No. 54: December 2024
Message from the Chairman:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your active involvement and valuable contribution over the year. The Tenth APAFRI General Assembly was convened successfully on 27 August 2024. National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS), Korea is honoured to be elected as the new Chair of APAFRI for the term of 2024-2027. Representing my organisation, I must thank the members for giving your trust and support to NIFoS in taking the important role.

My gratitude also goes to the past Executive Committee members for their excellent services over the past three years. There are four new programs introduced including APAFRI Online Courses, Online Knowledge Sharing Workshop, APAFRI Scientific Attachment Program and APAFRI Scientific Research Fund. These programs are in line with the functions of APAFRI in capacity building and information sharing. I strongly urge the members to participate actively in these programs.

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No. 53: June 2024
Message from the Chairman:

As we enter the second half of 2024, the term of the 2021-2024 APAFRI Executive Committee is nearing its end. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Committee for their invaluable contribution and unwavering support, which have greatly contributed to the success of our organisation.

The 10th APAFRI General Assembly (GA) will be held on 27-28 August 2024 in Malaysia. This important event allows us to review our activities and devise the future plans. The new Executive Committee will be elected to guide our organisation for the next three years. I strongly urge that all members to send your representative to the GA.

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No. 52: December 2023
Message from the Chairman:

I hope this message finds you in good health and well wherever you may be. During the latter half of this year, APAFRI successfully organised five physical events with the collaboration from our close partners. The events were very relevant to our objective in exchange of knowledge and strengthening the connections among our members. I hope that these collaborative efforts will be continued to conduct more events in the future.

The first APAFRI Scientific Attachment Program was implemented successfully on 3-7 July 2023. I express my gratitude to Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) for hosting the program.

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No. 51: June 2023
Message from the Chairman:

I hope you are healthy and doing well wherever you are. It has been a busy first half year in APAFRI. I’m glad to see that the APAFRI’s programs are back to full swing this year. Throughout this period, we successfully organised a total of three physical events and three online programs.

The 1st and 2nd Workshop of Asian Urban Forests Network (AUFN) for People & Environment was conducted successfully on 10-12 January and 28-29 June 2023. The establishment of AUFN led by the National Institute of Forest Science Korea (NIFoS) is a timely and commendable initiative. The workshops brought together all the researchers from this region so that knowledge and experience could be shared in realising the potential of urban forests against the challenges caused by climate change.

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No. 50: December 2022
Message from the Chairman:

The year 2022 is nearing the end, and by the time this newsletter reaches you we would be right into the first quarter of 2023. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your continuous participation and support to our organisation. We could not complete the planned activities fruitfully without it.

I would like to highlight here about the ‘International Symposium on Restoration of Degraded Peatlands: Connecting Science with Policy and Practice’; the major event that APAFRI had contributed in 2022. The symposium was held on 13 June 2022 in collaboration with the National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS) and CIFOR-ICRAF. The hybrid event was attended physically and online by about 150 participants. The invited speakers shared the recent findings and lessons learnt from collaborative research and work on peatland restoration for food, energy and environmental conservation in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra provinces.

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No. 49: June 2022
Message from the Chairman:

I'm glad to see that the COVID-19 pandemic is under control in most of the countries after struggling for more than two years. It was a very challenging period for all of us. Once again the resilience of mankind enables us to come out on top of this tough times. But we must learn humbly from the lessons that Mother Nature presented to us.

The Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the APAFRI Executive Committee (EC) was conducted virtually on 15 February 2022. It was the first meeting of the newly elected Executive Committee for 2021-2024. The EC members agreed to implement two new programs namely Scientific Attachment Program and Online Course for technical skills development of the scientists among member institutions. The EC members also exchange views and suggestions in broadening the collaborations with other international organisations .

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No. 48: December 2021
Message from the Chairman:

It has been a challenging year for our association and everyone in generally. Nonetheless, with your continuous cooperation and commitment, we managed to complete most of the APAFRI activities as planned. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your active involvement and valuable contribution over the year.

The most significant APAFRI’s event of this year, namely the Ninth APAFRI General Assembly, was convened successfully on 7 December 2021. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the members present for reelecting me as the Chairman of APAFRI Executive Committee for another term. It is an indication of confidence of the members given to the capability of Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and me. My gratitude also goes to the past Executive Committee members for their excellent service and cooperation over the past three years.

