Initiatives
Establishing Central Africa's first voluntary and
independent forest concession monitoring system
Major timber markets are demanding evidence of legal and sustainable
forest management in Central Africa. WRI-GFW is working with leading forest
companies in the region to help them communicate commitments and
progress made toward legal and sustainable forest management. WRI-GFW and
industry, NGO, and governmental partners have designed and begun to
promote a voluntary and independent forest concession monitoring system
for Central Africa, that will document companies' efforts toward legal
and sustainable forest management.
To initiate the system WRI-GFW, in collaboration with
Interafrican Forest Industries Association (IFIA), World Conservation
Union (IUCN) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), brought together the key
forest stakeholders for a two day,
multi-stakeholder workshop in Douala, Cameroon in March 2004. The
workshop assembled key stakeholders to discuss the system concept and
agree on indicators of legality and sustainable forest management and a
means for their verification. The workshop was a success due, in part,
to the support from the German government (BMZ), World Bank, U.S. Forest
Service, and USAID-CARPE.
Since the workshop, key stakeholders worked together to
refine the indicators and
discuss possible governance and organizational structures and financing
for implementation. WRI-GFW and core partners proposed to test this Forest
Concession Monitoring System (FORCOMS) by monitoring three companies in
three different countries in Central Africa and received approval by
USAID-CARPE. The results will be used to refine and finalize FORCOMS
structure and operational plan for implementation throughout the
sub-region.
What is clear from ongoing multistakeholder consultation
is that FORCOMS is uniquely positioned as a preparatory tool for the
realization of key aspects the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and
Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan and for certification and therefore does not
to compete with related initiatives and schemes. Moreover, FORCOMS is to
be a tool for progressive forest companies in Central Africa to
demonstrate and communicate their commitments and efforts regarding
legal forest operations and progress towards sustainable forest
management to the international marketplace, implicated
governments, and civil society.
Please contact Karl Morrison,
kmorrison@wri.org, for more information on this project.
Congo Basin State of the Forest Report
USAID-CARPE launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to prepare
The Forests of the Congo Basin: a preliminary assessment, a report
presented at the Summit of the Heads of States of Central Africa in 2005.
In 2006 the French government took over the facilitation of the Congo
Basin Forest Partnership, and with that, the need for an expanded Congo
Basin State of the Forest Report was recognized. WRI-GFW considers this a very important and useful effort and
is participating actively by producing a series of maps to illustrate
the best spatial information relevant to the region. Funding for this
project to WRI-GFW comes from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gabon Pilot Interactive Forestry Atlas
Based on the successes WRI-GFW has had working with partners to
create these useful CDRom atlases, it is completing a pilot atlas in
Gabon. This was agreed in a July 2006 memorandum of understanding
with the government (Ministère de l’Economie Forestière, des Eaux, de la
Pêche, et des Parcs Nationaux) (PDFs in
English and
French) in order to gather together available datasets and
package them into an interactive atlas. Gabon is home to some of the most culturally, biologically, and economically important forest resources in Central Africa. However, the extent of actual forest cover and depletion is not accurately known. This new partnership demonstrates a significant attempt to curtail further forest degradation in Central Africa by incorporating on-the-ground knowledge with systematic satellite technology, to provide an accurate base of forest information.
This initiative follows a similar process initiated in 2002 with the Cameroonian government, as well as in the Republic of the Congo earlier this year, which has led to a much greater understanding of the causes and effects of logging in multiple African countries, and also helped the forest industry to plan future activities. This pilot atlas, supported by USAID-CARPE, will be complete in September.
Collaboration with the government of Cameroon to
improve forest governance
A memorandum of understanding (PDF)
(Word) was signed between
WRI-GFW and the
Cameroon government at a ceremony held in Yaoundé, Cameroon in June
2005. This agreement ensures the continuation of a landmark technical
partnership between the Ministère des Forêts et de la Faune (MINFOF),
formerly the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF), and WRI-GFW for another
three years. The government of Cameroon used the occasion to reinforce
its commitment to combat illegal logging, highlighting the MINFOF-WRI
partnership as an important contribution to achieving this commitment.
Likewise, WRI-GFW committed to continue and expand its technical support to
the government of Cameroon to improve forest monitoring and governance,
combat illegal logging and promote more sustainable management of forest
resources. In addition to the Interactive Forestry Atlases
mentioned below, the collaboration is also producing a yearly “Situation
de l’exploitation forestière au Cameroun”. This map will be updated
according to the new land attributions and protected areas. View maps
from 2003,
2004 and
2005.
In June 2002, a collaboration
agreement (PDF) was forged between the Ministry of Environment and Forests of
Cameroon (MINEF) and WRI-GFW to improve the quality and availability of
geographic information relevant to the forest sector. This cooperation
created and compiled data necessary to produce map-based tools that
allowed MINEF to improve its forest governance activities and promoted
transparency and access to information among the diverse stakeholders.
