Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet)

Organizational profile: The Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) is an international organization dedicated to advancing sustainable forest management and rehabilitation in the Asia-Pacific region. The purpose of APFNet is expanding forest cover and improving forest ecosystem quality in Asia and the Pacific to promote the multiple functions of forests, help mitigate and adapt to climate change and meet the changing socio-economic and environmental needs of the region. APFNet's objectives are to:

a) Contribute to the achievement of the inspirational goal of increasing forest cover in the region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020;

b) Help to enhance forest carbon stocks and improve forest quality and productivity by promoting rehabilitation of existing but degraded forests and reforestation and afforestation of suitable cleared lands in the region;

c) Help to reduce forest loss and degradation and their associated emissions of greenhouse gases by strengthening sustainable forest management and enhancing biodiversity conservation;

d) Help to increase the socio-economic benefits of forests in the region.

Financing Instrument: Grants, Technical Assistance

Project scale: 1. Projects seeking an APFNet grant of less than $US100,000 are applied for and identified through the APFNet Secretariat review process and can be directly approved by the Executive Director of APFNet. However, this kind of project only accounts for 10% or less of APFNet’s newly funded projects on an annual basis; In principle, projects on policy research and scientific technology research can only be applied for small projects;

2. Regular projects are identified through the APFNet PAP technical review and approval process. Normally projects requesting an APFNet grant above $US100,000 fall into this category. The total grant for a two or three year project can be up to $US500,000;

3. APFNet’s financial status, the regional balance of projects, the year of application and the score of a project proposal will mainly be taken into account when determining if a potential project will receive APFNet funding.

Recipient countries regions/country groups: APFNet currently has 31 members, including 26 economies and 5 international organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Recipient categories: APFNet welcomes participation from all economies civil society organizations, the private sector, academic forestry institutions and international organizations active in the Asia Pacific region.

Eligibility Criteria: APFNet is open to the Asia and the Pacific. Eligible projects are composed of a series of coherent activities with the expected duration of the project not exceeding 36 months. Eligible project categories include:

1. Demonstration projects which showcase best practices in forest rehabilitation and management in a cost-effective manner;

2. Research or policy development projects which focus on theoretical or APFNet technological research in the forest sector or assessment and improvement of existing forestry policies and development of new forest strategies and strategic plans; and

3. Capacity building projects that concentrate on institutional capacity enhancement including institutional planning and decision-making and enforcement.

In order to be eligible for a grant, an applicant must be a legal person or an entity with corporate capacity; based in APFNet member economies or a member organization of APFNet; directly responsible for the preparation and implementation of the project with their partners, not acting as an intermediary; able to demonstrate their administrative and financial experience and capacity to manage activities in sustainable forest management and rehabilitation according to the scale and budget of the proposed project.

Application guidelines: Focusing on rehabilitation of degraded forests, APFNet will develop project ideas through careful consultation with member economies. This will be done in the context of the priorities and objectives of the APFNet Strategy, as well as in relation to a project’s relevance and applicability to the needs of member economies. For technical assistance, APFNet will conduct a needs assessment in member economies to determine which areas they require training in and their expectations regarding the content of training workshops.

APFNet also has a standing call for project proposals on their website. Eligible applicants are encouraged to submit concept notes. The application process is as follows:

 1. Concept note (CN) development

2. Submission of CN to APFNet Secretariat;

3. Review of CN by APFNet Project Appraisal Panel (PAP);

4. Development of full proposal if the CN is recommended by PAP;

5. Submission of the full proposal;

6. Final review of the full proposal by PAP;

7. Further improvement of the project proposal with technical support from the Secretariat if needed.

Applications are accepted throughout the year. CN submitted before 30th April will be appraised before the end of the year. CN submitted after 30th April will be appraised the following year.

An entity intended to become an APFNet member is requested to submit

a)  a signed confirmation to accept and support APFNet Operational Framework

b)  a letter of intent

A membership applicant falling into type d) or e) is additionally requested to present the endorsement of the economy (through the representing/authority government agency) where the applicant is headquartered. Membership applications will be considered by APFNet Council at its annual meeting.