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No. 47: June 2021
Message from the Chairman:

I would like to introduce myself as the new Director General of Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) replacing Dr. Khali Aziz Hamzah who has retired on 29 April 2021. It is a great honour for me to be involved as the Chairman of APAFRI.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still on-going. The emergence of new variants especially the infectious Delta has interrupted the recovery plan in most of the countries. It is sad to see how bad the situation unfolds and number of fatalities recorded daily worldwide. Nonetheless, the positive impact from vaccination has brought us new hope in addressing the threat of this virus and enabling us to live with this virus. We must learn and adapt quickly to the new norms.

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No. 46: December 2020
Message from the Chairman:

I am writing this message as the newly appointed Director General of Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) since 1st September 2020. FRIM has been elected as the Chairman of APAFRI for 2018-2021 under the excellent leadership of Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod who had officially retired by the end of August 2020. I am honoured to be part of the Executive Committee Members in contributing to the development of APAFRI.

Although the year 2020 is coming to the end, the COVID-19 pandemic has still not shown sign of better recovery. Despite the successful in flattening of the infection curve in June, Malaysia is experiencing continuous increase in COVID-19 cases since October which led to the implementation of stricter movement control order (MCO) again. The Secretariat operation is also subjected to the restriction as the work from home order has been applied to reduce the number of people working in offices and factories.

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No. 45: June 2020
Message from the Chairman:

The year 2020 surprised us with the disastrous impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the first few cases reported in China in early December 2019 the new coronavirus has since then been reported in many countries. Like many organisations, the APAFRI Secretariat has also been affected by this wide spread disaster and had to cancel two events in February and March. These were activities supported by the 2019 Contributions from the Korean National Institute of Forest Sciences (NIFoS). The Workshop on Plant Tissue Culture Techniques was scheduled to be organized from 25--28 February 2020 in Suwon, Korea. Eight participants from APAFRI member institutions had already been selected and the Secretariat had started the logistic arrangements. However, with the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in a number of countries during that time, APAFRI and NIFoS had agreed to postpone the workshop.

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No. 44: December 2019
Message from the Chairman:

As 2020 coming to a close, allow me to take this opportunity to reflect the events and activities that APAFRI had been involved during the year. The year 2019 had been an exciting year for APAFRI. The Third Asia Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study (APFSOS III) was successfully completed. This is a major project for the Asia Pacific region which APAFRI has undertaken with a grant under a Letter of Agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Asia Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok. APAFRI was honoured to be involved in also the two previous Asia Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Studies, the first Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study (APFSOS I) in 1998 and the APFSOS II in 2010. The final report of the APFSOS III, with the primary objective of providing a better understanding and projection on the challenges and opportunities of forestry in the coming decade, was launched at a side event during the Forth Asia Pacific Forestry Week, 17–21 June 2019, in Incheon Korea.

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No. 43: June 2019
Message from the Chairman:

For the past several months, APAFRI has been busy organizing not less than three meetings/discussions at different locations to finalize the Asia-Pacific Forest Sector Outlook Study (APFSOS III). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Asia-Pacific Office in Bangkok has engaged APAFRI via two agreements to conduct the study over 18 months. Many individuals and institutions in various forestry fields, as well as regional and international partners, had contributed their assessments of the forestry scenarios for the Asia and Pacific region. APAFRI is honoured to be associated again, with this colossal task of charting the regional forestry and forestry-related activities till the end of next decade. APAFRI has involved extensively in the two previous Outlook Studies too. The final report of APFSOS III was launched during the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week 2019 in Incheon, Republic of Korea just last week.

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No. 42: December 2018
Message from the Chairman:

I am honoured and delighted to be back as the newly elected Chairman of the Asia Pacific Association of Forestry Research Institutions (APAFRI)! Allow me to take this opportunity to express my most sincere thanks and gratitude to all members present at this year’s Eighth General Assembly, which had elected me as Chairman of APAFRI Executive Committee for the third time. I was informed that I am the first person to serve as Chairman of APAFRI three times and that is also a record in Malaysia that a Malaysian had been elected to head a regional organization three times. I believe this is yet another testament to the confidence of the members in entrusting me to guide the Association, and also to the capability of the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) to continue hosting the Secretariat.

