Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Established 1945 in Quebec First Headquarters in Washington DC Moved to Rome in member countries

FAO structure

Regional officer Subregional officer FAO in the world regional and subregional forestry officers

Committee on Forestry (COFO) Established in 1970 Meets every two years 600 participants, 130 countries 90 Heads of Forestry

Regional Forestry Commissions Established between 1947 – 1959 Africa Asia-Pacific Latin America and Caribbean Europe Near East North America

NAFC / COFAN 3 members: Canada, Mexico, USA 23 meetings starting in 1961 in Mexico City Host country is rotated Head of Forestry in host country is NAFC chair Host country selects date and place Last 2 meetings: Veracruz, Vancouver Next meeting: San Juan, PR, June 2008 All working groups are invited

NAFC Working Groups Fire management: 1961 Insects and disease: 1961 Genetic resources: 1963 Silviculture: 1976 Atmospheric change: 1984 Forest products: 1994 Inventory, monitoring, assessment: 2000 Watershed management: 2002 Invasive plants: 2006

Defunct Working Groups Wildlife Recreation Engineering Remote sensing Multiple-use forestry Multilingual vocabulary Light-frame structures Neotropical migratory species

Other NAFC changes Title change from “forestry” to “forest” French added as a third official language Change from “working groups” to “study groups” and back First 8 meetings held in capital cities, recent meetings have been in field locations