On October 20, the press conference for the 2nd Pu'er Forum on Asia-Pacific Forests was convened in Pu'er,Yunnan,China. At the conference, Xu Hongbin, Vice Mayor of the Pu'er Municipal People's Government, and Wang Chunfeng, Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet), briefed the media on the details of the upcoming forum.
The 2nd Pu'er Forum on Asia-Pacific Forests , themed "Strengthen Sustainable Forest Management, Promote Harmony Between Humanity and Nature", will be co-hosted by the Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Administration, the Pu'er Municipal People's Government, and APFNet. Scheduled from October 28 to 30, 2025, in Pu'er City, the forum will bring together delegates from 21 Asia-Pacific economies, including forestry authorities, international organizations, research and educational institutions, and enterprises，with its scale exceeding that of the inaugural forum.
The forum comprises three main components: the Main Forum, the "Pu'er Day," and Sub-Forum.The main forum, structured an opening ceremony and a high-level officials meeting, will focus on enhancing sustainable forest management to foster practical exchange and cooperation in the forestry sector across the Asia-Pacific region. A significant new addition to this year's event is "Pu'er Day," designed to showcase the city's distinctive strengths, boost regional collaboration, and elevate its industrial development. Additionally, six sub-forums will be held during the event covering forestry industry, policy, sustainable forest management and carbon sinks, forestry education, nature education, and biodiversity conservation. These sessions aim to deepen regional information sharing, project alignment, policy learning, and academic exchange.
The forum will continue to display Pu'er's role as a "permanent venue" to serve as a catalyst, fostering regular dialogue, targeted project cooperation, and diverse cultural exchanges within the APFNet framework. This will further strengthen and expand forestry collaboration across the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to global climate change response and biodiversity conservation. Ultimately, these efforts will ensure that green achievements centered on forests deliver greater benefits to the people of the region.
Since its launch at the inaugural Forum in 2023, the "Global Network for Sustainable Forest Management" has been advanced through the subsequent release of action plans and the signing of multiple cooperation agreements. Over the past two years, thanks to the active efforts of APFNet and the collective commitment of all economies, concrete progress has been achieved: the Asia-Pacific Forestry Technology Training Center Project for Pacific Island Countries was launched; international training programs, including those on the tea industry, have benefited local farmers in multiple APEC economies; and scholarship schemes were established to support students from the region studying in China. These efforts have invigorated youth exchange activities, advanced higher education cooperation within the Lancang-Mekong region, and fostered a new cooperation model integrating "cross-border training with industrial alignment," thereby ensuring the effective implementation of the first forum's follow-up actions.
At the press conference, officials from the Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Pu'er Municipal Forestry and Grassland Bureau answered questions from the media. The event was attended by invited media representatives from national, provincial, and municipal levels.