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No. 41: June 2018
Message from the Chairman:

This is the last year for the current executive committee members which were elected on 20 September 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Eighth APAFRI General Assembly will be convened on November 2018 also in Kuala Lumpur. This issue of the APAFRI Newsletter had included some information on the General Assembly and relevant documents. Since there is no suitable proposal on any event to be tagged in, the General Assembly will be held as a one day event including a short study tour arranged by the Secretariat. The announcement will be sent out to all members. I strongly urge all members to send representative to attend this coming meeting as the election of the new Executive Committee is very important to guide this association for the next three years.

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No. 40: December 2017
Message from the Chairman:

How time flies, without realizing it I have already served as Chairman of APAFRI Executive Committee for more than two years since the last general Assembly held in 2015. The APAFRI Secretariat would soon preparing for the next General Assembly due in 2018, during which a new Chair would need to be elected.

As we are gearing up to the challenges in the new year, allow me to reflect on what APAFRI has achieved in the past year of 2017. Besides those already reported in the June issue of the Newsletter, APAFRI has involved itself in about half-a-dozen or so activities during the second half of 2017. The Asia Pacific Forestry commission has its 27th Session Meeting this year in Colombo. APAFRI, under an agreement with FAO, supported three partners’ events: TEAKNET, Forest Invasive Species and Outlook Study III, during the week in October.

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No. 39 : June 2017
Message from the Chairman:

In March, APAFRI organized a week-long event for the Asia Pacific Forest Genetic Resources Programme (APFORGEN). The event, supported by an allocation from the annual contributions of National Institute of Forestry Science (NIFoS) to APAFRI, included a workshop to discuss the contribution of biodiversity to Forest Landscape Restoration in the Asia Pacific region, a regional briefing of the FAO Global Plan of Action for Forest Genetic Resources, and also a meeting of the national coordinators for the participating countries of APFORGEN.

This year, the APAFRI Secretariat has again assisted FAO in organizing the Executive Forest Policy Course. The tenth in the series, the course this year was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Twenty-four forestry professionals from various governmental and non-governmental organizations of the Asia Pacific region participated in this 10-day course in May. Thus far APAFRI has been involved in organizing five out of these ten training courses held in various countries in the region, from Fiji in the Pacific to Bhutan in the north of the Indian Subcontinent.

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No. 38 : December 2016
Message from the Chairman:

The year 2016 has come to a close, it is time that I should reflect on what APAFRI has achieved in 2016.

Working with various constraints, as usual APAFRI has been very active, involving in several activities in the Asia Pacific region during the year. Besides those already reported in the June issue of the Newsletter, APAFRI has involved itself in about half-a-dozen or so activities during the second half of 2016.

A major event during that period was the IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016, organized by the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Beijing, China. APAFRI has contributed as a Bronze Sponsor to the event, and had set up an exhibition booth during the weeklong event. Besides participating in several of the side events, APAFRI also held its 21st Executive Committee Meeting during that week. This is the first meeting for the present Executive Committee elected in 2015.

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No. 37 : June 2016
Message from the Chairman:
How time flies, without realizing it we are already half way through 2016. For the past six months, APAFRI has been very active, involving in several activities in the Asia Pacific region. APAFRI has co-organized two side events during the 26th Asia Pacific Forestry Commission Meeting/3rd Asia Pacific Forestry Week in Clark, the Philippines, 22–26 February 2016. APAFRI also put up an exhibition to show case APAFRI activities and achievements, displaying publications and posters.

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No. 36 : December 2015
Message from the Chairman:
First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere thanks and gratitude to all members present at this year’s Seventh General Assembly. I am most honoured to be elected as Chairman of APAFRI Executive Committee for the next three years. Allow me also to congratulate and welcome all the members of the new APAFRI Executive Committee 2015-2018: the Vice-chairman Dr Bambang Tri Hartono of Forestry and Environment Research Development and Innovation Agency (FORDA), and members Dr Iwao Noda of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Prof. Dr Mohamed Zakaria Hussin of University Putra Malaysia, Mr Semi Dranibaka of Fiji Forest Department, Dr B N Mohanty of Indian Plywood Industries Research and Training Institute, Mr Chen Yen-Chang of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) and Dr Zhao Wenxia of Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection (RIFEEP-CAF).

