Report on
Discussion Forum on Information Services in the Asia-Pacific
and
AGRIS/CARIS in the 21st Century
an Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation

Edited by Michael Ibach and Yvonne Byron

DISCUSSION FORUM ON INFORMATION SERVICES

IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

Becky Skidmore

ASEAN Forest Tree Seed Centre Project, Ottawa, Canada

List of Acronyms

[Chapter 1]
Introduction

[Chapter 2]
Forestry Information Initiatives

[Chapter 3]
Collaboration

[Chapter 4]
The Survey

[Chapter 5]
The Discussion Forum

[Chapter 6]
Final Action Plans

[Chapter 7]
Keynote Papers

[Chapter 8]
Conclusions

[References]

[Appendix 1]
Survey Questionnaire

[Appendix 2]
Forestry Information Services in the Asia-Pacific Region

[Appendix 3]
The Future for Scientific Publishing and Information in the Asia-Pacific Region

[Appendix 4]
Information Services at IUFRO

[Appendix 5]
Sources of Forestry Information

[Appendix 6]
List of Participants

INFORMATION SERVICES AT IUFRO¹

Heinrich Schmutzenhofer

IUFRO Secretariat, Vienna, Austria

IUFRO: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) was founded in 1892; its main objective at that time was to establish guidelines and standards for comparability in research for research establishments first in Europe and then in the temperate climate zone of the northern hemisphere. IUFRO was a forum of directors of research institutes. One of the first IUFRO recommendations was the BHD (diameter at breast height) 1.3 m. In 1903, guidelines for thinnings and incremental fellings were introduced.

In its second phase, 1929 to 1948, IUFRO started to extend into the tropics (Dehra Dun) and the southern hemisphere. The universities took a more dynamic part in the activities. Classification and terminology projects became imperative.

In the third phase starting 1948, the main emphasis of the Union shifted from the member organisation to the individual researcher. The establishment of personal contacts between the researchers of the different institutions and different countries became more important and the exchange of experiences and results were important goals. IUFRO's structure still functions on a voluntary basis.

The IUFRO structure in its present form was introduced in 1971 and amended in 1990 and 1995. Its objectives are now to promote international co-operation in forestry. There are 270 specialised Working Units in 8 technical divisions. These divisions are:

1. Silviculture
2. Physiology and Genetics
3. Forest operations and Techniques
4. Inventory, Growth, Yield, Quantitative and Management Sciences
5. Forest Products
6. Social, Economic, Information and Policy Sciences
7. Forest Health
8. Forest Environment

IUFRO's fourth phase started in the nineties when nearly all major forest research institutions world-wide were already members and electronic communication enabled a new form of networking. IUFRO on the Internet acts as an information resource and as a network.

IUFRO'S INFORMATION SERVICES

IUFRO began as a network of and for forest scientists based in forest research establishments. For that purpose a structure network was established, containing IUFRO Working Parties, Subject and Project Groups, now called uniformly, working units. Together with the Executive Board and the Secretariat special publications are edited and conferences organised. Results are mostly published in proceedings, representing a valuable source of grey literature. The following publications are available:

• IUFRO News: published quarterly, sent to members and officeholders, providing information in the fields of actual research activities, publications and proceedings published, calendar of meetings, directories of officers. Since the late eighties, a Spanish version is published three times a year, first started in Mexico and then continued in Spain.
  
• Annual Reports: published in the four IUFRO languages, referring to the scientific work of the working units and providing news from the nine IUFRO regions.
  
• Congress Proceedings: full paper versions of invited papers are published and distributed to member organisations. They are distributed to conference participants and on request to others interested.
  
• IUFRO World Series: 5 Volumes since 1990, for sale.
  
• IUFRO Occasional Papers: five publications since 1994, distributed free on request.
• Apart from the publications, IUFRO structure-based mailing lists, newsletters and circulars are issued and contribute greatly to communication among forest scientists participating in IUFRO.
  
• IUFRO World Congresses: currently at five-yearly intervals. These Congresses are the most important platform for forest scientists to present their research results and meet to discuss research work. Attendance has increased from 2000 to 3000 in the course of the last three IUFRO World Congresses at Ljubljana (former Yugoslavia), Montreal (Canada) and Tampere (Finland).
  
• INTERNET: IUFRO provides freely accessible information via Internet about its structure, office holders, calendar of meetings and conferences, special publications, like the ones mentioned above, Special Programme for Developing Countries (SPDC); the terminology project, and electronic networking have been started recently.

IUFRO homepage on Internet (http://IUFRO.BOKU.ac.at)

The IUFRO Homepage provides an overview of the Organization and the Network, with details of all services, including the IUFRO FTP service, meetings, conferences, publications and SPDC. Other forestry-related websites can be accessed from the IUFRO homepage.

SylvaVoc terminology project

Sylvavoc is an acronym from sylva = forest and voc = vocabulary. The project emphasises the importance of the correct usage of technical terms in forestry and is IUFRO's clearing house for multi-lingual forest terminology. It can be accessed through IUFRO's homepage. Sylvavoc has created enormous interest, 84 requests or more than half a percent of all requests were observed in the first month of presentation.

Special Programme for Developing Countries (SPDC)

SPDC was established in 1983 to strengthen the capacity for forestry research in developing and economically disadvantaged countries. It works to link forestry research institutes with donor agencies. Activities include training, information services, scientist assistance, organisation of meetings and workshops, inter-institute collaboration and international co-operation.

IUFRO Development Fund

The IUFRO Development Fund, set up in 1993, provides a vehicle for direct financial assistance to researchers in forestry and related disciplines from developing and disadvantaged countries, in order to upgrade the level of scientific research in these countries. In addition to travel grants, future objectives include supporting international meetings in target countries, promoting the active participation of scientists in national, regional and global research networks, and supporting target-country researchers to pursue post-graduate study.

Task Forces of IUFRO

The aim of the Task Forces is to strengthen IUFRO activities in specific areas and contribute to on-going international processes and activities. Task Forces are currently operating in the areas of environmental change, forests in mountain development, international relations, international resources, and sustainable forest management.

THE LATIN AMERICA NETWORK

The Latin America and Caribbean Information Systems Network supports forestry research in Latin America and the Caribbean by collecting and supplying documents and information. Access is available via the homepage of Division 6 and provides information on the network, activities and events, publications and references, newsletters and other information resources. The network was one of the major fields of interest for searches on the Internet homepages; the requests in the last observation period of less than one month totalled 135, which is nearly one percent of all requests of the entire IUFRO offering.

¹ This paper has been compiled from the overhead presentation by Heinrich Schmutzenhofer at the Discussion Forum.