News Room 
From the past four years, Association of Family Forest Owners Nepal (AFFON) has been playing an effective role towards eliminating policy hurdle as well as the economic transformation of the forest farmers through the sustainable management of the family forest. With the stepping forward Association of Family Forest Owners Nepal (AFFON) organized it’s First National Council Meeting on 4th and 5th May 2018 in Hotel Aryal, Baneswor, Kathmandu, Nepal which was attended by representatives from 40 AFFON district chapters, concluded with the launch of two important documents; Action Plan and Declaration paper prepared in the context of family forest with commitments and calls. The event was inaugurated by Honorable Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Ministry of Forest and Environment, by water a sapling of Camphor (Dryobalanops aromatica). Following the inauguration, Minister Basnet delivered a speech, Minister greeted all of the participants and extended his warm wishes to AFFON, Minister Basnet added “Public-private partnership is what we are looking for. And there are different models of forest management; it’s time we identify the best suitable models for us”.
Photo: Mr. Pitambar Sigdel, General Secretary AFFON, Moderating the Inauguration Session
Photo: Ms. Indira Ghimire, Vice Chair of AFFON, Delivering the Welcome Statement
Ms. Indira Ghimire, Vice Chair of AFFON, delivered the welcome statement. Ms.Ghimire thanked all of the event supporters, participants as well as the speakers for their valuable support, and expressed her full belief that the event will be a fruitful one and will be able to enhance the understanding of the family forest farmers in terms of climate-induced challenges and the possible strategies to overcome. She further added AFFON will continue its work towards establishing the rights of the family forest farmers.
All the guest to the event also spoke their thoughts and extended their warm wishes to all of the family forest farmers. During their speech, all of the guests included that AFFON has been able to establish itself as a vibrant organization in such a short span of its establishment. Through the Closing speech, Chairman, Mr. Jog Raj Giri concluded the inauguration session.
After the closing of inauguration session Mr. Hari Prasad Pandey, REDD Implementation Center, Mr. Ugan Manandhar, WWF Nepal, and Mr. Flemming Sehested, Danish Forestry Extension had presented their presentation on interesting topics related to family forest and climate change issues. The presentation session was moderated by Mr. Gobinda Bahadur Shahi, Secretary, AFFON.
Photo: Steering committee member, Central Committee Member, AFFON and Guest to the Event
The second day of the event started with an inspirational session with the speech of guest to the event Dr. Yam Malla, Mr. Ghanasyam Pandey, and Mr. Flemming Sehested. The session was moderated by Mr. Gobinda Bahadur Shahi Secretary, AFFON and Mr. Khum Prasad Subedi, steering committee member, and Central Committee Member, AFFON. In the closed session Mr. Pitambar Sigdel, General Secretary, AFFON presented organizational report, Mr. Kul Prasad Chapagain Treasure, AFFON Presented financial report of AFFON along with these report presentation all the participants discussed about the constitution of the AFFON and approved, that discussion on constitution of AFFON, was presented and facilitated by Mr. Khum Prasad Subedi, Steering committee member, and Central Committee Member, AFFON. With the various presentation and discussions, council meeting drafted action plan and Declaration paper which was presented and finalized by the participants. During the second day of event honorable minister Arun Nepal, Ministry of Industry, Forest, Environment, and Tourism, Province no. 3 presented there, delivered a speech and requested to send him the copy of the document that comes up as the output of that event.
Photo: Mr. Jog Raj Giri, Chairman, AFFON, Delivering Closing Speech to the event.
The council meeting finally concluded with the closing remarks from the Chairman of AFFON, Mr. Jog Raj Giri. During his speech, he highlighted the work progress of AFFON, its future potentiality and further thanked all the supporters who have been helping the AFFON.