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No. 35 : June 2015
Message from the Chairman:
Six months had passed since the last issues of APAFRI Newsletter! In the last issue, I had mentioned that this year is the 20th year of APAFRI since its inauguration during the Meeting of the Heads of Forestry Research in the Asia Pacific held in Bogor, Indonesia, 20–28 February 1995.This year is also the year that APAFRI would need to convene its once-in-three-year All-members General Assembly. The last General Assembly, the sixth since its inauguration, was convened in Guangzhou on 31 August 2012. The next one, the seventh, should be held around August/September 2015. Some information on the General Assembly and relevant documents were included in the last issue of the APAFRI Newsletter. The article also invited member institutions to express intention to host this event.

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No. 34 : December 2014
Message from the Chairman:
It just occurred to me that APAFRI would be 20 years old come February 2015. APAFRI was inaugurated during the Meeting of the Heads of Forestry Research in the Asia Pacific held in Bogor, Indonesia, 20–28 February 1995.The Secretariat, initially hosted by FAO Regional Office in Bangkok, shifted to University Putra Malaysia in Serdang, Malaysia, in 1997 .It was relocated again to the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, in July 2001, and remains here till now. FRIM Management has been very generous. Besides providing adequately comfortable office space with Internet facilities totally free to the Secretariat; FRIM also loaned one of its senior researchers with an administration assistant on a full-time basis to manage the operations of the Secretariat.

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No. 33 : June 2014
Message from the Chairman:
Without realizing it, it is already well past half of the term of the present Executive Committee elected at the Sixth General Assembly, held in Guangzhou on 31 August 2012. For a small regional association with limited resources, it is always a big challenge to have Executive Committee meetings as regularly as desired. The diverse specializations and official portfolios of the members had further compounded the challenge. The present Executive Committee has therefore not able to have any meeting after the members were elected in 2012. However, the Secretariat has been sending out monthly reports promptly every month to all the Executive Committee members.

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No. 28 : December 2011
Message from the Chairman:
As the year coming to its end, allow me to reflect on the more significant events that APAFRI has involved in the year 2011. APAFRI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Seoul, in August. The commitments detailed under this MOU include carrying out specified projects of mutual interest and publish results of joint projects. KFRI will provide appropriate financial support to fulfill such commitments. APAFRI has committed the initial contribution to organize an international symposium on forest rehabilitation in Kuala Lumpur next year.

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No. 27 : June 2011
Message from the Chairman:
The first half of the first year in the second decade of the new millennium had been shaken by many disasters in the region. The east coast of Honshu Island, Japan, was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on 11 March. It was the most powerful known earthquake to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world overall since modern record-keeping began in 1900. This most devastating earthquake in a hundred years had triggered a deadly tsunami and causing widespread destruction and fatalities. The nearby Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was badly affected and the nuclear power generator units experienced meltdown which led to life-threatening nuclear radiation leakage. There were a few other earthquakes such as the ones in New Zealand and Myanmar. On top of these the region was also hit by severe typhoons causing huge damages to countries like China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

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No. 26 : Dec 2010
Message from the Chairman:
I am proud to announce that APAFRI had gone through another year with numerous sparkling achievements in 2010. Among the highlights are its highly prominent presence during the IUFRO World Congress 2010 in Seoul; successful completion of the ITTO Project on forest genetic resources; training workshop in Coimbatore, India; and the Asia Pacific Symposium on Vulnerability Assessments in Manila, the Philippines.APAFRI has been very active in IUFRO, and has participated in all World Congresses since APAFRI’s establishment in 1995: Kuala Lumpur 2000, Brisbane 2005, and again in Seoul 2010.

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No. 25 : June 2010
Message from the Chairman:
The year 2010 is a rather significant year for many reasons. First and foremost, the United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. APAFRI, although not directly involved in these global activities, has nevertheless, contributed to some of the regional activities of relevance. APAFRI’s involvement as a partner in an ITTO funded project on forest genetic resources was further strengthened with the project granted another extension. Two major activities are being planned: a training workshop to be hosted by the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding in Coimbatore, India; and a side-event and display at the XXIII IUFRO World Congress in August this year.

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No. 23 : June 2009
Message from the Chairman:
Without realizing it, the current Executive Committee, which I was elected to chair on 31 July 2006, is coming to the end of its three-year term. The next General Assembly, the fifth since APAFRI’s establishment in 1995, will need to be convened this year, to elect the Executive Committee to administer APAFRI for the next three years. The Secretariat has started the process, since mid last year, to organize this once-in-three-year event. In order to attract better attendance to reach the required quorum, the General Assembly is typically held together with an international or regional event.

