The Mekong Institute (MI), in collaboration with Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet), Yunnan Academy of Biodiversity (YAB) and Southwest Forestry University (SWFU) organized a workshop entitled, The Role of Forest Resource Management in GMS. 

The workshop, which officially opened on 11 July in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, PR China, brought together 25 government policy makers, academics, and staff from various NGOs involved in forest management from each of the GMS countries. Participants pooled insights on the current situation and challenges facing GMS economies in terms of sustainable management and the use of forest resources and watershed management. The 10-day program explored real case studies, identifying and exploring tangible solutions to the challenges faced by various GMS countries. 

Importantly, the workshop allowed participants the opportunity to build wider transnational and multilateral networks spanning across government, academic and private sectors. Such wide-ranging networks formed the platform for future information exchanges and updates to facilitate research and implement the multilateral projects and initiatives needed to solve current and future forest and watershed management issues. 

The workshop built on the International Symposium on Sustainable Forest Management in the Greater Mekong Sub-region in 2010, and has already shown signs of increasing the awareness, commitment and support of concerned government agencies about these important issues. In their opening speeches, officials from PR China, including Mr. Jin Puchun, Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs, China State Forestry Administration, and Mr. Wang Zehua, from China Coordinating Agency representing MI, confirmed Chinese support for the workshop and lauded MIs initiative in organizing the event.