The Asia-Pacific Forestry Planning Workshop will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 18 to 19 January 2017. It is organized by APFNet in partnership with FAO-RAP and the Royal Forestry Department of Thailand.

This workshop is being held under the new APFNet Asia-Pacific Forestry Planning Network (FPN), an informal network that aims to strengthen the development and implementation of forestry planning in the Asia-Pacific region, through experience exchange, capacity building and technical support.

The FPN program is being designed following the Workshop on Forestry Strategic Planning in the Asia-Pacific Region in Rotorua, New Zealand on 3 November 2013 and subsequent Workshop on Mainstreaming Degraded Forest Restoration into Forestry Strategic Plans in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 17 to 19 December 2014. The two workshops provided a platform for economies to share their experiences and discuss challenges and priorities on forestry planning.

The objectives of the upcoming workshop are:

1. To provide a better understanding of the processes and approaches adopted for strategic planning in the forest sector in the different economies in the Asia-Pacific region;

2. To analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that forestry planning in the Asia-Pacific region need to confront in the coming years;

3. To present the proposal regarding the establishment of the planning network identifying areas for regional collaboration to strengthen the planning process at the economy level; and

4. To develop a comprehensive programme and work plan for supporting regional collaboration to improve strategic planning at the economy level.