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Charter(January
13, 2000)
Table
of Contents:
Background
I. Mission
II. Objectives
III. Working Group Membership
IV. Working Group Member Responsibilities
V. Working Group Operations
VI. Official Languages
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Background:
There
is increasing recognition in all three NAFC countries
that forest ecosystem inventory and monitoring is vital
to the successful implementation of sustainable forest
management. Reliable basic environmental information
is needed for formulating effective land use and conservation
policy; valuation of forest services and benefits; planning
management activities; effectively implementing those
activities; and following the results over time, to
confirm the sustainability of present practices or to
guide modification of activities toward a more sustainable
state. This information directly supports reporting
and assessing the status of criteria and indicators
of sustainability and serves as a knowledge base for
supporting research and development. All three countries
are currently revising their approaches to national
scale forest inventory. It is a fortunate coincidence
that all three countries are in a state of flux; there
is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to explore options
for increasing useful consistency between the countries,
and moving towards a common North American framework
for inventory and monitoring.
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I.
Mission:
Share
research and information and take advantage of opportunities
for collaboration and scientific exchange on forest
inventory, monitoring, and assessment throughout North
America in support of sustainable forest management.
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II.
Objectives:
The
Working Group will focus initially on the following:
1.
Identify and take advantage of opportunities for increasing
scientific and technical collaboration and consistency
in national inventory, monitoring, and assessment among
the three countries and globally.
2.
Foster compatible approaches to forest inventory, monitoring
and assessment among the three countries.
3.
Evaluate use of remote sensing and other technologies
to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of forest
inventory, monitoring, and assessment.
4.
Sponsor and facilitate exchanges to build capacity and
increase our understanding of different approaches to
forest inventory, monitoring, and assessment.
5.
Advise member countries about the current status of
respective forest inventory, monitoring, and assessment
programs.
6.
Foster communication with other NAFC working groups.
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III.
Working Group Membership:
Permanent
membership will consist of up to four representatives
from each country, to be appointed by the respective
NAFC organizational bodies. Working Group meetings may
also include additional invitees as deemed appropriate
by the permanent members.
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IV.
Working Group Member Responsibilities:
1. Facilitate communication between the Working Group
and colleagues in their home country.
2.
Attend annual Working Group meeting and participate
in all discussions. 3. Participate in assigned Working
Group work activities.
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V.
Working Group Operations:
A.
Working Group Meetings.
The Working Group will meet once per year to report
on past progress and make future work plans. Meeting
locations will rotate among the three countries beginning
in 2000. The hosting country will make all meeting arrangements
and will compile and distribute meeting notes to all
participants. Agendas for Working Group Meetings will
include:
- Introductions
of participants
- Country
updates on status and change in forest inventory and
monitoring systems
- Presentation
and discussion of progress reports on previous year's
plan of works
- Other
reports, presentations, discussions as requested or
appropriate
- Consensus
on priority issues for the Working Group to address
- Determination
of next year plan of work
- Selection
of a theme and a location for the next year's meeting.
- Host
country names a Chair for next year's meeting
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B.
Working Group Chair.
The Chair will rotate between countries annually and
will:
- Serve
a term of one year, commencing at the end of the current
meeting and terminating with the selection of a new
Chair at the end of the following year's meeting;
- Lead
in planning and developing an agenda for the Working
Group meeting they will chair;
- Lead
the Working Group during the working meeting;
- Coordinate
information exchanges between meetings;
- Be
responsible for communications between the Working
Group and other groups including the NAFC leadership,
the Board of Alternates, and other Working Groups;
and
- Following
the annual meeting, the outgoing Chair will prepare
meeting notes and a summary of the past year's actions
and accomplishments in a timely fashion and distribute
them to Working Group members.
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C.
Work plan.
At every Working Group meeting, a work plan will be
prepared identifying:
- Tasks
to be accomplished in the coming year;
- Roles
and responsibilities in accomplishing the task
- Deliverables
and time lines
- Budget
requirements and funding sources.
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VI.
Official Languages:
In recognition of the multi-culturality of North America,
the official languages of the Working Group will include
Spanish, French, and English. Working Group meetings
should be prepared to provide translation to and from
all three languages unless otherwise agreed in advance
by all meeting participants.
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