As part of an International Symposium on Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCFs) held in Puerto Rico in 1993 (Hamilton et al. 1993), a workshop was held to synthesize and map the current state-of-knowledge on TMCFs. In order to continue this work, the participants recommended that a global inventory of TMCFs should be initiated, with the information recorded in a centralised database at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC).

Based on this recommendation, WCMC, with funding from the Netherlands Committee of IUCN has recently completed the first phase in the development of a database of TMCFs, in collaboration with the Mountain Programme of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and BirdLife International. A standard format for recording data has been designed and tested through an initial period of data gathering, and the database currently holds summary information for more than 600 sites.

Outputs to date include the compilation of a draft directory with sections on each of the major tropical regions, Africa, Latin America and south-east Asia, within which are found chapters on each country containing TMCFs. In addition a summary report in the WCMC Biodiversity Bulletin Series (WCMC, 1997) has been published to give an overview of the work carried out to date.

Now that this facility exists, a substantial phase of further work is required to develop policy and action on a site by site basis. Based on the conclusions drawn from the work to date, and the recommendations of a number of cloud forest experts, it is felt that this will be most effectively done as part of an integrated programme of activities in partnership with local and international NGOs and other contacts working on cloud forest issues at the field level. This will encourage the exchange of expertise and knowledge, thus enhancing and facilitating local scale projects, and providing a global context for cloud forest conservation. As the scope of information held in the database is developed, it will be possible to identify areas of cloud forest that are not adequately protected, and/or where further scientific research is justified. It may also be possible to assess priority sites where conservation and development projects are needed.

In order to guide the development of an integrated programme of work a two day planning and advisory workshop was organised by WCMC, with the specific objectives of identifying the priority activities and key partners, and to initiate a number of strategic funding proposals.

Representatives from key research institutions and local non-governmental organisations working on cloud forest issues in each of the main tropical regions were invited, and joined by a small number of international cloud forest scientists/experts and representatives from those conservation organisations who had already expressed an interest in collaborating with this effort. A full list of participants, together with contact details is found in the Annex.