Critical support has been provided by USAID-CARPE, the World Bank, EU,
GTZ, the MacArthur Foundation, ESRI, and ERDAS.
The Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon
WRI-GFW and MINFOF, with the
participation of local partners Cameroon Environmental Watch and Limbe
Botanical and Zoological Gardens, have collected data on forest titles
and zoning (FMU, forest concessions, ventes de coupe, community forests,
protected areas, etc.) and on the status of forest management plans for
each FMU.
WRI-GFW has trained MINFOF staff and partners to use remote
sensing and satellite images to analyze forest condition and detect
logging roads. The datasets and resulting analysis were released at the Central African Heads of
State Summit on Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest
Ecosystems in Brazzaville, Congo in February 2005. The Interactive
Forestry Atlas of Cameroon is
available on the WRI-GFW website (Interactive
map server) (PDFs in
English and
French).
A follow up report and CDRom are expected out in September 2006 with
updated datasets.
The Atlas has been hailed by partners as a highly valuable decision
support tool. To maximize its use, targeted training activities for
government staff, parliamentarians, and NGOs are being conducted.
Training focuses on using the Atlas and incorporating it into
operational activities of both technicians and key decision makers.
By using this interactive atlas, key decision-makers and all
stakeholders are able to easily access and manipulate the most current
and critical information for forest monitoring in order to produce and
view maps. Examples of potential uses of the atlas include: Supporting
the prioritization of field missions for monitoring and enforcement of
forest laws and regulations; Helping to determine whether road
construction is taking place within the boundaries of legally attributed
logging areas and/or in compliance with approved management plans; and
Helping to resolve conflicts by providing a source of objective
information on the boundaries of various forest zones. Critical support has been
provided by USAID-CARPE, the World Bank, EU, GTZ, the MacArthur
Foundation, ESRI, and ERDAS.
Please contact Pierre Méthot,
pmethot@wri.org, for more
information on these Cameroon projects.
Forest title conversion process in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
WRI-GFW, in a joint venture with the Belgium consulting firm, AGRECO,
is acting as an independent observer and providing technical advice to
the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in its process to
conduct a legal review of existing forest titles and to convert old
eligible forest titles to new concessions (as laid out in Presidential
Decree PD 50/116). WRI is working to ensure transparency, build GIS
capacity and identify opportunities to improve the process. This
includes increasing the participation of local and indigenous peoples in
the decision making process.
WRI-AGRECO has developed a French language website to
provide information on the process and its results at
http://www.rdc-conversiontitresforestiers.org.
WRI’s
Question and Answer sheet
Presidential decree October 24, 2005 (français)
(English-unofficial)
Collaboration with the government of the Republic of
Congo to monitor forests and reduce illegal logging
In June 2003,
WRI-GFW entered into an
agreement (in French) with the Republic of Congo's Ministère de l'Economie Forestière et de l'Environnement (MEFE) to
collaborate on a project that will help the government control illegal
logging and enforce its forest laws. This project uses satellite
images to map all Congo's logging roads, forest titles (forest
concessions, community forests, etc.) and protected areas, and compare
this data with existing forest legislation. The government is
participating in data development and is building the institutional
capacity to generate and use this data to more efficiently direct
enforcement resources on problem areas.
WRI-GFW is collaborating with the governmental agency Centre
National des Inventaires et Aménagements Forestiers et Fauniques (CNIAF)
and a local NGO, Club des Amis de l'Environnement (CAE), to
- Establish the necessary technical infrastructure for the project in Brazzaville (a remote sensing and GIS laboratory);
- Establish institutional links and processes to ensure the supply of the data;
- Establish training programs for MEFE and CAE staff on the use of remote sensing and GIS for processing and analyzing data; and
- Publish and distribute project results.
WRI-GFW has worked with CNIAF to establish the lab in
mid-2004 and provided the software and training for the staff to begin
analyzing the data.
Results will be made publicly available on the GFW website and will be
incorporated by MEFE into law enforcement efforts. This project is
supported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).
Please contact Pierre Méthot,
pmethot@wri.org, for more
information on this project.
Interactive Forestry Atlas of the Republic of Congo
Given the success of the Interactive Forestry Atlas of
Cameroon as a useful tool for good governance and stronger NGO and civil
society participation in forest resource management, WRI-GFW and the
government of Congo (Ministère de l’Économie Forestière et de
l’Environnement), through a memorandum of understanding (PDFs in
English
and
French) signed in May 2006 have agreed to produce a similar atlas for Congo.
This work, supported by USAID-CARPE, will build on the illegal logging monitoring project funded by ITTO
and will be complete in September 2006.
