This issue of Unasylva commemorates 50 years of FAO's experience in and commitment to international forestry development. Notwithstanding this focus, the issue is essentially forward-looking. Articles written by senior officers of the Forestry Department consider key issues facing world forestry today, and challenges for the future. Lessons are also drawn from past experience.

Meeting symbol/code: NAFC 2000 4

Meeting Name: Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Forest Genetic Resources (of the CGRFA) - ITWG-FGR
Meeting symbol/code: CGRFA/WG-FGR-3/14/1 Add.1

L'article principal de ce numro, O en est l'amnagement des forts tropicales?, est le troisime d'une srie traitant de l'amnagement des forts tropicales humides. Dans cet article, M. R. Schmidt, forestier la FAO, examine les aspects techniques de l'amnagement des forts tropicales naturelles partir des tudes et rapports rcents de la FAO sur les projets nationaux, achevs ou en cours, ayant bnfici de l'aide de la FAO dans ce domaine.

The Global Forest Resources Assessment Update 2005 was specially mandated by the Committee on Forestry (COFO) during its meeting in 2003, where member countries endorsed recommendations from an Expert Consultation held in the Kotka, Finland in 2002 (Kotka IV). For this purpose, all countries have been requested to provide national reports to FAO during 2004. As in previous global assessments, FRA 2005 relies on contributions by countries and a network of National Correspondents to FRA has been established.

Revue internationale des forts et des industries forestires

This issue of Unasylva focuses on the recently completed FAO assessment of forest resources at a global level, with 1990 taken as the reference year (a similar assessment was undertaken a decade ago). The articles presented in this issue consider the data generated in the assessment as well as some of the difficult underlying questions inherent in forest resource assessment.

In December 1997, FAO hosted a workshop, Pluralism and Sustainable Forestry and Rural Development. to exchange information and experiences and to explore mechanisms, methods and fore for optimizing cooperation among the different groups concerned with the management of forest resources. The workshop was attended by 35 participants representing different organizations (and organizational types, geographic regions and disciplines). The articles in this issue of Unasylva are adaptations of papers presented at that workshop.