Government of Laos (GoL) and development partners. The RTM process has a three-fold structure. Under the RTM there are 10 Sector Working Groups (SWG) covering all sectors; one of them is the SWG on Agriculture and Rural Development (SWG-ARD). The Forestry Sub-Sector Working Group (FSSWG) is one of the sub-sector working groups under the SWG-ARD, open not only to concerned government agencies but to multi- and bi-lateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, CSOs, and other organizations. Each WG is co-chaired by a representative from the GoL and a development partner. The FSSWG's co-chairs are the Director General of the Department of Forestry and the Senior Representative of JICA Laos Office. F-REDD supports the Planning and Cooperation Division, which is the FSSWG's secretariat, in setting the meeting date, agenda, and other matters.

Due to restrictions resulting from prevention measures for COVID-19, the FSSWG meeting was held on 3 September 2021, almost one year and three months after the previous meeting in June 2020. The main agenda item was the draft of the Forestry Strategy 2030 (FS 2030), which is to replace the FS 2020, and a presentation was done on the outline of the draft FS 2030. After the presentation by the Department of Forestry, the discussions focused on forest cover changes for the last 20 years, the main causes of the changes, future forest policies, new goals, targets, and programs. The participants had a lively exchange of opinions on other agenda items including the progress in the negotiations of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement for the EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and on REDD+. Incorporating the comments received through the FSSWG, the draft FS 2030 will be updated and distributed for another round of consultation by the GoL and development partners for its finalization by early September and submission to the cabinet meeting for approval in late October. F-REDD will support the secretariat in collecting comments, along with independently exchanging opinions on the structure and content of the draft FS 2030.

The FSSSWG