Reinforcing the Forest Statistics Cell in the
Republic of Congo
WRI-GFW is assisting MEFE to reinforce the Forest Statistics Cell in
Congo. This includes installing software and designing the
database. This database, begun in 2006, will be linked to that of the
monitoring project mentioned above (funded by ITTO) and fills an
important gap to improve sustainable forest use. This project is
funded by USAID-CARPE.
Distributional Equity - Forest taxation distribution
analysis
WRI, in close collaboration with local partners and World Resources
Institute’s Institutions and Governance Program, will seek to better
understand the forest taxation systems in Cameroon and its implications
on the distribution of public forest resource revenues. Research will
focus on distributional equity of public forest resource revenues in
Cameroon and will support the formulation and promotion of policies and
actions aiming at improved/fairer allocation of these revenues for
poverty reduction ends. Benefiting from the strengths of WRI-GFW, this
project will focus on:
-
Researching tracking forest resource generated
public revenues (forest taxes);
-
Building capacity and an informal
network of interested stakeholders and champions;
-
Formulating policy
recommendations based on research finding and stakeholder consultation;
and
-
Initiating development of performance monitoring systems/tools.
In subsequent years WRI and partners, depending on securing sufficient
funds, will focus on developing and establishing robust performance
monitoring systems/tools to underpin pro poor environmental
distributions (in this case from forest taxes). This monitoring system
could track both how forest tax revenues are distributed and how they
are ultimately spent (i.e. a monitoring system/tool that tracks not only
the tax revenue coming from the forestry operations, but moreover what
was done with this money on the ground). Ultimate distribution policy
recommendations would be significantly bolstered by the integration of
this information with poverty and “environmental management” data
layers.
For more information, please contact Karl Morrison, at
kmorrison@wri.org.
The Bushmeat Information Management and Analysis
Project (IMAP)
The IMAP was a multi-year initiative
begun in 2001 in response to an
expressed need for a geographic view of the bushmeat crisis. The
commercial hunting and trade in wildlife for consumption is increasingly
threatening the existence of many forest dwelling species in Central
Africa.
WRI-GFW
collaborated with the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (BCTF)
to create a central repository of information to improve our
ability to analyze available information, identify potential threats to
wildlife and identify opportunities to stop or curb the bushmeat trade. The
project makes existing BCTF databases available online, geo-referenced
by country or coordinate, and combines this with WRI-GFW's data on Central
Africa into an interactive portal with a searchable digital library and
an interactive map of Central Africa. With IMAP, users create their
own maps and analyses using data on logging concessions, protected
areas, roads and other frequently changing features, and information on
species ranges and human population growth. IMAP results can provide
important information for policy design, law enforcement and public
awareness. It is continually updated as new data become available to
WRI-GFW
and partners.
This project is supported by the US Fish
Wildlife Service and an Anonymous donation.
Please contact Susan Minnemeyer,
susanm@wri.org, or BCTF,
info@bushmeat.org, for
more information on this project.
Central Africa Forestry Data Warehouse
Many national and regional initiatives in Central Africa are calling
for the collection, harmonization, and distribution of data and
information relevant to environmental decision-making. These include
COMIFAC and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. To address this need,
GFW and the Observatoire satellital des forêts d'afrique centrale (OSFAC)
are discussing the creation of a Central Africa Forestry Data Warehouse
to hold the best updated forestry data that allows key stakeholders to
improve environmental stewardship, forest management and governance. GFW
will engage key stakeholders to determine how such a Central Africa
Forestry Data Warehouse could be established.
Supporting the government's data management capacity
in Cameroon
The Ministry of Environment and Forests of Cameroon (MINEF), with
the technical assistance of the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA), created a large database of non-spatial data and
information on forest title allocations, company profiles, log and
timber production and export levels, forest taxation, etc.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of financial and human resources, this
Système Informatisé de Gestion de l'Information Forestière (SIGIF) can
no longer fulfill its original mandate and efficiently house the
significant amount of information coming in regularly. It is also
considered structurally cumbersome and generally difficult to
manipulate, thus limiting its intended utility. With improvements, this
system could be of great assistance to MINEF for law enforcement and the
management of the substantial forest revenues generated by taxes on the
forest sector.
GFW and MINEF have agreed in preliminary discussions
that GFW's help would be useful to upgrade and extend the SIGIF and
connect it with the MINEF-GFW database.
GFW will conduct a technical assessment of work needed, will establish a
potential action plan and related budget, and will initiate efforts to
secure funding for the implementation of the action plan.
For more information on these projects, please
contact:
Pierre Méthot
Global Forest Watch
10 G Street NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002
USA
pmethot@wri.org
1-202-729-7779
fax: 1-202-729-7798
