YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Illegal logging and poaching has fuelled the rapid disappearance of commercially viable forest resources and threatened indigenous livelihoods in the Congo Basin Forest region in Africa. However, development stakeholders in the continent are coming together to reinforce forest governance through capacity building of actors in the sector.
“The key to forest protection is governance. Strengthening the capacity of government officials, private entities and civil society orgainasations in forest law enforcement in this sub region will enable the sustainable management of such resources,” said Mfou'ou Mou'ou Bruno, Director of Forest, Ministry of forestry and wildlife in Cameroon, at the opening of a training workshop in Yaounde on November 13-16,2017.
The workshop on forest law enforcement, governance and fair trade for west and central African sub-regions was jointly organised by the African Forest Forum, the African Development Bank and the Cameroon Ministry of forestry and Wildlife.
Cameroon's Forestry and Wildlife officials say, the Congo Basin occupies much of the middle of the African continent, straddling the equator from Gabon to Uganda, Cameroon to Angola. At 200 million hectares, the Congo Basin rain-forest is second only to the Amazon in size, and provides habitat for endangered animals found nowhere else such as bonobos, gorillas, and okapi. Protecting these important resources is therefore imperative, according to experts.
"The increased trade in forest products is an indicator that African forests play an important role in national and global economies. However, despite the political will and the laudable efforts of national, regional and international institutions, the exploitation and illegal trade of forest products continues to rise to alarming proportions in many African countries and especially the Congo Basin Forest region," Bruno said.
Africa Forest Forum (AFF) also called for a rapid solution pathways in forest protection in line with UN startegic plan. A report by the forum points out that the United Nations General Assembly has this year adopted a forest strategic plan for 2017-2030 as well as the Quadrennial Programme Actvities 2017-2020.
The Yaounde capacity building workshop was therefore in readiness for the implementation of the different action plans to ensure better forest governance.
"Good forest governance is a crucial component of environmental sustainability that ensures benefits derived from forest including ecosystem goods and services contribute to national economies and livelihoods," says Mahamane Larwanou, senior programme officer - AFF.
The forest governance capacity programme is in line with AFF project called, “Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management in Africa”.
The project accordingly seeks to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that will provide inputs into policy options and capacity building efforts to improve forest management in a manner that better addresses poverty eradication and environmental protection in Africa.
One of the key project objectives is to facilitate and harmonize evidence-based policies, regulation and governance mechanisms to strengthen public and private institutions to effectively support sustainable forest management and transparent trade.
The ultimate ambition of the programme is therefore is to prepare a future in which stakeholders in the African forest sector will have the capacity, the tools and the knowledge to face the new challenges.
"The Government of the Republic of Cameroon, like other African governments, is committed to building human capacity to support actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, because we believe that capacity building is an important part and key to sustainable forest management services,"Bruno said.
Experts say since Cameroon signed the EU-Forest Law and Governance Programme in 2010, the government's commitment along with its European partner, to implement this bilateral trade agreement, which aims to combat illegal exploitation of timber and improve governance within the sector has continued to dwindle, which calls for some important reforms or measures in the management of the sector by the different actors.
END