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No. 22 : December 2008
Message from the Chairman:
The year 2008 must be one of the most eventful years for the Asia-Pacific region. A growing number of natural disasters had caused huge damages to the region. Some of these were deadly devastating, such as the Nargis cyclone which hit Myanmar in early May; and the severe earthquakes of Sichuan Province, China. There were also a number of human-induced ones like the bombings in Mumbai, India; and the political unrests in countries such as China, the Philippines and Thailand. The later was so serious that the International Airport of Bangkok was seized by the demonstrators and shut down completely for several days, disrupting many activities in the region, including one workshop organized by APAFRI.

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No. 21 : June 2008
Message from the Chairman:
Greetings from Colombo! The Asia Pacific Forestry Week in April must be, by far, one of the biggest forestry events, if not the biggest, organized by FAO in this region. The week-long event, in conjunction with the Asia Pacifi c Forestry Commission session meeting, was attended by more than 500 registered participants from all APFC member countries and most of the regional, and many international, organizations related to forestry. APAFRI assisted FAO in the overall organizing of the weeklong event, handled the on-line registration which started a few months earlier, and also in compiling and producing a CD for this event.

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No. 20 : December 2007
Message from the Chairman:
Greetings from Colombo! The year 2007 is coming to an end, and by the time this issue of the APAFRI Newsletter reaches you we would be right into the first quarter of 2008.The year 2007 had been a pretty good year for most of the countries in the region. In many of the countries’ the economy made a rapid recovery and continued to grow steadily throughout the year.

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No. 18 : December 2006
Message from the Chairman:
Greetings from Colombo, SriLanka! First of all, allow me to thank all the members who were present atthe Fourth General Assembly that was convened on 31 July in Kuala Lumpur, for electing me to be the Chairman of the APAFRI Executive Committee. This is going to be a very challenging task for me for the next three years. My immediate predecessor, Dr Abdul Razak Mohd Ali,has made the task of even sustaining APAFRI more challenging than ever, as APAFRI had experienced tremendous growth during his two terms as Chairman of the APAFRI Executive Committee.

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No. 17 : June 2006
Message from the Chairman:
A major task and the top priority of the Secretariat this year is the organizing of the Fourth General Assembly, due once in three years. The last General Assembly was convened in Manila on 23 October 2003, so the next one is due this year. A call for proposals from member institutions to host the Fourth APAFRI General Assembly in 2006 had been posted on the APAFRI web site early this year.

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No. 16 : December 2005
Message from the Chairman:
The year 2005 has been yet another milestone year in the short 10-year history of APAFRI. There were many significant events during the year. The events during the first six months of this year had already been reported in the June Issue of APAFRI Brief, I would therefore like to briefly highlight those others which APAFRI has involved in during the rest of 2005 in this year-end message.

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No. 15 : June 2005
Message from the Chairman:
These past six months have been rather hectic for APAFRI. In February, APAFRI, with financial support from the USDA Forest Service, organized a workshop on coconut beetles together with FAO and Nong Lam University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This workshop was an activity of the Asia Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network (APFISN), and was its second workshop since its launching during the Twentieth Session of Asia Pacific Forest Commission in Fiji last April.

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No. 14 : December 2004
Message from the Chairman:
How time flies. Another year has slipped by and gone. After the rather hectic 2003, this year is comparatively uneventful. Other than involving in about half-a-dozen meetings and workshops, the Secretariat was busy tidying up the administrative details following the election of the new Executive Committee during the General Assembly in Manila, last year.

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No. 13 : June 2004
Message from the Chairman:
Greetings to all our colleagues in the Asia Pacific region! Once again I take this privilege to pen a few words for the foreword of this edition of our newsletter. Over these last six months or so, I am proud to report that APAFRI has been keeping itself very busy through its various activities. At the recently concluded 20th Asia Pacific Forestry Commission Meeting in Fiji, APAFRI had an opportunity to play a crucial role.

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No. 12 : December 2003

No. 11 : June 2003

No. 10 : December 2002

No. 9 : June 2002

No. 8 : October 2001

No. 7 : June 2000

No. 6 : August 1999

No. 4 : September 1998

No. 3 : June1998

No. 2 : January 1997