The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional organization established in 1967. Today, it comprises 10 Member Countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. The ASEAN Secretariat, based in Jakarta, facilitates intergovernmental coordination and cooperation.

In their Vision 2020 and Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) 2005-2010, Member Countries call for promoting the forestry sector as a model for sustainable development by harmonizing environmental, social and economic policies. Respective mechanisms for regional cooperation are crucial to achieve that goal.

The ASEAN Forest Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) is one of these instruments. The interactive web-based information platform facilitates the forest policy dialogue among Member Countries. Complementary to face-to-face meetings, the electronic means of communication supported by the CHM promote networking in the ASEAN Forestry Community.

Forests cover almost half the land mass of Southeast Asia. They provide indispensable economic, social, and environmental functions within the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These functions range from the local (securing livelihoods) to the regional (watershed protection) and global levels (biodiversity conservation). The forestry sector absorbs a large amount of ASEAN's labor force and provides safety nets for a quarter of the region's people living below the poverty line.

These functions are jeopardized by uncontrolled deforestation, fires, illegal logging, undervaluation of the forests' environmental functions, lack of holistic national land-use planning,and population growth.

As a result, rural livelihoods, timber export revenues, and the region's environmental integrity are at stake. ASEAN Vision 2020 calls for the promotion of forestry as a model for sustainable development by harmonizing environmental, social, and economic policies between the 10 member countries. Creating conditions favorable to Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) - an entry point for governance reform - is a key national and regional public management challenge.

The Rio Forest Principles and the United Nations Forum on Forests take national sovereignty in the forest sector into account by underscoring the common but differentiated responsibilities of all countries to safeguard the forest functions at all levels. Regions emerged as a preeminent locus for political action and governance during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002). The Summit called for integrated approaches to responsible forestry by encouraging partnerships, for instance through national forest programmes (nfps). National forest programmes offer a framework for ASEAN to strengthen its competitiveness on the global market for forestry products while sustaining SFM in member countries. They provide opportunities for all actors in the forestry sector to clarify their rights and obligations, ranging from legally binding international conventions and ASEAN's own action plans, to the national agendas of member countries. plans, to the national agendas of member countries.

The term "clearing-house" originally referred to a financial establishment, where checks and bills are exchanged among member banks so that the net balances can be settled in cash. Today, it is also used in the implementation of international agreements. The concept supports the advertising, discovery, access, dissemination, and use of information and data held by numerous organizations using the decentralized capabilities of the internet. The ASEAN-German Regional Forest Programme defines clearing-house as a 'network of networks'.

The ASEAN Forest Clearing House Mechanism serves as a hub to serve network members within the ASEAN member countries. The individual Member country is responsible for producing, up-loading and maintaining her data while retaining full responsibility and ownership of her inputs into the CHM.

This custodianship is important because it places the responsibility of quality, timeliness, maintenance, access and other issues squarely where it belongs to - on the initial producer or provider. This is a sensitive issue for many governments and organizations, because they want to retain full control and ownership over their products.

The ASEAN forest clearing-house thrives to allow all users to access work-related data and information and enable them to make contact with the sources of information

• Factsheet Clearing-House Mechanism
• Factsheet Regional Information and Knowledge Management
• Factsheet E-Discussion - A tool for the ASEAN forest policy dialogue

Mr Htain Lin
Senior Officer
Natural Resources Unit (NRU)
The ASEAN Secretariat
70A, Jl. Sisingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110, Indonesia
Email : asean-forest@aseansec.org, htain@aseansec.org
Website : http://forest-chm.aseansec.org